Number One Cup
Wrecked by Lions
Flydaddy Records, PO Box 545, Newport, RI 02840, flydaddy@subpop.com
Release Date: 1997
Number One Cup is stalking me. First, I was supposed to see them months ago in a tiny Chicago club, but one bit of poor planning led to another and, alas, I spent the night in a bar across town. Then the band's Wrecked by Lions showed up on my doorstep unannounced. It's a decent bit of alternative pop-rock, but it lost my interest somewhere around track eight. About a month later, I picked it up again after a friend reminded me that song #12 was a killer. Sure enough, it's among the best alt-rock songs I've heard in months, spiked with just enough well-placed dissonance and arena-rock punch to make you want to hear a whole album just like it. With any luck, Number One Cup's Album Number Two will be rougher, louder and more carefree -- more like the brilliance of "Malcolm's X-Ray Picnic." Something tells me I won't get away so easy. Number One Cup will be back.
-- Chris Schwartz
schwartz@outersound.com
