Sky Cries Mary
Fresh Fruit for the Liberation
World Domination
Seattle’s original space rockers, whose accomplishments include being the first band ever to broadcast a real time concert on the Internet, have put forth a new collection of sonic mood makers and mind-bending soundscapes. On Fresh Fruit for the Liberation, Anisa and Roderick Romero, the first couple of husband and wife musical teams, pull one white rabbit after another out of their large black hat. As each emerges, we gasp in amazement and wonder where it came from. So it is from the first industrial bang, clank and drone of “Bath House” that runs freely downhill into “Goodbye Horse,” as experimental a tune as you’ll find this side of the asylum door. “Where Does it End… “ segues seamlessly into “Well, Where Does it Begin,” an acid ramble in excess of 10 minutes in length that resembles the soundtrack to a nightmare from which the sleeper finds he cannot awaken. Dense with soundbites from every facet of pop culture (that often cannot be distinguished from Roderick and Anisa’s actual vocal stylings), the subconscious aural architecture will rouse memories of long forgotten disquietude, like the childhood illness lost in the fever dream. Yet it is all strangely familiar and comforting, particularly the narcotic dub reworking of the Stones’ “2000 Light Years from Home” and yet another remix of their eastern motif dance hit, “Every Iceberg is Afire” (this one is, appropriately, the Titanic mix). That both of these songs appeared on earlier albums can be forgiven. Turn on, Tune in, Trip out.
