The truth is everyone likes, and needs, bands. Wayne Coyne needs the Lips, Jeff Tweedy needs the Wilco, Paul Westerberg needed the Replacements, Bono needs U2, Mick Jagger needs the Stones, even Jack White needs Meg. Bands are allowed to goof off (eg Ween) or half-ass their way if there's a good beat or interesting melody (eg too many to mention). Without the band, most performers get lost in own world, and the music often suffers. And listeners demand more of the 'self' exposed. East River Pipe, a not untalented one-man project from Jersey whose Flaming Lips and Beck records clearly make an impact on his music, creates little songs (most are under three minutes) you're invited to smirk at -- even if he's not. Songs generally toke on one idea, usually drugs: 'bong hits by the heated pool' or 'where's my pills?' with some dry Beck-esque two-fers to add detail ('suitcase dreams,' 'thumbtack schemes') or cracked Coyne-like vocals. The problem with the Pipe is that he never finishes an idea. The 'personal' low-key, laid-back songs -- with acoustic guitars, a drum machine, a sequencer, and his own back-ups -- never lift beyond a single, often short-sighted I'm-kinda-like-Bukowski idea: eg favoring bongs over boinks when he sings to girlfriend, 'you're messing with my druglife.' Or just rallying out at The Plan in a god-less world ('Life is a Landfill,' 'Trivial Things,' 'Some Dreams Can Kill You'). In 'Shut Up & Row,' he wraps up after the first chorus -- this sort of thing works with bands like the Minutemen (who redefined music), but less so when you're borrowing sounds. One can sum up, with a leap, that the Pipe takes drugs because there's no God. But that's only a guess. No songs ever make the bridge or offer any insight to druggies with ennui, or the Pipe himself (aka FM Cornog -- great name). More importantly songs feel like yet another clever loner with too much studio access. It's easier to take the incomplete when you feel there's more than one person behind it. The Pipe just needs a band. And maybe a hug from a happy rabbit with a cape, a three-legged marmot named Reg, and the floating decapitated animal heads on his cover.
Highlights: 'What Does TS Eliot Know About You,' Lip rip-off 'Crystal Queen,' fuller 'You Got Played, Little Girl'
