The Sugarcubes - Hit - Live 1991

 

#The Sugarcubes #Bjork #alternative/indie rock #post-punk #new wave #avant-pop #dream pop #1980s #1990s #music video

I wonder how many people that like Bjork’s solo albums followed her from as far back as when she was in The Sugarcubes. Actually, I’d even be curious to know how many people knew she was ever even in a band before her solo career at all. I’m willing to bet that the number of people that fall into either category is small, and probably growing smaller as The Sugarcubes fade farther into the past. That supposition is a shame because there are three albums here that show a totally different side of her; the best being this one, Stick Around For Joy. Even by this point back in 1991 Bjork’s unique vocal style was firmly solidified, and due to the music presented here, was even more outgoing and varied than on a lot of her solo albums. What’s more is that due to the amusing nature of the music and the interplay with the other vocalist, she sounds like she had a lot of fun and that feeling is easily translated to the listener. The other vocalist is a male vocalist who is used in mostly spoken word sections to contrast and accentuate Bjork’s vocal parts. His vocals are honestly a little amusing due to his cartoon-like delivery, but it fits within the context of the music fairly well.
Musically the band presents a very unique style that would make it hard to find an artist whose style is similar to this. Those that are only familiar with Bjork’s solo work will need to know that this is nothing like her current outputs; there aren’t any electronics or heavy world-music influences at all. What we do get is very upbeat and energetic music that pulls from everything from Jane’s Addiction to The B52’s and even a little bit of The Cure circa Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. Despite the name dropping of such diverse acts, the band manages to take those influences and combine them into one homogenous mixture instead of a hodge-podge of conflicting sounds. The vibe this creates is overwhelmingly happy and childlike in such a good way. Seriously, the only mood that is conveyed throughout this entire album is one of childlike happiness. It is close to impossible to not feel a little bounce and a little happier while listening to this album. Songs such as “Hit” take the groovy vibe of Jane’s Addiction’s “Been Caught Stealing” and adds synth-horns, Bjork’s vocals, and a ten-times dose of energetic fun. Much like, “Hit”, the rest of the songs are all built around the competent rhythm section which accounts for a lot of the groove factor. The bass player consistently lays down funky bass lines that are complimented by the distinctive and busy beats of the drummer. Over the top of the solid rhythms are keyboards, handclaps, cheers, chimes, guitar riffs, and a number of other sounds which the two vocalists use to their advantage while playfully singing over it all.
I honestly hadn’t listened to this album in years before repurchasing it on a whim (and for cheap) a few weeks back, but I’m so glad I did. I had forgotten about what a fun and easy experience it is while listening to this album. Admittedly, this could be a very hard album for some to get into, even for those that love Bjork’s solo albums, due to the bouncy, child-like nature of the entire output, but it is worth the initial effort. Just keep in mind that even those going from Bjork to this could find a very significant leap to be made, but it’s a leap that is worth attempting.  From: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/25645/The-Sugarcubes-Stick-Around-for-Joy/

 

 

Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne

 #Uncle Tupelo #pre-Wilco #pre-Son Volt #alt-country #roots rock #country rock #alternative rock #folk rock #blues #cowpunk #1990s

Before Wilco and Son Volt, Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar invented alt-country with the mercurial Uncle Tupelo. When Uncle Tupelo released their major-label debut, Anodyne in October 1993, it should have been the beginning of something big. In a way, it was. Led by Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy from tiny Belleville, Illinois, the alt-country movement’s promising breakout band was packing clubs in major cities across America and Europe, not just the college towns where they spent years building their fan base. They were following up their left-turn acoustic record, March 16-20, 1992, recorded with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, with their best record yet — one that amplified the band’s strongest assets, the marriage of Jay Farrar’s yearning heartland spirit with Jeff Tweedy’s punk-rock soul. Anodyne smoothed the jarring, start-stop rhythms of the band’s first two records, No Depression and Still Feel Gone, into a straight-ahead steamroll behind new drummer Ken Coomer. Farrar’s barbed guitar riffs sear on “Chickamauga,” where he compares a crumbling relationship to a Civil War bloodbath. Quieter moments such as the title track flex the strength of new multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston, who played dobro, banjo and fiddle, and former guitar tech John Stirratt, who held down bass when Tweedy switched to guitar. Despite the buzz, Uncle Tupelo never had a hit. Their closest brush with fame was playing Late Night with Conan O’Brien on national TV, and they didn’t break the Billboard Top 200 until the compilation 83/93: An Anthology peaked at Number 173 in 2002. But following the band’s final show, a mere six months after releasing Anodyne, the band’s influence grew as Farrar and Tweedy found success with Son Volt and Wilco, respectively.
Eventually, the friction between lifelong friends Farrar and Tweedy brought down the band at their biggest moment. Tweedy rushed the remaining members of Uncle Tupelo into the studio to record Wilco’s 1995 debut A.M., while Farrar took the long cut and found success with the hit single “Drown” on Son Volt’s Trace a year later. Farrar has continued to wrestle with obscure, early country and folk music and his textured guitar wranglings over eight solid albums. Wilco has evolved from a Tupelo-twin to an engine of reinvention, from the deconstructionist country-rock of 1996’s Being There to the shimmering heartbreak of 1999’s Summerteeth and 2001’s experimental Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Although the two have apparently reconciled since the band’s final show in 1994, Anodyne is where the fissures in their friendship, and Uncle Tupelo, grew into a fault and spawned two of Americana music’s biggest bands.  From: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/uncle-tupelos-anodyne-at-25-oral-history-wilco-733327/

Los Lobos - Kiko And The Lavender Moon

 #Los Lobos #roots rock #tex-mex #country rock #Americana #cowpunk #blues rock #folk rock #Mexican #1990s #music video

On their sixth album, 1992’s Kiko, Los Lobos alternately distilled and deconstructed their music by embracing studio experimentation. After two decades together, the East Los Angeles band’s multicultural influences remained audible, crossing state lines and national borders to draw from regional Mexican and American styles: mariachi, ranchera, and Norteño music, Chicano rock ’n’ roll and R&B, Tex-Mex and zydeco, electric blues and country percolated through their playing. New to the equation were raw sonic textures, layered overdubs and outboard studio effects that reflected their sound in funhouse mirrors. Mood and musical color brought wonder as well as menace to fables, dreams and visions evoking the magical realism of 20th century Latin-American literature with a hallucinatory glow.
Up to that point, their records had hewed to the scale of their live performances, documenting an ensemble honed since high school garage band adventures. For David Hidalgo and Louie Peréz, later to emerge as the band’s primary songwriters, the gateway into traditional Mexican folk styles came not from the neighborhood but from American and British folk-rock records by Ry Cooder, the Band, and Fairport Convention. Just as the Band had inspired Fairport to explore traditional British music, Hidalgo and Peréz immersed themselves in traditional regional styles and Mexican stringed instruments.
Together with guitarist Cesar Rosas, bassist Conrad Lozano, and mandolinist Frank Gonzaléz, multi-instrumentalist Hidalgo and percussionist Peréz launched Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles in 1973, winning eastside audiences with their authentic mix of Mexican styles. Following Gonzaléz’s departure, the surviving quartet built a home turf audience before turning their sights to Los Angeles’ burgeoning punk and roots rock scene, culminating in their triumphant debut at the Whisky a Go Go in January 1982, opening for the Blasters, who quickly became crucial allies, sharing stages and lobbying their label, Slash Records, to sign Los Lobos.
Blasters saxophonist Steve Berlin then teamed with T Bone Burnett to co-produce the quartet’s label debut EP and the full-length that followed in 1984 before leaving the Blasters to join Los Lobos full-time. By 1987, the band seemed at a commercial tipping point, thanks to their faithful covers of Chicano rock ’n’ roll pioneer Ritchie Valens’ hits for the soundtrack to La Bamba, the Valens biopic that scored at the box office as well as on album charts where the soundtrack album reached #1.
By 1991, however, Los Lobos was grappling with frustration over disappointing album sales and an ambitious tour’s cost overruns. Refocusing their creative process, Hidalgo and Peréz rented an office for songwriting sessions, with the band demoing new songs at a small studio near downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row. When Lenny Waronker, president of Slash’s distributor, Warner Bros. Records, heard the new songs, he recommended they reunite with Mitchell Froom, who had produced their hit single of “La Bamba” as well as a standout
In Froom and engineer Tchad Blake the band found hands-on partners whose recent clients included Crowded House, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson. The duo was at a turning point in using the studio to actively shape the music rather than merely document it. Waronker’s instinct that they would push the envelope was on target.
That the band and Froom were unlocking a new sonic palette was apparent from the opening track, “Dream in Blue.” Rattling percussion, terse bass pulses, handclaps and jangling guitar bob and weave beneath Hidalgo’s giddy vocal as he recounts a dream where “I flew around with shiny things, when I spoke I seemed to sing, high above, floating far away…” Steve Berlin overdubs octave choruses and single lines on multiple reeds while electric guitars respond to Hidalgo’s playful command to “sock it to me one time” with blasts of distortion. The track’s raw edges and hurtling momentum are part of a conscious design that Froom and Los Lobos, sharing production credit, devised to preserve the gritty, abstracted feel of their demos, five of which would be kept for the finished album. Leaning into studio manipulation, they elevated noise and distortion from sonic taboos to creative tools.
Thematically, dreams and visions generate moments of mood-altering surrealism. “Wake Up Dolores” is a brooding lament for travelers on a stony, endless trail, haunted by ancient Aztec images of “quetzal plums, of dying suns, and purple moons,” set to a nervous, syncopated arrangement in which guitars and voices answer the lead vocal like chanting supplicants as Hidalgo lapses into the pre-colonial Nahuatl tongue. (The album’s focus on percussion is bootstrapped by a strong cohort of guest percussionists to buttress an already full court press by all five members of the band.)
“Angels With Dirty Faces” slows to a methodical pace, suspending Hidalgo’s voice in a percussive clockwork haze as he bears witness to homelessness: As biographer Chris Morris would later report, the song was inspired by the band’s experiences during its demo sessions near Skid Row, translating to images of the “broken window smile, weeds for hair” of one lost soul and a brief elegy for a brother lost “to the howling wind.”
The atmospheric sound treatments and off-centered meter of these tracks give Kiko a mesmerizing impact without entirely eclipsing Los Lobos’ earlier instincts. Cesar Rosas animates an easy blues shuffle in “That Train Don’t Stop Here,” handily working a time-honored erotic metaphor in a lament for a lover who’s abandoned him for another, delivered with sly humor and a simmering arrangement warmed by soulful organ accents, darting rhythm guitar and Rosas’ taut, blues-drenched electric guitar. Rosas’ spry vocal and two lively instrumental breaks reinforce the suspicion that however heartbroken he is, he’s having a good time.
Mitchell Froom’s role in enabling Los Lobos to shift sonic shape isn’t confined to the control room and the toy box of technical effects at hand. He augments Steve Berlin and David Hidalgo’s keyboards and accordion with his own array of vintage keyboards, including Chamberlin and Optigon, both distant, pre-digital cousins of the Mellotron. Credit him with the distinctive “horn chorus” that serves the album’s most enchanted piece, “Kiko and the Lavender Moon,” a dream that creeps into view against a three-chord vamp that suggests an Ellingtonian riff on “Three Blind Mice,” easily mistaken for a cluster of Berlin sax overdubs—a Froom emulation on Chamberlin conjuring the retro glow of an old radio. In its title character, a dreaming child, the song achieves a bewitched, playful gleam cast by its fanciful imagery and a spare, circular conversation between “horns,” Hidalgo’s button accordion and a doubled guitar and piano phrase.
Los Lobos taps into traditional folk textures and a spirit realm tagged in Catholic imagery on “Saint Behind the Glass,” a rare solo vocal by Louie Peréz set against a lacy backdrop of guitarron, acoustic guitars and Veracruz harp that brings a religious relic to life, if only in the singer’s mind. Elsewhere among the set’s generous 16 songs, they echo early heroes: “Arizona Skies” is a lush acoustic border serenade on stringed instruments underpinned by rippling, treated percussion and slide guitar figures worthy of Ry Cooder, while “When the Circus Comes” is a rustic ballad that evokes the Band.
Kiko, released on May 26, 1992, was rightly acclaimed as the band’s studio pinnacle for its thematic breadth and sonic innovation, but commercially it fared no better than its predecessors. However discouraged they might have been, the five veterans in Los Lobos would persevere to survive intact as one of the longest-running American rock band sextant as of May 2022, touring constantly and releasing 18 more albums and compilations to date.  From: https://bestclassicbands.com/los-lobos-kiko-review-11-1-21/

Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

 #Jane's Addiction #Perry Farrell #Dave Navarro #alternative rock #hard rock #heavy metal #alternative metal #funk metal #neo-psychedelia #psychedelic rock #1990s #music video

A Deep Dive Into Jane’s Addiction’s Video For Been Caught Stealing

Heroin is a hell of a drug, and Jane’s Addiction really, really liked heroin. Not all of them – the drummer stayed off it – but three out of four of them really got heavily into heroin. Miraculously, considering how many of their contemporaries in the early '90s alternative music world ended up dead, they all made it, but the band didn’t. At their peak, in 1991, they split up – drugs, madness, egos and partying took their toll and they called it a day. If they hadn’t, the '90s rock world could have looked very different – so many bands were influenced by Jane’s Addiction that it’s hard to wonder what might have happened if they’d stuck around. That’s all in the future though. Right now it’s 1990 and an LA supermarket doesn’t know what’s about to hit it… Let’s dive on in.

0.02
Dave Navarro has looked extremely different over the course of his career. These days he’s the impeccably-groomed host of a tattoo show, with millimetre-perfect facial hair and flawless eyeliner, but in the early Jane’s Addiction days it was all scruffy dreadlocks and loads of drugs.

0.07
A shot of the band sat unenthusiastically on these rides was on the front of the single.


0.13
Here’s the star of the video, whose identity has sadly been lost to time (or would take more research than we have been able to do).

0.14
That barking is Farrell’s dog Annie. "I'd got her from a dog shelter and she was quite needy, so I brought her down to the studio that day rather than leave her at home,” Farrell later recalled. “I'm singing in the booth with the headphones on and Annie gets all excited and starts going, 'Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!' The fact that she ended up on the track was just pure coincidence."  

0.21
Perry Farrell with a bank robber-esque stocking on his head, there. Farrell has also had a lot of looks over his career – this is the pre-neckerchief days, the pre-three-piece-suit days, the pre-looking-a-bit-like-Dot-Cotton-off-EastEnders days.

0.24
This was filmed on location in Royal Market, a supermarket on Washington Boulevard in LA. Not long after this video came out, it was demolished and replaced by a 99-cent store.

0.32
Security cameras were still fairly newly common in 1990 – the price of them had dropped dramatically in the late ‘80s – which must have been a real buzzkill for shoplifters. Farrell claims the song is autobiographical, and that stealing is just one of the many vices he enjoys.

0.42
That’s drummer Stephen Perkins on the rob. The only member of the original line-up to evade hard drug addiction, Perkins has played with everyone from Infectious Grooves to Rage Against The Machine to Nine Inch Nails, as well as on Perry Farrell’s solo project and side-band Porno For Pyros.

0.46
Eric Avery doing some half-inching. The bassist was the only member of the original lineup not to rejoin Jane’s Addiction when they reformed, with a drunken incident involving one of Farrell’s ex-girlfriends thought to be part of why.

0.52
The pineapple-up-the-dress moment is what this video is all about really, so let’s talk about the director. This video was directed by Casey Niccoli, an extremely important figure in the Jane’s Addiction story. Born in Bakersfield, California and named after Yankee skipper Casey Stengel, she was the girlfriend and muse of Perry Farrell for a while, and appears in sculpted form on the cover of Nothing’s Shocking (as an on-fire pair of nude Siamese twins) and Ritual De La Habitual (as part of a threesome also involving Farrell). Niccoli has also been credited with nailing the band’s early onstage visual aesthetic and use of Santerian and Catholic imagery. She also appears in the documentary Soul Kiss and the video for Classic Girl (a song inspired by Farrell’s nickname for her), in footage from the docudrama Gift that Niccoli and Farrell co-directed.

1.10
It’s all making sense now. The dude has a fake pregnant tummy and uses it to shoplift. Fun!

1.16
Even at their peak, Jane’s Addiction were a polarizing band. Rolling Stone put it this way: “The band is great and full of shit - often at the same time.”

1.22
We can’t find this performer’s name anywhere online. Jane’s Addiction continue to feature pole dancers in their live shows though.

1.31
Textbook “shocked bystanders” there. Excellent. Niccoli all but vanished from the music industry when her relationship with Farrell dissolved. According to a YouTube comment thread – so it might be complete nonsense – she is now living happily in the Mojave desert, drug-free and raising a family. Her daughter Poppy Jean Crawford is a musician.

1.51
No idea who this is either. People in the '90s just didn’t put enough material online, you know? The blame lies somewhere between the rudimentary nature of early internet technology and the fact everyone was out of their nuts on smack.  

2.31
In these joyous-sounding moments, it’s odd to think that when Jane’s Addiction were recording this album, they pretty much hated one another. Only on one song were the whole band in the studio at the same time: Three Days, a sprawling track about the 72-hour heroin sex binge Farrell and Niccoli had with an ex of Farrell’s, Xiola Blue. This was immortalized in the cover art after Blue died of a heroin overdose shortly afterwards.

2.48
The band hanging out shirtless, something they were all reasonably keen on – three of the four of them have at least one bare-torsoed image on their Wikipedia pages. Farrell and Navarro in particular seemed to go for decades at a time between shirts.

2.56
During these bits of band choreography, it’s fun to think how many goes it probably took. Remember how much heroin was going around? If there’s one thing heroin fucks with, it’s the ability to perform choreographed routines.

3.16
Farrell does a great job of mustering his ridiculous rock star charisma even through a stocking. His voice is reverbed to hell on the album, something they replicated live as well.

3.31
What a joyous ending, a big celebration of disguising yourself as a pregnant woman in order to shoplift. Massive laugh. When this won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video, unimpressed awards presenter Billy Idol announced it as “Been Caught Wanking”, pretending the spaceman statue was his penis for a while. Only Niccoli and Navarro were there – Farrell was smoking crack – and both were extremely un-sober, and during Niccoli’s speech, Navarro tried clumsily to kiss her. Three months after receiving the VMA, the band split up. Their farewell tour was Lollapalooza, founded by Farrell and still going as an annual event.  So, madly, are the band – they reformed first from 2001-4, and again in 2008, after which, despite a few problems and line-up changes they’ve never definitively split up. Nearly thirty years after pratting about in a supermarket.

From: https://www.kerrang.com/a-deep-dive-into-janes-addictions-video-for-been-caught-stealing

Nil Lara - Baby

 #Nil Lara #indie/alternative rock #singer-songwriter #Latin rock #rock en Español #world music #1990s

Nil Lara accomplishes an innovative lyricism rooted in traditional, Latin rhythms in this self-titled follow-up to his debut album My First Child. His Cuban heritage serving as catalyst, Lara weaves English and Spanish lyrics to communicate universal themes. From the first song, "Money Makes the Monkey Dance," which reflects upon the struggles and suffering of selling out, to the celebratory last, "Mama's Chant," the track titles consistently allude to the passion embedded in the melodies and words. The album's highlights -- "Baby," "Fighting for My Love," and "Vida Mas Simple" -- each distinctly explore love and liberation. Lara's incorporation of the Cuban three-toned tres guitar, the cuatro (a small, Venezuelan four-stringed instrument), the electric guitar, and various percussion instruments -- congas, chants, beads, and a pandeiro -- enhances his music's originality and eclecticism sprung from Cuban roots. Whether or not listeners comprehend Spanish is irrelevant; Lara's style is compelling and understandable in any language.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/nil-lara-mw0000183498

Nil Lara (born 1964) is an American musician from Miami, Florida who is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, playing the tres, the six-stringed Cuban guitar, and the cuatro, a Venezuelan guitar. Lara was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Cuban immigrants, but much of his childhood was spent in Venezuela, moving to Caracas at the age of 7. At 8, he had mastered cuatro - a four-string Venezuelan instrument from which he graduated to the guitar. He moved with his family to Miami when he was in junior high. While studying electrical engineering at the University of Miami in Florida, he rediscovered his Cuban roots in guajiro, the Cuban equivalent of country, and "Son" - Cuban music's answer to the blues. This led him to the tres, a Cuban instrument with a unique sound and with the status of a grassroots instrument in Cuba.
Lara's music is based on Cuban and Venezuelan folklore, with inspiration from Western musicians like Stevie Wonder and Pink Floyd. He formed a group called K.R.U. while at the University of Miami, with whom he released two albums before they disbanded, after which he became a teacher at New World School of the Arts. In December 1993 Lara released My First Child with his new band, Beluga Blue. He signed to Metro Blue/Capitol Records in 1995, releasing Nil Lara in 1996, produced by Susan Rodgers. He wrote little new material for the next few years,[4] finally releasing Testimony and Da in 2004.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nil_Lara

Grant Lee Buffalo - Mockingbirds

 #Grant Lee Buffalo #Grant Lee Phillips #alternative rock #folk rock #Americana #psychedelic folk rock #1990s #music video

They were one of the hardest 90s bands to pin down to a specific genre. One reviewer would call them psychedelic and the next would call them rootsy. Perhaps it’s somehow fitting then that “Mockingbirds,” the song that can probably be considered the most memorable of Grant Lee Buffalo’s career, is a sui generis chamber-pop piece.
As Grant Lee Phillips, the band’s lead singer and songwriter, recently told American Songwriter, the song was a last-minute addition to the band’s second album, 1994’s Mighty Joe Moon. “By the time we got to the second album, we had been on the road almost every day the previous year,” Phillips explains. “We sort of looked at each other and said, ‘It feels like it’s time to make a record. What are you doing next week?’ And we dove into it. That being the case, there were songs that were still coming along, songs that I had written, some out on the road, some on the odd day off.”
“But ‘Mockingbirds’ wasn’t one of those songs. I began to introduce all the new material. And we had gotten through most of the recording process when a massive earthquake struck Los Angeles. This was the Northridge earthquake. And it was out of that that I wrote ‘Mockingbirds,’ when the record was almost basically done. I said, ‘Whoops, I got one more here that we might want to consider.’”
Phillips lost his home in the earthquake. “My wife and I lived up in the high desert, maybe a 15-minute drive from the epicenter of Northridge, so we felt it really strong,” he recalls. “We spent the next number of weeks at my parents’ house, then managed to fly back into LA and slept on a friend’s floor for several weeks as Grant Lee Buffalo worked on the final stages of the album. I didn’t have much with me. My wife and I had our cat, and I had my guitar and my banjo. I was sitting on the floor as the aftershocks rolled and I began to write ‘Mockingbirds’ on the banjo.”
If you’re looking for a play-by-play of Richter scale readings and people diving for cover, look elsewhere. Phillips took a metaphorical approach, which made the song feel universal, even as it stayed true to a very personal experience. “The sentiment of the lyrics is that I’ve done everything I can possibly do to stay on the straight and narrow,” Phillips explains. “I tried to toe the line and yet life has caught up to me anyhow. And I suppose that’s a feeling that all of us can relate to regardless. Pick the cataclysm of your choice. That’s where it’s coming from. Although, when you stop and consider lyrics like ‘Devastation, at last, finally we meet,’ that is indeed very much the feeling one had as they walked out into the rubble of what was their home.”
By personifying this disaster, Phillips created a mindful and vindictive force that harries the narrator throughout the song. He rendered the anguish unflinchingly: “Woke from a dream where I was in a terrible realm/All my sails were ablaze, I was chained to the helm/Now I’m overwhelmed.”
The music, which includes an ingenious downward key change into the final verse and somber cello played by Greg Adamson, adds to the mournful feel. So too does Phillips’ falsetto in the chorus, which makes the narrator seem even more vulnerable to terrible fortune. “I’m known to go into the falsetto when it comes naturally,” he says of the technique. “I think it’s a case of growing up in the 60s and 70s when all of the singers would launch into falsetto at some point.”
Phillips initially had to convince his bandmates of the song’s worth. “To tell you the truth, that song very nearly didn’t make the record,” he says. “I brought that song in and I was told, ‘We’ve already got 13 songs and a few of them aren’t going to make the record because it’s going to be too long. Do we really have to bother with recording one more?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, we do. I feel really strongly about this one.’ I had made a 4-track recording of it at that point in time. I pushed for it.”
Once they did lay down “Mockingbirds,” the entirety of the band loved the idea of releasing it as a single, even as it bucked the grungy musical trends of the times. “I think we recognized that it was unique,” Phillips remembers. “Even though this was only two records in, we had encountered so many situations where it seemed as though the most obvious song to us in terms of being artful and interesting would be relegated to the backburner in favor of something that was quote-unquote more up tempo, more catchy, more memorable. All of those hallmarks that robots can achieve at this point in time.”
“We were always up against that wall. How do we fit into this world that demands something instantaneous, a song that achieves its goal within the first minute, that hits the chorus, and all of that stuff that we were less interested in? I was less interested in that stuff as a writer. And we were just trying to make albums that excited us, stuff that was like the weird records that we grew up with.”
In this case, not following the obvious fads paid off in the timelessness of this particular song, even if that tendency kept Grant Lee Buffalo somewhat uncategorizable and may have damaged their commercial prospects in their relatively brief time together. Grant Lee Phillips has continued on from the dissolution of the band to become one of the most intriguing and affecting singer-songwriters on the scene; look for a new album from him later this year. Meanwhile, he continues to be humbled by the demand for “Mockingbirds.”
“It amazes me that I still get so many requests for it,” he says. “I would have thought that even among our fans, who are so loyal and wonderful, that they would have tired of it by now. But there are always a few more that haven’t heard it or long to hear it. And I must say it’s a satisfying song to play.”  From: https://americansongwriter.com/mockingbirds-by-grant-lee-buffalo-behind-the-song/

Maria McKee & The Jayhawks - Precious Time - Live 1993

 #Maria McKee #The Jayhawks #alternative rock #alt-country #folk rock #roots rock #singer-songwriter #1990s #ex-Lone Justice #music video

Maria McKee – You Gotta Sin To Get Saved Tour 1993
November 21st 1993 – Leicester University
I had no interest in the support band on this day. This gig had been a long time coming. I’m fairly sure I went on my own to this one, as I don’t recall anyone else being interested in the singer of “Show Me Heaven” from the Tom Cruise film “Days of Thunder”. That wasn’t why I was there, good job too, because in the true spirit of rebel rock and roll, she didn’t play it anyway - in fact, she very rarely plays it at live gigs as the audience is not demanding of it’s playing and doesn’t really fit with her music generally. No – we had unfinished business here. I was a big fan of her band, Lone Justice and had been so looking forward to seeing them supporting U2 back in 1987. Things didn’t go to plan that day, due to Wembley’s inability to open gates on time and get us into the stadium in time for the first band, which Lone Justice were. So we only caught a couple of tracks that day. Unfortunately, Lone Justice also split up later in 1987, so this would be a new band, but Maria was the leader, so this was still a very good thing. Much as I love a good male singer in a band, I do have a penchant for a brash, full on female singer, who mixes passion, anger and softness into their music and Maria Mckee is probably the greatest of these (Listen to the albums and live music before you try and debate this with me). Obviously a few years had passed since the brash 18 year gave us the superb country/rock and roll debut album “Lone Justice” and then later the classic album “Shelter”.
I was looking forward to seeing this loud, confident, talented, maybe arrogant LA Girl coming strutting on stage, but she just walked on with her band, waved and spoke really quietly and politely thanking us all for coming and hoped we enjoyed the show. Well, no need to worry, first song was the powerful Lone Justice song “East of Eden” so the quiet Maria immediately turned into the stage persona I’d been expecting - brilliant start! What you get with Maria McKee is a great voice, with a mix of anger, passion, melody and fun behind it. I hate comparing singers, so I will: Maria is a strong Dolly Parton type singer with that strong edge of the anger and passion coming through. A mix of Country, Blues, Rock and Gospel - a great mix! Reckon this could be called Country Punk (my own genre). I love small venue concerts and the Uni is the perfect venue for this sound. We get “Shelter” during the set, but sadly, no “I Found Love”. Things slowed down for “Panic Beach” and the start of cover of Patti Smith’s “Free Money” (I’d never heard this before), but the beat gets strong towards the end and a brilliant MC5 cover of “Sister Anne”
Fact: Maria McKee wrote the hit song “A Good Heart” when she was 18 which, became a hit single for Feargal Sharkey - true! The brilliantly titled “Soap, Soup and Salvation” off the first album is so full of energy you can’t help but dance! You need to hear that too! A mesmerising concert from a band of exceptionally talented musicians. The mix of country, blues, rock and roll was brilliant, maybe even a little bluegrass in there too. The stage energy from the whole band turned it into more of a dancehall than a gig. On my top ten gig list.  From: https://fanclubyears.home.blog/1993/11/21/maria-mckee-you-gotta-sin-to-get-saved-tour-1993/

PJ Harvey - Man-Size

 

#PJ Harvey #Polly Jean Harvey #alternative rock #art rock #indie rock #hard rock #punk blues #folk rock #avant-rock #lo-fi #singer-songwriter #1990s #music video

PJ Harvey, the acclaimed British musician, has built her career on thought-provoking and emotionally charged songs. Released in 1993 as part of her album “Rid of Me,” the track “Man-Size” stands out for its raw intensity and powerful lyrical content. This essay aims to delve into the meaning behind “Man-Size,” deciphering its themes, metaphors, and artistic nuances.

1. Unveiling the Lyrics and Overall Message
“Man-Size” presents itself as an exploration of gender roles and expectations, challenging societal norms and drawing attention to women’s struggles for autonomy and identity. Harvey’s lyrics navigate the complexities of modern femininity and the constant pressure to conform. The song tackles themes such as objectification, power dynamics, and the emotional toll of societal demands.

2. Dissecting the Symbolism
Harvey’s lyrics often carry symbolic elements, adding layers of meaning to her songs. In “Man-Size,” the repeated mention of “man-size” can be seen as a metaphor for both physical and metaphorical strength. It emphasizes the societal expectation for women to fit into a predetermined mold of masculinity and highlights the pressure to conform to masculine traits to gain recognition and respect.

3. Analyzing the Chorus
The chorus of “Man-Size” is particularly gripping, with Harvey passionately proclaiming, “I’m coming up man-size / I’ll rip the whole thing down.” This fiercely defiant statement signifies a resolve to break free from societal constraints and embrace one’s own identity without compromise. It resonates powerfully, echoing the struggles faced by individuals attempting to defy gender norms.

4. The Role of Raw Emotion
PJ Harvey is known for her emotionally charged performances and vulnerability in her music. In “Man-Size,” her raw vocals and intense delivery evoke a sense of urgency, amplifying the song’s themes. By allowing her emotions to shine through, Harvey emotionally connects with her audience, enhancing the impact of her message.

5. Socio-Political Commentary
Throughout her career, PJ Harvey has been highly regarded for incorporating socio-political commentary into her songs. “Man-Size” is no exception, as it addresses the feminist movement and stirs dialogue about the challenges women face in a patriarchal society. The song serves as a rallying cry for women struggling to find their place and assert their independence.

6. The Music’s Impact on the Message
The musical arrangement in “Man-Size” adds depth and intensity to the song’s meaning. The heavy guitar riffs and distorted soundscapes reflect the frustration and anger woven into the lyrics. This sonic backdrop serves as a driving force, mirroring the internal struggles addressed in the song and further amplifying its impact on the listener.

7. Historical Context
Considered within the context of its release, “Man-Size” emerged during the grunge and alternative music era of the early 1990s. It was a time of cultural exploration and challenging norms, making it the perfect stage for PJ Harvey’s provocative and thought-provoking music. The song’s themes resonated strongly with the evolving feminist movement and contributed to ongoing discussions surrounding gender equality.

8. Interpretations and Personal Experiences
As with any piece of art, the interpretation of “Man-Size” may vary from person to person. Listeners often project their personal experiences onto the lyrics, finding solace or inspiration within them. The song’s powerful themes can speak to a wide range of individuals, evoking conversations about gender roles and society’s expectations.

9. Critical Reception and Impact
Upon its release, “Man-Size” received critical acclaim for its boldness and socio-political commentary. Rolling Stone magazine hailed PJ Harvey’s work, stating, “Harvey’s fierce voice is fearlessness itself, her wrenching, instigatory rock & roll scrapes the soul to its core.” The song’s impact extends beyond its initial release, as it remains relevant and resonant, inspiring artists and listeners alike.

10. The Significance in PJ Harvey’s Discography
Within PJ Harvey’s extensive discography, “Man-Size” holds a significant place. It represents her dedication to addressing important societal issues through her music and showcases her growth as an artist. The song’s thematic complexity solidifies Harvey’s reputation as a thoughtful and evocative songwriter, furthering her artistic legacy.

11. Cover Versions and Collaborations
Over the years, “Man-Size” has been covered by various artists, showcasing its enduring relevance and impact within the music industry. The song’s powerful message has inspired collaborations as well, amplifying its reach and demonstrating its ability to transcend time and genre boundaries.

12. Global Impact and Social Awareness
The lasting significance of “Man-Size” lies in its ability to provoke conversations about gender roles and societal expectations on a global scale. Harvey’s fearless approach has contributed to raising social awareness, enabling individuals to critically examine their own perspectives and challenge the prevailing gender narratives.

From: https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-man-size-by-pj-harvey/

Disappear Fear - Priceless

#Disappear Fear #Sonia Rutstein #folk rock #folk pop #alternative folk #indie folk #power pop #worldbeat #singer-songwriter #1980s #1990s

Hi Sonia, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?


I was five years old when my Aunt Laura took me out of kindergarten to attend the Flower Mart near the Washington Monument on Charles Street in Baltimore. It was around noon and for the first time, I saw Louis Armstrong perform, Hello Dolly. I was quite short so looking up at him I was looking directly into the sun rays was like swords of light into my eyes around the black outline of a man playing the trumpet and singing.
It was the first time I saw the sound from a radio come alive. It was REAL. I believe at that moment I decided I wanted to make music that could be heard on the radio and to be real on stages around the world. It made me feel good and that’s what I wanted to do, make folks feel good. I started writing songs when I was 14 and playing downtown at the dingy and famous Peabody Bookstore. my mother would drive me to the gig and my sister and I were paid $50 for two 40 minute sets.
It was a whole lot better than the $1.40 an hour I was making pizza and sundaes at the Beef Inn. So making music was my dream and has become my destiny but that is a bit of how it started. How I got to where I am I am today… was practice practice practice a bit of luck, a lot of naivety, determination, and perseverance. A publishing company in London heard my first record and flew me and my sister (singer/business partner) over to England and we signed our first publishing deal. We continued to play and amass a nice following in the USA and now around the world.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?


The most important thing to me was/is to be true to myself. It is a high price to pay. But it is the only way I can sleep well at night. As a kid, I would see all this glitter and gold on TV Stevie Lawrence and the Las Vegas guys, and that sort of thing and it seemed so phony. I wanted REAL. So folk music with harmonies and guitars that didn’t need a bunch of electricity just authenticity seemed the way to go. My sister Cindy and I had already been singing together for 25 years so starting our own band, disappear fear was a logical step.
But female and out lesbian independent singer-songwriters were not at all present in the local national or international pop or rock or folk music scene. There were out gay performers in the gay market but we wanted to be 100% inclusive so we had to show the world and essentially audition at every club and radio station we stepped foot into and we did just that. Once the folks started coming out we had the upper hand we could call the shots and make the show really great. We did get ripped off financially. There was a club in downtown Baltimore we had a CD release concert and our contract said we got 80% of the door and the owner got 20% of the door and the whole bar tab. We had a counter at each door entrance that calculated our earnings to be $2600.
But at the end of the night, the dude gave us $500.00. we told him that he had shorted us and he said, “that’s enough money for two girls in one night”. The police station was right around the corner and we did file a report but nothing happened and we went back out on the road so no follow-up. Once also in Baltimore, we had a 2 monthly contract with a bar for every Wednesday night. The first night we packed the place and then someone yelled, “KiSS iN” and all these lesbians started kissing. and we got fired at the end of the night. The owner said he, “did not want THOSE kinds of people in his club”. We took the case to court and we met with The Council for Human Relations- they offered us in settlement $2000 to amend the $ we lost but they did not apologize for their homophobic and blatant prejudice.
We did not accept the settlement. At this time. I was still working for the Rape Crisis Center in Baltimore City. My dear friend. Lynnel said to me, “Sonia -show business is crazy and cutthroat. You can either spend your time chasing down the bad guys or move on”. We moved on. Touring in the southeast in the early 90s the sound guys wouldn’t even look you in the eye. They wanted a dude to talk to tell them what was needed for that night tech-wise. And it was not limited to the south it was prevalent across the country. And then on the other end of the career spectrum struggles - once you start making a little money the evil wanna-be’s wanna beat and take advantage of you. I find it is best, to be honest. In the celebrity-mania culture that we live in it is valuable to know the difference between dream and reality. You can’t really buy success - your heart and soul know the difference.

From: https://voyagebaltimore.com/interview/daily-inspiration-meet-sonia-disappear-fear-rutstein/

Paula Cole - Sessions at West 54th 1997 / Live at The 9:30 Club 1997

Sessions at West 54th 1997

Live at The 9:30 Club 1997 - Part 1

Live at The 9:30 Club 1997 - Part 2

 #Paula Cole #singer-songwriter #alternative rock #alternative pop rock #indie rock #art rock #piano rock #1990s #live music video

Twenty-five years ago, singer-songwriter Paula Cole released her sophomore album and major-label debut, This Fire, which spawned the perennial future Dawson’s Creek anthem “I Don’t Want to Wait” and the top 10 hit “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” The latter was Cole’s breakthrough single and was nominated for Record and Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1998 Grammys, but not everyone appreciated its irony or subtext. Cole, a staunch feminist, intended the moody tune — about a disillusioned, barefoot-and-pregnant housewife and her no-good cowboy husband — to be a social commentary on traditional gender stereotypes. But that message was lost on many listeners (including conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh!), who mistook it to be about a woman literally yearning for a macho Marlboro Man-type hero to come rescue her.
“Oh, yes. And they still believe that — there's still those folks holding out!” Cole laughingly tells Yahoo Entertainment/SiriusXM Volume. “It was so bizarre. You put out a piece of work and you know what it means, but then you let it go out into the world and it's like witnessing, I don't know, like an anthropological study. You learn about people. It was one of Rush Limbaugh’s favorite songs; he’d play it on his radio station! In some ways, it was horrific. In the moment, it was galling. I remember even though Spin magazine had been supportive of me, they didn't get it. One of the writers wrote that I was the ‘Tammy Wynette of Lilith Fair.’ And it was so the opposite — I was actually one of the most outspoken feminist dark horses on that whole stage.”
Cole explains that she was listening to a lot of British new wave band XTC at the time of the song’s creation. “Their writing is so funny and smart and clever, and I thought to myself, ‘I want to write something clever and turn it on its head.’ There's irony woven in, there's melancholia woven in, but from a woman's point of view. So, it really was like a gender-role wink-wink- nudge-nudge kind of laugh, kind of an examination of our society with some sadness, and with a little bit of a country song in there too. And then you blend it all together and there's this conversation and there's this learning — and confusion.”
Cole notes that “all the feminists got it” then and now (she’s very proud that indie-rock sister trio HAIM covered “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” in 2019), and that the song’s nuances were always better grasped by international audiences. “Another observation is that America has the fundamentalist, puritanical approach to things, but when I went to Europe, they so got it,” she recalls. “I remember in Spain especially, they loved the irony and the laughter — like, the ‘shiny gun’ is a phallic reference, totally tongue-in-cheek. Whereas this ‘shiny gun,’ America didn't get that.”
Along with the three nominations that “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” received at the 40th annual Grammy Awards, Cole was an overall seven-time nominee that year, winning in the Best New Artist category and making history as the first solo woman to be up for Producer of the Year. Cole reflects on that year — when some of the other major Grammy nominees were her fellow female singer-songwriters Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Fiona Apple, and Lilith Fair organizer Sarah McLachlan, and playing Lilith Fair “felt like the original feeling of Woodstock” — fondly, even though her whirlwind success was admittedly daunting at the time.
“It you look at the Grammy nominations that year, it was really diverse. It was fantastic. I loved that time,” she says. “And the hip-hop scene then too, with Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott and TLC and Lil’ Kim, was a really interesting time. Before, DJs were literally told not to play a woman after another woman on the radio, or you couldn't play more than one woman in an hour. It was difficult to move that needle, but we did move it. It did feel like we were changing culture a little bit. I think it kept coming back down to the art of the song and the point of view, being articulate and smart and badass; that perspective was embraced, and it didn't matter even what genre you were in. It was just about, do you have authority and authenticity in your voice? And the thing is, we're still here. All of those artists that we've named are still here. Like, we're in it for life. We're lifers.”
That being said, while Cole has released nine albums since This Fire, and is most definitely a lifer, she didn’t follow-up that double-platinum album with another overtly commercial release, and she has kept a relatively low profile ever since. “I felt like [Peter Sellers’s Being There character] Chauncey Gardner; it all happened very quickly,” she says of her ‘90s success. “I'm a wicked introvert, like a very thoughtful writer and kind of a shy person. And I was incredibly humbled and gratified by the success, but it was a lot to handle. I guess I wanted to shed off that ill-fitting snakeskin and retreat a little bit.” Cole’s third album, 1999's Amen, was therefore a massive stylistic departure from This Fire, a “neo-soul album with neo-soul influences” that, once again, was misunderstood by many fans.
“I didn't know necessarily what the public wanted, and I wasn't making my next album for that. I had no clue,” says Cole. “I just knew that I was listening to a lot of hip-hop and soul and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album, and it just moved me so much. That album was really like a guide for what became Amen. I think it surprised people. You know, I'm a white girl and I've probably received some unnecessarily harsh criticism around that stylistic influence. But it was authentic to me. I felt like I wanted to sing about spirituality in a soulful way. I wanted to sing about social justice. I didn't want to sing about my boyfriend all the time. I wanted to expand upon lyrical themes, and weaving in social justice is really important to me.”
Cole took a seven-year hiatus after Amen to focus on motherhood, and she confesses, “I definitely thought about leaving the music business.” It was her idol Emmylou Harris, who had taken hiatuses in her own career, who ultimately convinced Cole to keep going. “She said to me, ‘You can't quit. It just happened too fast.’ For me, it happened really fast, and I needed to take myself away from that and find my authentic path and make my eras of different albums. You know, like Picasso had his ‘Pig’ era and his Blue Period, and Joni Mitchell had her Mingus album and everyone dumped on her for doing that. So, I just have to be truthful to myself. I can't predict what people will like. I needed to have my daughter and take some time, and now I'm back and on my own label, and it's much more flowing and prolific and free. And I'm so much happier.”
And so Cole, a self-described “frustrated jazz singer” who says she thinks “about race every day because my daughter's biracial,” continues to follow her own path. She just released her 11th, social-justice-oriented album, American Quilt, a collection of traditional folk covers that includes one original composition, “Hidden in Plain Sight (I Dream),” inspired by historical stories about slave quilts during the Underground Railroad era. She admits she still has some mixed feelings about the This Fire/Amen period of her career, because at the time she “got caught in a corrupt record deal [with Imago/Warner]. I'm still dealing with all that. They don’t reissue or remaster my work from that, even though this year is the 25th anniversary of This Fire, so it's really frustrating. I feel like I'm kind of locked, like that part of my life is locked in a cage, like inhumanely locked in.”
However, a few years ago, Cole decided to re-record her above-mentioned other big ‘90s hit, “I Don’t Want to Wait.” And after the song had not been featured on streaming or DVD versions of that TV series for years because Sony had only purchased the on-air rights to the track, Cole’s new version has finally been restored to all six Dawson’s Creek seasons on Netflix — which, in a full-circle development, has boosted what she describes as her “tortoise”-like career.
“I can feel it at the shows; I can feel it in the new fans that are coming to my socials,” Cole marvels. “The millennials knew “I Don’t Want to Wait” from the original Dawson's Creek, and then it kind of disappeared. And now, again, it's starting. It's really sweet. It's really sweet to see it touch new generations. That's got to be one of the best feelings in the world, when new young people are finding your work — and they find it for themselves, without bias, without context, and they just love it for what it is and in its simplest form. I love it. It's just so beautiful.”  From: https://www.yahoo.com/video/paula-cole-recalls-how-her-biggest-90-s-hit-was-misunderstood-it-was-horrific-184814249.html

Toni Childs - Welcome To The World

 #Toni Childs #alternative rock #folk rock #world music #contemporary folk rock #art pop #singer-songwriter #1990s #music video

Toni Childs’ musical compass has taken her north, south, east and west. Seeking inspiration for her third album, the American singer decamped to Madras, India, with a 24-track digital recording unit. It wasn’t her first field trip though. Childs’ debut, Union (1988), had been partially recorded in Swaziland, where she incorporated African voices into her art pop. (Fun fact: Union also features Marillion’s Steve Hogarth on keyboards.) Working with Indian musicians, Childs demoed four brand new songs in November 1992.
Womb, lyrically about a baby that is apprehensive about leaving its amniotic nest to enter the unknown world, suggested a conceptual direction for the rest of the album.The Woman’s Boat starts with that song of birth and ends with Death. The intervening nine songs trace a lifecycle of womanhood with all its triumphs and tribulations. Heavy stuff. But then Childs had plenty of life experience to draw upon. At 15, she ran away from the religious home she was raised in. Her early music career in Los Angeles foundered when she was briefly imprisoned for smuggling cocaine. A move to London heralded a fresh start. It was there that Childs befriended Peter Gabriel’s guitarist, David Rhodes, who became a key player on her early albums.
The Woman’s Boat was recorded at Gabriel’s Real World studios, which accounts for the album’s credits reading like a WOMAD festival bill. It features players of non-western instruments such as tamboura, mridangam, moorsing and didgeridoo, plus Pakistani superstar Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Belgian/African group Zap Mama. Producer David Bottrill also enlisted Talk Talk drummer Paul Webb, Trey Gunn on stick and Robert Fripp on guitar. Oh, and Peter Gabriel himself duets with Childs on I Met A Man.
Toni Childs’ utterly distinctive voice — as earthy and celestial as that of a gospel singer — sits atop the album’s verdant textures. On I Just Want Affection, the sultry desire of her vocal breaks through the cool reserves of the ethereal, bowed notes of an Indian sarangi. Her voice darts between the sinister shadows of Fripp’s soundscapes on Predator, and she sings with force-10 gusto over the heavy artillery of programmed beats on Lay Down Your Pain.
Upon release, The Woman’s Boat sunk without a trace. It would be 15 years before Childs released another record. Now living in Australia, she has since released several excellent albums via her website but The Woman’s Boat remains the album in which her musical compass pointed true north.  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/toni-childs-the-womans-boat-its-prog-jim-but-not-as-we-know-it

Ben Folds Five - Song for the Dumped

 #Ben Folds Five #alternative/indie rock #power pop #piano rock #1990s #music video

“Song for the Dumped” is a breakup song. The singer rants in an honest and explicit way about the girl who just dumped him. The simplicity of his anger makes the song powerful. He just wants his money back. And his black t-shirt. After everything, it seems like the least she could do.
Shortly before the song, an argument between the band can be heard:
(I hope we got that on tape, because it was a really…)
(Is someone saying something?)
(…it was a really…)
(I don’t know)
(…I was thinking…)
(No, I think I hear some kind of noise — cut that shit!)
(I was thinking about, you know, respecting your work with Steven and…)

The argument was removed from some pressings of the album, although it seems to appear on current CD and digital releases. In 1999, Folds said: The talking before ‘Song for the Dumped’ was a painfully documented real argument that kept bringing up bad feelings. We decided to get rid of it and let the first pressings be for collectors. Better to keep the band together. It was ugly.

I was writing ‘One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces’ and it seemed a little complicated to Darren. And Darren, as a joke—and I guess to make a point—wrote the lyrics to ‘Song for the Dumped’ (without any music or anything) in my notebook next to ‘Dwarf.’ Like, ‘Here’s the way you should write a song. It shouldn’t be that complicated. It should be this simple.’ And I took that one day and made some music to it and showed it to him and we started playing it on tour. I don’t think we ever actually thought that would make the album, but it made the album.

From: https://genius.com/Ben-folds-five-song-for-the-dumped-lyrics

Ben Folds Five is an alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprises Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano, keyboards, melodica, principal songwriting), Robert Sledge (bass, contrabass, synthesizer, backing vocals), and Darren Jessee (drums, percussion, backing vocals, songwriter, and co-writer for some songs). The group achieved mainstream success in the alternative, indie and pop music scenes. The band is best known for the hit single "Brick" from their 1997 album Whatever and Ever Amen, which gained airplay on many mainstream radio stations. During their seven years together, the band released three proper studio records, one retrospective album of B-sides and outtakes, and eight singles. They also contributed to a number of soundtracks and compilations. Ben Folds Five disbanded in October 2000, apparently under amicable circumstances.  From: https://www.lyrics.com/artist/Ben-Folds-Five/359896

Psychotica - Valentino

 #Psychotica #alternative rock #industrial rock #alternative metal #gothic rock #glam metal #1990s

The industrial goth band Psychotica was founded in 1994 by singer Pat Briggs, an alumnus of the glam rock outfit R.U.Ready who was at the time managing the small New York City nightclub Don Hill's. Encouraged to form a new band to boost club attendance, Briggs teamed with bassist and Don Hill bartender Tommy Salmorin to found Psychotica, soon bringing aboard onetime White Zombie guitarist Ena Kostabi, Nine Ways to Sunday cellist Enrique Tiru Velez, backing vocalist Reeka, and drummer Buz. After their first live performance, the group signed to the American label, releasing their 1996 debut LP a few weeks after beginning a stint as the opening act on that summer's Lollapalooza tour. By 1997, both Salmorin and Buz had exited to form a new group, Numb, and Reeka was also out of the band; the remaining trio of Briggs, Kostabi, and Velez welcomed synth player Doug DeAngelis, pianist Bette Sussman, bagpipe player Richard Markoff, and koto player Mark Stanley in time to record the second Psychotica LP, 1998's Espina. Singer and group leader Pat Briggs died on December 27, 2022.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/psychotica-mn0000377456/biography

It is an absolute shame that Psychotica no longer exists, and that vocalist Patrick Briggs has eased back into Nightclub ownership. What an amazing vocal talent! Wild and weird, with a Marilyn Manson like gothic undertone and David Bowie glam, I just don't understand why Psychotica never went further. They performed at Lollapalooza in '97, and that was pretty much the end. Patrick had a tendency to perform almost naked, though at Lollapalooza he wore a silver jumpsuit a la Devo. He was on the edge of acceptable behavior, but so very talented, bringing in pianists and bagpipes and symphonies behind his unique music. After Espina, they recorded one more album, Pandemic, that never got released. There are MP3's out on the internet from Pandemic, and I strongly urge you to find them and get them before they disappear. Pandemic has a Georgio Morodor (Cat People Soundtrack) remix of MacArthur Park, along with three not-to-be-missed ballads that Patrick's vocals just make you want to cry on: Valentino, Euthanasia, and Monsoon. Find Pandemic! You won't be sorry.  From: http://saltyka.blogspot.com/2007/06/psychotica.html

The Tea Party - Live Intimate & Interactive 1998

 Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

 #The Tea Party #hard rock #progressive rock #experimental rock #middle eastern music #blues rock #psychedelic rock #1990s #Canadian

Hugely successful in their native Canada, The Tea Party is a rock band with a truly eclectic sound, fusing elements of blues, progressive rock, Indian, and Middle Eastern into what has jokingly been dubbed 'Moroccan roll'. ‘Live Intimate and Interactive’ includes two live performances at MuchMusic--Canada's answer to MTV. The first was recorded in 1998, when the band performed 'Army Ants', 'Fire In The Head', 'Release', 'Transmission', 'Save Me', 'Sister Awake', 'Temptation', and 'Psychopomp'. Then in 2000, the band returned to MuchMusic studios to perform 'Temptation', 'The Messenger', and 'Sister Awake'.  From: https://imusic.dk/movies/0803057901029/the-tea-party-1998-live-intimate-and-interactive-dvd

It was the end of November 1995. The Tea Party had just completed a U.S. tour and were excited about the next album. The Edges of Twilight was closing in on double-platinum sales domestically, wrapping up a year that earned the band three Juno nominations and a MuchMusic People’s Choice Favorite Music Video award. All seemed to be well, but the success of The Edges Of Twilight couldn’t hide the fact that Jeff Martin was in a personal crisis at the time and that the band was in troubled waters – a change of management at that time being just one sign. In retrospect, Jeff Burrows was reminded of that time: “The songs of Transmission were all written at a time when we were going through - not only Jeff going through personal hardship - but the band was going through bad managerial things and a bad American record company. At that point, we didn't know whether the band would even continue at some points. It was a bad vibe, but it was healthy for writing.”
The mid ‘90s were also the time when bands like Massive Attack, Aphex Twin and The Prodigy celebrated great success with their mix of rock and industrial, electronic soundscapes. But the most important soundtrack for Martin’s dark mood was provided by a band whose album Martin got handed over by a friend and was supposed to build the foundation for Transmission: it was a copy of Nine Inch Nails’ album “The Downward Spiral”. Martin was so fascinated by what he heard there that the vision of enriching his own music with electronic elements and mixing it with oriental timbres also grew in him. The idea of combining rock music with electronic sounds was not new, but for The Tea Party this sound cosmos was untouched, new territory – something that was about to change abruptly with Transmission.
Transmission began as an experiment of sorts in Martin’s loft studio in old Montreal, where he had previously “demoed” The Edges of Twilight. The difference, this time, was that Transmission was pieced together entirely and comfortably at Martin’s home. “There was no clock,” explains Martin, who produced the whole album and mixed it at Morin Heights, Quebec, with the exception of three tracks which were co-mixed with Adam Kasper (Soundgarden) at NRG Studios in Los Angeles. The organic and mechanic foils on Transmission began when Martin’s friend, English folk musician Roy Harper, gave him an old ‘80s Emulator II and Martin began messing around with it, starting with a loop sampled from a piece of Lebanese funeral music.
Over the next month, he assembled another five songs at his house and emerged with the skeletons (loops, electronic treatments and guitars) of “Psychopomp”, “Army Ants”, “Gyroscope”, “Pulse” and “Temptation”. Sound landscapes were created, and while they were at first only meant to be fiddling around, it forged a new direction for the sound of the band. After Martin had created the framework for the songs, Burrows and Stuart Chatwood travelled to Montreal and added their instruments parts to the to the musical skeletons Martin sketched out. Both expanded their instrument repertoire once again — Chatwood learned keyboards, which play an important role on Transmission, while Burrows experimented with an electronic drum kit. The band dared to enter new territory and take the risk of alienating old fans with the new direction. Embracing synthesizers, sampling and digital-recording techniques the trio was abandoning its previous musical prejudices, and revitalizing its evocative and intensely emotional sound with a modern approach.
It was February 1996 when Burrows recorded his drum parts in the loft below Martin’s house in Montreal – a space filled with discarded restaurant equipment. Burrows knocked off his bed tracks in two days, giving the band a power on which to build further (later he would add darabouka, dumbek, pod shakers and the lead pipe to select tracks). “Lucky enough, my landlord agreed to clear out the second floor beneath my loft, and there became the drum room and the drum sound that we all know as the backbone of Transmission,” recalls Martin. Chatwood, who plays keyboards more than bass on Transmission, had owned a sampler for four years and began adding his own “shadings” to the songs.
Martin remembers those days: “We’re just working with sounds, making our own sounds, experimenting with rhythms as well, breaks and things like that, to see how we play. We thought that these were going to be demos, when in fact, they turned out to be the record.” By the end of April 1996, after his bandmates left Montreal, half of the new album was completed without any vocals. Martin, still in his dark mood, had been documenting his existence in a “diary of madness” and set about turning it into lyrics.
On no album before and after have the lyrics been as dark as on Transmission. It began with the poem “Transmission”, which pits the glories of modern progress against the depravity parading within, not just poverty, Martin explained, but the “condition of the soul”. Musically, Transmission melds the rock, middle eastern and electronic elements. It made for the perfect album title. The album title was also a reference to Joy Division’s song of the same name. The idea of dropping the band name The Tea Party and renaming themselves Transmission was even briefly considered, in order to gain a better foothold on the American market, but in the end, they decided to keep their original name.
In addition to his personal crisis, Martin also dealt with social questions on the album, which were influenced by the writings of Christopher Dewdney, Canadian poet, essayist and futurist, and also a friend of Martin´s. One of his works, “The Secular Grail” inspired the song “Gyroscope” and his ideas on the nature of consciousness and psychic equilibrium infuse many of the songs on this album. “It’s basically a collection of aphorisms on the human condition and having to deal with the juxtaposition of the new deity being technology and the old ones, the organic ones. And, also in this book, he equates a human being’s psychic equilibrium to something like a gyroscope and how the rate of spin in each particular individual is equal to their psychic energy. And like a spinning top, if outside forces affect it, it will incur a wobble and go off course. With human beings, forces like flattery or conversely, criticism, affect you in such a degree that you start to go off course and you start to shift,” says Martin.
Meanwhile, other songs on the album are also based on books Martin read at the time. For example, “Army Ants” or “Psychopomp”, which goes back to a term used by psychologist C.G. Jung. With so many literary models, a German music magazine titled an article about Transmission with the headline “Books Instead of Drugs”. Martin admits however, that alcohol and drugs played an important role in his life before and after Transmission. After the first songs were completed, the other five songs took shape, including two songs which took the band in a different direction. “Release” and “Aftermath” both had a beauty and ambience to them which belied their ominous lyrics. The final track of the album, “Babylon”, was recorded in in one day during the mixing phase at Morin Heights. The Tea Party’s exciting evolution from blues-rock to eastern-rock to its current hybrid of industrial-acoustic-soul was sealed.
At the end of 1996, the whole album was written and it was time to complete the final recording of the songs. These recording sessions started in January 1997 and were finished in February 1997 with the recording of the vocals. With the recordings in their luggage, the band travelled to Los Angeles for three weeks in March 1997, where a large part of the album was mixed at NRG Studios. The mix was completed at Morin Heights, north of Montreal. The mastering was done by Bob Ludwig, who put the finishing touches to the album in April 1997. With this album the band created a dark colossus, a mixture of rock and electronics, of dark and apocalyptic structures and lyrics, always standing before the abyss and seldom seeing a glimmer of hope. In short, The Tea Party had created a monster with Transmission, which was now ready to present to the public. The first single “Temptation”, which swore the fans to what was to come with the dark video, was the precursor.
The album was first released in Canada on June 17, 1997, followed by releases in Australia, Germany and the USA. The latter was released for the first time on the Atlantic Records label, with the goal of starting fresh and the potential for wider recognition in the USA. The release was accompanied by concerts that could be followed live on the Internet. In 1997 this was still quite uncharted territory! The bands also played at major Canadian festivals such as Edgefest. The Tea Party was also asked to open for two shows of the “Bridges To Babylon” tour of the Rolling Stones, but unfortunately this didn’t happen because Mick Jagger fell ill and the shows in Toronto and Montreal were cancelled.
The band themselves described a performance at Intimate and Interactive at the Canadian music channel MuchMusic as one of their highlights at that time. In this show the official band video for “Psychopomp” was created. The band also recorded two concerts in Sydney, Australia, to release them on a live CD, but that content has not been released to date. And even though The Edges of Twilight is right on par with Transmission, and Heaving Coming Down was their first No. 1 hit, the album is seen by many as the creative highlight of the band.  From: https://transmission.teaparty-online.com/inside/#

Jonatha Brooke - Crumbs

 #Jonatha Brooke #ex-The Story #alternative/indie rock #singer-songwriter #folk rock #1990s

Merging evocative folk, melodic pop, and an edgier roots rock sensibility, singer/songwriter/guitarist Jonatha Brooke began releasing music in the early 1990s, first as a member of duo the Story and more enduringly as a solo artist. Though credited to Jonatha Brooke & the Story, she made her solo debut with 1995's Plumb. Born in Illinois and raised in Massachusetts, Jonatha Brooke was already writing songs when she met singer Jennifer Kimball while they were students at Amherst College in the early '80s. Though they played regular local gigs as Jonatha & Jennifer during their time there, the duo never issued any recordings and took a break after graduation, during which time Brooke joined a dance troupe. By the end of the '80s, however, the group had re-formed under the moniker the Story, and they issued a demo called Over Oceans in 1989. The Story was promptly signed to the independent Green Linnet label, which issued their debut album, Grace in Gravity, in 1991. It wasn't long before Elektra Records expressed interest in the band, in turn reissuing their debut the same year, as well as a sophomore LP, The Angel in the House, two years later. By 1994, however, the Story had split up for good and Brooke began pursuing a solo career. Despite Kimball's absence, Brooke's 1995 solo debut, Plumb, was credited to Jonatha Brooke & the Story. Brooke received sole credit beginning with 1997's 10 Cent Wings, which also marked a shift to a more radio-friendly sound.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jonatha-brooke-mn0000822742/biography

Ten Cent Wings is one of my all-time favorite albums. Period. It was given to me as a gift over seven years ago and I have been giving it away in turn ever since. It is still as fresh to my ears today as it was when I first heard it and that alone is the testament to its artistic excellence. I am certain that these are among those extremely rare works that will never get old for me. I love all of Jonatha's work as she is truly an artist's artist in my opinion but her efforts here are just masterful. Her ability to express herself with words, melodies, arrangements, and just plain emotional honesty truly set her apart on this album especially. I was prompted to write this review after reading another that disparaged 'Crumbs' as a poor arrangement. This song initially defined Jonatha to me, as the first time I heard it I was completely blown away. Her approach was so new and fresh in trying to express her theme that it just came across as tremendously powerful and affecting. 'Blood from a Stone' about her relationship with her mother is equally powerful. To me, the whole album is fabulous but I guess this goes to show you that, unfortunately, Jonatha is not for everyone. She is not trying to duplicate what has already been done but instead, trying to leave her mark on the world and speak to people in a voice that hasn't been heard before, as all true artists do. I guess not everyone can appreciate that approach. If you are interested in hearing a distinct voice that has the power to affect you again and again every time you hear it, listen to this album.  From: https://www.amazon.com/10-Cent-Wings-Jonatha-Brooke/product-reviews/B000002P82/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_next_2?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=2 

The Nields - Snowman

 #The Nields #Katryna & Nerissa Nields #folk rock #contemporary folk #alternative rock #indie rock #Americana #1990s

Where do you start with the Nields? Let's say that for twenty years you've wanted to write about the Nields, to help spread the word about their music but also to solidify your sense of why that music is so compelling, so worth your time. Where do you start? You could start copy-editorially. For example: There once was an indie folk-pop-rock band from New England called the Nields, and their name involved a grammatical joke. The band's principal members were the sisters Nerissa and Katryna Nields. Nerissa's husband, David, changed his last name from Jones to Nields and played guitar in the band. They called themselves the Nields. No matter how many people named Nields form a group, however, they collectively aren't the Nields. To be the Nields, they would each need to be named Nield. An "s" makes Nield plural. Since in reality they are each named Nields, together they are the Nieldses, "es" making Nields plural. The Nieldses might hang out with the Robertses and keep up with the Joneses. (If Nerissa, Katrina, and David had all been named Jones, they'd probably have named themselves the Jones.) Of course, you can understand why a band wouldn't want to go by the unwieldy name of the Nieldses. Why would they want to go by the ungrammatical name of the Nields? It's funny! A group of indie folk-pop-rock New England young people follow the lead of, say, the Osmonds, who were brothers, or the Ramones, who weren't. But in this case having a cool-or-at-least-coolish-sounding name means embracing a grammatical error. In this way the Nields resemble the long-defunct indie pop band Let's Active, whose name was meant to convey a faulty translation. Or they might be distant cousins to Led Zeppelin, who embraced the power of a spelling error because it looked, you know, heavier. So much for copyediting. Alternatively, you could start with the Nields personally. For example: For a couple years in the early '90s I lived in the same cozy corner of western Massachusetts as the Nields, or the Nieldses, or Nerissa and Katryna Nields and their bandmates. The name the Nields popped up frequently in that area, the Pioneer Valley, to the point of being annoying. I imagined their music was annoying too: cutesy, cloying, crunchy-folky.
By the summer of 2001 I was living in Manhattan and finally saw the Nields perform as part of a series at the base of the World Trade Towers. The Towers stood on an inhospitable, perpetually windswept concrete plaza with terrible acoustics. I have trouble believing that the Nields, homespun hometown heroes of the Pioneer Valley, played in that incredibly unlikely spot, below the twin phalluses of capitalism, but I know they did, I didn't dream it, because at their merch table after the show I bought their 2-CD set Live from Northampton (2001). Through the years that I'd lived in Amherst, MA, I'd spent time in nearby Northampton, but never set foot in Northampton's Iron Horse Music Hall, because no one I wanted to see ever played at the club. Now, years later, I proudly owned a live album recorded there. After seeing that phenomenal show at the base of the World Trade Towers, which was sort of like seeing a band of hobbits at the base of Sauron's tower (hobbitses, Gollum calls 'em, at least in the movies), I urgently wanted to support the Nields because as people they seemed so nice and genuine, because their songs were so catchy and inventive, and because I needed to hear more of the sisters' breathtaking, otherworldly harmonies. I remember asking at the merch table which of their recordings sounded the most like the show I'd just heard. On September 11 of that year, the World Trade Center was destroyed. At some point after that, I wrote to the band and thanked them for their show, which had humanized a forbidding location and left me with--at long last! and in the end--a warm memory of that place. Nerissa sent me a charming reply, saying the show had meant a lot to them too.
It was only in writing this piece that I discovered that Nerissa and Katryna's roots are in New York City. And if you started with the Nields historically, you'd visit their Wikipedia page and website (https://nields.com; see also https://nerissanields.com), then present facts such as that they formed in 1987 and have released, as of this writing, 20 recordings, from the out-of-print 66 Hoxsey Street (1992) to the state-of-the-state, furiously political November (2020). Their Wikipedia page and website and Discogs fudge on that discography, though, because some of the recordings are by the Nields and some are credited to Nerissa and Katryna Nields. In any case, if you were starting musically, you could discuss any or all of those recordings, which are so sparely and tastefully produced that they still sound fresh. You might say that Gotta Getta Over Greta (1996), their bid for mainstream success, rocks and makes the band's Beatles influence explicit with a fun cover of "Lovely Rita." Play (1998) unexpectedly draws on alternative rock and psychedelia, name-checking Ani DiFranco but drawing on equal parts Throwing Muses and Buffy Sainte-Marie--and if you think I'm kidding, sample the kickass, weirdass, rhythmically off-kilter track "Tomorrowland." If You Lived Here You'd Be Home Now (2000) trades alternative rock for classic rock and employs a wide instrumental palette. Live from Northampton, the final recording by the original five-piece Nields, provides an excellent career overview and lively introduction to the Nields' special blend of influences, powerful playing, and impassioned vocals.
The description folk-pop-rock might lead readers to think they know what the sisters' music has sounded like all these years, but prior experience with other music of this kind doesn't convey just how ferocious, somberly beautiful, or playful the Nields can be or how attentive to textures they are; these aren't your average strumming or picking folkies. Nor, more importantly, does it tell you what happens when Nerissa and Katryna sing. The sisters' voices individually display great flexibility, but in harmony those voices seem to draw strength from each other. With my untutored ears I can't tell whether they ever aim for the same note, but the notes they hit seem harmonically suited yet tending in different directions, sort of like Kate and Anna McGariggle's harmonies but wilder. The image that comes to mind is of two violins, with each bow at the same place on the same string yet angled in its own way so as to inflect the note. Meanwhile, the making of that note conveys joy, which becomes ecstasy as notes lead into higher ones. The characteristic Nields sound is of two voices swooping effortlessly, like birds barely having to flap their wings as they ride air currents. On the sisters' recordings over the decades, they gain greater and greater control over that motion.  From: https://www.furious.com/perfect/nields.html