Formed at Virginia State University, this eminently likable foursome based in New York follows in the footsteps of the Native Tongues (De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest). Lowdown, muted grooves provide the backdrop as Yodared (Al Myers), Myntric (Sean Myers), Mondo McCann and Vex (Sean Pollard) seek to transcend troublesome reality,…
One of the most exciting groups of its time, X-Ray Spex was at once an ideal and atypical punk band. While boasting as much raw aggression as any of its peers, X-Ray Spex used a distinctively different means of delivery — augmenting Jak Airport’s obligatory buzzsaw guitar with Rudi Thompson’s (Lora Logic’s replacement) even-more- abrasive…
Though X was arguably the most important band to emerge from the Los Angeles punk scene, its members started a long way from easy punk credibility. Too self-conscious, artsy and ambitious to simply spew, Baltimore native John Doe (bass/vocals) and Floridian Exene Cervenka (vocals) had to package their bohemian lifestyle as new wave, delivering desperate…
Listening to Syl Sylvain’s solo records, you’d never guess he was once a member of the dreaded, subversive New York Dolls. For one thing, he’s an absolutely winsome singer, the perfect punk-with-a-heart-of-gold who seems to be striking an “aw, shucks!” pose at the mic. For another, his records are glistening, rocking pop with no hard…
One of the most significant and underappreciated groups of the punk-era Liverpool scene, Wah! (and titular variations thereon) functions as a vehicle for extrovert Pete Wylie. On Nah = Poo, Wah! sounds like Emerson, Lake and Palmer with hipper (though equally flamboyant) arrangements. Wylie sings melodramatically on stirring but superficial material like “The Death of…
Los Angeles’ Wall of Voodoo made junk music that can be extremely entertaining as long as you don’t expect too much from it. Working in the same general cinematic groove as Devo, only taking their cues from Westerns and film noir rather than science fiction, Voodoo generated a stiff (though human) sound that furnished a…
Pure pop lives in the luscious textures of this snazzy London quartet. Despite the stupid name, We Are Going to Eat You have a magic formula, blending Julie Sorrel’s cool, heavenly voice, Paul Harding’s bracing guitar chords and catchy, other-worldly tunes, largely written by drummer Chris Knowles, once the only male in a pop-punk band…
Martha and the Muffins alumnus, collaborator with Eno, Daniel Lanois, Robert Fripp, the Edge and other hipsters, all-round clever sonic guy — Canada’s Michael Brook ventures into the solo spotlight for his Cobalt Blue album. Showcasing his aptly named “infinite guitar,” which — thanks to various electronic treatments — seems to come from another dimension,…
This British band deserves credit for reducing the punk sensibility to a mindless cliché of speed and aggression long before that approach become commonplace. Made to burn.
Pearl Harbor and the Explosions came out of San Francisco’s early new wave scene, but their lone album consists of bouncy little pop tunes suitable for FM radio: watered-down soul and funk overtones topped off by Pearl E. Gates’ theatrical vocal posturings. Danceably forgettable. Harbour (dropping the Gates and adopting the British spelling; her given…
If Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and Joe Jackson hadn’t gotten there first, there might have been a place of importance in the music world for Master Dickie, who was previously in the first-wave Boston indie band Susan. While he doesn’t imitate any of those gents, he does strive for a similarly intense persona via hard-hitting,…
Despite the name, this California group has a dry, almost reflective quality. Behind singer Mark Avnet, the band draws from the cerebral side of late-’60s pyschedelia, as shown by a rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Point Me at the Sky,” but also indicates where the music went — i.e., the empty gestures of later Floyd, Styx…
Billing himself as “the last of the full-grown men,” deep-voiced singer Webb Wilder — who could pass for Johnny Cash’s cousin — specializes in jokey yet groove-solid country rock. If the concepts sometimes threaten to overshadow the content (he also makes long-form videos), Wilder’s appealingly light touch and sense of fun invariably save the day.…
Although the Buzzards (originally the Leyton Buzzards, a British geography pun) appeared on the surface to be another London-area group of punk/reggae dilettantes, closer examination revealed them to be a subversive vehicle for Geoff Deane (vocals) and David Jaymes (bass). Comprising their entire recorded output, this seventeen-track retrospective is teeming with lively (if heavy-handed) potshots…
Canada’s Bopcats epitomize the best and worst aspects of the rockabilly revival. They execute classics like “One Hand Loose” and “Rock House” with admirable spirit, yet their originals offer no new wrinkles beyond the admission of mild strains of hard-rock, R&B, etc. While the two pleasing Attic LPs are basically interchangeable, Wild Jungle Rock gets…
Originally known around San Francisco as the Punts, singer Bonnie Hayes and her backing trio took the grossly overused pure pop formula and managed to turn it interesting again on Good Clean Fun. She follows in the tradition of early Blondie and the Go-Go’s with bright, simple melodies that hop and skip incessantly. Hayes and…
On his debut LP, this hard-to-categorize maverick — born in Panama, raised in California — makes slick, soulful pop music that manages to be both subtle and edgy. Thompson gives free reign to his poised, slightly gritty voice in a variety of settings, from cool struttin’ (“So Fine”) to moody romance (“Love Cools Down”) to…
Criminally underused in Deaf School, Bette Bright blossomed into an exciting performer on this solo effort, thanks partly to the help of clever friends. Rhythm Breaks the Ice was produced by fellow DS graduate Clive Langer and his partner, Alan Winstanley, the team behind Madness’ phenomenal success. (Bright intertwined the family trees by marrying that…
For folks who prize unspoiled simplicity in rock’n’roll (and especially in rockabilly), Tav Falco’s Panther Burns may be the ultimate band. On the early records, his voice drenched in echo, Falco goes through a familiar repertoire of Presley-derived whoops, mutters and coos, while an amateurish backing ensemble that often includes Alex Chilton grinds away laboriously…
Ain’t rock’n’roll swell? There are few other places where you can be thoroughly derivative and still utterly entertaining. Witness London (later Toronto), Ontario’s Demics, four students (half of them British) in the sneer-and-swagger school taught by the New York Dolls and, later, the Damned. The band’s self-titled album bristles with eager-to-please energy (never mind that…
