(Ed. Note: Bob Donlon is the bass player for the Rake's Progress. While recording their third release - after Cheese Food Prostitute and Altitude - Bob found time to write this review for us.)
I'd been hearing alot about this band, first from a friend that considers herself on the "fringe" of the indie rock scene (whatever that means), then from a soundman that we were thinking of hiring that wound up doing Polara's tour, then from some odd fanzine reviews here and there. Finally, I learned that John Strohm (former guitarist of Blake Babies, Lemonheads, Antenna, and Velo Deluxe) was in this band and I had to have this record when I finally came across it at this discount record place in Times Square.
I asked the guy at our label that tries to get OUR record reviewed what he thought of the Polara record. He didn't like it. I think he is a fool.
Although I have absolutely no Bio information on this band, I am under the impression that it is the brainchild of Ed Ackerson, who wrote all the songs and played most of the instruments, aside from drums which were handled entirely by Matt Wilson.
This record meanders in styles so drastically that I have a hard time putting a finger on it. Some songs ("Counting Down", "Source of Light") ring familiar of indie pop bands like Antenna, but others "Allay," "Avenue E" float down the trails laid by New Order, Stone Roses, and KMFDM. Some songs you could imagine as lead-in music to an indie rock show at some hep rock dive like the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis or Brownie's in New York, and in others I was brought back to the Camden Palace in London as their super-state-of-the-art light and laser show showered the punk-rock kids dancing to Rage Against the Machine, Shooty's Groove, and Blur.
But somehow, sitting in the tour van for hours and hours cruising across the Kansas Praries on I-70, playing this disc on my walkman got me through it. It's from-the-gut creative pop. It's never gonna get on KROQ or Q101 or sell a million records. But it's good music. Check it out.
Clean Records is located at 2117 Nicolet Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404
