Apparently, Comet Gain's new album, Tigertown Pictures, is dedicated to "Billy in the woods, Anthony Perkins on his bed, Peter Townshend, Billy Name in his studio, Sam the Lion Peckinpah, Ship of Fools by John Cale, Anna Karina looking sad, Eddie Newton forever blue, and Robert Forster's dancing in 'Headful of Steam.'" As if that weren't enough, other portions of the liner notes manage to name-check Warhol, Godard, Richard Brautigan, Orson Welles, Lillian Gish, Anna Karina again, John Cale again, and Orson Welles a couple more times. Song titles include "Jack Nance Rising" and "Jasper Johns." The cover and insert sport black and white movie stills.
Then there's the music. Imagine Sonic Youth covering the "Doctor Who" theme song with production by Steve King. The album's a hodge-podge of Motown, punk, post-punk, and indie influences. Bleeps, whirs, organs, hand-claps and hey-na-na's all stumble into each other, muttering apologies like dancers in a darkened ballroom. Spoken word intros, spoken word outros, Japanese spoken word intros, bridges consisting of nothing more than sampled dialogue-- it's all here, and all in 15 minutes' time.
What does it all mean? Are those movie stills real or staged? Is the sampled dialogue from a Godard film or the band's video tour diary? What does Brautigan have to do with Jack Nance? What are these lyrics saying? Did Jasper Johns really sing quietly under his breath? Was he singing a song that sounded like the Cure's "Fire in Cairo?" Who cares?
Tigertown Pictures is the sound of a band grabbing anything they can find and throwing it at the nearest wall to see what will stick. Unfortunately for everybody concerned, it all just slides to the ground to collect in an icky puddle of pop culture goop. What's worse is that you're standing between the band members and the wall, watching as them scoop up steaming handfuls of cinematic tripe. Is that "Alphaville" they're brandishing? Duck!
