::: Mascara Music :::

MASCARA in the Press, read all about it

Northeast Performer
Boston, MA
February 2000 Volume 10 Issue 2

Recorded Reviews

Mascara - Cellar Door

Produced by Mascara, Jim Siegel & Pete Weiss
Recorded at The Outpost, Stoughton MA and Zippah, Brookline MA
Mixed by Jim Siegel at The Outpost
Mastered by Henk Kooistra at 9West Mastering
Additional Engineers: Pete Linnane, Scott Dakota, and Ken Thomas

Mascara's Cellar Door is just right. And while there is a lot going on during the course of this disc (atonal guitar breaks, electric noise, off-time rhythms and even a sitar), things remain at just the right dose, making for a solid if spacey noise-pop record. The playing is loose but the groove is tight, and the guitar is straight out of Sonic Youth. As one might expect with more of an experimental sound, Cellar Door isn't without it's noodling moments. Often it seems as if the band is figuring out their arrangements as they play; periods of quiet guitar, bass and drum jams build up to melodic choruses then drop back down again, giving the record a wide dynamic range. The effect of the drastic dynamic shifts, both within individual songs and from one song to the next, makes this record seem like one long song, rather than thirteen. This could be dismissed as a device to cover up weak arrangements, but it works perfectly, suggesting the band planned its arrangements this way. Because of the disc's conceptual cohesiveness, no one tune stands out from the rest except "Doubt," with its opening Twilight Zone riff and catchy Iyrics: "I want to make a date with the night / and be late just for spite..."

Mascara has made a fifty-two minute record that is a constant battle between the order of pop hooks and the chaos of noise. Its balance of the far-out and down-to-earth makes it a really cool listen.

Contact: (617) 623-9951

Peter Valle

*****