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“DALE ALWAYS WANTED to be a unicorn,” says Need New
Body drummer Chris Powell.
It makes sense when you meet them. Need New Body are
possessed. They make hoodoo. They eat artichoke hearts
from the can. They are six Beats from Philadelphia skronking
away like it was 1959. Of course, that’s just one side
of the equation, but it’s apt.
“CR Eyeball,” the most accessible piece on the Philadelphia-based
sextet’s self-titled disc, is a perverted backwoods
juke with the smell of crawfish in its hair. “Tittiepop”
is an electric caveman shout driven by a blinking synthesizer
decorated with blasts of erratic brass toodling. “Gamble
On/Banji” wafts on a basmati-scented breeze just before
breaking into a goggle-eyed march through some Dadaist
jungle.
“We can suck,” says Powell, explaining the band’s creative
approach. “No. Really, we can. We can have 10 days where
we really suck and then we’ll get one good catch.”
And that's how it goes for Need New Body. Assembled
from the ashes of its former band, Bent Leg Fatima—a
twisted bit of Psychadelphia folk and percussion madness
that collapsed under its own weight—the members of BLF
regrouped under the moniker Need New Body and immediately
put the capital F’s back in freaky, fun and free-jazz.
Far beyond the structured psychedelia of most Lennon
and Wilson worshippers, NNB manage to craft interesting
and engaging bits of found art from leftover jams and
creative editing gone wild.
“We take a lot of the outtakes and we cut them up,”
explains keyboardist Dale Jimenez. “All throughout the
record there’s splices and bits and pieces of little
moments that were magical. So we kind of took those,
sorted them, squished them together—even made long pieces
out of them or used them as segueways. There’s probably
only maybe 10 songs on the album. Maybe only six songs,
but 10 pieces and then 22 bits.”
Songs, however, are clearly not NNB’s forte. Recorded
in Chicago at Truckstop Studios by Griffin Rodriguez,
a.k.a. Blue Hawaii of Bablicon, NNB (File 13) translates
the band’s penchant for playful self-indulgence into
a captivating blend of goofy-footed pot banging and
electronic squiggles augmented by inspired tape splicing;
yet never delivers that cloying “experimental” flavour
that mucks up so many of these kinds of releases.
Live, the band’s dextromethorphic sound is enhanced
by such free-form antics as impromptu dance routines,
choreographed by banjoist and aesthetician, Dan Murphy,
and the wearing of masks.
But despite the affectations to weirdness, NNB’s true
charm lies in its old-fashioned irreverence. When asked
what the album says to listeners, all five musicians
replied in unison, “Fuck You!” Though songs like “Boba
Fett” may not sound like a collective flip-off, in the
wake of popular music’s increasing suckiness that’s
just what it is. (Can I get an amen?)
“You have to let go of all that,” says Powell of the
traditional verse/chorus approach to writing music.
“We’ve jammed out for at least 10 years in the gayest
bands imaginable. You know, like when you’re a kid growing
up: How many times do you have to do it before you want
to step it up, I mean, damn! “
Allan Kemler for Crud Magazine© 2002
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| 04/02 1 Giant Leap - My Culture
04/02 Elfpower Interview - Andrew Rieger - Creatures
04/02 Frou Frou Interview - Guy Sigsworth/Imogen Heap
04/02 Gomez Interview - Ian Ball
04/02 Idlewild - Live - London Astoria
04/02 K's Choice Interview
04/02 Leaves - Live - Camden Dingwall
04/02 Longwave Interview - Exit
04/02 Lucy Mongrel Interview
04/02 Oasis - The Hindu Times
04/02 Phantom Planet - Interview
04/02 Unwritten Law - Interview
04/02 VUE - Coordinates Interview
05/02 BRMC - LIve - Kentish Town, London
05/02 Breeders - Title K
05/02 FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes
05/02 Moco - Live - London Monarch
05/02 Need New Body - Interview
05/02 The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Live - Soundhause, Northampton
05/02 The Bellrays - Meet The Bellrays
06/02 Fleadh Festival - Finsbury Park
06/02 Frou Frou Coordinates Interview
06/02 Incubus - Interview - Mark Einziger
06/02 North Mississippi Allstars - Interview
06/02 Papa Roach - She Loves Me Not
06/02 Proud Mary - Live - Northampton, Soundhaus
06/02 Pulp - Live - Sherwood Pines, Edwinstowe
06/02 Reindeer section - You Are My Joy
06/02 Silverchair - Diorama
|  | 06/02 Something Corporate - Leaving Through The Window
06/02 Soinc Youth - Interview
06/02 The Burn - The Smiling Face
06/02 The Coral - Live - Roadmender, Northampton
06/02 The LIbertines - Live - The Social, Nottingham
06/02 The Vines, Sheffield Leadmill
06/02 Trik Turner - Interview
06/02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Live, Soundhaus, Northampton
07/02 12 Stones Interview
07/02 Arolo -Interview
07/02 Buy To Let Doncaster - Anti Social Behaviour
07/02 Cassius - Interview
07/02 Farrah - Interview
07/02 Glassjaw - Interview
07/02 Neil Michael Haggerty - Interview
07/02 Hoobastank - Running Away
07/02 Leaves - Interview
07/02 LL Cool Jay Interview
07/02 Oasis - Live - Finsbury Park, London
07/02 Polyphonic Spree - Live - Camden Monarch
07/02 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
07/02 Super Furry Animals - Interview
07/02 The Beatings - Live - Metro Club London
07/02 The Bellrays + The D4 - Virgin Megastore, Oxford Street London
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002 | |
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