90 DAY MEN

90 DAY MEN
TO EVERYBODY (2002)
320 KBPS

A good record by a band in the middle of an artistic transformation. Previously the 90DM did an okay job of rehashing the the indie rock post punk thing...you know...a little Sonic Youth, a smidge of the Lizard, a touch of Unwound, and and a dash of Circus Lupus thrown in for good measure...blah...blah.... While the afformentioned bands are fringe to most mainstream rock consumers, in the indie rock microscene they are completely generic. The 90 DM were one of too many young bands duplicating an easily identifiable sound that is made up of very narrow formula. But somewhere along the line the band found a piano player with a flair for the dramatic. This guy seems to have been listening to seventies prog. I'm not talking Can or Neu! though; I'm talking Kansas, and Styx and even Meatloaf's "Bat out of Hell". I've got a feeling he also knows his Rogers and Hammerstien songbook, too. Anyway this album is a bold artistic move for the pretentious indie rock world. They make some way out choices and for the most part its really intriguing and suceeds on its own terms. It's so nice for a band like this to transcend its own influences and find its own voice.

1. I've Got Designs On You
2. Last Night, A DJ Saved My Life
3. Saint Theresa In Ecstast
4. We Blame Chicago
5. Alligator
6. A National Car Crash
Bonus tracks
Too Late Or Too Dead EP (2003)
1. Too Late or Too Dead
2. Harlequin's Chassis
3. Eyes in the Road