• Artist: Red Red Meat
• Album: Bunny Gets Paid (Deluxe Edition)
• Label: Sub Pop
• Release: 1995, 2009
• Links: Sub Pop, MySpace

In March, Sub Pop reissued Bunny Gets Paid, the third full length from Red Red Meat, the Chicago group that preceded Tim Rutili’s current band, Califone. Although it is what makes Bunny Gets Paid stand out, the album’s combination of disheveled guitars and blues tones probably wasn’t widely appreciated in 1995. I can imagine Red Red Meat being written off at the time as “leftover grunge,” but this album deserves so much more than that. Moments such as the broke-down opener “Carpet Of Horses” represent a band locating its voice in a time that was filled with dozens of alternative acts struggling to find their way in the wake of a genre’s death.

In the liner notes of this two disc reissue, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock states, “Bunny Gets Paid sold a lot of weed to me.” I’ll class that up by saying there is a murky quality to the album, but there is also great depth beneath its surface. Nuances such as the strings on “Buttered” and the piano on “Sad Cadillac” are intensely beautiful. Rutili’s lyrics are often hard to discern, but he leaves a large impression with his vocals. What fascinates me most about Bunny is that, somehow, it is filled with great hooks. The chorus of “Gauze” is unbelievable and if the timing had been better, “Chain Chain” could have been big.

Surprisingly, the title track is the one song that underwhelms, but the album is remarkably steady considering how messy it may seem. Bunny ends with a cover of “There’s Always Tomorrow,” a cut from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. The premise of this will seem odd until you hear Red Red Meat’s exceptional interpretation. The lone revelation on disc two is a worthy cover of Low’s “Words” that feels right at home. I am not too disappointed that the bonus disc doesn’t offer much because discovering this album for the first time was satisfaction enough for me. Bunny Gets Paid is a treasure that was kept in the dark for far too long.

On Kingdom Of Rust, the fourth album from Manchester’s Doves, it feels like there is a missing ingredient that would help push the album over the top. A part of me also wonders if certain tracks share too much in common with the recent crop of stuffy UK rock bands. Now, before any overseas readers jump down my throat for that comment, I’m not gushing over the state of American rock in 2009 either. It doesn’t help that vocalist Jimi Goodwin is fairly difficult to distinguish from his contemporaries. Doves try to overcome this with some truly exceptional arrangements, but a handful of songs fall short.

The two tracks that really get me are openers “Jetstream” and “Kingdom Of Rust.” The melancholy title track shows that Goodwin and co. can shift gears and be highly effective when doing so. “The Outsiders” is the first letdown of the album. My suggestion is to skip this and “Winter Hill” so you can get to “10:03″ and “The Greatest Denier.” One sequence I must touch on is the incredible guitar crunch that takes place in “House Of Mirrors.” Kingdom ends on an underwhelming note with “Lifelines,” which is fitting when taking into account that there are two versions of Doves on this album. One is an engaging veteran trio while the other is content with fitting in with the crowd. The result is a decent, but not overly impressive record.

Kingdom Of Rust is in stores now on Astralwerks. Doves will appear at the 9:30 Club on June 6th.

Her Space Holiday have just announced a U.S. tour scheduled for next month. The tour will bring Marc Bianchi and special guests City Light to the Rock & Roll Hotel in D.C. on May 19th. Bianchi is promoting XOXO, Panda And The New Kid Revival, his latest full length that was released by Mush in October. A digital single between Her Space Holiday and City Light that finds the two artists covering one of each other’s songs is now available on iTunes. On tour, Bianchi will be selling the Early Paws Collection, a tour-only EP that contains alternate versions of five songs from XOXO and covers of tracks by Buddy Holly and Wolf Parade. Click through for dates and tracklistings.

Photo by Hiro Tanaka

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