Rusty

Whatever scene or geographical associations Rodan dealt with by being from Louisville, KY, in the early '90s, setting those aside and looking at the music straight up reveals one key fact: this was an amazing band, one with clear roots but also one with a sense of its own strong fusion. The group's only full-length release, Rusty may also well derive a fair amount of its attention from what happened with the bandmembers' other projects in the future, Rachel's and June of 44 among them. But from the slow, entrancing start, as "Bible Silver Corner" sets a sweetly mournful tone, Jeff Mueller and Jason Noble's guitar intertwining as Tara Jane O'Neil's bass stands carefully to the fore with the lead melody, this is an album to readily get lost in. The evident variety is another reason to listen, not least because everything is handled so aptly, parts of a greater overall whole. The under three-minute rampage of "Shiner," a seemingly out of nowhere jarring blast of controlled art punk rockabilly chaos, might on the face of it have little to do with the slower and steadier grind of "Gauge," one of two songs where O'Neil takes a vocal turn as well as playing bass. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the album's longest song is its high point, the majestic slam/bang of "The Everyday World of Bodies." Starting with a buried feedback moan before kicking into a tightly wound riff equal parts Funkadelic and Fugazi, it steadily builds up and up in intensity as the song unwinds, harsh, rasped vocals driving everything all the more up and over the top. The occasional slower breaks for air -- for both music and singing -- add not only drama but set the stage for the next build up and explosion. ~ Ned Raggett