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CD Reviews

Reviewer: Jeph Wager

Artist: Custom
Album: Fast,
Label: ARTISTdirect
Records

I don’t like the pop-rock that is being produced these days. It has a complete lack
of personality and uniqueness. In such a dark void, the mediocre shines brighter
than normal. That being the case, I find myself enjoying Custom’s debut album
more than I regularly would have.

When his first hit ‘Hey Mister’ started getting a lot of local airplay, I found his
voice to sound a bit contrived. The song has a chorus of children singing: “na na
na na na”: I was never really into choruses of children. By the time his second
song Beat Me started getting radio and TV attention and his first video had long
been banned for perceived sexism, I started giving him credit for writing catchy
songs. He's got a pop sensibility but doesn’t really restrict himself to playing
exactly the same songs as everyone else on the radio. Although you can hear the
influence of Brit-pop, Beck, and Cake, he has his own unique style. Actually, he
claims that the musician that most influenced him was the Notorious B.1.G., but
I don’t see how...at all. I should also mention that his lyrics need a lot of work.
Most of the songs read like teenage Goth poetry.

Overall, I enjoyed Custom’s album more than I enjoy admitting. He really cares
about what he’s doing, and he did a lot of work to attain the bit of success that he
has. I recommend it to those who are sick of Creed, Nickelback and Staind but
still don’t want to stray from the pop-rock genre.

Reviewer: Jeph Wager

Artist: Pariah Project
Album: Desolation EP
Label: Skeptic Records

I was a little worried from the band’s name and the cover design that I was about
to hear some Christian metal when I first put this EP in my discman. I have to
admit that that is not one of my favourite music styles, and I had never heard of
Pariah Project before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was pleased by the sounds
I heard in the opening of Reality, the first song on the disc. Several glitchy metal-
lic slices and dirty atmospherics bring about a dark and industrial vibe. Smooth
mixing and some warbly noises courtesy of DJ Splice segue into the rest of the
track.

The main instrumentation then takes on more of an ambient and jazzy trip-hop
feel. The production at times sounds somewhat akin to Esthero’s debut album. |
was very impressed by the music throughout. The drum programming was par-
ticularly effective, but there were also some great moments on cello and guitar.

I was disappointed by the vocals. Taryn Laronge’s voice, though well trained,
sounded more like something youd hear at Lilith Fair than over top of these mod-
ern beats. It would perhaps appeal to fans of the projects Sarah McLachlan did
with electronic musicians or perhaps even some PJ Harvey fans, but I really don’t
think that the music and vocals suited each other in any way.

I can for sure see some interesting things in the future for the members of this
band. They are all very talented at what they do. But I’m not so sure that they'll
find that success together.

september 18, 2002