Blonde Redhead - Fake Can Be Just as Good

Blonde Redhead: Kazu Makino, Amedeo Pace (vocals, guitar); Simone Pace (keyboards, drums).

Additional personnel: Vern Rumsey (bass).

Recorded in Seattle, Washington in October 1996.

Blonde Redhead combines elements of Japanese noise rock with avant-garde New York City rock guitars that fluctuate between softness and a buzz-saw grind. The band will do anything to make you notice. Steady, consistent drum beats, free of flashy fills, keep you focused on that guitar whirl, and high-pitched sound effects, which sound as if they could have come off a vintage Atari video game, accentuate it.

FAKE CAN BE JUST AS GOOD, the band's third album, finds Unwound bassist Vern Rumsey filling in for the departed Maki Takahashi, and Rumsey's deep bellows strike a neat balance with those shrieking guitars. Together, they build jagged rhythms, which they can transform into steady riffs in the blink of an eye.