Molecules, The - “Friends ” - [Ra Sounds]

   It’s been a while, Ron Anderson went free radical, and dissociated
himself from the Bay Area, from the country, but never from his core
cluster. He gets an ex-pat on the back for leaving ahead of the droves,
by the way. This was shipped to us on the eve of his return for a couple
of gigs around town. Much of this is nearly a decade old, but still has
retained its sting and zing. Listen to the ear-tweaking intro of “Sunny
Day” or the concise parent-child dialog compression on “Because That’s
Why.” Always playful, but more brute than cute. All seriousness in their
skills, is undercut by humor-mania, oozing out in the titles or hollared
around the collar on tracks with lyrics. I could complete this review
without mentioning the Ruins, but why? The precise jujitsu work here is
right on the mark and if you crave hi-octane hijinks and you’ve never
immersed yer atomic self in a Molecules bath, then this is a fine place
to start. Of course Anderson has bounced off Yoshida’s skins before and
he and John Shiurba are a match made in the crazy part of heaven, but
Scandura is definitely fun to just aurally focus on for awhile. He and
bassist Chris Millner occasionally lock into a goldang heavy metal riff
‘n’ roll rhythm section. Looking for more reasons to adore Carla Kihlstedt,
check her (and I presume Aurora Rising) on “Mountain Trash.” Mad for
madcap, dig “Tour for the Door”; man they cover a lot of turf in that
mini-tour, and Scanlan gets a nice couple of measures all to himself
before a stomping finish. Smells like an encore number to me! Three cuts
from a Maryland Halloween captured by Jason Willet sound like ghosts
in an airplane hangar. Overall this is proof that muppets and steroids *can* mix!

-Thurston Hunger