Margot and the Nuclear So and So's

from Rock Music Review (www.rockmusicreview.com)

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s (website / MySpace)
The Dust of Retreat (2005)
Reviewed by Andrew Malott (link)

Indiana’s best kept secret is quickly becoming a household name. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s have been touring like crazy, getting airplay across the pond (they recently had a song featured on a BBC special), talking with record labels in New York, and even finding time to work on a new album. While their live show is nothing short of amazing, their fast route to success is closely tied with the extremely professional and enjoyable quality of their debut album The Dust of Retreat.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s deftly combine sounds of folky acoustic guitar, driving electric guitar, smooth cello, and catchy piano to create a wonderfully unique sound. Singer/songwriter Richard Edwards, formerly of the band Archer Avenue, continues his trend of unbeatable vocal melodies paired with poignant lyrics. While Archer Avenue’s album I Was an Astronaut will break your heart if it’s not already broken, Margot’s Dust will make you realize that there are more beautiful things in life to be concerned with than love. Themes like the bitterness of life and loss of childhood innocence are prominent throughout, but instead of drowning in minor keys and drop-tuned guitars, Richard leans toward the more subdued, introspective end of the spectrum. Rather than wallow in the sadness, he finds beauty in the grays and browns of urban life.

The first two tracks “A Sea Chanty of Sorts” and “On a Freezing Chicago Street” pass by without a big, catchy chorus, but they are no less important in their own right, nor are they altogether without any hooks to speak of. Both are exemplary of Richard’s uncanny ability to write songs that are catchy and undeniably pop, but unique enough to be called indie. The fourth track “Quiet as a Mouse” stands out in that it is the only song on the album to feature a truly rocking chorus. Distorted power chords and soaring vocal melodies are a nod back to Richard’s days with Archer Avenue. You’ll be humming it for weeks.

Songs like “Jen Is Bringin’ the Drugs” and “A Light on a Hill” are wonderful showcases for Richard’s singer/songwriter roots. With lyrics like “Love is an inkless pen / It’s a tavern, it’s sin / It’s a horrible way to begin,” he’s no stranger to the loved-and-lost formula, but he avoids it and only hints at subjects other singers might have come right out and said. Richard’s use of metaphor is both highly romanticized and mysterious; he leaves out the details for the listener to fill in. On “Vampires in Blue Dresses,” “Barfight Revolution / Power Violence,” and “Skeleton Key,” the band really gets a chance to have some fun; they serve as a great contrast to the quieter, pensive mood of some of the other tracks like “Dress Me Like a Clown” and “Talking in Code.” With jingling bells and a sweet, descending piano melody, the final song “Bookworm” brings the album to a satisfying close.

Technically, the album represents a watermark for producer Tyler Watkins, who is also the bassist of the band. Every track is easy to listen to with an even frequency spectrum and balanced highs and lows. The loud parts are loud and rocking, while the softer parts have just the right amount of compression to bring out the intricacies of the performance while still retaining enough dynamic sway. Tyler worked well with the band, filling in each song with a fitting arrangement, dense and active on “Barfight Revolution” yet sparse and gentle on “Dress Me Like a Clown.” A few detractions prevent this album from scoring slightly higher: the abundant room reverb on the trumpet in “Quiet as a Mouse” and the dry vocal overdubs on “A Light on a Hill,” both of which may have just been creative decisions but ultimately sound awkward and terribly out of place.

The talented musicians of Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s have a bright future ahead of them with a great debut album to boot. It will be a shame if future listeners, lured in by the band’s ever increasing popularity, never have the pleasure of hearing this album. It will be an even bigger shame if the band’s sound is waxed over by the suits of the recording industry in hopes of making even more money. Hopefully Richard and the band have enough wits about them to keep their musical integrity in highest priority as they start to show up on the big scene.

9.0 / 10.0

The precise reason that religion is bullocks

Recently, the Catholic church has been debating the possibility of doing away with the concept of limbo. For the uninitiated, this is the realm in which unbaptized but innocent souls (like babies or those who lived before Jesus did his thing) go when they die; not quite heaven and not quite hell. Its etymology is of Latin descent, from limbus, and it originally meant the border of hell. This was a great concept to sedate the minds of the earthly survivors, who feared that their lost loved ones were suffering in an eternal sea of fire.

Now it seems that this age-old theory is about to be debunked -- by the same group of people who devised it centuries ago. The good ol' boys of the Catholic church have been gathering up in their tree house to determine what to do about the situation. Their former ring leader Pope John Paul even expressed his own desire to remove the concept of limbo from the church before he died. What's going to replace it? Maybe babies who die during childbirth do go to hell.

The fact that these guys can just decide to do away with a concept like, oh, where someone's soul goes when he or she dies, is just the kind of thing that helps shatter the very foundation of their credibility. If there is a god, he's probably looking on and laughing at all of his silly little Catholics, rewriting this and modifying that until life is easy to live again. It's a simple fact that times change and so do standards; thankfully, the Bible changes too. I'm sure if you wait around long enough, it will eventually change enough to fit your standards too. That seems to have been the motto of any significant church movement in recorded history: Don't like what they teach? Rewrite it.

Remember that election a year ago, when a country's faith in a presidential candidate was shaken because of an indecisive streak? The church is no different, except it's been changing its mind for almost two thousand years. How can something be true if all it takes is a meeting with couple of stodgy old guys to change it every now and then on a whim?

If next year they claimed that hell doesn't exist, would Catholics the world over believe and accept it?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051130/od_nm/pope_limbo_dc