REVIEW: Disappointment Incorporated, F=0 (Time Bomb Recordings)
- Jon Steltenpohl
Depending on your musical background, Disappointment Incorporated's debut album F=0 is either a rousing, rambling alternative rock set or a mere aggregate of Jane's Addition, the Cure, your favorite hardcore band, and any loud band that's fed up with society. It's okay stuff, but it's all been done before. Not that there's anything categorically wrong with that. Every song charting right now is virtually a textbook alternative or 80's retro remake. It seems as if the major labels have finally forgotten about alternative music (and allowed it to be alternative again!).
Disappoinment Incorportated does every song like they're supposed to as children of late 80's and early 90's alternative music. There's crunching guitars, distorted screams, fading lines that plead things like "there's no place like home, there's no place like home" or the Pixie-esque "Gone to Heaven." (Where the hell is Frank Black's lawyer?) "Feelings Mean Nothing" might as well be a Bauhaus or Love and Rockets song. And there's a slower, acoustic tinged song called "Candy (Let me in)" that builds into slow buzzing walls of guitars after the first few verses. The album cover has red tinged images with pictures of guns, a tattered American flag, an eerie doll with x's on its eyes, and the ghosted word "less" seeping through.
It's all too familiar and cozy. In 1989, this album would have been nestled in great with Love and Rockets and Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More. But, that was 10 years ago. Yet, with a major label release and an overproduced single, Disappointment Incorporated could be the next big band. Being produced by Dave Jerden (The Offspring, Alice In Chains, Jane's Addiction) was a smart move for F=0, and the presence of real harmonies and melodies bodes well for this new band. Lead singer Brian Burns' voice is reminiscent of The Cure's Robert Smith, and except for their penchant for mimicry, Disappointment Incorporated does a great job. They're a band to keep an eye on as they fall into their own sound, but, for now, F=0 is merely promising debut rather than a groundbreaking release.
