Ms. John Soda - While Talking EP (Morr, 2003)

Ms. John Soda
While Talking EP
Morr
2003

Rating: 7.5 liters of cherry coke out of 10 
 
Ms. John Soda is somewhat of a German super group – the band is made up of Stefanie Bohm (Couch) and Micha Acher (The Notwist), representing two of the finest bands to come out of that land since, well, Trio? Kraftwerk seems too obvious, and Autobahn was a made-up band just for “The Big Lebowski”. Anyways, it seems this duo has produced a pretty catchy EP here to follow up their full length debut “No P. or D.” This short player runs five songs long, consisting of four new songs and one track that is a mash up/remix of a number of songs from their debut by Anticon-affiliated group Subtle. This song particularly sounds like something off of the first Dntel album, fully in line with the work you expect from Jimmy Tamborello. If this is indicative of Subtle’s work, I’ll have to keep my eyes open for more from them. This track might in fact be my favorite of the record, and it’s also the most different – the rest of the tracks follow along the same pattern of sound you expect from Ms. John Soda. Comparisons to their other bands are obvious, especially with The Notwist, but the one thing I hear in some of the songs (especially the opening track ‘No. One’) is a great similarity to Sonic Youth; in particular the songs where Kim Gordon takes center stage. This sound doesn’t necessarily occupy the entire album, but it does appear enough to make the comparison viable. There are also moments where Stereolab or Bjork might be fitting - in general, female vocals, electronic soundscapes and straight-forward rock music all blended together into a tasty mix. This is a catchy little EP, and I think anyone who was a fan of The Notwist’s fabulous album from last year, “Neon Golden”, would be more than happy checking this out. Sometimes side projects can be nearly as good as the performer’s main bands, and this is a fine example to support that claim.