Two albums and six years are spent in relative obscurity, mixing sizzling rhythm with cold-sweat tension. Then "art-punk" gets the call-up for tomorrow's headlines, and Exitheuxa breaks GoGoGo Airheart so instantly and to such immense proportions you'd think they were from New York (and you'd almost be right). Meanwhile, all the band's loyal first-generation fans have to say to the flavor-of-the-month fashionistas is, "What took you so long?" because they already knew what the rest of the world is just figuring out now. To some bands, this "dance" thing is a "movement"; to GoGoGo Airheart, it's just one of many genres that could be foisting them into the rock 'n' roll spotlight. It's a flavor like any other-- post-punk, electro, they even got some pop chops.
Wait... did somebody say "reissues"? Sure enough, Los Angeles' groundbreaking Gold Standard Laboratories label has answered the call, effectively offering a second chance to anyone who missed the band's 1997 self-titled debut or 1998 follow-up, Love My Life, Hate My Friends, during their brief run on Vinyl Communications. It's a move that bespeaks great conviction on the part of GSL to back this band-- and fortunately, it's warranted. Even though Airheart's debut feels a bit raw in comparison to their subsequent accomplishments, Love My Life still stands as their best work to date. More importantly, though, the scope of these two albums shows just how much ground the band can be expected to cover in the future: the San Diego boys covered a sick amount of ground on these two records, careening recklessly, but determinedly, through genres and styles.
The hazy minimalism of their debut is light-years removed from the nervous grooves of last year's widely championed Exitheuxa, in spite of the fact that both "November, November" and "Something Else" found a place on both discs. But, due in part to the extraterrestrial engineering of "noise terrorist" Spacewurm, GoGoGo Airheart play up an icy, electronic emptiness broken intermittently by low-frequency transmissions from outside the solar system. Some of the intercepted signals are revelatory, like the ominous red alert threat of "Community, Continuity, Insecurity" or the smiling synthstrumental, "Distance", hinting at things to come; others, like the shambling tangle of assorted percussion on "Elgin Marbles", should have been jammed outright.
Elsewhere, the static hiss and vibe of "Untitled", "Positions Are Not Popular", and especially the near-nonexistent "Chemistry in the U.S.A." serve no Earthly purpose apart from interference-- at best, they marginally enhance the album's cohesion by contributing to its wholesale disjointedness. From an album standpoint, GSL's decision to remove four cuts from the original tracklist (they inexplicably kept the terrible filth of "Holiday") makes it a marked improvement on the Vinyl Communications edition, but even so-- and despite its occasional inspiring peaks-- the only thing holding GoGoGo Airheart together is nerve, and even that doesn't always do the trick.
In retrospect, GoGoGo Airheart seems just a test; by Love My Life, they're a tight-knit, fully operational unit with a feel for their boundaries and actual vision. The brutal swagger of "No Language Before Its Time" fades in from the distance, setting the prevailing tone early on: one of vague, indiscernible malice. The shallow rush of the snares and pulsing bass collide with shrieking-yet-restrained guitar lines, leaving behind nothing but jittery paranoia. And as it turns out, that's the mood that dominates the proceedings here-- but just to show they've got other tricks up their sleeve, Airheart transition directly into breezy alt-country, care of "First Among Equals". It's a little abrupt, certainly, but this isn't the reticent toe-dipping of their debut; they're ready to shit their pants, dive in, and swim. Every disparate musical aspect is tackled full-force and expertly assimilated. Again, it's not all perfect, but the resultant sweep and urgency of Love My Life is humbling and, at times, fearsome.
For every sinister assault on Love My Life, Hate My Friends-- from the clear inspiration "Congratulations" gleans from Peter Hook's Joy Division bass, to "SP3"'s scrambled synthetics-- there's always a release from the tension. Songs like "Rebirth" and "How I Feel Tired" are necessary respites, if only to momentarily alleviate the pressure, and consequently stand out as among the album's strongest offerings. It's the final catharsis, though, that's also the finest: for all of the nail-biting build-up on the rest of Love My Life, "Ever Since I Was Young" is the gloriously anticlimactic denouement. The desperate pace finally gives way to a somber, aching farewell, instantly recalling the bittersweet closure of Radiohead's "Life in a Glasshouse". Beyond the overt similarity of tone, the total emotional drain produced by the preceding tracks leaves the listener hollowed-out, and both of these songs seize on the only thing that's left: resignation.
On this final note, with so much already behind them, all that's left is where they're going. Neither GoGoGo Airheart's self-titled debut or Love My Life, Hate My Friends is quite as simultaneously balanced and diverse as Exitheuxa, but they don't duplicate it much, either. Rather, these records demonstrate the true depth of the band, expanding even further on what they're capable of, to the point that nearly anything seems possible.
