WHAT'S IN DEBBIE'S EARS?

TONGUE/SWEET MEAT: Everyone knows that I’m a Y chromosome-sporting enthusiast of punk bands with girl singers. It’s not because that’s the only way I can hear a woman screaming in my bedroom. There’s just something awesome about a girl who sounds gentle and loving one minute, and then pulls your spleen out through your nose the next. And that’s just the kind of girl Liz McGrath comes off as while leading the charge on the latest release from her band, Tongue. Sweet Meat, their second full length LP, is a 13-track romp into the merry land of serial killers, drunk drivers and angsty bands on tour. The entire album is laced together with seamless tempo transitions and a playfully vicious sense of humor. Right from the get-go, you’re forced to dive headlong into the ventricle-bursting, pure punk sound of “Plane Crash”. And the pace refuses to let up. The crisp-edged, Devo-tinged “Picture Box” reveals the truly evil nature of your TV set, while “Booze Cruisin” lets loose with picture perfect anti-cop sentiment. There’s even mention of a dead hamster and fecal harassment on “Evil Streak”. Plus, for all their back and forth stylistic Jeet Kun Do, Tongue manages to stray far from the norm without losing sight of their own individual sound.
RAVIN VERSUS FLUD: If William Gibson, Ridley Scott and Luc Besson got together one night and decided to make a fucked-up movie about cyberpunk corporate aliens trying to take over Manhattan, while taking into account their socio-political standings in an oversexed, drug-addled world of the future, they’d probably need Ravin, Flud and Split to do the soundtrack. On their latest CD sampler, Ravin Versus Flud shapes a fictional world for us to wrap our minds around. Despite it’s four-track composition, this feels less like a sampler and more like a mini-LP. “Freestylin’” starts us off with its brutal freefall right into the middle of the fray. We get acquainted with our characters and their conflict during the ultra-hip, mantra-like street beat of “Apollo 13”. “Far Gone” is the song for when the shit hits the fan because the track just reeks of sneakiness and infiltration. Then, before you even know what’s happened, resolution has befallen our protagonists and they are allowed time to reflect over the somber, acoustic guitar tones and vocals of “Twenty Six”. I’d be really interested to see what the full-length album will be like. Especially considering all the ground they’ve managed to cover in a mere four songs.