cokemachineglow
Top 100 Albums of the 2000s
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/feature/5204/top100albums-2000s?pg=1
94 :: The
Fire Show
Saint the Fire Show
(Perishable; 2002)
Fire Show are often talked about like this
ultra-obscure cadre that flitted about on the fringes of the post-millennial
post-punk revival; a trait they share with historical precedent This Heat. So
rote itÕs basically a meme, the story so often told is that core duo M. Resplendant and Olias Nil
abandoned the confines of their more traditional 1990s group Number One Cup;
recorded an album and a half of material that hinted at genius but didnÕt quite
give up the ghost; and then recorded this, their masterpiece, before deciding
to call it quits—and all of this in the space of about two years. ItÕs a
pretty idea, I guess, but it ignores a lot of things: Brian Deck produced all
of Fire ShowÕs material, and Number One CupÕs People, People Why are
We Fighting? reads like an early entry in the post-punk renaissance that just
needs to shed its Brit Pop influences. Oh: and the bandÕs from Chicago. So, yÕknow, itÕs not like they were some crazy mystics
producing music in a shack on the outskirts of Topeka.
Rather, IÕd say Fire ShowÕs legacy should be that
they recorded the masterpiece of the whole post-punk revival about a whole year
early, and got the hell out of dodge before the RaptureÕs success would cause
everybody to wonder whether the post-punk revival had been a good idea in the
first place. ItÕs that later phase that made everybody think Ņpost-punkÓ and
Ņdance-punkÓ were interchangeable; itÕs a record like this that reminds us why
punk, indie, or whatever the fuck were so important in the first place: that ability
of a couple folks to get onstage with a minimum of means—in this case,
samplers, strange poetry, and more traditional instrumentation—and make
epic fucking rock ŌnÕ roll. IÕve heard critics call this thing sedate, but if
they think itÕs that toothless they must be too numb to feel it biting into
their skin and ripping their flesh apart.