Customer Reviews

Gimmie Trouble

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Adult. is one of the most interesting bands on the planet. They started their own label ten years ago. They created music that was uncompromising. Music by John Foxx and Tuxedomoon influenced their early records. They tour with trendy bands like The Faint. They ended up collaborating with Death in Vegas, and creating an international interest. Somehow a few years ago they got lumped in the Electroclash thing. After a few years of being unsatisfied with that they signed with a new label and set upon doing a new sort of music. They gained one more member in the band. Sam Consiglio was in the band Tamion. So it was a trio. They were at least 33% coming from a new place. Now they actually had guitars. A little listen to this new record confirms that this band has nothing to do with Electroclash and any trendy retro revival. The record does recall the No Wave scene and early LA punk. The songs are intricate and complex. Adult. Has become more able with three members. From their early days where they hardly played anything live to now, it is remarkable. Their live show is dynamic. This is their most together album. It is meant to be listened to as a whole. This is a band that is taking risks. It is an amazing journey.

Upon the first time hearing this CD, I was ready to absolutely be rid of it and sell it to a used cd store for credit. Often my method of discovery involves either researching what I buy or going strictly by the aesthetic/song descriptions of a band; this often proves frustrating, but when it works its an amazing feeling. With Adult. I was using the latter method and thus didn't research them at all...so when to my surprise the music was a very cold and distant 80's sounding synthpop, I was naturally dismayed.

Yet upon further listens I realized that no, it really wasn't quite the like crappy Devo/"irony party" music I originally wrote it off as being. For that is absolutely the farthest thing from what could possibly be said to describe them...this album is absolutely menacing in its detachment. If I were to amalgamate the impression Adult. gives me is that if you took the musical detachment of Autechre (though not with the clicks/etc) and combined it with an almost un-human female pitch, wrapped it all up with the kind of dark ambivalence that the Van Der Graaf Generator permeates almost every album of theirs (even the tormented/anguished sound of the singer in Adult. reminds me of Hammill) & were to coat it in swaths of less simmering/coked-out syth-pop rhythms of the Venetian Snares, then i'd say thats about where Adult.(with this release anyways)has landed in their sound.

A hugely dark and difficult album, but one that i'd say you should always give more than one spin.

Some call it electroclash, others call it nu punk, I call it Adult. This is my first album by this band, and I like many of the songs. I wouldn't say that this is a five star album, but it certainly gets a strong ok. The music is pretty cool, and the female vocals have that punk chick vibe that makes them stand out as a truly original band. My only complaint is that after a while, some of the songs start to boar me.

Like their contemporaries (Ladytron, Le Tigre), Adult. hate the word Electroclash. Hate it. In fact, they despise it so much that member Nicola Kuperus will probably turn you into a subject for her murderous "still-life" photographs if you mention it to her backstage. Or perhaps you enjoy waking to the sound of hedge clippers severing your spinal cord?

The fear of this ever-looming stigma has served the band well: Gimmie Trouble is their most thoroughly developed and fleshed-out album to date. Though Adult. still revel in their distinctive detached thoughts and nervous energy -- a combination of the behaviors you might witness from a Trekkie in the presence of Shatner or a prison yard at the sight of a female visitor -- their sound is... different. Fortunately, it's a change for the better.

The band's production -- once overtly digital, even robotic -- now drips with a fresh coat of warm organics, in part due to the presence of guitarist Sam Consiglio (until now, Adult. was Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller). Drum machines, chirping percussion and dirty synths still run rampant, but they're coupled with a decent helping of six-string guitar and barely processed bass. With this providential marriage, Adult. freely explores a broad range of dynamics, colors and songwriting techniques. For example, they open "Thought I Choked" with a slinking, non-tonal modular synth loop, and join it with an even slinkier bass guitar line and Consiglio's Bauhaus-aping four-note guitar-work. As the track develops, they modulate each of these elements into a living, growing organism, holding it in thrall with Kuperus's increasingly fevered message: "cracked and broke / you thought I choked / could happen today, not tomorrow, not Sunday at noon / not telling, not saying / I might do to you."

This brings us to another contrast with previous Adult. albums: Kuperus's vocals. Her treated monotone is all but replaced here by a dry performance style, which gives her more of an opportunity to explore her abilities as a performer. And explore she does: her technique is a survey of the history of non-singing post-punkers. Her performance ranges from operatic diva to carnival barker to cartoonish mouse to psychotic metal vixen to Mae West -- and that's over the course of a single song! Her agitation and deliberate lack of melody can be offputting, if not downright weird, and though it may never grow on you, it's captivating. She's frightening and engaging all at once -- the sort of vocalist you can't ignore.

With regards to his and Adult.'s home town, Detroit, DJ Juan Atkins once mentioned that you have to dream up your own future to escape the bleakness. Adult. have not only done this -- again -- but have now completely transcended the "E" word that so many listeners liked to force upon them. Gimmie Trouble reminds us that Adult. don't sound like anyone else... Not even themselves.

This album does nothing but borrow from obvious sources and does not manage to do so with any originality. New guitarist, Samuel Consiglio was a member of Tamion 12 inch, another band on the Adult. run label Ersatz Audio.Tamion released an album last year called Let's Suffer and is by far a better listen and a good reference point for where Adult's so-called 'new' direction came from. Nicola Kuperus' new vocal style is a lame imitation of Tamion 12 inch vocalist Kerry Biernot/B kerry. Save your money & check out Les Georges Leningrad or other bands on the Ersatz Audio website.

I've never heard anything like that before and this album is quite different from all the stuff they did before, at least from a musical perspective. But they didn't really changed for me, the cold mood and creepy atmosphere is still omnipresent, stronger than ever.

I think they probably got sick from the trendy electroclash scene, which I think the era is now over. The band evolved to a new level but didn't loss any of their integrety. This is pure creativity and they are obviously not trying to make money out of this release. I think they rather unconsciously produced something that will be remembered for a long time.

This album might not be as accesible as their previous material, which were not really accesible neither, but this one is even weirder. I can't even find the words to describe it. Just to give you an idea how much I love it, I've listened to this album at least 30 times in 2 weeks after buying it.

They started to take a curve with their previous EP D.U.M.E. and they only changed for the best. They also became a trio with the guitarist from Tamion 12 Inch, Sam Consiglio. Too bad if they loss some fans, they just didn't get it. Adult. have never been for the weak natures anyways and you better have an open mind to catch their innovative sound and pure energy.

If you are looking for something new to catch up with the music evolution, this is the best buy you could make.

Take a look at the cover and the pictures in the booklet, isn't it peculiar? They definitely came from another planet...

During that regrettable "electroclash" craze a while back, many considered Detroit's Adult. (yes, they want you to notice the period) to be central figures in the movement. While they definitely had a lot of the elements of the style (i.e., sythesized and proud-of-it music, detached, ironic vocals, a general air of chilliness) they were a lot brighter than the average scenester. While singer/photographer/all around mastermind Nicola Kuperis was every inch the hipster, the extent to which she and bandmate Adam Lee Miller tended to every last iota of their presentation put them above and beyond the here-today-gone-tomorrow crowd. Of course, while their past albums were definitely loads of twisted fun, there seemed to be someting missing. Sure, they intended their music to sound thin and mechanical, but that made it hard for them to command people's attention. With "Gimme Trouble," they've finally taken it to the next level, as the cliche goes. Our little scenesters have finally grown up!

The addition of guitarist Samuel Consiglio is the most noticeable change; the songs sound more full-bodied, and freakier and noisier as well. The album sounds generally like early Cabaret Voltaire mating with "Faith"-era Cure (the bass line from "In My Nerves" is a close cousin to "Primary") while the love child of John Lydon and Siouxsie Sioux rants and wails up front. Okay, those references might date me a little, but I swear it's pretty accurate. Discordant treated guitar and the aforementioned bass makes their synth and beats even weirder than before, though things are as mechanistic as ever. Kuperis' vocals are also stepped up a few notches. Her eccentric delivery is so over the top here she could mske new wave divas like Lene Lovich and Nina Hagen seem like underacheivers. Naturally, she stays away from sincerity as much as possible, as well as any other identifiable human emotion, unless you count sneering as an emotion. "I'm at my best when I obsess," she howls on "Still Waiting." On "Lovely Love" her idea of pillow talk is "you're so pretty as boiling blood." That gives you an idea where she's coming from, and it ain't the land of emo.

On the last album she sang "wouldn't it be nice to go to a party and be the only one there?" "Gimme Trouble" will probably clear out a few rooms, so I guess that's a big mission accomplished. That's okay, though; now that all of the trendspotters have moved on, that leaves more room for the rest of us.

I loved Resucitation. Anxiety Always,though different,a decent follow up. But......Gimme Trouble leaves me wishing I had taken the trouble to invest in some sure things in the dollar bin.

As other reviews have suggested,if you are looking for a far more superior live show,a better take on a siouxsie/x-ray spex-style rant,see Tamion 12"(if not now defunct due to C.Samuel joining Adult.)I saw them open up for Adult. and Electronicat at the Knitting Factory and they could easily have been the headlining act. I currently saw them in three piece form (Tamion was a three piece) and it seemed as though not only did they take C.Samuel with them, but attempted the confrontational and vocal stylings of Tamions own B.Kerry with them. Adult. unlike old labelmates: Magas, Tamion 12 inch, and Goudron have just become another part of the machine. Not punk.

I consider myself worldly in taste, I have followed the music scene since the late 70's. Yeah that's right, I'm a fossil. Among other bands I have followed Adult. closely and enjoyed them throughout the years. I have seen them on tour and followed the birth of other Ersatz Audio bands such as Magas and the much mentioned Tamion 12 inch. I have to say I feel this album is either a case of flattery or a lame attempt to rip off another band. I saw Tamion 12 inch open up for Adult. in Detroit and New York and they were what Adult. became. Not to mention they were playing guitars long before Adult. The vocals of Tamion's B Kerry are by far superior to Nikola's sub standard wailing. I have been in the music business for years and I know a sham when I see one. Very disappointing. Flush this one down Helen Bach's toilet!