those of you from canada may remember a radio rock band from the mid 90s called the age of electric. they had a few minor hits up here. i guess they were “ok”, but there was this really disconcerting epidemic up here for a few years in the mid 90s when the crtc’s rules, combined with somebody’s really tragically bad taste, produced this slew of mildly talented acts with just horribly annoying vocalists. limblifter was a side project launched by the drummer and bassist from the age of electric, who happen to be brothers. ditching the annoying singer didn’t get them more airplay, but it did produce a more interesting record.
the main reason i’ve hung on to this all these years is that i’ve liked a lot of the lyrics through various phases of my life. on some level, songs like “dominantmonkey” and “i wonder if…” are really generic mid 90s explorations of alienation from and statements of rejection of the dominant patriarchal culture. for whatever reason, this was one of the records of this type that i strongly latched on to….
an objective analysis? well, the record is really saturated in catchy hooks, but recognize that this was very much the norm in 1996. stylistically, it belongs in the same genre as another brother-driven group, the meat puppets, and while the comparisons are actually sort of deep i’ll stop before i begin.
