The
Metrolites' For the People
draws inspiration from a wide range of music composed during the
1950s and '60s - a time when America was obsessed with space
travel, the atomic bomb, and especially the motion picture.
On their second album, the Metrolites integrate themes and sounds from low-budget crime movies such as Diabolik (on "Diabolik Kriminal"), spaghetti westerns ("K Is for Kafka"), Japanese kaiju films such as Godzilla ("All Giant Monsters Attack Tokyo"), and spy flicks ("Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Spy").
Around the same time that those genres were popular, circuit-based instruments such as the Theremin and Moog flourished along with percussives from Brazil, Africa, and the Caribbean. Capitalizing on trends hip and fashionable at the time, new styles of exotica and space-age pop enabled Americans to take auditory vacations without leaving the secure surroundings of their suburban bachelor pads.
For the People incorporates these same themes and styles with differing levels of success. "Giant Hula Monster" opens with the Theremin - a notoriously finicky instrument that's difficult to play - as it whimpers and teases with evocative sensuality before dissolving behind the suave masculinity of a saxophone.
"Cocktails on the Planet of the Apes" kicks off with the metallic tones of a vibraphone resonating amidst enchanting rhythms. The song builds into a frantic pulse as screeches and bird caws trigger a response in the listener's imagination as if some ominous creature were lurking in the jungle, waiting to pounce.
"Giant Hula Monster" and "Cocktails on the Planet of the Apes" are not only fun listens, but they make sense as instrumentals. Not all of For the People is this successful. Sometimes, the music doesn't convey the appropriate aspects of the genre.
Our collective unconscious has been molded to respond to certain sounds in a predictable manner. Like Pavlov's dog, we salivate when we hear the dinner bell ring. Composers consider this when scoring films or writing theme songs.
In "All Giant Monsters Attack Tokyo," for instance, a rolling bass line and persistent drumming zip by like James Bond in hot pursuit of Goldfinger. However, the title suggests a passage that should crescendo into a climactic sequence where monstrous creatures demolish a metropolis.
Any miscalculation in instrumentation or tempo can have unfortunate results. If the dinner bell is replaced with a funeral gong, the dog may wander confused, uncertain how to react. "All Giant Monsters Attack Tokyo" is a pleasant enough listen, but it does not sound anything like giant monsters attacking Tokyo.
When it comes to film scores, it's often the case that the scores themselves are better-known than the films in which they appear. Just about everybody can hum a few bars of "The Pink Panther Theme" without having ever seen A Shot in the Dark.
Ennio Morricone may not be a household name, but his music is easily recognizable and unmistakable. Morricone provided scores for numerous spaghetti westerns during the 1960s including A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly; and For a Few Dollars More.
"K Is for Kafka" captures the themes Morricone is famous for. It's a relatively short song - less than two minutes - but packs a powerful punch. It comes equipped with rattlesnake buzzings, twanging guitar licks, and a laid-back fuzzy saxophone. "K Is for Kafka" drives along with sonic road signs that mark the way to the Old West.
While exotica is lighthearted and fun by nature, For the People is at times overly clever. On the album's cover, the Metrolites - Scott Morschhauser, Kathleen Gallagher, Devin Kirby-Hansen, Josh Duffee, and Neal Smith - stand stoically staring into the future. Against an ominous communist-red background, the members are holding a jumbled assortment of incongruous objects: a stalk of wheat, a martini glass, a plastic baby doll, a laboratory flask, and a bomb (or is it a cocktail shaker?).
Along with punny song titles such as "Banana Republique" and "Old Fascist Gal," the album artwork makes For the People seem a bit goofy at times. It runs dangerously close to being dismissed as novelty.
While there's nothing wrong with a fun romp in the aural jungle gym of exotica and space-age pop, these genres came about in a time when there was a genuine fear of what technology might let loose on society. It's the numbers on For the People written with sincerity that make for the best listens.
"High School Friends" is a story about a girl who is ostracized for her appearance: "She was a high school nerd / Always seen but seldom heard." The song is infused with some much-needed emotional depth. The vocals start off controlled, but as the guitar stomps and screams, goading the singer, the lyrics splinter into a snarling, twisted stream of icy spite. The irony surrounding the word "friends" isn't lost, but neither is it contrived, which makes for one of the album's best offerings.
The Metrolites will play a CD-release party at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 1, at the Redstone Room in downtown Davenport. Cover is $5. For more information on the Metrolites, visit (http://www.metrolites.com).
Culley Smith runs a local music Web site at (http://www.theairstrange.com).
