Artist Biography
by Greg Prato
Ever since forming in the mid-'90s, All Natural
Lemon & Lime Flavors have been constantly compared to such spacy
alt-rockers as My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, and Stereolab. But unlike
the aforementioned outfits, A.N.L. & L.F. hail from New Jersey of
all places, and not England. The group issued their self-titled debut
release in 1996, resulting in a recording contract with Gern Blandsten
Records shortly thereafter, and followed by such further releases as
1998's Turning into Small and 2000's Straight Blue Line. The same year
as their third release, a re-release of their debut hit the racks, with
several added previously unreleased tracks.
| 1 |
Muffin 57 |
2:47
|
| 2 |
Saturn Jig |
4:51
|
| 3 |
Salad Forest |
3:27
|
| 4 |
All The Time |
3:10
|
| 5 |
How Come? |
3:53
|
| 6 |
Jayne Baby |
2:14
|
| 7 |
Blue Balloons |
2:43
|
| 8 |
Wondered Why |
3:22 |
anything to
change their mind. When at its best, the album pumps up everything to
very much resemble any feedback-overdriven release on Creation circa
1990 -- check out "Saturn Jig," with the keyboard drones and burbles
adding to the huge bursts of effect pedal goodness and sighing, buried
vocals. Other obvious nods include the Boo Radleys' blend of wistful
sweetness on the acoustic guitar bliss of "Salad Forest," the circular
conclusion of "String of Stars," tremolos used and abused to full
effect, and the epic slow grind and sigh of "Blue Balloons." There are
instances of them trying something else and showing a definite sense of
humor, though -- thus the semi-classic rock/funk stomp of "Jayne Baby,"
which starts with a Beatles quote and might or might not be about Jayne
Mansfield. At other points, where they are clearly fooling around with
using the stereo as an instrument, check the odd levels and
simultaneously upfront and distance mix on the fantastic "How Come."
Meanwhile, the in-between song snippets of random noise and studio
chatter show evidence of actual arrangement instead of just being there
for the heck of it.
