The (International) Noise Conspiracy, New Morning, Changing Weather (Epitaph) 9+
Who'd have thunk, the new face of political punk would come from Sweden. The (International) Noise Conspiracy, formed in late 1998, set themselves apart from the start by going to the People's Republic of China for their first tour. The singles compiled on The First Conspiracy revealed energetic, but relatively tuneless 60's-inspired garage punk. New Morning, Changing Weather shows a dramatic improvement over the singles, and their debut album Survival Sickness, released merely six months previously. It's more musically diverse, adding some keyboard-driven soul to the mod and garage roots, somewhat like the punk-blues of The Delta 72. These five young Swedes aren't just tossing off empty slogans like The MC5. Their lyrics avoid didactic tedium with humor, and are well thought out, with the lyric sheet listing recommended books after every song, ranging from William Blake to Foucault, Noam Chomsky, Guy Debord and Baudrillard. The lyrics offer post-Marxist commentary on capitalism, urban decay, wage labor and sexuality -- nothing that Gang Of Four haven't covered over 20 years ago, but a refreshing change from the thuggish anti-intellectualism of most American punk nonetheless. This by no means makes them bookish wallflowers. The Conspiracy rocks, driven by booming drums that are brash and nearly always danceable. Like Rocket From the Crypt's Speedo, singer Dennis Lyxzén is effective as a garage shouter, but does not quite step up to the new funk and soul elements in their sound. "Bigger Cages, Longer Chains" and "A Body Treatise" in particular have a clean, spare, funky bass and drum sound that could have benefited from a slightly more flamboyant vocal. His screams and bellow are more than effective, however, on "Born Into A Mess" and "New Empire Blues." With "Capitalism Stole My Virginity" and "Last Century Promise," the Conspiracy truly reveal their potential, coming up with a style that's all their own, which is impressive for a band so young. The latter is a dark, ominous slow-burner, a riveting statement of purpose ("As radical as we want to be no shame or anxiety in our dreams/Playing the part of selling discontent but we are as real as it's going to get." Until the next At The Drive-In, Primal Scream or Asian Dub Foundation, A New Morning, Changing Weather is as real as rebel music is going to get this year.
