Formed in 1978, Polyrock was one of the first New York groups to explore post-disco/new-sensibility dance music. The sextet led by ex-Model Citizens singer/guitarist Billy Robertson gained unquestionable artistic credibility through the patronage of Philip Glass, who (with his producer, Kurt Munkacsi) produced and played on their two original albums. Polyrock combines minimalist repetition (the…
Originally lost in the gap between glam-rock and punk, Ultravox (initially operating, from 1974 to ’76, as Tiger Lily) became prime movers of the electro-pop and new romantic movements when they combined synthesizer with the direct and danceable pop music of the new wave. Produced by Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite and the group, Ultravox! marries…
Manchester’s Jim Noir aspires to the lineage of genteel limey crackpots that runs from Donovan and Syd Barrett through Roy Wood, Robyn Hitchcock, Henry Badowski, Andy Partridge and Julian Cope. Musically, he’s worthy of such heady company: his debut, Tower of Love, overflows with gently psychedelic pop tunes of great wit and charm. Unfortunately, his…
Northern Ireland’s Scheer stepped into the vacancy left when Curve went on hiatus and adopted that band’s template — sassbucket vocals atop a quasi-shoegaze bed of noise — as its own, though with a bit more of a metallic spin. It was their misfortune to do this at roughly the same time Garbage was testing…
When the drummer of Vancouver punk band Maow stepped out from behind her drum kit and up to the mic, the world of percussion lost a little and the realm of country singing gained a lot. On her debut album, The Virginian, Neko Case proves herself to be a gifted singer, possessing a big, powerful…
If this mild-mannered Arizona combo is known for anything at all, it’s as lab rats for the production techniques of the Martin brothers: Ronnie of Joy Electric and Jason of Starflyer 59. With the band’s willing participation, the Martins shaped Fine China’s sound in their own images. As enjoyable as the band’s music sometimes was,…
Singer, songwriter, ace producer (Los Lobos, Marshall Crenshaw, etc.), Christian moralist and pal of Elvis Costello, T(-)Bone Burnett has wielded a steady and growing influence on the music scene since the late ’70s. Whether his inconsistent records leave any lasting mark or not, he’s likely to make his presence felt in some role for a…
New York City new wave revivalists Beautiful Skin (a duo of guitarist Nick Forte, formerly of hardcore band Rorshach, and keyboardist Rossano Totino) blend the art- punk guitars of Wire and early Cure with the electronic instrumentation of Suicide and Organisation-era OMD to create a sound evocative of the darker synth bands of the early…
Thumb through the record stacks at any thrift store or flea market and you’ll find evidence of a strange, unheralded, otherworldly indie music scene which long predates the current one, reaching back to the dawn of recorded music. Multitudes of self-released or micro-label albums exist of fervent, sometimes downright bizarre, evangelical Christian music, released by…
The Negro in question is songwriter Mark Stewart, more commonly known as Stew (but occasionally answering to the name Burt Blackarach); the Problem (which is, of course, no problem at all) is that Stew is culturally his own man. The Los Angeles cult star favors baroque, mildly psychedelic pop along the lines of Robyn Hitchcock,…
The “B” Girls were one of the great missed opportunities of the late ’70s. Too ambitious for the burgeoning but humble Toronto punk scene, the all-female quartet relocated to New York City and became a fixture at CBGB, where they rubbed shoulders with all the right people. The photogenic foursome were pictured hanging out with…
The ridiculously gifted Nellie McKay’s talent seems to only be matched by her chutzpah. The 19-year-old pianist/singer/songwriter not only wrote all the songs on her debut, she talked Beatles engineer/Elvis Costello producer Geoff Emerick into producing it (for a reduced fee!) and convinced her label to release it as a double disc. (Knowing good and…
Dublin trio JJ72 enjoyed a couple of weeks of buzz in the early 21st century. Their dramatic guitar rock slotted nicely alongside such likeminded post-Radiohead combos as Coldplay, Travis and Doves; they had a distinctive vocalist in Mark Greaney, with a voice mixing Feargal Sharkey and Katharine Hepburn; and actress-turned-bassist Hilary Woods was a minor…
Fans of Uncle Tupelo liked Jeff Tweedy but considered Jay Farrar the band’s real talent. In that context, the debut by Wilco is a surprisingly substantive exposition of smart songcraft, the work of a determined and confident creative force. Backed on A.M. by remnants of Tupelo (drummer Ken Coomer, bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Max…
Possessing a delightfully filthy mind, a voice often compared to Ronnie Spector and wordplay skills rivalling those of Ron Mael and Stephin Merritt, Candypants frontwoman Lisa Jenio is quite the package. On the band’s debut album, Jenio — whose résumé includes playing flute for the Negro Problem as well as editing and writing for the…
Sacramento’s 77s (interchangeably known as Seventy Sevens) was among the first bands in the Christian music underground to attract notice outside the confines of church basements. This was due to several factors. First, they actually had a clue as to what was going on in current music, rather than delivering a warmed-over Christianized version of…
Though catapulted to early success with “Boys Don’t Cry,” the Cure — led by obsessive/depressive singer/guitarist Robert Smith, originally with Michael Dempsey on bass (replaced after one LP by Simon Gallup) and Laurence (Lol) Tolhurst on drums — originally specialized in the presentation of a gloomy, nihilistic world view. Boys Don’t Cry, the American edition…
Mathematically speaking, Dashboard Confessional + Fischerspooner = Mr. Mister, so it was probably inevitable that the coincidence of emo and new wave revivalism would produce a throwback to the bygone days of the mid-’80s, when critically unloved artists like Animotion, Count Three and Pray-era Berlin and Re-Flex walked the earth. No one you know thinks…
Empirical science recognizes two forms of testing, only one of which — weighing a pebble, say, or candling an egg — is considered non-destructive. It’s the other investigative process that causes irreparable changes to the object being examined. In human terms, this can be characterized as the how-will-you-know-if-you-don’t-try-it quandary. In the discipline of rock, the…
In the late ’80s, fine-voiced singer/songwriter Leslie Phillips turned her back on a successful career as a contemporary Christian artist in order to make more personally fulfilling music under her historically resonant nickname, Sam. (The Turning — which was reissued a decade later with a new cover under the artist’s new name — was quite…
