Cherie And Marie Currie, “Messin’ With The Boys” (Capitol, 1979)
This continues Cherie’s drift into soft-rock territory, but there’s still a lurid glam afterglow that makes its chardonnay lifestyling a little more fun than the competition.
Try 1/1, 2/1
10/2/18
Cherry Glazerr, “Stuffed & Ready” (Secretly Canadian, 2019)
I loved their/her shambling debut on Burger, couldn’t quite get into the more pro followup, so I didn’t have any particular expectations for this. Turns out it’s awesome – the third time’s the charm, alright. This is well within the vein of the ‘90s-derived hard-guitar chug with modular/elliptical yet poppy song structures, but what makes this take distinctive is CG’s inherent love of rock and roll – what in other hands is dry and studied here sounds dexterously twisted as it fakes out and sucker-punches the listener. And it builds as an album, storm-clouds of dread ending in dark thunder like a sullen, enigmatic text message bursting through iPhone glass in a shard-scream.
Try 2/4, 2/5
4/7/19
Chesterfield Kings, “Night of the Living Eyes” (Mirror, 1989; original recording 1979-83)
Named after what was already a cigarette only old guys smoked even in the ‘80s, and appropriately so – this Rochester NY combo was one of the most period-detail-specific of that wave of ‘60s-garage-punk revivalists, i. e., pure Chess blues/r&b guitar shuffle filtered through the early Stones. But these guys rocked with an emphasis on the punk section of the equation.
Try 1/3, 1/ 4, 2/5
10/2/18
Chesterfield Kings, “Night of the Living Eyes” (Mirror, 1989; original recording 1979-83)
Named after what was already a cigarette only old guys smoked even in the ‘80s, and appropriately so, this Rochester NY combo was one of the most period-detail-specific of that wave of ‘60s-garage-punk revivalists, i. e. pure Chess blues/r&b guitar shuffle filtered through the early Stones. But these guys rocked with an emphasis on the punk section of the equation.
Try 1/ 3, 1/ 4, 2/5
10/2/18
Chic, “Chic” (Atlantic, 1977)
A classic debut. Its distilled, kinetic funk attack was as big an influence on Brit postpunk as anyone’s (cf. Gang of Four, Au Pairs, Delta 5, Pop Group, etc. etc.).
Try A/1, B/1
5/5/12
Children In Adult Jails, “Man Overcome By Waffle Iron” (Buy Our Records, 1985)
A truly singular artifact – ex-hardcore kids trying to reinvent industrial sludge-rock while simultaneously unlearning their (limited) instrumental prowess. The result is a grating, ingenuous mess, redefining the boundary between ugly and cute.
Try 2/ 1, 2/ 1
7/16/18
Camera Obscura, “Biggest, Bluest Hi-Fi” (Merge, 2001)
Guy/gal-fronted Scots indie-poppers; most obvious debt is to Belle& Sebastian, but there’s some C86, Smiths and (especially) third-album Velvets. Jangly, sharp, intense and often gorgeous.
Tty 3, 4, 5
2/14/13
California X, “California X” (Don Giovanni, 2013)
Heavy/melodic, hard-driving indie-guitar-rock from Massachusetts. They’ve been compared to that state’s legends, Dinosaur Jr., and make a similar sunshine-‘n’-storms folk/psych/metal blare, but are simultaneously blurrier and more straight-ahead. Really good stuff, with fine songwriting.
Try A/1, B/1
4/17/16
Captain Beefheart, “Trout Mask Replica” (Reprise, 1969)
On this album, the Captain left the continent of hitherto-existing rock behind and created his own world of sound. Jagged shards of guitar-gnarl driven by impossible rhythms form a canvas for Cap’s multi-octave fractured folktales of nature’s mystery, mankind’s futility, and a lot of other shit no one’s even figured out yet.
Try 1, 10, 12, 24.
2/14/13
Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band, “Safe As Milk” (Buddah, 1967)
The Captain’s first full LP finds himself still (barely) in the same musical world as everyone else; this is snappy, rubber-limbed psychedelic blues-rock, but already a good deal more aggressively disorienting and alien than the competition. (Credit is due to Ry Cooder’s sun-dazed slide guitar as well as Cap).
Try A/1, A/2, A/6, B/1.
2/14/13