Bonzo Goes To Washington, “Five Minutes” (Sleeping Bag, 1984)
Legendary underground hip-hop/electro classic featuring members of Talking Heads and Funkadelic. President Reagan’s creepy “joke” about starting World War III looped into a variety of disconcerting and funky shapes.
Three different mixes, try any.
5/5/12
Boss Hog, “Boss Hog” (DGC, 1995)
This long-running side project of Jon Spencer and girlfriend/ex-Pussy Galore bandmate Cristina somehow ended up on a DGC in the wake of Nirvanamania, and this is actually their best album. ‘60s r & b filtered into the most elegant, slinkiest/kinkiest noise-rock ever.
Try 1, 2, 4, 6.
1/13/13
Bow Wow Wow, “I Want Candy” (RCA, 1982)
Malcolm McLaren’s follow-up to the Pistols grafted quasi-African rolling/pummeling beats onto new-wave guitar-pop juiced with echoes of glitter and punk, and Annabella’s guilelessly unnerving vocals. This stuff still sounds exotic and chaotic long after most if its peers have been assimilated into memory.
Try A/4, A/5, B/4
4/11/11
Bow Wow Wow, “The Best Of . . .” (RCA, 1996; original recordings early 1980s)
Malcolm McLaren’s second subversive pop experiment after the collapse of the Sex Pistols mixed punk, glam-rock, Afro-pop and art-noise with the lovely vocals of Annabella for a unique new-wave pop concoction that actually rocks too. Captures the first excitement of the postwar world collapsing into “globalization” when that looked like a coming revolution of fun rather than the dot-com shithole it’s turned out to be.
Try 1, 2, 8, 10, 13
6/1/15
Brave Irene, “Brave Irene” (Slumberland, 2011)
New band-project from Tiger Trap singer/songwriter Rose Melberg, and it’s twee-pop as winsome and subtle as we’ve come to expect from her, but with a more rockin’ backbeat than she’s kicked out in quite a while. This is like a more pastoral/woodsy take on Go Sailor’s garage K minimalism.
Brilliant Colors, “Again And Again” (Slumberland, 2011)
Absolutely great noisy guitar pop, with winsome yet biting vocals, lush yet grinding guitars, and melodies that stick in the ear and the heart.
Try 3, 4, 5
7/29/13
Broken Water, “Tempest” (Hardly Art, 2012)
The component parts this band makes into music haven’t been brought together like this before–blurry, primitive garage-punk meets early-Sonic-Youth-like detuned noise explorations/explosions meets rambly psych-spirals—but the whole thing coheres quite seamlessly into an intriguingly ragged and open-ended sound.
Try 2, 4, 5.
7/12/12
Buck Biloxi and the Fucks, “Buck Biloxi and the Fucks” (Red Lounge, 201?)
Current garage-punkers fill out their trebly sound with obnoxious humor and personality plus good old gratuitous aggression.
Buckingham Nicks, “Buckingham Nicks” (Polydor, 1973)
This is the first (and only) album by Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham from before they hooked up with Fleetwood Mac. It’s got the same luminous, concise yet airy pop sense as their best-known stuff, but with a more fluid and open-ended feel befitting the early-70s hard-rock/singer-songwriter stylistic basis here. The best stuff on this really sparkles, gently but powerfully.
Try 1/3, 2/1, 2/4
5/12/11
Buffalo Tom, “Asides From . . . “ (Beggars Banquet, 2000; original recordings 1988-1999)
Comp. of underrated ‘90s band, really a classic loose/rousing folk-rock combo à la the Band, but adapted to the heavy/noisy rock sound of the day. No gimmicks, just incisive, haunting songs and performances, which is why this holds up better than their then-competition.
Try 3, 4, 5
1/13/13