Chisel - 'The O.T.S./If You Believe in Christmas Trees' (Darla)

Chisel debuted 'The O.T.S.' here which I'm pretty sure appeared on their final album, Set You Free. The sound is essentially the same as on 8 AM All Day, maybe a little bit more crisp, but just as fast and with a nice use of backing vocals. I admit I've never played this more than a few times, so I've never done a deep listen of the lyrics and thus can't tell you any guess to what O.T.S. stands for. It's not the lyrics I'm drawn to here - it's the almost jazzy guitar shards and the elegant rhythm section. Leo has this thing where he plays a nearly ska-like guitar part during verses but not for too long, quickly devolving it into a more jagged riff. It's a pretty unique way of playing guitar and I already expressed my teenage amazement at it on the CD review. The b-side, well, wow! It's a cover of Cardinal's classic 'If You Believe in Christmas Trees', a song which was pretty fresh when this was released (in 1995). I probably never really listened to this back then because it was years later that I discovered Cardinal and I barely remembered this. The cover is fairly straight in tempo and demeanour; Leo's voice matches the same weird affect of Davies, a little bit more intentional than usual, I'd say. The bassline gets a little inventive during the 'polar January' part and there's some backwards sounding stuff on the guitar solo, a nice twisting take on the tune. It's not the most brilliant version of the song (compared to the several on offer by Cardinal and solo Davies) but it's more symbolic, indicating an interest in these sounds outside of the punk/hardcore scene that produced them. So therein lies my sympathies.

Cheveu - 'Like a Deer in the Headlights/C'est ça l'amour' (Born Bad)

The way 'Like a Deer in the Headlights' erupts out of the vinyl is explosive. It's somehow bigger and MORE explosive than anything else heard by Cheveu to-date; I can't explain why, though better production might have something to do with it. The sung title is a melodic hook answered by intensifying guitar licks, and it's a pretty catchy little moment. The verses explode in Olivier's usual vehement babble, and then there's a funk-driven bridge that comes out of nowhere. B-side 'C'est ça l'amour' is some rare French-language material, co-written with a certain Sophie so one suspects that if I understood French, this would be something sweet and personal. It's not as much of a new direction as 'Like a Deer' but when you do something well, why stop?

Cheveu/Crash Normal split 7" (Rococo)

Crash Normal's side erupts with a blast of manic, industrial punk, with careful attention paid to get a sharp, metallic guitar tone. But barely a minute in, we hear the sound of a stylus streaking across a record and the music changes into something much more Cheveu-like. By which I mean, synth drums, and distorted, mostly spoken vocals. So which band are we actually listening to? The third song on the side also confuses me - both of these are slower and almost a bit loungier than Cheveu usually sound. But both bands are from France and probably have some member overlap. The end of (what I think is) the Crash Normal side descends into a collapsing mess -- well, a 'crash', I guess -- which could pass for Nihilist Spasm Band on a good day. The Cheveu side (we're pretty sure of that, as there's a certain twang to the vocalist that we've come to recognise by now) has a howdown feel, with a twangy riff accelerating, smashing into a brick wall, backing up, and doing it again over and over. The vocals are more like barks and it's hard to imagine all of this energy coming from a line-in recording aesthetic. The guitar is clean here and I like the way it rises above the tide. There's great things afoot in France now, as the legacy of Metal Urbain lives on.

Cheveu/Tyvek split 7" (S-S)

Cheveu's side ('El Tortuga') is more of the same, but that's a good thing. The drum programming is a bit more interesting and these guys manage to work a bit of texture into some very narrow confines. It's a bit less distinct, melodically , than some of the album faves, but it has a thundering chorus and the guitars really ring out despite the lo-fi origins. Tyvek's track 'Future Junk' is a frantically strummed rave-up with vocalist Kevin extremely high in the mix. The most interesting part is the jam-out ending, where the guitars start fracturing and spitting all over themselves. The synth player is a bit buried but I guess Tyvek know what kind of mix they want. It's kinda blood and guts except I suspect these guys are actually pretty nerdy. There's a lock groove at the end of their side which functions as an awkward false ending. The whole thing is over in a blink (both sides), which is how it's supposed to be.

Cheveu - 'My Answer is Yes!' (Rob's House)

Another Cheveu single, pairing an album track with a new one, though the a-side is the new tune. Full title: 'My Answer is Yes! But What's the Question?', a blazingly strident display of positivity. It's built around the same Cheveu ingredients we know and love - Big Black's drummer, dirty guitars, white noise, and harsh vocals that are barked/spoken/shouted. This ups the notch a bit with a few actual breakdowns, where the band throws the intensity up for just a few measures, before letting off the throttle ever-so-slightly. It's a nice technique, showing there's a lot more focus than you might suspect upon first listen. It ends in a pile of wires and sweat, with the singer growling his deathmoan. A dark moment, perhaps, but in constrast to the B-side, a different (slightly slower) version of album-favourite track 'Lola Langusta'. Like 'Dog' there's something a bit stereotypical about this guitar riff, something too familiar being deconstructed. This is a soulful tune of pure desire, as our singer pleads for Ms. Langusta to work her sexual magic in his direction. The synth horns aren't here, but there's a great sounding electric piano. This is on a label called Rob's House, and you know, it sounds like it was recorded there too.

Cheveu - 'Dog/Make My Day' (S-S)

'Dog' begins with a dirty casio beat, straightforward and bold. Then a guitar riff that you've heard before, somewhere, and some harsh barking megaphone vocals. When the chorus hits it's all fun, an infectious apocalyptic vision. The guitars never stop going dung-dung-dung-dung-dung like immense raindrops. Flipside 'Make My Day' is a longer but the beat doesn't waver either; the guitars are thicker and strummed, and occasional organ-keyboard vamps seek out the white light. The vocals are gruff, barking "make my day", a mockery of tough-guy heroics. Other guitars (or maybe that's a bass) add nice thickening when needed, a nice gesture. For the end the beat opens up, but the song somehow becomes more claustrophobic, drowning in spattering of vocal babble and electronic processing. This was released in 2006, and to me, it announced that the new leaders of line-in GarageBand bedroom avant-punk had arrived, and they were French. Whouda thought!