Christian Kiefer
MEDICINE SHOW
(Extreme Europe)
MEDICINE SHOW
 Hmmm... It seems like last time I wrote a review for LoCal, I was plugging Christian Kiefer's split with Above the Orangetrees as one of the super duper all-time greatest CD's in the history of Sacramento music (and also my pick for best CD of 2002). Strangely, this new album, Medicine Show, was recorded previous to Inexplicable Falling, before succumbing to about as many delays and mishaps as one poor album can endure without being forever lost to that bleak
and terrible landscape known only as production purgatory.

  So now that it's finally here, how good is it? Pretty darn good. Like Inexplicable Falling, we've got an overarching thematic format (a feat few artists attempt and fewer succeed at), and while it's not as tightly woven as the CD split, Christian once again demonstrates his ability to use both haunting silence and pounding cacophony as powerful musical tools. Songs like "Bad Dreams" "Stumble" and "Slack" are especially stand-out in this respect, drifting back and forth between bone-weary whispers to vocal chord torturing cries of heartbreak and repentance with enough crashing violin, banjo, steel drum and pump organ to make a circa 1900's Radiohead hang up their hats in shame.

  This may not be my top choice for best album of the year, but there's a pretty good chance it'll make it into the top 10. If you want a copy, be sure to track down Christian at one of his upcoming shows, because at last count he only had a single shipment of 25... make that 24.