Medicine

Medicine took the fuzzed-out, swirling, hazy sound of shoegaze to extremes. They wrote ultra-hooky pop songs and flooded them with distortion and noise. Not in the barely controlled, primal fashion of obvious influence the Jesus & Mary Chain, but also not in the meticulous, cerebral manner of their other main influence, My Bloody Valentine. They are located somewhere in between, somewhere more American. The 5ive EP is made up of songs recorded around the same time as the amazing debut album Shot Forth Self Living, which is one of those albums that changes the way you think and feel about music. "5ive" is on the record and is one of the better songs there. Brad Laner and Beth Thompson's vocals mix like a nuclear blasted Sonny & Cher, and the guitars soar like screaming eagles twisting around the spires of pure melody. "Time Baby II" (not to be confused with the band's later "Time Baby III") is another great pop song that would have been perfect on the album. Thompson turns in one of her best vocal performances, and the chorus sounds like Blondie on 11 fed through tiny car radio speakers. The gloomy "Lime Sicks" is all howling melancholy with guitar breaks that sound like Brad Laner is sawing his guitar in half, slowly and with an evil grin. "Wrought" is as close as the band gets to filler, the clattering beat and atonal guitars do little to hide the fact that there is no song behind the noise. Still, if you are a fan of Medicine's first album, you would do well by tracking this E.P. down. It makes for a swell companion piece. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide