Plays Pretty for Baby

Last Train to Cool
by: michael casano

There is nothing in the world like The Nation Of Ulysses. The chaos, the hysteria, the lack of historical reference, the category-defying outbursts of noise: this is their sound. Their obsession with cough syrup and big breaths of oxygen necessary to say so much so quickly provides an interesting cocktail.

Sweat-soaked and sincere, this is the music of youth shouting at the twisted face of the power brokers and rule makers, the finger shakers and friendly fakers. Noise is the liberator of the masses, and the liberated are those who listen intently and dance like bees in the sun. This is the war cry for youth, a gathering sometimes teetering between the reckless love jams of Sonic Youth and the rants of John Lydon's Public Image Ltd. Yet they are not like those bands. Not at all. They are who they are. Nothing more.

The cryptic liner notes read like a manifesto as the N.O.U. states that they are 'to destroy the last vestiges of the corpse "rock 'n' roll…"

'The difficulty lies not in our sound, but in your supine head. Our noise is no more difficult than its epoch.'

This is The Nation Of Ulysses.

All of the tracks on this album are great, however a few stand out because of the lyrics alone: Comment On Ritual - 'my T-shirt shows everything'; Perpetual Motion Machine - 'Cough syrup - why don't you cough it up!'; Maniac Dragstrip - 'We don't go to their parties, yeah because we hate them.'

Produced by Ian MacKaye, Plays Pretty for Baby is a highly recommended listen. Liberate yourself! 26-Mar-2002 2:00 PM