Customer Reviews

I Want Some

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The gospel/garage/lo-fi sound of the make-up is not for the faint of heart. The music is raw and energetic, making it difficult to sit still while one listens. Miss Michelle Mae has mastered the art of the relatively simple but extremely infectious bassline, ably supported by Steve Gamboa's simmeringly tense backbeats. Canty uses his guitar like a paintbrush, laying it on thick where necessary or just adding a few drops here and there. However, the make-up's greatest strength lies in Ian Svenonius's amazingly deranged vocal stylings. This is a band that the listener either loves or hates. Svenonius has been compared alternately to James Brown and a strangled cat. The truth probably lies somewhere in between, but I will guarantee that you will never hear anything else like this amazingly unique voice. Svenonius's ragged falsetto periodically breaks off into an almost inhuman burst of howls and squeals, ranging up far higher than most humans are cabable of. Don't believe it? Try it for yourself. While you are at it, do yourself a favor and give this band a listen. If you can't stand the singing, maybe you should be looking for something more along the lines of "the wallflowers", or "mariah carey", or "the dave matthews band"--or any other band for whom music is a formula rather than a manifesto.

ok this is for the converted, great mix of rare early material that is out of print mixed with a few very well put together tracks from scattered singels over the last few years, this disk captures there early dissent into gosple punk and winds up with the sound that is very in mass mind . A must have, for us children of the revolution, pick it up and tell every one you know to go get it today! Q.

My fave by Make Up. A truly godly singles comp. It gets a round of applaw... The first five tracks alone make this worth the price.

Just adding my 15 cents. This was one of my fave bands, and is one of my favorite albums. It makes manual labor (hell, labor or anything else) of all sorts go nicely. Painting, washing dishes, running, working out, whatever... Great party album to boot, albeit only for a certain type of crowd...

Imagine James Brown as a skinnny white guy (with great hair), tucked into some kind of freaked out DIY socialist musical collective consisting of a unimposing but stellar drummer, a truly statuesque and low-end gifted babe of a bass player (yesyesyes, the interminable broken record: damnthatbassplaya's FOINE!) and a sublimely versatile guitarist/minimalist on keys. The singer- he whimpers, shouts, screams, chortles, keens, croons, pouts, simpers and ties you up tight with the scraps from the lil black dress of soul. A Great time.

This is funky and soulful as hell. This rocks. This rolls. The reason most people don't like and won't get this band: they (the band, not the people) defy categorization.

The lyrics are utterly bizarre (check the titles) and are delivered with such feeling and puissance, they take you by surprise and make you laugh, smile, groove. Svenonious is beyond being self-conscious; when his vocal rips up into the high stratosphere spyplane/soprano-orgasm octaves... It'll catch you off- and put you back on. The bass and drums are tight, and the explosive/jangly guitars and occasional organs n keys n stuff: fill in the sound nicely.

Now then, a caveat: I tend to go for music that either pulls you into the room or sends you out wailing and cupping your hands to your ears. This album falls into that category. Yes, it transecnds the hype (for a change)... Not for the light-hearted, BUT. If you dig The Faint, Al Green, the MC5, The Stooges, Sloan, Prince... you may find that you dig this. If you're in the know, then you're just probably listening to it now and nodding.

The lead singer of the Make Up, Ian Svenonius, is the new James Brown (or Prince?). When he sceams 'Owww! ', you'd swear it was Prince, circa "Purple Rain". His voice is wonderfully raw and strong - I can easily imagine the band live. The songs themselves are excellent gems of beat, bass and keyboard - they 'groove' in a deep, delightful way. This CD is a great lead-in to their latest release, "Save Yourself". Quite simply, the Make-up are groovy!

On paper this band looks great: DC hipsters whose tongues are never too far out of their collective cheeks throw soul, crazed leftist rants, funk and 60's garage rock into an eclectic mixer set on liquidate. Unfortunately like Ian Svenonius' previous band Nation Of Ulysses, the manifesto is far more interesting than the recorded music. On cd these guys are simply not able to play up to their pretentions. In other words they come across as stiff dilettantes making shtick out of their influences with selfconscious and arch abandon. And worst of all the rhythm section sometimes doesn't stay in the pocket, they don't click. Live Make Up at their best were powerful, tight musically and funny, on this recording their instrumental and vocal weaknesses are ofttimes thrown into sharp relief. Whether or not this is a consequence of how the music was recorded is up to debate, but live they were better. The comparisons of Ian Svenonius to Prince and/or James Brown were I hope tongue in cheek. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I suppose. The problem with Make Up is largely one of intent. They sound like an ironic art project more times than a real band. Which can be ok but they often fall short of amusing, let alone soulfull. Fine if you like postmodern irony, just don't expect to dance.

'I Want Some' is a 21 song compilation of Make Up's first several releases, avant-garde, brash, with a sound wound-up like a ball of rubberbands. Just think a more funkier sounding Can without the experimentalism, a touch of The Velvet Underground's meandering cyclical style, the lo-fi sounds of early Pavement, and any garage-rock band from the 70's. The Can comparisons don't end there as Ian Svenonious' vocals resemble the strained rants of Malcolm Mooney. Alright, we're not talking weighty subject matter here with such lyrical gems like 'We're having a baby and what are we gonna do?' and 'Should I keep my motorcycle grey?' But the underlying DIY-ish sincerity in the vocals (almost like a soulful take on punk) is an interesting compliment to the fusion of the avante-garde, garage-rock, and rhythmic grooves of funk. Svenonious won't exactly be hailed as the next Bob Dylan, but along with tight songs, energy and tension, there are also some interesting and creative twists in the music. James Brown meets Krautrock. Who would've thought the combination would work.

All these were released as seven inchers (45's) on vinyl. Every one of these songs kick serious bootie, whereas with a Make Up album you get a few duds. This is the first Make Up album to get if you have no turn table and want something that gives you a sampling of their various phases. Garage rock, soul, and psychedelia. It's all here.

As far as Svenonious goes, the singer is adored and loathed by many. He is not a luke warm singer. He is hilarious on stage, and exudes a wierd frenzied power on the crowd. He is simultaneously ugly and gorgeous. I happen to think he sounds great on every one of these songs.

Also, the lyrical content is usually never quite as simple as it first seems.
I think alot of people were confused or frightened by their christian sounding songs. Some higher thinking was required to see just how brilliant they were.

Live, Svenonious and company are tight and out of sight...except when it is too hot and the crowd is on pot.

Svenonious and Michelle Mae are now in Wierd War. The Make Up are no more I hear.

A guy I work with was playing this CD last night and I was struck by how interesting the music was. An awkward white-boy funk that falls somewhere between the Dead Milkmen and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The keyboards add an especially unique sound. If this were an all-instrumental band, I'd enjoy it quite a bit.

The problem is, the lead singer sounds like a strangled cat. His idea of getting his emotions out is by squealing and screaming at piercing levels. He has no soul...not in the musical sense, anyway. I laughed when I read the reviews comparing him to Prince and James Brown. Puh-leeze. I can appreciate lo-fi garage, but this is ridiculous.

Two stars for the music, negative stars for the vocals. Fire the lead singer and regroup.

The album is the bible to mod rock. The lyrics are catchy and they preach to the listening audience. If you own any of the Make-Up's older CD's you will be blown away by this album. The band has progressed from a raw beat-punk sound to a collective gospel soul. The use of organ-like keyboard effects, soulful bass and the voice of the preacher are amazing.

...I want some (or all) of my money back. I can't possibly fathom why Ian Svenonious has been compared to James Brown or Prince. His weak, strangeled vocals are exceedingly irritating- he has no lung power. He sounds like an anemic white guy doing a bad impersonation (karyoke-style) of someone with soul. Make-up is one of a slew of bands expirementing with juxtaposing several seemingly disparate music styles ( in their case psychedelic pop/gospel/R&B- others have claimed that there is punk in there too but I can't find it) for kitsch value. For some bands it works (like early Blues Explosion) but this Make-up doesn't blend and you're left with base face. They are a novelty group that is far too contrived and image concerned to even be amusing. In other words, hipsters will most likely lap this up but be forewarned if you are not just looking for the next buzzword band.