Album Notes

In the fall of 2001, Stü Art returned to the studio to record new material. The product of these new recordings was the Chôpek Rink album. Released in August 2002, this collection was edited almost entirely on an iMac, representing a change in the band's recording and editing process. As on the previous album (Finally...), this album focuses primarily on Jim's writing and vocals. Additionally, a number of songs were recorded individually or in multiple stages, also a slight departure from previous recordings.

Produced by Mike Nickras
Recorded in Akron, Ohio; 2000-2002
Art direction: Mike Nickras

The band...
Jim: Voice, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboard
Mike: Keyboard, electric piano, guitar, voice
Beau: Drums

Review by Eleanor Ferguson (on www.ledyparecords.com):
Chôpek Rink is the first new release from the band since the summer of 2000, and contains all new material. Both band members seem to have settled into primary roles on this album: j. nickras as lead vocals and guitar and m. nickras on keyboards. Together they produced a series of songs with a much more mellow feel than a fan may be used to. The song "I Missed (ver 2)" is an excellent example of this, with some of j. nickras' better lead vocals combined with electric piano accompaniment. The almost musicbox-like sound to the electric piano helps give the song a lighter feel than expected.

Two of the best songs on the album are "Fall in Rome" and "in Akron, Alone." The first song is a j. nickras solo effort, recorded on his own without the rest of the band. And it rather surprisingly shines as a great song, perhaps partly because of the very rough recording quality. "Fall in Rome" brings back memories of "Hawaii" from the Finally... album. "in Akron, Alone" stands out for a totally different reason. While it's still a well-written and well-performed song, "in Akron, Alone" is a personal favorite on the album because of it's dark, moody tone. Surrounded by a bunch of lighter, almost 'pop-y' tunes, the depressed sounds of this song by m. nickras are fondly reminiscent of the band's earlier work.

The only song this reviewer would give a definite thumbs down to would be "Just to be Absurd." There is a lot of moaning into the microphone and the instrumentals are disjointed and not very musical, not something that fits with the rest of the album. And frankly, this reviewer has no desire to hear j. nickras' heavy breathing. The backwards parody of this song, "Just to be Abstract" is kind of interesting, but seems like a bad end to a decent album. Those annoying moans played backwards now sound orgasmic, and that combined with the breathing conjures up all sorts of images that THIS reviewer would rather not have. Perhaps this could have been a more effective clip if it was a third of the length. Fortunately for anyone who got the same images as the reviewer, there is a bonus track following "Just to be Abstract," a sampling of different tracks combined to make one rather amusing bit. It's rather a relief after the orgasm track.

All in all, this was a good album. The band seems to have moved away from the real poetic gems from their first albums, but their musical sound has matured to the point where it compensates. J. nickras has a pleasantly 'slightly stoned in a coffeehouse in SoHo' sound to his voice, as does m. nickras who is slightly less nasal. For essentially the entire album, the vocal and instrumental lines mesh together smoothly and musically, and if a person was familiar with the band, they could see Chôpek Rink's growth from the Finally... album. Not bad, not bad at all.