Angst for the Memories

New work from the Jesus Lizard and show unrivaled subversive and twisted brilliance

On Shot (Capitol), The Jesus Lizard step up to the majors - after several releases on indie label Touch and Go - with an album that shows they've sharpened their horns and cleaned things up a little without sacrificing their trademark loopiness. If anything, the polishing has finally allowed the group's intricacies to be revealed to their fullest potential. Vocalist David Yow no longer sounds like he's drunk and singing into a bucket, and for the first time calling Yow the band's "singer" - as opposed to "yelper" or "screamer" - seems appropriate. Though there was little "wrong" with the group's scratchy, pummeling sound on previous efforts, it'd reached the point where a drastic change was vital to the band's survival.

Drummer Mac McNeilly and bassist David Wm. Sims are easily the best rhythm section of their kind, providing a precise and searing low-end anchor for Yow's howls and guitarist Duane Denison's brash and brilliant Jazz-Punk shards. Throughout Shot, The Jesus Lizard show that, though they've entered a more corporate branch of the music industry, there's little chance they'll be kissing anyone's ass. The Lizard's previous efforts sounded like a wayward journey through the polluted waters of the Chicago River on a rusted row boat, drunk on port and wigged out on acid. Shot isn't a record of compromise, but the boat's become a yacht and the drink is pure absinthe. Being able to hear every nook and cranny of the band's innovative deconstruction of "Birthday Party" and "Fall" grooves finally makes their brilliance unavoidable.

The Jesus Lizard may just be too "out there" to ever find an audience in the mainstream. But they really don't need that kind of popular approval to validate their refreshingly and progressively inventive art. They can rest easy knowing they're kings of the underground, even though older music critics and ear-covering Hootie fans may never catch on.

Oh well. It's their loss.