Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

Launched in 1980 as a one-off experimental keyboard collaboration between two former Boston bandmates — Mission of Burma guitarist Roger Miller and producer/synthesist Erik Lindgren — the all-instrumental Birdsongs of the Mesozoic expanded to a real band with the addition of keyboardist Rick Scott and another Burmite, tape manipulator-turned-guitarist Martin Swope. The group (which described…

Dream Syndicate

Dream Syndicate was one of the first bands from Los Angeles’ psychedelic revival (misleadingly dubbed the paisley underground) to reach a national audience. While many of the movement’s bands plumbed the Byrds/Buffalo Springfield or Pink Floyd archives for inspiration, Dream Syndicate’s weird, obsessive lyrics, relentless noise maelstroms — mixed with eerie/pretty otherworldly dirges and ballads…

Effigies

The Effigies were the first band from Chicago’s bald’n’booted brigade to gain any out-of-town recognition, and rightfully so. The quartet’s five-song debut EP (later reissued with an extra track as The Effigies EP) showcased their bold, taut, spare punk attack on real songs about adult concerns, with prophetic (for punk) metal guitar lacing through their…

Jason and the Nashville Scorchers

Hillbilly cats with a serious punk streak, Jason and the Scorchers were — in their early days — about as un-Nashville as a Nashville-based band could be. The group set out to blend incompatible elements and succeeded well beyond their expectations, mixing dirty roots rock, nihilistic, energy-crazed hardcore and traditional cornball country, spiked with dashes…

Contributors

These folks either wrote reviews that appear on the site or wrote for Trouser Press magazine. If anyone listed below cares to E-mail us with a link you’d like added, just let us know. And ditto if anyone is AWOL from this list. Grant AldenDavid AntrobusJem AswadTroy J. AugustoMichael AzerradCary BakerMichael BakerEmily BeckerJohn BergstromArt BlackJohn…