T A B L E__T A L K

Your friend raved about a CD. You dropped $15 on it. It sucks. Get mad about overrated artists and recordings in Table Talk

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R E C E N T L Y

Van Halen
Van Halen 3
Warner Bros.
(03/31/98)

Charlie Haden and Kenny Barron
Night and the City
Verve
(03/30/98)

Various Artists
The King's Record Collection Vols. I and II
Hip-O
(03/27/98)

Tortoise
TNT
Thrill Jockey
(03/26/98)

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy
(03/25/98)

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BROWSE THE
MUSIC ARCHIVES

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V O W E L L

Sound Salvation
By Sarah Vowell
Fan-fare
Al Franken and Judas Priest get by with a little help from their fans
(03/20/98)

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I N T E R V I E W

Death and violence in rock 'n' roll
By Cynthia Joyce
An interview with Mikal Gilmore
(03/19/98)

S U K P A T C H - - - - - - - - - >
____________HONKY-TONK OPERATION EP
___________________________- - - - - - - - - > ( SLABCO )

BY ADAM HEIMLICH
A reviewer seldom experiences, in recommending a CD to the general public, the same kind of confident pride he might feel giving a choice homemade tape to an intimate friend. But this release offers that rarest of pleasures -- the chance to tell everyone within earshot, "Here's something I know you'll like."

There will undoubtedly be stick-in-the-muds who will find in their cold hearts the effrontery to deny the winning charm of Sukpatch's "Honky-Tonk Operation." Likely candidates include those who refuse to admit that Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Billy Joel composed some damn good songs.

It's not in sound but in sensibility that this two-man band from Iowa (currently working out of Minneapolis) resembles those artists. Full of white soul, Sukpatch have created the ultimate three-minute vehicles for expressing it. Their goal is not the bombastic slam dunk of a rock god, but the effortless jump shot of a Motown 45.

Sukpatch make all their music with samplers, keyboards and sequencers. Yet they imply no pretensions toward techno-futurism or hip-hop, and they never sacrifice even the smallest measure of earthy rock 'n' roll presence. A penetrating vocal melody winds its way through every steady beat and candyland orchestration like ivy on architecture.

Sukpatch exhibit a willful simplicity that's extremely rare among their peers on the frontier of pop composition. It's so consistently gentle and understated that in a side-by-side comparison to Beck's "Odelay," its closest kin among hit albums, the former loser-turned-critics' poll champion doesn't fare so well. Where Beck invited attention to the labored thickness of his sampled arrangements and Kerouac-ian b-boy routine, Sukpatch substitute a centered humility that makes "Odelay" sound flaky and even somewhat contrived.

The subtlety and lack of pretension come through in a sustained burst of optimism unlike any previous indie-rock release. This is top-down, shoes-off, wind-in-your-hair music for people who aren't used to letting themselves feel that good. In building from pop detritus and hypnotic beat mosaics a series of proud little odes to joy, Sukpatch convincingly say it's deep to be happy.
SALON | April 1, 1998