Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Landis - The Water's Electric

(Drive-In/Siladi, 1998)

Another hunk o' indiepop with distortion, buried vocals, and some lo-fi-MBV guitarblasts, a formula pulled off far more effectively (and with better melodies) by countless American bands throughout the ’90s. Based on the evidence here, defunct Michigan musictootlers Landis on a good day would’ve rated as Slumberland C-listers earlier in the decade. Sure, there are far worse things to be than that, of course, but just know ye well that this dinky one-sided (NOW COME ON, GUYS!) 7” isn’t anything particularly special or memorable. Prime dollar bin fodder.

And hey, not to change the subject, but let’s change the subject. Am I crazy, or does the part in Alice Cooper’s “Elected” right before the line “We’re gonna win this one, take the country by storm” sound a WHOLE LOT like the dramatic bit leading into “The highway’s jammed with broken heroes…” in “Born to Run”?! This has been weighing heavily on me, what with Cooper having blatted his biz first.

1 comment:

Donald Brown said...

I don't really hear it, re: Boss and the Coop. I mean, it's a similar break, and the drums are reminiscent, but the Coop's doesn't crescendo the way Bruce's does, to my ears. Anyway, it's not close enough for copyright infringement, though there may be an argument that "Born to Run" as proposed state anthem for New Jersey fed off the sense of civic pride in "Elected."