AM Radio

Album Review

With elongated, jam-based song structures, dense swarms of guitar, and Andrea Hansen's languid vocals, AM Radio (later known as Icewater Scandal) come across like a mix of Sonic Youth and Bardo Pond on their self-titled debut EP. AM Radio's closing track, the 16-minute "Beezwax," is particularly impressive; its interplay of space and noise, tension and release makes full use of its somewhat lengthy running time. In fact, "Beezwax" is what attracted Lee Ranaldo to work with the band on their first full-length album, No Handle. The band's angular pop sensibilities are also on display with "Red Jacket." Even though the track feels like a throwback to mid-'90s indie rock, its high-strung guitars and boy-girl vocal interplay are charming enough to overcome its nostalgic tendencies. The prickly rock of "Twenty-Seven" and "Strange Like Seahorses" and the trance-inducing first track, "Somebody's Corner," tend to ape AM Radio's influences a little too much, but all things considered, this is a fine debut that paved the way for the more self-assured sound of No Handle.