The evidence is back from the lab, and it looks like the bubblegum party is back on the underbelly. This time though, it's got a little fuzz in it and the sweet semblance of it's peachy pleasantry that Milk 'n' Cookies, Justin Trouble and the rest of what the Glam spill-over brought us is raked over with more granular sounds, but retain the same blithe and gloriously empty lyrical content. With bands popping up like, Tuff Bananas, whose debut single is due out this week on Three Dimensional Records, and the resurfacing of NoBunny, whose been at it for years, we realize that under the gristle of everyday living, there's the gooey center, and that although it may be spiked with razors, at least it tastes like sugar. Featuring members of conversely sounding bands like Catholic Boys and The Tears, Tuff Bananas give their songwriting credits to their dog, Benny Boonana, keeping in line with the traditional winsome approach to composition in the bubblegum arena. Yet still, they do it with a spiney edge that makes it something completely new---dog or no dog. This Saturday at The Vault in Milwaukee, Tuff Bananas will take the stage with some of Wisconsin's most interesting bangers, Terrior Bute and The Kind of Jazz Music that Kills.
Terrior Bute's debut last summer certainly shook up the ground floor of the bootless tech schtick with roboticly barking and orotund vocals, and keytars that hum with a thick and gyral sneer as if you were stuck in some sort of alternate universe in the belly of an outdated video game. Also making an appearance from Milwaukee, The Kind of Jazz Music That Kills completely leave any preconception of what a band with a violin, sax and the occasional accordion might sound like in the bag. Without coming off like some Vaudevillian nightmare, they bring us to the realization that no instrument is lame in of itself, and in the mash of more customary instrumentation in rock'n'roll acts, they seem to add a layer of weird and eerie tones that instantly go from droning simpatico to pandemonium, leaving you with the coolness of Jazz music, but without the uncomfortable polyester turtlenecks.
