Published on Apr 17, 1998
The Wire comparisons have been beaten to the ground by now. In
case you don’t know anything about the band Elastica, they
generated much publicity when they swiped a guitar tab off the 70s
punkish band Wire and used it for their hit song, “Connection”.
Bands like Elastica and Rancid, who have waned storms of Clash
comparisons, make an art form off of a sample. Sure, you can
bastardize a band, like what Bush does to Nirvana or No Doubt does
to Bow-Wow-Wow, but it takes a truely talented band to come up with
a totally original sound, out of someone else’s work.
Credit Elastica for knowing how to write a hook.
Elastica is packed with them. Bands can sample other bands
all they want, but when it comes down to it, if the band doesn’t
have the talent to come up with an original hook, they’re shit out
of luck. It helps that Elastica can come up with a bubblegum ditty
like “Car Song” and “Line Up”. Much help is due to the duling
guitar musicianship of Donna Matthews and Justine Frischmann.
Frischmann also has another trump card she uses throughout
Elastica: her voice. Though she may sing in a monotone, she
has a damn sexy voice that never seems to get boring after repeated
listens. True to punk form,
Elastica has 16 supurb examples of hard edged brit pop and
clocks in at about 40 minutes. Get in, get a hook started, sing the
verse and hop on to the next song.
Elastica oozes with attitude. Aside from Frischmann’s pouty
voice, drummer Justin Welch and former bassist Annie Holland
provide an effective rhythm section. It’s an album full of guilty
pleasures. A type of album you put on while you’re driving to a
party in a rented tux. You may be falt broke, but you’re “macking”
it for the moment. Songs that go along with this mood include the
superficial “Car Song” and the sway-like groove of “Hold Me
Now”.
The mood does turn to dark towards the end of the album. The
most poingant song on the album, “Never Here” tells the story of a
relationship that is crashing due to stagnation. “Too much TV and
curry, too much time spent on ourselves,” Frischmann sings. Towards
the end, she accuses her boyfriend of ignoring her by singing, “You
were far too busy writing rhymes that didn’t scan.” Most
heartbreaking is when she turns the blame on herself by altering
that line to, “I was far too busy writing rhymes that’ll never
scan.”
The bouncy rockers and the personal confessions come to a train
wreck in the song, “Stutter”. That’s Elastica’s brightest spot on
their album. The topic of the song is enough to make most males
turn down volume:impotence. But the hook and the chorus are so damn
catchy, you can’t help but crank the volume as Frischmann sneers,
“Is it something you lack/while I’m flat on my back/Is there
something that I can do for you?”
Hard to believe, but it’s been about four years since the band
unleashed this album onto the public. With Holland gone and
Frischmann making repeated changes for the new album, you wonder if
that band may be suffocating on the pressure of following up an
excellent album that did indeed break a few musical barriers. Even
if the band were to break up now,
Elastica is enough of a testament to leave for the 90s. A
mixture of good time rockers and moody come-down songs,
Elastica is like a soundtrack to a really good all night
party.