Record Reviews

Schatzi

Death of the Alphabet EP (Choosy)

Remember when the Toadies went from regional faves to big stars with "Possum Kingdom"? If you heard them at that point, you were scoffing at the re-recorded Rubberneck version that had all the K-NACK/101X kids singing along. Still, you had to be proud of Texas rawk taking the charts by storm. There's nothin' wrong with representin' as long as it's done correct, and the locals in Schatzi have come correct on Death of the Alphabet. Listen to the impossibly gummy title track ("I started with ABC/Defeated my enemies") and it won't be out of your head for days. No wonder it cracked the 101X rotation. The rest of the EP follows suit with punchy hooks and power riffs, peaking with "The Spider Smells Disaster," combining tube-driven Weezer harmonies with a Blink-182-ish whine and a tight, perky rhythm section. These eight songs are seeing release as the local quartet scares up a label for its second full-length, and four of the tracks are taken from that upcoming album. Funny thing is, heavy, harmonic bonus tracks "Nadine" and "The Fall of Canaryville" -- the latter evoking a bit of prime Superchunk, even -- are almost the best reason to pick this one up. That distinction must go to the "Death of the Alphabet" remix, which strips out much of the guitar and goes Pearl Harbor in the form of a jolting drum 'n' bass barrage. Here Schatzi scores points with brains as well as brawn.