Descartes a Kant - Apricot Dreams

 #Descartes a Kant #art rock #avant-garde #alternative rock #experimental #noise rock #electronic #avant-garde cabaret #theatrical #Mexican #music video

Equal parts Punk, Metal, Pop, Shoegaze and Cabaret, the critically-acclaimed underground sextet, Descartes a Kant (Guadalajara, Mexico) have made a real name for themselves as an otherworldly, unpredictable, theatrical live act. So much so that even the Wall Street Journal chimed in to say that “trying to describe their music is to do it a disservice. It’s loud, racy, incredibly imaginative, sophisticated, funny and wild; it’s as if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs fronted Albert Ayler with Frank Zappa conducting”. They’re considered one of the leading lights in the vibrant, ever-evolving Mexican experimental underground and are now poised to gain greater international acceptance. Led by strong female characters, their first two releases Paper Dolls (an intense and bipolar short song hardcore ode to multiple personality) and Il Visore Lunatique (a tribute on psychiatric disorders that goes from hip-hop to a bizarre broadway style musical) led them to perform and thrill both club and festival audiences all over the world, including Mexico, USA, Russia, and Brazil, and share bills with The Melvins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sonic Youth, Explosions in the Sky and Slayer.  From: https://swampbooking.com/descartes-a-kant-mexico/

Descartes a Kant is a Mexican rock, noise, and avant-garde group from Guadalajara, formed in 2001. They are characterized by their fused style of different musical rhythms and their performance presentations. They adopted their name by combining two figures they admire: Descartes and Kant, whose opposing philosophical works framed the principles of the modern era.
Descartes a Kant’s style is called by the band "bipolar-schizoid sound”, alternating sweet and melodic tones with loud and strident. Their music incorporates influences from noisegrind, noise rock, surf, electronic music, bossa nova and jazz. Their live presentations are usually theatrical performances, and the members of the group usually wear specific outfits for them.  Translated from: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes_a_Kant

Tracy Bonham - Jumping Bean

 #Tracy Bonham #alternative rock #post-grunge #singer-songwriter #1990s

Woman to Woman: Erin Harkes chats with Tracy Bonham
When offered the opportunity to interview Tracy Bonham, I jumped at the chance. As I struggled to teach myself how to play guitar in my college dorm room back in the 90s, this powerhouse musician of the Lilith Fair era was an inspiration to me. Thankfully, and not surprisingly, she was an absolute delight to talk with. She was also super patient with the technical difficulties and all the times throughout the discussion where I made it about me.
Me: Obviously you’re best known for “Mother, Mother,” a song I love. The first time I heard it I was in the car with my mother, so it was just perfect. She was like, “Oh, this is a nice song” with a hint of passive aggression. And then you started screaming at her and I thought, “Tracy and I are best friends now.”
Tracy: That’s an awesome story—really cool. No one has ever told me that.
Me: I’m sure you know how moms can be. They’re like, “Oh, maybe you should write a song like this for me.” Then it got to the chorus and I thought, Maybe I will…
Tracy:  That’s great. That’s awesome.
Me: But beyond that, which work would you say you’re most proud of?
Tracy: It’s gonna sound so stupid, but I’m really proud of my body of work. I can’t choose one song because they’re all a timestamp of who I was at that moment. When I look back, I see it as a kaleidoscope or a tapestry of who I am. And I like knowing that I have many albums out there—not as many as I should have in my almost 30 years of doing this—but at least I have a nice handful.
Me: I’m sure it’s hard to choose just one. I know that when you’re known for one particular thing, sometimes people tend to overlook your other labors of love.
Tracy: Yeah, that happens all the time.
Me: But I’m glad to hear that you’re proud of all your work because that’s not very common. Sometimes you have a couple of stinkers that you’d rather nobody ever heard.
Tracy: Oh, I went through that. I thought my second album, “Down Here,” was a stinker for a long time. Then it happened to come up on my playlist or my iTunes while I was driving and I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. I was like, Wait a minute. I actually LIKE this. I had to come around. I needed time away from that one.
Me: That makes sense. I also have a song I didn’t like that much, but then my friends would tell me “That’s my favorite song on the album!” Maybe that would be somebody else’s favorite, too.
Tracy: Yes, exactly. You have to give it up at some point. It’s like letting your kids go off to college. You have to let them go.
Me: And I do think of songs as my children, so it’s funny that you said that. When somebody asks me my favorite song, I ask them, “Do you have kids? Which one is your favorite?” Then they get it. Except once in a while, somebody says, “Kyle’s my favorite,” and I’m like, “Okay, you ruined the question.”
Tracy: That’s hilarious.
From: https://nippertown.com/2022/06/28/woman-to-woman-erin-harkes-interviews-tracy-bonham/

22 Brides - Demolition Day

 #22 Brides #Libby & Carrie Johnson #folk rock #alternative folk #alternative rock #indie rock #folk pop #blues folk #1990s

In 1992, Libby and Carrie Johnson formed the indie folk duo 22 Brides, and in 1993 they put out the self-released eight-song CD Selling Fruit in Cairo. The band name 22 Brides comes from an Indian folk tale they heard when they were younger. After being spotted during one of their monthly gigs at CBGBs in New York, the duo signed with indie label Zero Hour Records. In June 1994 they released their self-titled debut, consisting of remixed songs from their self-released effort plus four new songs. The album was produced by Daniel Wise and features Jonathan Mover on drums and Mark Bosch on guitar.
On the year-long tour for 22 Brides, and in advance of their second album, Beaker, 22 Brides expanded into a four-member band with John Skehan (guitar, bass) and Ned Stroh (drums) joining Libby (bass, keyboards, vocals) and Carrie (guitar, vocals). The album had a more highly produced feel than the folk influences of the band's debut. Following a Zero Hour distribution deal with Universal Records, Beaker was released on Zero Hour/Universal. In September 1997, Zero Hour released the 22 Brides EP Blazes of Light, which was a sampler of sorts, with songs from their first two albums, "Purified" from their upcoming third album, and a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".
The band's third LP, Demolition Day, was released in 1998, with a return to the more intimate sound of 22 Brides. In an effort to get back to their folk-pop harmonizing roots, the band worked again with Daniel Wise and recorded their vocal tracks live and switched to a trio formation, with Libby on bass and vocals, Carrie on guitar and vocals, and Bill Dobrow on drums. In October 1995, 22 Brides toured with Dick Dale. They played at the 1998 Lilith Fair, and also opened for Ani DiFranco and Freedy Johnston. In 1996, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti introduced characters based on Libby and Carrie Johnson in their comic book series Ash. They then created a four-book miniseries, 22 Brides, published by Event Comics, revolving around the characters based on the sisters.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Johnson
 

Kristeen Young - Nice

 #Kristeen Young #alternative rock #piano rock #avant-garde #prog punk #operatic punk #multi-genre #no-genre #music video

Missouri-born singer-songwriter Kristeen Young has been producing her unique cocktail of ‘dissonant piano bashing, operatic vocals and serrated lyrics’ since her debut album Meet Miss Young And Her All Boy Band in 1997. She has toured and worked with artists such as Morrissey and David Bowie. Kristeen Young is the rarest of beasts - a musician on their 11th album who still sounds, and looks, like they are fresh out of the gate, with all the vitality, energy and innovation that suggests. An artist brimming with ideas and idiosyncrasies, laser-focused on living in the here and now. In a world where pop-culture, aimed at even the youngest demographic, is awash with nostalgia this a musical unicorn indeed.
Backed by a series of arresting, self-made videos, The Beauty Shop was released digitally last month with a physical edition to follow in September. It is a fabulously rage-infused genre-mash of left field punk opera, discordant instrumentation and sublime melodies that isn’t afraid to touch on the darker aspects of personal and political life. Written as a song cycle detailing “snapshots of the life of a serial killer with each song based on a major emotion” the album, Kristeen says, is a metaphor for contemporary American culture exploring “how life can systematically kill your emotions”. More personally, and evocatively, the touchstone for the album was a real life salon: “I grew up in a beauty shop. My adopted mom had a shop in our little house. My adopted dad walled in a breezeway to make the shop.”
The title evokes a ’50s/’60s retro feel, somewhere between Little Shop of Horrors and Beauty School Drop Out, that connects with the fucked-up version of old school glamour on display in the visuals. There is a conflict present in the videos that many women can relate to, as they appear to pick apart our own sense of image from the commercialized product of femininity and female adornment.  From: https://louderthanwar.com/kristeen-young-interview/

Imperial Drag - Boy Or A Girl

 #Imperial Drag #power pop #glam rock #alternative rock #pop rock #retro-1970s #ex-Jellyfish #1990s

Just like 2 Live Crew before them, Imperial Drag has experienced problems in Florida. Radio station WXTB in Tampa says they pulled the band's single "Boy or A Girl" after complaints came in from listeners who were uncomfortable with the song's lyrical content. "I didn't think it was such a button pusher," says Imperial Drag singer/guitarist Eric Dover of the banned song he wrote about talk show exploitation and sexual paranoia. "It's about coming to grips with certain tendencies. I guess some people got upset because it addresses an alternative side of someone's sexuality. But what I think is strange is the way an alternative radio station folded under pressure. How alternative is that? Some might bypass any alternative tag for the band and simply stick Imperial Drag in with the retro-lo-fi-polyester trend that's been around for the past couple years. The band's Beatles-meet-T. Rex glam-pop sound obviously draws plenty from the past. "We get a retro tag because our influences just show up too damn well," says keyboardist Roger Manning, ex-Jellyfish founder and recent Moog Cookbook chef. "I could write an AC/DC or Queen song in five minutes. I guess that's a blessing and a curse. But for the fans of this music the tag is not an issue. Besides, people are always digging up childhood memorabilia. It's always fascinating that anything from the 70s gets a negative tag, but ska and punk were around years ago too and today it's seen as something new. But I guess people are going to like what they like for whatever reasons.  From: https://www.mtv.com/news/5cjntm/dont-call-imperial-drag-retro

Lisa Loeb - Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves

 #Lisa Loeb #alternative rock #pop rock #folk rock #singer-songwriter #1990s #Cher cover

Q: You’ve had some interesting covers, such as Cher’s hit, “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves.” Did you record the song because you like it or did someone bring it to you?

Lisa Loeb: That was one of my favorite songs from when I was growing up. There was a guy named Bob Kulich who puts together a lot of cover albums and he usually calls on heavy metal guitar players to do them.  A long time ago when I was dating Dweezil Zappa, he asked Dweezil to be a part of an Ozzy Osbourne covers album.  We both suggested that I sing “Goodbye To Romance,” which is an Ozzy Osbourne song. After a little bit of a fight Bob thought it was a good idea and I did this song with all these other great musicians playing on the track.  It was a really interesting experience and added variety to the album.  So Bob called on me to do some other covers.  When the Cher covers album came up, “Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves” was always one of my favorites.  It’s so mysterious sounding and dramatic, definitely not something I wouldn’t do myself, I don’t think.  I was so excited to have the opportunity to sing that song.

From: https://news.pollstar.com/2014/04/18/a-few-minutes-with-lisa-loeb/

Portishead - Mourning Air

 #Portishead #trip-hop #alternative rock #electronica #downtempo #acid house #1990s

Portishead may not have invented trip-hop, but they were among the first to popularize it, particularly in America. Taking their cue from the slow, elastic beats that dominated Massive Attack's Blue Lines and adding elements of cool jazz, acid house, and soundtrack music, Portishead created an atmospheric, alluringly dark sound. The group wasn't as avant-garde as Tricky, nor as tied to dance traditions as Massive Attack; instead, it wrote evocative pseudo-cabaret pop songs that subverted their conventional structures with experimental productions and rhythms of trip-hop. As a result, Portishead appealed to a broad audience - not just electronic dance and alternative rock fans, but thirtysomethings who found techno, trip-hop, and dance as exotic as worldbeat. Before Portishead released their debut album, Dummy, in 1994, trip-hop's broad appeal wasn't apparent, but the record became an unexpected success in Britain, topping most year-end critics polls and earning the prestigious Mercury Music Prize; in America, it also became an underground hit. Following the success of Dummy, legions of imitators appeared over the next two years.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/portishead-mn0000301619/biography

Twenty-five years ago, during the summer of Blur’s Parklife and Oasis’s Definitely Maybe, a darker, stranger record was released that would soon become huge. Its title and mood was inspired by a 1970s TV drama of the same name, about a young deaf woman in Yorkshire who becomes a prostitute. The lyrics spoke of emotional extremes, sung in an extraordinary, rural-tinged, English blues by the Devon-born Beth Gibbons, of “the blackness, the darkness, forever” in Wandering Star, or of the feeling that “nobody loves me, it’s true, not like you do” in Sour Times. It’s sound, woven together by Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, helped define what is known today in music as hauntology, the sampling of older, spectral sounds to evoke deeper cultural memories (Boards of Canada’s TV-sampling electronica, Burial’s dubstep, and the Ghost Box label’s folk horror soundworlds would follow their lead). But despite its starkness, Dummy became a triple-platinum seller and a Mercury prizewinner, perhaps because it struck a nerve in what Barrow calls our “sonic unconscious - when sounds can merge with other sounds from somewhere else, and ultimately create emotion”.  From: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/aug/24/portishead-dummy-wasnt-a-chillout-album-25th-anniversary-geoff-barrow-adrian-utley-beth-gibbons

Toadies - Backslider

 #Toadies #alternative rock #punk #post-grunge #hard rock #punk metal #indie rock #1990s

25+ years. That’s a long time to maintain relevance, especially in the music community. But that’s exactly what Rubberneck has done. Released during the height of the grunge era, it’s mistakenly labeled a grunge record. But it’s not, not by a long shot. Described as “the Pixies meets Metallica”, the Toadies had their feet firmly ensconced in indie, alternative, punk and (near) metal to forge a sound truly all their own. 11 songs without a wasted stroke, from the first strum of the instrumental “Mexican Hairless” announcing the arrival of Rubberneck to the heavy, near post-punk feel of the closer “I Burn,” the Toadies wasted nary a note, beat or word, 36 minutes of pure original Texas sonic-boogie bliss, this was an album that could only be forged by Texans, attempting to reclaim the rock world from Seattle’s grungy little fist. Not being grunge, punk or metal, Interscope originally went with the latter, placing the Toadies on hair metal showcases and festivals with the likes of Dokken and Great White. Therefore, their eponymous debut album was not met with the overnight success many people might believe. 2 singles and videos (“Mr. Love,” “Backslider”) had already come and gone in the time between late August and Christmas, and it certainly wasn’t a hit. Small tours with Samiam, The Goats, and Big Chief had done little to dent the band in the public eye, all the while turning them into a four-headed rock machine. 4 months of constant touring will do that to an already tight band, and they roared into 1995 as a juggernaut. With only a few thousand copies sold, they had one last chance to impress, and that came in the form of a ghost story centered on a North Texas lake called “Possum Kingdom.” One creepy video and a slot opening for British upstarts Bush later, people were finally taking notice and Rubberneck started picking up steam. Of all places to break first for them, Florida jumped right on board. Subsequent tours with All and a very young Sugar Ray only tightened the band as it headed into summer, with one of the most endearing singles of the year on their hands. “Possum Kingdom” was inescapable during that summer, and neither were the Toadies.   From: https://thetoadies.com/bio/

Dada - Bob, The Drummer

 #Dada #alternative rock #psychedelic rock #power pop #pop rock #1990s

Dada is no one-hit wonder. It had four solid albums in the 1990s and several great songs, one of which attained worldwide acclaim. The band broke with a unique sound at the time with Joie Calio (bass/co-lead vocals) and Michael Gurley (guitar/co-lead vocals) singing harmonies over catchy hooks boosted by Gurley’s supreme guitar playing. Calio calls it Jimi Hendrix meets Simon & Garfunkel. As a rock band in the early 1990s, dada was painted in the broad swath called alternative rock. “That meant you didn’t sound like Guns 'N' Roses or heavy metal of the ‘80s,” Calio said. Dada took a cerebral path to success. “It was never just a garage band,” Calio said. “It was serious. It was a life change when we made the move to start Dada.” Calio and Gurley were friends in high school and separately they landed in Los Angeles where they played in various bands. Coincidentally, they lived within walking distance of each other. “It was so easy,” Calio said. “We just got together every day or night after work or whatever and worked on music. Only a few weeks into it, we started realizing this was a really good idea. Before we’d maybe write 10 songs in a year and one of them was OK. Now we’re starting to write 10 songs every two weeks.” The epiphany was to stop working on being in bands and just work on songwriting. After about a year, a musical peer, Louis Gutierrez of Mary’s Danish, listened to one of their sessions and told them they needed to perform. The duo argued that they didn’t have a band, but Gutierrez insisted, “You guys are going to open for us” at an upcoming show. The duo played about a half-dozen songs before receiving a standing ovation. “I will never forget that moment because as we walked offstage, I said, ‘Maybe Louis was right. We don’t need a band for right now.’ Then Louis comes over and said, ‘Hey, you guys. Just stay on the tour.’ And so we went up the coast with them and it was it was great.” Calio had a most appropriate day job, working in the mail room at Geffen Records. “It was like going to college,” he said. “I learned the ins and outs of the music business, and after we made demos, I knew who to take them to rather than blanket the entire industry.” The band broke out right away after it added drummer Phil Leavitt. Dada was boosted by a dream.
In the early 1990s, television viewers saw exuberant Super Bowl and World Series winners exclaim they were going to Disneyland and then news reports of the Gulf War and the L.A. Riots. The juxtaposition weaved into Calio’s subconscious. “I woke up about 5:00 in the morning,” Calio said. “All I remember about the dream right now is a big bus went in front of me that had the word Disneyland on it and I heard the melody.” Before going back to sleep, Calio jotted down about 20 verses, such as, “I shot my gun into the night, now I’m going to Dizz Knee Land. I just flipped off President George, I’m going to Dizz Knee Land.” At noon he called Gurley, the two met and put the song together. “I had the peanut butter, he had the chocolate,” Calio said.  From: https://www.tahoeonstage.com/reviews/dada/

K's Choice - Not An Addict

 #K's Choice #alternative rock #folk rock #hard rock #post-grunge #indie rock #1990s #Belgian

K's Choice is a Belgian rock band from Antwerp. The band centers on siblings Sam Bettens (formerly known as Sarah Bettens) (lead vocals, guitar) and Gert Bettens (guitar, keyboard, vocals). They are joined by Eric Grossman (bass), Jan van Sichem Jr. (guitar) and Koen Liekens (drums). Their music can be described as guitar-based singer-songwriter rock or folk-rock. It ranges from very delicate and intimate singer-songwriter songs to songs that are stronger, more active and louder. Sarah's smoky, enigmatic voice is the band's best known characteristic. In the seven years between The Great Subconscious Club and Almost Happy the music changed from raw and guitar-based to a more subtle and delicate sound. Sarah and Gert write most of the music and lyrics. Most of it is written separately. Sarah mainly tries to express ideas in her songs, and has a hand in writing silly and tongue-in-cheek songs. Gert has one big theme: losing the one you love. While most of the songs are easily accessible and open, some others are strange and incomprehensible. This led Sarah to comment: "Listening to the lyrics for the first time, you may find it hard to understand their meaning. When you listen to them a second time you may sense a basic truth in these cryptic words. If you do so, please let me know." This band appeared in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Doppelgangland) with the song Virgin State of Mind, leading to a boost in popularity.Their most popular song 'Not an addict' can be heard in the movie 'Wild things'.  From: https://www.last.fm/music/K%27s+Choice/+wiki

It’s too easy to assume, as so many already have, that the ’90s classic anthem “Not An Addict” by Belgian rock band K’s Choice from the album Paradise in Me, is simply about the denial of drug addiction. However, according to an interview with Billboard magazine, the song’s meaning takes on a more nuanced perspective of (formerly known as Sarah), transgender lead singer Sam Bettens’ view of controlled substance dependence, and the criminality of what he considered “soft drugs” like cannabis at the time.
Even though most ’90s rock bands proudly wore their ‘sex-drugs-rock-and-roll’ personas unapologetically on their sleeves, Bettens was fairly open about having made a valiant effort to avoid “hard drugs.” He was nonetheless still forthcoming about using cannabis and experimenting with psychedelics. In his interview, Bettens fully acknowledges, “I was addicted to cigarettes really bad,” also admitting, “I’ll smoke a joint once in a while and I might try acid or mushrooms, but I’ve never done any hard drugs, and I don’t think I want to.” The reason he explained was, “I like being in control of myself, and doing certain drugs makes you lose touch. That’s what scares me.”
Bettens was also adamant about clarifying that “Not An Addict” is neither anti, nor pro-drug use, and that the song’s meaning is by no means black or white, much like competing opinions about cannabis dependence. Bettens’ perspective, and song lyrics if anything, reflect modern-day cannabis use debates, captured in the form of a hauntingly melodic internal conflict.
From: https://trauma.blog.yorku.ca/2022/08/not-an-addict/

Beck - Devil's Haircut

 #Beck #alternative rock #folk rock #anti-folk #psychedelia #lo-fi #art rock #indie rock #underground rock #experimental #electronic rock #1990s

American musician Beck is a difficult artist to define. With a career that spans four decades, Beck’s music has encompassed every genre imaginable, including folk, funk, soul, hip-hop, electronic, alt-rock, country, and psychedelia. Unhindered by the expectations set upon him by previous releases, Beck has released 14 studio albums, each showcasing a distinct crevice of his creative identity.  From: https://happymag.tv/best-of-beck/

Beck himself has talked about the meaning of "Devils Haircut" on a few occasions. In one interview, he claimed that it was "a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity". He said of the song: I don't know if I ever had any youthful purity, but I can understand that you might be tempted to make commercial shit and compromise to do it. I try not to compromise on anything. I think we associate becoming an adult with compromise. Maybe that's what the devil is. In "Devils Haircut", that was the scenario. I imagined Stagger Lee... I thought, what if this guy showed up now in 1996... I thought of using him as a Rumpelstiltskin figure, this Lazarus figure to comment on where we've ended up as people. What would he make of materialism and greed and ideals of beauty and perfection? His reaction would be, "Whoa, this is disturbing shit".  From: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/9579/

Tardigrade Inferno - How Nightmares Die

 #Tardigrade Inferno #avant-garde metal #alternative metal #dark cabaret #dark circus music #Russian #animated music video

Coming from the musically rich city of St Petersburg, Russia is the extraordinarily zany and creative band Tardigrade Inferno which formed somewhere around 2016 and released one self-titled EP and has been somewhat quiet for a few years. The year 2019 has barely had time to warm up and the band finally unleash the very first debut full-length MASTERMIND which displays the band’s unique mix of alternative metal with dark cabaret circus music. Add in sprinklings of death metal, thrash and power metal and you have one of early 2019’s most promising new acts.
The word “Tardigrade” can refer to either a variety of slow-moving microscopic invertebrates or it can simply be an adjective that means slow-moving or slow in action. I have no friggin’ idea how this applies to this band since this is high energy metal and there is relatively little info about this band on the net as i can’t even find any sort of biography whatsoever, however i can say that this band has found a unique sound right off the bat. However if i had to compare Tardigrade Inferno to any other band it would definitely be Diablo Swing Orchestra as it has the same cartoonish feel and the singing style of lead vocalist Darya Pavlovich sounds a lot like both AnnLouice Lögdlund and Kristin Evegård of DSO.
Musically though, this band doesn’t break out the jazz instrumentation or even circus accordions but rather delivers a metal music heft piled on top of dark cabaret and circus melodies alongside the bouncy festive rhythms that are associated with the greatest show on Earth. The metal bombast is mostly carried out by the power chord slapping staccato style accompanied by circusy keyboard runs but different metal variations come into play however mostly in an alternative metal down-tuned power chord rampage. While Darya Pavlovich’s vocal range stays more in clean vocal cabaret mode, she occasionally screams in metal style reminding me of Arch Enemy for short stints but unfortunately not nearly enough! The circus bounces are always under the surface despite heavy metal thunder stomping fast numbers or slower subdued moments.
While i’m constantly reminded of Diablo Swing Orchestra, Tardigrade Inferno isn’t nearly as daring and out there and is rather restrained in comparison. While the music is definitely quirky and playful it doesn’t change the sound up nearly often enough although there are moments such as on the title track where death growls and guitar solos enter the picture, otherwise Darya is pretty much on cutesy Gwen Stefani mode and reminds me a bit of the 90s band No Doubt only with more metal bombast. While a band to look out for as the members become more comfortable with this stylistic fusion approach, this debut is a great start with elements of ska, gypsy swing and the dominant dark cabaret sounds keeping the album infectiously catchy and light-hearted without skimping on the metallic angst.  From: https://www.metalmusicarchives.com/artist/tardigrade-inferno

The Jayhawks - Nothing Left To Borrow

#The Jayhawks #Gary Louris #Mark Olson #alternative rock #country rock #alt-country #folk rock #Americana #roots rock #1990s

Led by the gifted songwriting, impeccable playing, and honeyed harmonies of vocalists/guitarists Mark Olson and Gary Louris, the Jayhawks' shimmering blend of country, folk, and bar band rock made them one of the most widely acclaimed artists to emerge from the 1980s alternative country scene.  From: https://www.iheart.com/artist/the-jayhawks-56757/

Occasionally, just occasionally, an album lies dormant in my collection waiting to be rediscovered. More likely, as my albums increase to ever more unmanageable levels, I won't have the time to devote to each to really appreciate the depth of the music and quality of the songs involved. Even after replaying Tomorrow The Green Grass by The Jayhawks I still don't think I've fully grasped how good this really is. The problem is there's nothing too prominent. Instead there is a sparse but beautiful feel which, after giving the album a dozen listens, may fall into place but, life is proving so busy and there's so much I want to listen to, I might never realize what I have. Indeed one of the liner notes states "these songs aren't as simple as they might seem at first glance" and that is bang on the money. Tomorrow The Green Grass is one of those rare albums that proves equally rewarding as mere background music or as something to dive right into and explore its dark corners and insightful nooks and crannies.
Playing harmonic country rock which can be traced all the way back to The Byrds, The Jayhawks strength is their strong song-writing as opposed to the trendy posturing of the day. In effect, this is loud folk music that weaves a tapestry of heartache and whimsy, innocence and angst – it could never be accused of being groundbreaking but the band takes pleasure in taking something familiar and performing it really, really well. The vocal harmonies of Gary Louris and Mark Olsen, whose final album with the band this would be, are an absolute joy. There is something of The Everly Brothers in there but it's more of an amalgam of different vocal styles: The Byrds, The Eagles, Buffalo Springfield, there's even something of Tom Petty in the mix and "Bad Time" boasts Beatlelesque vocal harmonies which include a contribution from Sharleen Spiteri taking time out from her band Texas. The best tracks on Tomorrow The Green Grass are some of the best the whole of the alt country genre has to offer. "Blue", "Two Hearts", "Bad Time", "Over My Shoulder" and "Nothing Left To Borrow" are all lovely in their simplicity and breathtaking in their execution.  From: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-jayhawks/tomorrow-the-green-grass/

Jane's Addiction - Stop

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

Alternative rock legends Jane's Addiction broke the alt-rock mould when they released their debut album, Nothing's Shocking, in 1989. With scant regard for LA's spandex-clad genre conventions, they turned rock'n'roll on its head by throwing elements of funk, goth and punk into the mix. With their follow up album Ritual De Lo Habitual, released in August 1990, they built upon that template and subsequently broke alt-rock to the masses. They made it perfectly okay to love Led Zeppelin and The Sex Pistols.  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/jane-s-addiction-the-first-alternative-band-to-break-not-nirvana

Jane’s Addiction might be the ultimate “you had to be there” band. If you weren’t somewhere between 16 and 20 in 1988-90, their music is likely either totally foreign to you or a somewhat baffling memory, a misty relic of the pre-Nirvana age. But if you were there, as I was, they sunk a hook into you that will never come loose — and gestured toward a much wider world of possibilities than “punk” or “metal” or what was still called “college rock.”
Jane’s Addiction were unique, but they weren’t alone. There was a whole movement bubbling up on the West Coast in the mid to late ’80s. Between roughly 1987 and 1991, LA bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, and even Suicidal Tendencies — plus Bay Area peers like Primus and Faith No More — combined punk, funk, ska, thrash, prog, art-rock, and more into genre-shattering records and volcanic live performances. Metal and heavy rock were displaying a sonic broad-mindedness that really hasn’t been equaled since. Indeed, looking at what’s become of some of these bands since, it’s hard to believe it was ever that way.
I wasn’t a fan of Jane’s Addiction at first. Their independent 1987 live album — which they only released that way to buy themselves credibility; their major label deal was already in place — and their Warner Bros. debut, 1988’s Nothing’s Shocking, passed me by. But then Ritual de lo Habitual came out August 21, 1990 — 30 years ago today and two months after I’d graduated high school. I was fully onboard. I’d seen the video for “Stop” and loved both the high-energy psychedelic metal of the music and the band’s patchwork image. With their mismatched clothes, their manically/joyously headbanging drummer, their thrashing guitarist and head-down bassist, and their singer’s weird serpentine dancing and hoarse, crow-like vocals, they seemed like three different bands in one. I bought the cassette the day it came out and listened to it obsessively all summer.
Ritual de lo Habitual was divided neatly into halves. The album kicked off with a friend of the band’s, Cindy Lair, giving an introduction in Spanish: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have more influence with your children than you do, but we love them. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jane’s Addiction.” That launched “Stop,” the first of five fast, aggressive punk-funk-metal songs. The music was less thuddingly heavy than it had been on Nothing’s Shocking. Dave Navarro’s guitar was thinner and sharper; Eric Avery’s rumbling post-punk bass, always the heart of their sound, was louder and more physically present; Stephen Perkins’ drumming was wilder and looser. Perry Farrell, meanwhile, was more or less the same guy he’d been thus far — a scrawny, dreadlocked wannabe prophet, preaching indulgent amorality (“There ain’t no wrong now, ain’t no right/ Only pleasure and pain”).
From: https://www.stereogum.com/2095287/janes-addiction-ritual-de-lo-habitual-review-anniversary/columns/sounding-board/

Patty Griffin - Moses

 #Patty Griffin #contemporary folk #Americana #country folk #alt-country #alternative folk rock #singer-songwriter

Patty Griffin's major-label debut was actually recorded as a demo cassette. A&M executives were so impressed with this raw display of talent that they snatched up the tape and threw it, unaltered, into the marketplace. Griffin recorded her songs exactly as she performed them live, armed with only her acoustic guitar and a voice that can rattle fences. While dozens of folk artists have attempted to bend the ear of the major labels by coating their acoustics with radio-friendly keyboards and drums, Griffin took the gutsy "band? I don't need no stinking band" approach. It's primarily a testament to her voice that A&M was so taken with her minimalism; as a guitarist, Griffin isn't much more than an energetic strummer. Her songwriting is only occasionally exceptional -- her word choices are as minimal as her arrangements, and her melodies are engaging but conventional. But she is nonetheless a striking and intriguing storyteller, because her tales of chronically lonely people are told with such passion. Griffin's Nashville-tinged warble has tremendous emotional range, one minute cracking with brittle vulnerability, the next minute blasting with passionate intensity. Occasionally it seems Griffin's demo engineers were unequipped to handle her vibrant transitions, setting the microphone level for a whisper then cringing as the speakers bristle and the needles slam into the red. But this subtle idiosyncrasy only adds to the charm of the album, lending to the impression that no stereo is big enough to contain this voice.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/living-with-ghosts-mw0000183522

Jazmin Bean - Birthday Bitch

 #Jazmin Bean #Jasmine Adams #pop metal #trap metal #hyperpop #alt-pop #electropop #alternative metal #electro-industrial #singer-songwriter #Filipino #British #music video 

From musician, to makeup artist, to fashionista, Jazmin Bean does not fit into any one category. But who exactly is Bean anyway? Well, that particular question doesn’t have an answer with a neatly wrapped bow around it. Instead, the answer takes you on a roller coaster ride. From the streets of Harajuku, Japan, to the glorious and topsy-turvy world of Tim Burton, you’ll encounter Bean at the intersection of your worst nightmare and your favourite daydream - a “visual and musical collision of the darkest corners of our imagination,” as The Forty Five puts it. Bean is a hybrid of both the terrifying and the terrific. Creating a myriad of gruesome gore visuals and musical aesthetics, the artist firmly places themself in a lane of their own - and everyone should pay attention.
Jasmine Adams, professionally known as Jazmin Bean, is a British singer, songwriter, makeup artist, beauty brand owner, business entrepreneur, and of course, style icon - so, just about everything under the sun. The artist is non-binary, goes by the pronouns they/them, and toes the line between pop star and underground rebel on a daily basis. As a champion of multiple aesthetics, Bean has been credited for their fearless approach to blending various styles together, sonically and visually, in their music career. “I create music and film that pushes the boundaries of beauty and societal standards and throws itself into extremes,” they said in an interview with Dazed. There is a certain allure in the dark and lurid appeal of Bean, with their website currently featuring an image of them holding a giant blade. Frequently linked to other acts like Grimes, Rina Sawayama, Babymetal, Poppy and Melanie Martinez, the rising pop star has cemented their place in the alternative genre. Bean’s art seems to pull all ends of the spectrum, from nightmarish visuals to lullaby lyrics which both transform the way we enjoy and interact with music.  From: https://screenshot-media.com/culture/influencers/who-is-jazmin-bean/   

22 Brides - King For The Day

#22 Brides #Libby & Carrie Johnson #folk rock #alternative folk #alternative rock #indie rock #folk pop #blues folk #1990s 

The group 22 Brides is mostly vocal duo Carrie and Libby Johnson, but before you truth-in-advertising freaks get your feathers ruffled, go talk to 10,000 Maniacs. I'd rather spend my time listening to the dozen songs that make up 22 Bride's self-titled new album. Don't let that "vocal duo" tag mislead you; 22 Brides ain't your average folk-light Indigo Girl wannabees. Instead, they push those voices out in front of a surging tide of drums, guitars, bass, keyboards and the odd mandolin or violin, creating a sound that's mostly stainless steel, gleaming and tough. The songs themselves are hard to pin down. Take "Wild in My Arms," which starts with what sounds like a snippet of tape played backwards, tumbles into a craggy percussive ballad, then kicks up its heels and raises some dust by the time the chorus arrives. Ballad? Rocker? All I know is that those stirring sibling harmonies and the tune's driving beat make it seem all too short. This unpredictable mix propels the record through the brooding Celtic muscle of "Visions of You," the whirling dervish of "City of Brides," the moody R.E.M.-ish drift of "King for the Day," the lean pop of "Silence," the hard country-rock gallop of "David," the electric urgency of "Ghost House," the piano and violin delicacy of "You Do," the perfectly restrained ode to sisterhood "Harder than Nails," the INXS swagger of "Transparent," the ringing resignation of "What's So Wrong," and the lovely fragility of "Time Stands Still." The lyrics tug at the edges of emotion and reason, phrases floating by on the breeze to resurface later like a small revelation and wrestled into memorable melodies by the strong, supple voices of the sisters Johnson. All of which makes 22 Brides one gem worth hearing.  From: http://www.louisvillemusicnews.net/webmanager/index.php?WEB_CAT_ID=50&storyid=12140&headline=22_Brides_-_22_Brides&issueid=68

Orla Gartland - I Go Crazy

#Orla Gartland #indie folk #contemporary folk #folk pop #R&B #alternative rock #indie rock #singer-songwriter #music video 

Irish musician Orla Gartland combines singer/songwriter folk and elements of traditional Irish music with bedroom pop sensibilities. Hailing from Dublin, Gartland was taught to play violin, fiddle, and other traditional instruments at the age of 5, but she found her true calling when she picked up the guitar at 12. Within a year she was uploading cover songs online, eventually branching out and creating her own tracks. At 17, she had released her debut single, "Devil on My Shoulder," landing her support slots for Ryan O'Shaughnessy and Nina Nesbitt on their respective U.K. tours. Her debut EP, Roots, surfaced the following year, and she toured the U.K. with five headline shows. Later the same year, Gartland contributed the song "Cast Your Stone" to the Simple Things album in support of suicide prevention in Ireland. After the release of her second EP, 2015's Lonely People, Gartland relocated to London and stepped back from writing for a short period, returning in 2019 with a third EP, Why Am I Like This?. She joined Irish Women in Harmony in 2020, working with them to record a version of "Dreams" in support of Safe Ireland, a domestic abuse charity. Later the same year she released her fourth EP, Freckle Season, which she combined with her previous EP to create Why Is Freckle Season Like This. It led to placements on the BBC Three/Hulu series Normal People. Gartland's first proper album, Woman on the Internet, was recorded with help from producers including Tom Stafford and the Vaccines' Pete Robertson. It arrived on her label, New Friends, in August of 2021.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/orla-gartland-mn0003202129/biography

Cut Glass Kings - Shadow of Your Love

#Cut Glass Kings #alternative rock #blues rock #indie rock #rock & roll #fuzz rock #animated music video

Bassists? Who needs bassists? I’ll tell you who doesn’t. Birmingham band ‘Cut Glass Kings’ have said ta-ra to the traditional line-up, and instead compensated with a fuck-load of fuzz pedals, and the most bass-face inducing drums I’ve heard in a long while. But does it work you ask? Of course it does. The band played to small Manchester venue ‘The Castle’ last Tuesday evening, with the conviction you’d expect only from an established rock ‘n’ roll band playing to a sell-out stadium. After wandering up to the foot of the stage, and after an incredibly flat pint at the bar, I was met with the leather-clad Cut Glass Kings, waiting to begin their set. Opening with 2017’s single ‘Here Comes the Light’, the band needed no introduction. Before I could utter the words ‘fucking hell, this is quite good’, the song was over. I’d immediately forgotten about the glass of disappointment in my hand, and wanted to hear more. ‘Pull You Down’ preceded their rowdy greeting, and immediately I was hit with a familiar sound. I must say, the temptation not to compare them to their rock-duo counterparts is strong, however unavoidable. Imagine a mix of The Black Keys, Royal Blood and Queens of the Stone Age all being swilled in to a dirty pint, aggressively downed and spat out by Miles Kane, you would arrive at Cut Glass Kings. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. The band’s bluesy aesthetic and heavy distorted guitar riffs combine everything we know and love about the genre, but in the most refreshing way possible. On the third track of the night, ‘Gonna Get in to You’, we were introduced to a volley of harmonics being passed back and forth between Cross and McMurray, giving a pleasant depth to the songs and adding to their already impressive stage presence. All in all, the gig was one to remember. In my book there will always be room in music for un-apologetically loud and in-your-face rock bands, and I was left totally confident that the genre has been left in good hands. I can say for certain that this won’t be my last venture in to their crowd. Hopefully next time with a better pint.  From: https://www.yuckmagazine.co.uk/reviews/cut-glass-kings-the-castle

Susanna Hoffs - Feel Like Makin' Love

 #Susanna Hoffs #ex-Bangles #singer-songwriter #alternative rock #folk rock #pop rock #jangle pop #power pop #paisley pop #Bad Company cover #live music video

The Bangles' Susanna Hoffs will release a covers album, ‘Bright Lights’, on November 12, 2021 via Baroque Folk Records. On it she covers songs by Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, The Velvet Underground, Chris Bell, Prince (who wrote The Bangles' hit "Manic Monday"), The Monkees, and more. “The artists on Bright Lights approached songwriting from a deeply emotional place and with a profound sensitivity to the world around them,” says Hoffs. “Sadly, many of them died too young. I didn’t actually see the big picture of that until I looked at the whole tracklist. It was subconscious. Yet I’ve always been drawn to songs that were intensely emotional.” The first single from the album is a cover of Badfinger's "Name of the Game," which is a duet with Aimee Mann. ‘Bright Lights’ recalls the 1984 covers album credited to Rainy Day that was led by the late David Roback (of Rain Parade, Opal, and later Mazzy Star), and featured members of L.A.'s "Paisley Underground" scene, including Hoffs and members of The Three O'Clock, The Dream Syndicate and more, with their versions of songs by The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Big Star and more.  From: https://www.brooklynvegan.com/the-bangles-susanna-hoffs-preps-covers-lp-shares-badfinger-cover-ft-aimee-mann/