Imagine Robert Plant fronting the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion or maybe Thalia Zedek (Uzi, Live Skull, Come) fronting Led Zeppelin. Very unrestrained and wild! Huel Records, P.O. Box 21134, Winston-Salem, NC 27120-1134.
This London band has an un-muddied fuzz guitar sound that appears to have taken equal parts of Manchester shoe-gazers and Seattle grunge to come up with its sound. Much more interesting, and certainly with less hit potential, than Stone Roses. Rosa Mota boast an ex-member of Ultra Vivid Scene, Ian Bishop, on vocals, guitar and clarinet.
Mood music for the now generation... Very bottom-heavy sound - the two members play bass & drums. The style is sort of a hardcore grunge sound with a little bit of an experimental noise edge thrown in. Don't be thinkin' no Pearl Jam here...
Overpass remind me of a cross between the Minutemen, Dire Straits (Knopfler) and maybe a little Lou Reed. The band is an offshoot of Slovenly. The album is produced by Mayo Thompson (Red Krayola, Pere Ubu). Guitarist Tom Watson is also a member of the current incarnation of Red Krayola. Smells Like Records, P.O. Box 6179, Hoboken, NJ 07030.
What draws the listener in on this recording is Meg Hentges (ex-member of Austin's Two Nice Girls) vocals and what they manage to express. Her urgency. Her sincerity. Her beliefs. In essence, her soul. The setting is pretty standard, guitar/bass/drums/keys, the sound is somewhat idiosyncratic without too much departure from basic pop foundations. Check out the cover of the Sex Pistols' ("Submission") and Marianne Faithful's ("Guilt"). Tim/Kerr Records, P.O. Box 42423, Portland, Oregon 97242.
Elvis lives! Well, not really, but vocalist Steve Perry (no, not that one, silly) has some of the Elvis swagger in his voice. If you check out "Ding-Dong Daddy" and the 16 women he wrongs, I suggest following it up with Danny Gatton's "Thirteen Women" from the Cruisin' Deuces album. These guys draw lifeblood from several different musical veins. There's the Elvis rockabilly thang, a good chunk of big band swing, a few tunes that bang on the gates of ska-land and even a tune or two that is closer to basic alternative rock. For Daddies' Merchandise: Shameless Merchandise, 1260 1/2 Patterson Street, Eugene, OR 97401, Phone: 503-686-4572.
Josephine the Singer approach that near-ethereal sound with a little more standard pop style injected. They approach a goth sound from the same angle. The results are slightly bent/twisted pop that should cause one to tilt one's head and think about their songs while listening. 2nd Sex Productions, 10061 Riverside Drive #243, Toluca Lake, CA, 91602.
Mixture of beats, blues, funk and technology. 'Little Axe' is Skip McDonald of Tackhead fame. Other Tackhead alumnae are present here (Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc). Wimbish may be more familiar as the bassist for Living Colour which, believe me, is only a minor stop in Wimbish's career. This recording intersperses old blues samples (Leadbelly, Howlin' Wolf, Son House) with the dope shit that Little Axe collectively lay down. There's no easy description of this stuff. It's rather unique and quite powerful without having to roar to announce its presence.
If you've heard Combustible Edison or the Coctails, then you've got a good feel for what Black Velvet Flag is doing. It's the nouveau-lounge sorta thang. Don't worry - Bill Murray they're not. The picture in the CD booklet gives one a good idea of where their attitude is at - it's a torso shot of the three members in tuxes, bow ties flipping the camera the bird - I wonder if they wore pants for the shoot. This CD was recorded live at CBGB's. Go Kart Records, P.O. Box 20, Prince Street Station, NY, NY 10012, Phone: 212-673-3380.
Folk singer/songwriter whose playing (acoustic guitar) uses a good many blues licks. His singing, though, is truly in the folk idiom. He does sound, at times, as if he could break out into some of the freewheeling vocalizing that Tim Buckley did in the 60's and 70's when Buckley stretched the boundaries of folk, pop, blues and jazz. PoetMan Records USA, P.O. Box 24187, Lexington, KY 40524-4187.
Curtain Society could be a male version of Cocteau Twins (well, there are males involved with CT, but Liz Fraser's voice certainly garners most of the attention) with a little more edge and instead of the sweet, chiming sounds they've got slightly more ominous underpinnings. They're too ambient to throw in with the 'shoegazer' crowd, but have enough edge that they gotta stay in some near-rock niche. Bedazzled Records, P.O. Box 39195, Washington, DC 20016. WWW: http://www.gweep.net/~tefler/tcs/tcs.html
Where does Trance Mission fit into the music world? There are elements here of ambient dub music, a little techno, lots of world music sounds and even some jazzy underpinnings. For some this would be an utter chaos of sound. For Trance Mission it all melds together into a neat, very interesting package. Music for the mind that, while it won't have you dancing in the aisles, should have you wiggling and swaying in your seat as you listen. This CD should sound great on headphones. City Of Tribes Records, 3025 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.
Punk stuff the way it was meant to be. Short, ?sweet?, and to the point. 10 songs in 20-some minutes. You could probably call this raunchy, melodic dyke punk (if you'll pardon the lack of political correctness). Chainsaw Records, P.O. Box 42600, Portland, OR 97242. Candy-Ass Records, P.O. Box 42382, Portland, OR 97242.
Sweet pop, without any sickly, saccharine qualities. Imagine, if you can, a cross between the Feelies and Julee Cruise (who did a lot of the music for Twin Peaks), though a good portion of this is a lot bouncier than that combination would have you believe. spinART Records, P.O. Box 1798, New York, NY 10156-1798, spnartrec@aol.com.
Migraine make me feel like I should be sitting outdoors at a small cafe in Paris, sipping tea, coffee or perhaps a variety of liquers whilst listening to their cabaret-ish stylings. If Crash Test Dummies float your boat, this may as well (though there's no really direct comparison - just a similar vibe). Migraine also remind me here and there of some of John Cale's solo work (which can also have that 'cabaret' feel to it).
Rootsy rock from this Athens, Georgia band. They do the thang akin to Gear Daddies/Martin Zellar, Silos, BoDeans, Uncle Tupelo, etc. If anything, the Dashboard Saviors rock a little harder than all of the above, though Uncle Tupelo's early albums are a close match. This is the Dashboard Saviors third album for Medium Cool. All three albums are worth checking out. Medium Cool Records, 2217 Nicollet Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55404.
There are a ton of jangle-pop bands out there. Rosemary Caine manages to capture similar sounds, but is definitely more of a jangle-rock band than a jangle-pop band. The difference is ever so slight, but is still significant. Vocalist might be a cross between Cat Stevens and Gord Downie (of the Tragically Hip, silly). These guys are from Boston by way of Amherst College and have been together since 1992. Bridal Music, 89 Mass Ave, Suite 234, Boston, MA 02115.