THE LISA MARR EXPERIMENT
4 AM
Sympathy For The Record Industry
September 2002
Produced by The Lisa Marr Experiment
|
|
New Times L.A. Music Awards 2001 – 10/4/01
Nominee for best Roots/Folk/Country Artist Of The Year
[Other nominees were Ryan Adams, Dave Alvin, Peter Case and Cowboy Nation]
Before she was in the critically lauded Buck, Lisa Marr played in a band called
Cub with another young Vancouverite, Neko Case. Now that Case has become alt-country's
it chanteuse (and the alt-press seems determined to turn her and labelmate Ryan
Adams into some sort of No Depression Tim McGraw and Faith Hill) Marr likewise
dropped her above-mentioned "cuddlecore" past to form the LMX with
ex-members of the Murmurs, Frank Black and the Catholics and Breech. The result
of this dastardly mix was 4 a.m., a 2000 debut album that careened like a drunken
pool player from country to cabaret to campfire sing-alongs to garage to bluegrass
to blue-eyed soul (and even a little jazz to top off your cup). Not since the
Replacements has inconsistency been so delectable -- on the one hand, "Little
Sugar" may be the best local pop song of the year; on the other, "Another
Light" is fascinatingly ordinary. (Then again, Marr's reading of Billie
Holiday's "You Let Me Down" alone is worth the price of the CD.) Marr's
stage presence -- she's a boho Ariel in shapeless vintage dresses wielding her
mighty bass guitar like a sculling oar -- approaches the no-nonsense girl school
of Tanya Tucker, Shelby Lynne and Joan Jett. And when she serenades you with
bitchy, tears-in-your-beer lyrics like "Fame and fortune got nothing on
me/Fuck it, let's get drunk"? Well wow, darlin,' you read my mind.
Barflies.net – 05/01
Pure joy - that's the only way to describe my feelings when I heard this wonderful
CD featuring two members of my favorite local disbanded group (RIP, Buck). The
band's name is an apt one, as the former leader of Los Angeles pop punk band
Buck dips into the cool waters of country, scales the jagged edge of rock, flirts
with the fire and sultriness of a torch song, and puts them all together in
unexpected ways to form one beautiful musical landscape.
Neither over-produced nor underwhelming (another joy), "4 AM" is familiar
like déjà vu; the band has a hell of a talent for pulling apart
conventional music and reconstructing it as they feel. I had the pleasure of
catching an in-store performance of the Lisa Marr Experiment in Venice and was
glad to see their songs held up well live. The CD has more of a country feel
than their live show - "4 AM" features the fine pedal steel work of
David Philips and the always delightful Petra Hayden on violin.
The problem with the Lisa Marr Experience is that they don't play enough…half
of the band is involved with other bands in addition to LMX and the next shows
won't come until August at the earliest. Endless spins in the CD player will
have to suffice for now. Fine, fine work by the band and singers on this CD
lead to my recommendation: Definitely buy!!!
- Yvonne Cooprider
Flagpole.com – 11/15/00
Following the demise of the cuddle-core of Cub, and, just recently, the punkier
sounds of Buck, singer-songwriter-bassist Lisa Marr has returned with the LMX.
For this incarnation, Marr, along with Buck drummer Sherri Solinger, guitarist
David Philips and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mike Flanagan, ventures
into country-rock territory. While it seems like a forced concept at first,
they take to it like naturals.
Marr's voice has a natural odd twang, and Philips' greasy guitar alongside Petra
Hayden's fiddle sounds both comfortingly familiar and energetically fresh. As
would be expected, there's plenty of hard luck and troubled love going around.
Marr gives up on losers, mourns good men she let get away "for fame and
fortune" as in the deceptively cheery "Little Sugar," and rejoices
in love's salvation from bill collectors and broken down cars. Meanwhile Flanagan
has to run from the devil and try to woo that Southern sweetie "Donna Lee."
The two even offer up the traditional dysfunctional couple duet on "Beer
& Whiskey." These two grumbling souls gaze adoringly at each other
while they list their faults and sins and Philips gives a James Burton Telecaster
solo on top of the chugging rock.
They've got a few more tricks interspersed though. A Moog shows up for the more
straightforward pop "Fortune Ran True" and Marr tries her hand at
a jazzy ballad with "You Let Me Down," reminiscent of Katherine Whalen's
torchy numbers with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. It all hangs together well though
and the C&W angle feels more like genuine affection than a joke. Despite
the modesty of the band's name, this is a solid combo and album and one can
only hope it will continue.
- Jay Nagi
PopMatters
Whiskey, Rifles, and Important Shoes
It's best to listen to the Lisa Marr Experiment while wearing important shoes;
it's mood music for the inner-schizophrenic in us all, and I find that the right
shoes make all the difference in the world. Maybe something silver with lots
of straps and buckles. Cuz in Lisa Marr's world, it's a bumpy and twisted ride,
and a girl needs a way to hang on.
The Lisa Marr Experiment sounds a lot like what it is: a bizarre combination
of people, sounds, and influences. Boasting former members of Buck (Lisa Marr),
Frank Black & The Catholics (David Philips), The Murmurs (Sherri Solinger),
and Breech (über-musician Mike Flanagan), it's no wonder that 4AM is wildly,
deliciously inconsistent. In fact, it's not unlike Blur's Parklife in the way
it challenges its listeners to predict the next song, the next style. Combining
country, bluegrass, pop, campfire sing-alongs, and sprinkles of pseudo-jazzy
bass, it's an album that boldly taunts: "Go ahead — I dare ya!"
4AM starts with the title track, a devilishly good song that sounds like what
would happen if Joan Jett and all three of the Dixie Chicks had a torrid affair,
spent a weekend drinking Boone's Farm wine on a rooftop and listening to Alanis
Morrisette and Tanya Tucker, and then climbed a bell tower with a rifle and
a packet of twinkies. It's snarky and bitchy and close to perfect. It's a tough
act to follow, but the rest of the album goes a long way toward establishing
The Lisa Marr Experiment as an interesting and talented, if mismashed, group
of musicians and vocalists.
Then there are songs like "Little Sugar", which manages to be straight-up
pop but still interesting and strangely innovative. And this is the real gift
Lisa Marr has managed to exploit: making perfectly normal, otherwise average
songs that sound, for reasons I still can't quite figure out, really fucking
cool. There's nothing about "Little Sugar" that should set it apart
from anything else being rejected by MTV in favor of Britney Spears, but somehow,
it grabs something in me, maybe even by my silver straps. It's just an adorable
song, in an album filled with fabulous ear candy.
But the real stand out track is "You Let Me Down", the classic Billie
Holiday song. Normally I would curse out any fool lame enough to tackle such
a once-in-a-lifetime song like this one, but Lisa Marr handles it beautifully,
actually adding to the original (if not surpassing it). Lisa Marr's treatment
of the song, complete with gorgeously-understated horns and Mike Flanagan's
plaintiff clarinet, sounds eerily similar to Rita Hayworth's "Put the Blame
on Mame", from the 1946 film Gilda. It's seductive and rich and simply
haunting.
4AM's country and bluegrass songs are perhaps the best, most consistent of its
tracks, and "Beer & Whiskey", with it's back and forth boy/girl
duet, is reminiscent of Paul Westerberg and Joan Jett's contribution to the
Tank Girl soundtrack, Cole Porter's "Let's Do It". And while the pop
songs like "The Rain" and "Another Light" are a bit more
forgettable, they are still sarcastic and punchy and well worth the price of
admission.
In a climate of over-rated artists trying to make important achievement records,
The Lisa Marr Experiment has made a fun record, one that is far from artistically
static and altogether enjoyable. This is an album that goes perfectly with sawdust,
pin ball machines, pull tabs, and frothy glasses of whatever is on tap. And
okay, so maybe it's less about silver straps and more about black cowboy boots
with flames on the toes — they're still important shoes.
- Susan Glen
Dancing About Architecture
Lisa Marr played bass and sang for both the cult-status "cuddle-core"
trio cub and garage rockers Bu¢k. When she told me she was working on a
bluegrass combo, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Her Experiment,
or the LMX to hipsters, is less Alison Krauss and more Knitters. And that’s
not a bad thing.
Lisa’s been an LA resident for a half-dozen years now, so there’s
a vague nod to local legends X and their alter-ego, a little heavier on the
cow than the punk. Tracks like "4 a.m." and "Beer and Whisky"
have some of that giddy-up and go, while "Two Songs" and "Donna
Lee" move along at a more traditional country-swing pace (to say nothing
of references to Kentucky). Multi-instrumentalist Mike Flanagan also shares
some singing chores to help the gender confusion on the he’s and she’s,
him’s and her’s. Saving the best for last, the album closes with
two of it better tracks, "Beer and Whisky" and "House of Tolerance."
For trainspotters, alt-country It Girl Neko Case played in cub with Lisa many
moons ago. I guess that answers the question about what bears do when they hibernate.
- Tim Frommer
allmusic.com
Lisa Marr delivers a mumbled profanity within the opening moments of 4 AM, which
somehow sets the stage of what is to follow. Not that the rest of the album
is filled with nothing but cussing, but it does reveal an influence from early-period
Liz Phair. Imagine Phair dropping some of the sexual thematic matters and fronting
an alt-country band and you begin to get an idea for what Marr presents. The
songs alternate genre between honky tonk Americana and tough-grrl indie rock.
The instrumentation is nicely varied from what one would expect from this idea,
with clarients, mandolins, fiddles, and even some oompah horns to accompany
the slow and smokey vocals on one of the songs.
- Jeremy Salmon
highbias.com
What happens at four in the morning? In Joshua Tree, California, indie rockers
with names like Cub, Perfect, the Murmurs and Frank Black on their résumés
gather in the desert and record unpretentious country rock. Bassist/frontwoman
Lisa Marr and her buddies write and sing catchy, heartfelt tunes that know when
to smile ("Donna Lee," "My Friend Lucifer"), when to sob
("The Rain," "Another Light") and when to just sigh ("You
Let Me Down," "In California"). Alcohol figures into the equation,
of course, but the goofy duet "Beer and Whiskey" and the last call
prayer "How I Got My Pretty Smile" show that the band knows exactly
how to handle their liquor. Tastefully augmenting their rootsy guitar sound
with horns and That Dog fiddler Petra Haden, the LMX demonstrate the kind of
great fun and better art to be had in the wee hours.
- Michael Toland