Reviews | ||
Nude As The News
Lotus Crown According to Lotus Crown frontman Jimi Shields, his band's Reprise debut Chokin' On The Jokes is "not so much about rocking your world, but about colouring it." Although Shields bases the music on his past work in Rollerskate Skinny (brother Kevin is the musical genius behind My Bloody Valentine), it's not rock for which he's striving. A Dublin native now living in Chicago, Shields assembled Lotus Crown just in time to tour with Mercury Lips and Flaming Lips and to release 1995's Alvar Aalto. Wisps of both groups can be heard on Chokin' but only after being funnelled through breezy Anglophile filters. "Swallow The Bee" blends the bounce of the In A Priest Driven Ambulance-era Flaming Lips with the cathartic choruses of Suede's last record. While the confident, fuzzy swirl of "Blue Arse Fly" sounds like My Bloody Valentine drifting on a caffeine buzz. "Won't Give Up" is a soothing, psychedelic instrumental of the highest order. As on Rollerskate Skinny's Shoulder Voices, the music here is engaging and broadly realized. When Lotus Crown borrows inspiration, it does it from the best. If the Beatles existed today, the swaggering ballad "Shuttle Weary" could probably be their hit single. Likewise, the firm, right-on "No Title" wouldn't sound out of place on a Verve album.
Though some of the songs on Chokin' overstay their welcome, such as "Riddle Me Sober" and "Circus, Circus," Lotus Crown has broadened the typical vision of shoegazer music with intelligible lyrics, expertly utilized effects and compelling songwriting. A fine effort.
All Music Guide- September 10 1997 After the demise of Rollerskate Skinny, drummer Jimi Shields (brother of My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields) turned to a singer/songwriter/arranger with the band Lotus Crown. Much of Chokin' on the Jokes lacks the spacey experimentalism of both Rollerskate Skinny's work and that of former bandmate Ken Griffin's Kid Silver project, opting instead for a more conventional major-label Brit-rock/psychedelic feel that occasionally comes across like a darker, less pop-oriented Boo Radleys. Often enough, however, the band lightens up on its rock influences in favour of more interesting guitar sounds and arrangements, resulting in a polished, dreamy midtempo rock sound that's highly effective. ~ Nitsuh Abebe, All Music Guide
Named for an ancient Chinese fable, the orchestral hip-hop band Lotus Crown was the vehicle of singer/guitarist Jimi Shields, a onetime member of the Irish noise-pop outfit Rollerskate Skinny. After exiting the group's ranks following their 1994 EP Threshold, Shields relocated from Dublin to Chicago, stopping briefly to play drums for his brother Kevin's band My Bloody Valentine. After settling in the U.S., he recruited guitarist Paul Dillon, bassist Lennie Dietsch and drummer Zack Kantor, and Lotus Crown soon hit the road in support of the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev before recording their debut EP Alvar Aalto (titled in tribute to the Finnish architect) in late 1995. After entering the studio with producer Dave Fridmann, the quartet emerged with the full-length Chokin' on the Jokes in the spring of 1997.
~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide Alternative Press - September 10 1997 The only funny thing in Jon Lovitz's High School High was the prominent positioning of the gnarly toothed king painting that adorns Rollerskate Skinny's first album, Shoulder Voices, for some reason the pic hung on his inner city's classroom wall. Either someone really likes the artist, Feargal Fitzpatrick, or even less likely Rollerskate Skinny, a remarkable band who have thoroughly eluded the public as well as the critics. Former Skinny guy and current Lotus Crown guru, Jimi Shields, should get better product placement for his new album, Chokin' On The Jokes, a genuine outrock classic with an inside appeal, much like Mercury Rev's See You On The Other Side. Like his brother Kevin, Shields still likes the pop song, but doesn't really respect it. Consequently he creates and crumbles melodies with a cool confidence. The album's two-part lead track sets Chokin's mood: "The Well"'s begins as a Spiritualized-like sea of six-strings (subtitled "Endless"), before the second half (" Of A Mothers Symphony") lays out the bands style, off-center drum patterns weaving around a melodic, dubwisened bass that harmonizes with Shields' clear tenor voice and multilayered guitar squeals. The effect is a delirious swirl of folk and art-rock flesh blur ring like intertwined lovers. Shield's only weakness is in naming things, from bands to songs like: "No Title" and "Won't Give Up (Til I Win Your Lovin' )." Even his lyrics, while cryptic, are interesting and offer witticisms like " Tread on water/I just suck on sympathy" or punch drunk poetry like "Always glad to see when the hunter is hunted/And the bull mashes the matador's headin/I'm reaching for another underdog victory/I'm all for altering the state of the illusion." I sense an underdog victory is at hand and I know just the way to assure it: When's David Spade's next movie? Christopher Porter
Worship Art, Not Artists There is nothing as disgusting as having holiday cheer jammed into your mouth by the filthy hands of society; for this reason specifically, I spent the day after Thanksgiving on my girlfriend's couch, recovering from family-related psychological trauma. I was fully prepared to stay there all the way through the rest of the year, too, when my friend Rick called me: "Lotus Crown is playing at Roby's in forty-five minutes!" he said.
This was enough to send me off the couch, into some pants, and out the door. I had never seen Lotus Crown live, but I love everything that Jimi Shields (singer, guitarist, and former member of the late Rollerskate Skinny) has done. Both Lotus Crown's Alvar Aalto EP (Throwrug, '96) and their album Chokin' on the Jokes (Reprise, '97) are brilliant works, although they did not receive nearly the amount of attention they deserve; this might be best illustrated by the fact that Reprise Records dropped them last year. Their plight did not stop there: This evening's show was entirely unadvertised, due to some severe treachery on the part of the very recently fired booking agent at Roby's. For me, though, it was a perfect chance for an interview. Without much of a crowd at the club, I knew that I would have the chance not only to have my mind turned to brightly colored pudding by the band's unique music, but also I would be able to tickle their brains for information. I got myself a vodka-and-tonic and walked to the back of the room, which was nearly pitch-dark except for the stage lights. On stage were two guitars, a drum machine, a small drum kit, two small amps, and a keyboard. Jimi Shields was standing around with the rest of his band in the elevated stage area, so I walked up and told him that I could not believe that the club's booking agent had screwed them way he had. He nodded and told me that it was okay; they were going to be trying out all new material that evening anyway. "How did you hear about this?" he asked, just as Rick and a few other people I knew came through the door. I explained the story just as they walked up. We all sat around talking until a dozen more people trailed into the club, and then the three of them got up on stage. "How many people want to hear Somewhere Over the Rainbow?" Jimi asked as he pulled his guitar's strap over his head; we all clapped and yelled out for them to go on. He started playing the first verse, mournful and hopeful, thick with clean guitar and his high, lazy voice.
He stopped one verse into it, almost sending me into catatonic shock. "I don't know the rest," he said, smiling at us. The power was restored, and they played on. After a small break, Jimi asked us if we were tired of them yet. We all denied it, urging them to go on. A fourth guy got onstage and picked up a guitar, and they started into Somewhere Over the Rainbow again; this time they made it to the chorus, where it suddenly jumped in tempo, changing from a lamentation to a mantra until the end.
They closed with one last song, the lights came on, and I got myself another glass of vodka. When I came back, their drummer was sitting with Rick and the rest of our group, talking about the trouble they have had in finding a new record label. I asked him if any of what they had played had been recorded, and he said that the new album was almost finished. Without a home for it, he said, they might have a long wait ahead of them before it will be heard by anyone. He grinned and pointed at the stage. "Nope," he said, "Jimi writes all of it. He's the genius." With this, the devil appeared, a drink in his hand. I realized that even though it was warm in the club, he had worn his brown knitted cap all through the set, even though I know that the lights on Roby's stage are both low and intensely hot. "Jimi," I asked, "Did you keep the new album as elemental and stripped-down as the show was tonight?" "No, this was much more stripped-down. The album has a lot of other stuff going on. What we did here was just practice; when we do bigger shows, there will be more people up there with us." Just then, the waitress came by and knocked a glass off of our table, sending liquor, ice and glass all over the floor. We all jumped out of the way. Jimi looked at the mess, then at me. "Now, we just need a label!" he said, smiling at the disaster before us. I drank to it all.
If there was ever a band whose familial connections should've brought it an instant hipster following, it'd have to be Lotus Crown (well, or Unbelievable Truth, but they actually have a following). They're led by Jimi Shields, former drummer for My Bloody Valentine and brother of that band's revered frontman Kevin Shields. This, their debut album, was also produced by Mercury Rev's Dave Fridmann, in his days before The Soft Bulletin made him an acid-drenched Phil Spector figure for the indie-rock circuit. Serendipitously enough, the band's music sounds basically like a charmed cross between post-Boces Mercury Rev and MBV: peppy arrangements that are half-psychedelic and half-buried in a curious mist of synths and furry guitars, melodies that are as catchy as they are technically rudimentary (if not always on-key), harmlessly zooted lyrics like "We are the keen needle sharp keepers," and production gimmicks galore. It takes a couple tries to understand the off-kilter structures of songs like "Circus, Circus," which uses acoustic guitar strumming mostly for atmosphere and lets a Pink Floyd-esque synth run the show instead, but Shields is creative enough to make it seem as though he has a point even when he's just being weird for weird's sake. True, there's some filler on here (the boring techno exercise "Beginnings"), but I cannot express how much I love "Swallow the Bee," which kicks off with a guitar construction as sublimely unhappy as Metallica's "One" and then builds on it with warbly drones, pitch-changed backing vocals, and an overall vibe of strained resignation. It's a vibe that Shields and his buddies are able to pinpoint with surprising reliability, even as they're giddy with the helium rush of plunking whimsical noises and tones down in the middle of their pop songs.
As of this writing, there are a bunch of copies of this album available for 75 cents each on half.com (plus the ridiculously high shipping fee half.com always tacks on), so why not pick one up and work on building this band the indie fanbase they deserve? If they're still together, that is... I haven't been able to find any information about their current status, and they haven't released anything since this album (1997). I hope they haven't disbanded, because Chokin' on the Jokes sounds like a warm-up to a masterpiece. Grade: A-
READER COMMENTS: | ||
Main Page
News
Biography
Discography
Lyrics
Images
Sounds
Reviews
Interviews
Links
Messageboard
|