Alice Donut - "Three Sisters" @ Score! Music Magazine

	Alice Donut - Three Sisters
	Location	NYC
	Initial Impression	A welcome comeback; this is a new one from these much-lauded punk/indie/art rockers who've been MIA since '96.
Notable Lyric	Check out this great rant from "Kiss Me": "I've been searching investigating recommended books and depositions/Conversations, blurbs and graphs/For any word, sentence, paragraph, any independent clause/Any hint of the original cause/Any deviated, derivated, arrogated, irrigated, marinated, venerated pause"
Factoid	Alice Donut got together way back in '86. Three Sisters, according to the press release, is the first of a purported three albums to be released over the next three years.
Serve With	A cold shower (to cool off from the rocking maelstrom that is this disc).
Comments	After releasing all their previous albums (a grand total of seven) on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label, Three Sisters has been released on Howler. Inventive and creative, Alice Donut are masters of composing songs with diverse, varied styles, tones, and tempos. Though many lean toward the heavy side, still no song sounds similar. A great fast and sweaty punk rock tune comes in the form of "Mr. Pinkus", where Tomas Antona's distinctive vocals are supplemented by the almost monotone bursts from bassist Sissi Schulmeister. There are also some slower numbers, including "Up is Down", which is quite serene; "KcicK" is meandering and disoriented-sounding; and "Farmer's Almanac" and "Cost" are rather subdued and laid-back. Some are just plain impressive alternative/indie compositions like "Running Arms in the Phillipines", the groove-filled finale "Setting Sun", and "Wired". And like the music, the vocals take on different cadences at times. For instance, on the tough, hard rocking, Helmet-like "Helsinki", the vocals are comparable to a cross between the great Jack Grisham and Perry Farrell, while on the aforementioned "Kiss Me", they bear a raspy, sensual inflection a la Girls Against Boys' Scott McCloud. No doubt this record will please long-time Alice Donut aficionados as well as compel those whose first encounter with the band is this disc to seek out the rest of their catalogue.
URL	www.alicedonut.com
Reviewer	Janelle (05/04)