From: jlitchfi@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Jon Litchfield)
Subject: Cop Shoot Cop/ Sister Machine Gun
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 05:07:04 GMT

Ok, this may seem like a wird subject combo, but there IS a connection...I 
bought CDs of theirs the other day, and I have a few comments. I had never
heard either band before, but I was in the mood for risk taking. I've found
many a good band by this method (and many a horrible band too!). 

I wasn't about to spend megabucks on "unknown" bands, so I bought CSC's single
"Suck City", 'cause it seemed more of an ep than a single. I don't really know
what I was expecting, but it wasn't a bass/guitar/drums/vocals band. The liner
says that there's a guy whose sole job is "tapes and samples", but I didn't hearmuch of those. I guess I was expecting somthing more..."industrial". Any 
comments on the sound of their albums compared to this single?  

Its the Sister Machine Gun album that really interested me, but not for its
music. The liner says its was produced by Sascha KMFDM, and most songs were
mixed by Dave Ogilvie, with Dwayne of SP playing keys on one track. So I 
figured that buying a used copy of this CD was a good use of money. Right?
Well...sorta. The whole album is a NIN wannabe session. Everything about the
music screams "WE WANNA BE THE NEXT NINE INCH NAILS!!". The beats are blatant
attempts to update the "PHM" beats (let's face it - they sound kinda dated now),the lyrics are about the same sorta stuff: God/Christ, lovers, sin,etc. (SMG    even says "I get what I have earned" in the chorus to one song...gee...what doesthat remind you of??). The vocal delivery is identical to Trent's, or as near asthis guy could get. The songs are the same sort of keyboards/beats/samples/noisewith occasional guitar. The guitar processing is remarkably similiar to what
Trent used on "PHM".

This kind of blatant rip-off (blatant to me, anyways) doesn't surprise me comingfrom Sascha, but Rave and Dwayne? Why would they involve themselves in this sortof thing? It can't be money. I doubt a new band on Wax Trax! has the cash to getDave Ogilvie to do things he doesn't want to. I doubt Dwayne got paid, I'm sure
Rave thought some keyboard track sucked and asked Dwayne to re-do it. If Rave
is just trying to make his name as a producer/mixer, I could see it, but I 
wouldn't think this sort of thing would be career enhancing. Mixing the Sloan
album probably did a lot more for his name and made him a lot more money, 
considering it was DGC footing the bill. On the topic of the production, one of
the non-Rave mixed songs ("Degenerate", I think), the guitar playing is SOOOOOO
bad it is painful. The guitar comes in rather roughly for the sort of song it
is, and at the end of the riff, you can hear major feedback. Not intentional
feedback, but "I can't play guitar for shit feedback" (the kind I make all the 
time :>). The riff is played over and over many times, and it is very obvious
that the riff was not simply looped. It is full of more feedback, wrong notes,
bad timing, and crummy sound. This is not one of those things you have to 
listen really hard to find. It sticks right out. Its too bad, too, since if the
guitar had been done right, that probably would have been the best song on the
CD. But there is no excuse for not fixing that crap. Even lack of money. You 
either don't put the song on the album, or leave the guitar out and suffer.
Now, you could argue that bands put out music with equally bad guitar playing.
True. I own many such albums. But it sounds ridiculous in the sort of music 
that SMG is playing. When the rest of the music is clear and precise, the 
poor quality of any part is amplified.   

But there are a few good songs. "Sins of the Flesh" is pretty catchy, and 
"Why Not" isn't bad, in a "Down In It" sorta way. You might think "Sins of.."
was a "Sin" ripoff. It's a logical connection, but I'd have to say its a
"Head Like a Hole" clone. And there's "Degenerate", which is Ok if you're not
really paying close attention (you're on the phone, making dinner, dead....).

-- 
Welcome to Canada, asshole. The land of gripe and loonie...

jon litchfield
jlitchfi@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca