the Cliks - Snakehouse

Genre
Rock


year: 07 - review: A thoroughly exciting debut, the Cliks' Snakehouse kicks like the White Stripes, bellows carbaret-rock style like Hedwig & the Angry Inch, and has a press release that goes "thud" when it hits the desk. Their bold, strong, and extremely talented leader Lucas Silveira is a transgendered FTM (female-to-male) leading an all-female, androgynous band. That's news, and so is their gutsy take on Justin Timberlake's previously slick "Cry Me a River," a quirky choice that pulls new meaning out of a hit (see Tori Amos, Type O Negative, Ted Leo, etc.). Both of these bullet points are of some importance since "he" and "she" are used willy-nilly on this gender indifferent album and the powers that be decided that "Cry Me a River" should be in the coveted track number two slot. That's the "this is the defining single" slot on most albums, which is even more important if it's your debut. While the band put its broken heart into the Timberlake cover and twists it in a way that's well above being clever, the track is topped repeatedly by Silveira's own songs, and a handful of them are near-perfect constructions that trump Timberlake, transgender, packaging, and hype. With its "Peter Gunn Theme" shuffle and early-Divinyls blast, "Oh Yeah" is heartbreak at its worst and at its loudest in an earth-shaking performance that demands attention. more...>