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Rayon - Blow Away

I resent how pretentious indie music fans are. We pride ourselves on discovering fresh underground music untainted by popularity, smugly applauding ourselves for appreciating music too complex for the masses. The Los Angeles-based band Rayon has just put out their first EP, titled "Blow Away," and I'm almost reluctant to give it a positive review because I know this is precisely the material indie enthusiasts love to champion.

But the part of me that can't turn my back on good music always wins, so here it is: Rayon's first EP is an impressive debut, and if it's any indication of future productions, Rayon will be a band to watch.

Rayon received their name from guitarist Will Sergeant of British post-punk band Echo and the Bunnymen. Sergeant suggested naming the group after the fabric, saying "It's one word and sounds British." Rayon guitarist/vocalist Walter Ensign decided he liked what Rayon stood for, and the Bunnymen's profound influence upon Rayon can be heard throughout the EP.

Echo and the Bunnymen serve as a good starting point for Rayon: if the Bunnymen are post-punk, Rayon is the next step in the progression, mimicking the dark guitars and moaning vocals of the Bunnymen, but diverging with a fluid, hypnotic bass line and atmospheric tone. The potent, dark undertones of songs like "Don't Worry" are beautifully highlighted by bassist Mimi Star, who purportedly jams with an intensity that doesn't match her diminutive stature.

The EP is not without its flaws, and Rayon still needs to learn a thing or two about creating songs that can stand independent of each other. But the jagged, yet surprisingly comforting quality of Ensign's Lennon-esque voice carries over the whole of the album, making it well worth your while. Rayon makes music that moves, and this is motion in which it is easy to lose oneself.

Angeline Baecker

That 1 Guy - Songs in the Key of Beotch

With a name like That 1 Guy, an artist is begging for certain questions: "Who is exactly is said Guy with the audacity to call himself THE That ONE Guy?" "Why is he label mates with the likes of Ani DiFranco?" One could also ask with song names like "It's Raining Meat" and "Steamin' Hunks" is this one guy being subtly homoerotic? Simply quirky? Both? Neither?

Fortunately, I answer none of these questions here. Well, not directly anyways.

That 1 Guy's blatantly irreverent cacophony yelps with similar Rob Zombie-esque intensity, echoes the industrial humor of, say, Trent Reznor, and captures the what-the-hell-did-I-just-listen-to quality of resident oddballs Primus and maybe early Beck. Syncopated drumbeats, hip-hop scratches, copious reverb and tracks that sound like strategically-spliced clips of jam sessions all make "Songs in the Key of Beotch" an album to listen to when you're in the middle of one of the funkiest of funks. Cranky, moody? Happy one second, pissed off the next? This is the disc for you, because just like a wonky mood, it's a bit all over the place and consistently so.

It seems that That 1 Guy (the alter-ego of this white guy named Mike Silverman) is in on the joke too, as he rap-sings on "One": "Of all the banks that we robbed/I think my favorite one was mine/Of all the bushes that burn/The ones I like talk wise and kind/Of all the toys that we smashed/I think I like the ones that wind/Of all the beotches we pimp slapped/I like the ones that did not mind." Pimp-slapping? Robbing banks? And all from a dude that looks like your quiet indie-rock crush from the dorms, much less a token crew member in Snoop Dogg's gaggle.

So give this one guy a chance-word on the street is that he has a killer live show. After a few listens (and definitely not on the first one) it all starts to make sense in the same way that, say, snacking on beef jerky smothered in Tabasco sauce on a paper plate whilst sipping champagne from a flute make sense: tackily elegant and all delicious.

Audrey S. Yap

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