They didn't drop the hammer or kick up a racket to the extent some of their indie peers did, but
Tsunami
were appropriately named. Supported by drummer
John Pamer
and bassist
Andrew Webster
-- limber players who could switch from a straight-ahead hardcore attack to glacial delicacy befitting a slowcore band --
Jenny Toomey
and
Kristin Thomson
served up an exhilarating mix of squalling guitars, emphatic vocals, and incisive songwriting. Noise and melody met hyperarticulate feminist wit scrutinizing aspects of matters such as young adulthood and self-image, romance and sexism, and labor and capitalism, the lyrics wielding creative metaphorical imagery and explicit phrasing alike.
Loud Is As
, a five-LP boxed set from
Numero Group
, anthologizes the band's life as a recording entity, spanning most of the '90s. Its core consists of their three studio albums. The tempestuous
Deep End
(1993) features two particularly confrontational highlights in the speedy "In a Name" and the hypnotic "Slugger," and the brilliant "Genius of Crack," a downcast ballad that sways and surges.
The Heart's Tremolo
(1994), ringing with more clarity in the guitars, is full of intricate belters -- "Loud Is as Loud Does," "Kidding on the Square," "Cowed by the Bla Bla" -- with transfixing changes in tempo and emotion.
A Brilliant Mistake
(1997), less clamorous and more ornamented, brought in several friends on keyboards, brass, vibraphone, and even melodica.
were grinding to a halt, and some of the songs can be read as postscripts to their Mechanic's Guide pamphlet, published to assist aspiring independent musicians. No less significant is what amounts to an expanded edition of
World Tour and Other Destinations
, their CD-only compilation of 7" material and compilation tracks, released between the second and third albums. "Flameproof Suit," "Left Behind," and "Not Living" are among their best, and there are excellent covers of
the Modern Lovers
,
Minutemen
, and
Flower
.
Almost everything the band released is contained herein. None of what's missing is essential. Thanks to
Numero
, the early
Cow Arcade
cassette -- of which half the songs were re-recorded for the included
Headringer
EP, and therefore would have been somewhat redundant here -- is available digitally in its entirety. The box's presentation is stunning, in sync with the band's graphic aesthetic, and includes a thorough band history and essays from noted music journalists with varying perspectives. In a way, this is a reciprocal gift to these communal D.I.Y. paragons who ran
Simple Machines
, the label for most of their recordings and an outlet for dozens of their inspirations and contemporaries, from
Scrawl
My Dad Is Dead
to
Lungfish
Ida
. ~ Andy Kellman