How many bands can you think of that can include the words
"Senator Dole"
in a song, without making it sound out of place or corny? Well,
Nothing Painted Blue
have achieved this ("Vengeful As Hell") on their six-song mini-album
The Future of Communications
. A few of the tracks included here have already been issued as singles, or have been heard on radio broadcasts, but the songs fit together as a whole surprisingly well. "Sorely Tempted" is an upbeat track that was once a single (and has since been featured on the band's 1997 singles compilation,
Emotional Discipline
), while the above-mentioned "Vengeful as Hell" is lifted from an edition of the
Brave New World
radio show on KCRW-FM in Santa Monica. "Lapped" contains a jerky guitar part, while "(I'm A) Haunted House" crawls along with spooky keyboard playing, and, well, haunted house sound effects. The only weak point of the album is a closing, rambling, 15-minute auditorium speech, which, due to not being recorded very clearly, is hard to understand (besides the fact that they could have fit several more songs in that 15-minute time span). Worthwhile to hardcore
fans, but newcomers to the band should probably start out with one of their stronger full-length albums. ~ Greg Prato