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CD/LP + RELATED WORK:
[CD] [LP]

""Your Bed" sounds like the smitten first month of a crush. I want to inject the song into my veins so I can always have that giddy rush. "Sleep Therapy" (from the film Sugar Town), with its dreamy guitar flange, is a depressed person's comforting lullaby. Anna's vocals pour sweetly like honey into a soothing mug of chamomile tea. "Standing in the Wrong Line" opens and continues with a Who-anthem-like guitar sound.

Jeff takes over vocals on "What's Wrong with Stephany," which seems so simply constructed it makes you say "I could have written this" (but you never did). "Fiona Apple," a Beatlesque tune, has great harmonies and just enough percussion to reflect "Norwegian Wood" (and "Ditty Diego" by the Monkees for good measure). "Don't Go" is a manic new-wave roller-rink-type tune with space-age sound effects. "Waiting for Our Last Time" is a '60s-like ballad akin to the school dance songs from the classic film To Sir with Love."

- VenusZine
ZE MALIBU KIDS
Sound It Out CD/LP
client:
Ze Malibu Kids/Houston Party Records [CD 16 page booklet + LP]
PURCHASE NOW FROM AMAZON

credits:
photography by Jeff McDonald
art direction / layout by Jonathan Krop
released on 2002
all music rating ****

project notes: coming soon
[CD]

"In the early 2000s, Redd Kross was on hiatus, and in between stints with Ze Malibu Kids and playing bass with the White Stripes, Steven McDonald decided to get a solo project off the ground. The Steven McDonald Group's This Is Not a Rebellion is the result, and not too surprisingly, it sounds like Redd Kross with similarly loud guitars, big fuzzy hooks, layered harmony vocals, and a light-hearted approach. The best songs on the EP sound like they could have been big hits in the heyday of the alterna-rock craze of the early 90s; "Get Jimmy" is a tambourine-slapping rocker with a heart of pure bubblegum; "Strange Arrangement" is a hooky and sweet song with background vocals by McDonald's wife, Anna Waronker, and the cover of Kim Fowley's silly "Motorboat" is a blast of glammy fun, fun, fun. This Is Not a Rebellion is the one-and-only record by the Steven McDonald Group; soon after its release, McDonald dissolved the band to concentrate on the newly revived Redd Kross. Too bad, the SMG showed a lot of promise. Redd Kross fans should be sure to pick this EP up."

- Allmusic.com
THE SMG
this is not a rebellion ... THIS IS A MASS AWAKENING! CD
client:
Steven McDonald/Five Foot Two Records [CD]
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credits:
photography by Vicki Berndt
art direction / layout by Jonathan Krop + Steven McDonald
released on Nov 19, 2002

project notes: coming soon