Recorded in Chicago, Illinois in August 1994.

Recording information: Chicago, IL.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Eric Bachmann; Eric Johnson ; Mark Griffiths; Mark Price; Matt Gentling.

At first glance, VEE VEE, the second full-length album from Chapel Hill's Archers Of Loaf, seems like just another collection of aggressive punk postures on the hollowness of alternative music--a common topic in the commericalized climate of the mid-'90s. Upon closer inspection, it becomes obvious that rather than an accusatory, bitch-&-moan session, VEE VEE is an editorial on a community in peril. Full of hidden melodic twists, brawny streaks of runaway noise, and a reflective lyrical stance, it is modern-day call to arms worthy of The Clash.

VEE VEE includes two anthems that perfectly illuminate the plight of the Archers. "Harnessed In Slums" explodes as if on a prison-break--full of grimy metallic guitar, with feverish vocals yearning for redemption, and an impatient lyric that all but points to a revolution of the soul. Yet the very title of the closing "Underachievers March And Fight Song"--another furious rummage of oddly tuned guitars and a whistle-song chorus--points to why even the Archers aren't sure of the struggle. They belong to the slack generation, one for whom the "march" and "fight" are seemingly secondary priorities, and whose struggle between a need to do and a desire to ignore is still being fought out.

Fortunately, VEE VEE is also built on the skewered pop of Pavement and Pixies, and like the best work of those two groups, the Archers' tunes grab hold as tightly as does their fighting spirit. "Step Into The Light" floats in on a bobbing, mid-tempo guitar that all but calls for a sea of cigarette lighters, and "Fabricoh" rides a wave of Sonic Youth-like guitar, while paying homage to indie-rock's devoted fans. Yet its "Greatest Of All Time" that is the Archers' piece de resistance. A smoldering, ascending wreck of a song about life on the former fringes ("the underground is overcrowded"), the band elevates it to an epic--a manifesto you wanna bop to.