The Rubber Room column is a weekly look at recent and notable releases that don’t fall into the rubric of traditional reviews or reviewed material—namely 7”’s, 12”’s, 3” CDs, EPs, cassette-only, DVDs and MP3-only releases.

The Blood Brothers
Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck EP
[V2, 2006]

"Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck" creates its own sort of horrifying free verse, and when it ends you sort of want to hear more piano and sort of want to drive into a romantic bridge abutment. This is what Blood Brothers fans want, along with the musicality submerged under unique hardcore tones. Unfortunately, the group loses itself in its remix of Gang of Four's "Anthrax" (from last year's Return the Gift), a number only for completists, who will likely be the only ones doing the genetic criticism on this loud poetry anyhow.
[Justin Cober-Lake]

Wolf Eyes
“Psychogeist” (B-Side to forthcoming “Driller” 12”)
[Sub Pop, 2006]

This is a lot more focused than a lot of this trio’s jams—“Psychogeist” sounds like it was put together with a purpose in mind. Here, Wolf Eyes eschew darkened apartment violence for the arrant need to scare the shit out of the listener. A stitched together and focused heterogeneous mix of tones and simple synth bassline melody is pulled taut over skin and nerve. Huffing sounds of breathy steel and florid-faced horn cries come through a razor wire cage without a hint of release. As a signpost to where they’re taking us with the forthcoming Human Animal, this is not at all indicative. This is high-frequency tension.
[Scott McKeating]

Chris Stills
When the Pain Dies Down -- Live in Paris EP
[V2, 2006]

I first read the EP's title as advice, but it's not—it's just a live album in which the multinational Chris Stills (yes, son of Stephen) takes his band to Paris. The songs (all except "Flying High" from his self-titled album) are solid, and Stills enjoys himself, but the disc never gets past "fun" to "rousing." While Stills's songwriting (at least in English) stays serviceable, he chooses to close the EP with "Fanny," a French rendition of the Band's "The Weight" that turns out to be more novelty than anything. That ending suits a bilingual disc that's neither US club nor French cafe, nor quite a distinct thing. Stills performs respectably, but it’s hard to avoid feeling like this recording's just a stop-gap.
[Justin Cober-Lake]

Harper Lee
He Holds a Flame EP
[Matinee, 2006]

Harper Lee sing lines like "I feel so good that we're still friends / Though I know you care for him times ten" while playing music that comforts listeners sharing in the loss. Echoing the Go-Betweens or labelmates the Lucksmiths, the duo of Laura Bridge and Keris Howard perform the kind of pop that's worn out the words "melancholy" and "jangle." They do so with a steady reach for contact that keeps the songs distinctive. That little touch leaves this EP full of consolation, a gift which is its own form of resistance amid loss.
[Justin Cober-Lake]

Ben Reynolds
“Other World Sermons III”
[First Person, 2006]

Inspiring a warm rush of old-school ambient compilation cuts, this 3” is a beautifully spacey release. The opener “Sermon Five”s digital water stream and bowed violin floats along with a mournful Coil-like charm to it. Towards its finish, it begins to give off a slight air of complaisant ambience, whereas “Sermon 6” is a 100% perfect drift of sounds. Soft swathed gorgeous rising riffs flutter like steam trapped under glass to reveal a redemptive melancholy. The production is full and clear, but still holds the charm of being unable to fully discern the sound’s roots. With subsequent listens this becomes all the more coherent, the communication of elements seeming like natural interaction as opposed to drag and drop.
[Scott McKeating]

Ocean
“Siamese Twins” (Live Cover Version)
[Important, 2006]

Originally only available as a vinyl bonus cut on their Here Where Nothing Grows, it’s now possible to pick “Siamese Twins” up via a free label sampler. This epic doom metal version of the Pornography track sees the song slip even further into the depths of despair. Ocean take the song’s slender, serpentine riff and uncoil it like some twenty-foot dragon tail. They not only capture the shattered hurt at the original’s core, but also dredge it for further damage. The best Cure cover version I’ve ever heard.
[Scott McKeating]

Tremors
“Darkest Africa”
[Alcoholic Narcolepsy, 2006]

This blood-red Piranha covered DVD box shelters the world from the perhaps the most-together sounding release from this label to date. Allegedly straight outta Dublin, this duo craft a single twenty-three minute track from delicate guitar string drone that sounds too perfect to be true. The splashing drone droplets roll in and out of the sliding wafts of sound, the merging of which resemble drawn out harmonica notes or slips of violin riffs. Even when it hits a single electrified peak, it doesn’t lose its way in an expected white noise nuclear blast. This is epic, involving stuff.
[Scott McKeating]