People who see Team Dresch, Fifth Column, Extra Fancy and Screeching Weasel near my stereo might think I wouldn't like this 4-song EP, and they'd be...WRONG!
Adam (guitar/vocals), Cindy (bass/vocals), Noelle (guitar/vocals) and Tom (drums/vocals) have concocted nearly eleven minutes of pure pop heaven. Whether it be Cindy's rich alto voice, reminiscent of Bjork, on "Swimming With Nancy" and the shimmering, acoustic "Here Comes Mary Moon", not to mention her fluid bass playing; Adam's Go-Betweeny tenor on "Yesteryear" and his clever guitar playing; or Noelle's beautiful Sandie Shawesque vocals on "Heartbreak", the whole project is a goddess-send, and I could use a lot more. Tom's drumming is strong, but not overpowering - just what is called for...
On the inner circle of this sweet slab o' vinyl, one side is graced by the message 'Meow, Meow, Meow' and the other by 'Please Keep my Surface Furball Clean'. Sage advice and a cryptic remark, courtesy of this cool and not terribly unhappy disc.
Perhaps a bit off my usual beat, this 60s style garage-punk grrrl quartet is still totally hip listening. The performances are fabulous and authentic, and Chris Horne, the lead singer, has a penetrating, powerful voice, and, whether on originals or covers (in the best 60s tradition, it's about half-and-half), the burbly bass, fuzz-tone guitar, pounding drums and reedy organ are guaranteed to please!
Jayne has been a big, flamboyant, bitchy, vicious, vulgar, exciting thorn in the side of respectable notions of gender, sexuality and propriety for over thirty years.
In three classic albums ("Blatantly Offenzive," "Man Enough To Be A Woman" and "Things Your Mother Never Told You"), she mixed together protopunk, rockabilly, little bits of dance-rock and her own meditations on religion, oppression and sexuality into nasty hits of musical attitude. Good luck finding those records (though her live album, "Rock and Roll Resurrection" IS available again), so this compilation may be your best bet.
Where would people like Boy George or Marilyn Manson be without this butch-bitch-queen's example to smooth the way? Well, who knows?
(Sadly, according to amazon.com, the label is out of stock)
A compilation, for the turntable-challenged, of fourteen tracks from three singles and two various artists' collections.
Rose (guitar/vocals); Amy (drums) and Patrick (bass/vocals) do deceptively cute, very simple songs in an early cub/late Beat Happening mode.
I say deceptive because several songs, in particular "Fine Day For Sailing", have dark implications. While that song seems to be about forgiving someone who has mistreated you - well - I wouldn't get into a boat with the narrator, no matter how accepting she sounds. The whole release is full of similarly twisted tuneage, and this goes a long way towards redeeming the cutesy packaging.
Kaia Wilson was one of the lead singers of frenzied dyke-rockers, Team Dresch. Its music was rarely folky in a traditional sense, so this recording is a bit of a surprise, and a very pleasant one.
Like Ani Difranco's early work, it is an album chiefly of acoustic guitar and voice.
Again like Ani, several are troubled, tender love songs. However, Kaia's guitar is less percussive, and her voice smoother.
While too short, it is beautiful and could almost fit the back cover's tongue-in-cheek summary: "Finally, a dyke album for the whole family".
If Depeche Mode were queer...if Joy Division were less morose...if Leonard Cohen sounded flatter and more bored...if sentence fragments constituted a proper review...
The Magnetic Fields essentially are Stephin Merrit on guitar, keyboards and vocals, with some guests.
He does some of the darkest, most vengeful, resentful pieces ever to be loosely dubbed 'pop', and all are as catchy as quicksand.
Pieces like "Why I Cry" and "All the Umbrellas in London" show his wounded side, while "When You're Old and Lonely" is bitchily funny.
Yes, it's synth music - but it's the song that matters, not the instruments.
One of the best dyke-punk bands, featuring Donna Dresch (bass/guitar); Jody Bleyle (vocals/guitar/bass); Kaia Wilson (vocals/guitar) and Melissa York (drums).
This is less intense than their first album, "Personal Best", but longer, more tuneful and better produced.
A song like 'Musical Fanzine' is vital for the way it calls for positive messages for queer youth, but the whole album is wonderful and inspiring. Two fists up...
(And, of course, this version has called it a day).
I adore Bikini Kill almost without reservation, though I do wish the records could be longer.
The three years between this and the previous album may have been spent practicing, since they never sounded more together as a band. The sound is crisp and clean, and there is a good blend of rockin' and balladeering. Cool record, by a band that is no more!
This three-girl, one-boy band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, are probably Canada' most poppy SubPop band. Eric's Trip was too experimental, and Chixdiggit too fierce (need I point out that two of these three bands have ceased to exist (Jale and Eric's Trip), and that the remaining one is no longer on SubPop?).
The sound is far from the lo-fi standard of SubPop, and is positively slick, coming from a band that grew up musically in public.
The early criticism is reflected in at least one song. "Over You" is vengeful towards naysayers proven wrong. In fact, most of the songs come across as downbeat, despite the glowing sheen, but it is a solid, professional LP.
(Of course, they are no more).
Phonocomb is Canada's late Shadowy Men on A Shadowy Planet, less one member). As to Jad Fair - he's an American romantic nerd in his early forties, legendary for his group Half Japanese.
Together, they range from rockabilly to ballads. Jad's voice is akin to a child-like Lou Reed.
The title of the record sums up the subject matter pretty well.
Vancouver's kings of party-punk are back with a domestic release, having had far more available abroad than here. They dish out fifteen more tasty tracks, such as "Especially You" and "Bishy Bishy".
However, one must see them live to appreciate them. They sing of girls, summer and food in a glorious, stolen-riff fashion, while wearing suits and jumping around in a synchronized way. Fun, fun, fun...
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