Artists starting with M

Ceramic

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Milk Lines, “Ceramic” (In The Red, 2015)
Guy/gal duo essaying my favorite strain of current garage-punk – melodic hard-edged psych. They have a nice erratic, churning virulence that has an authentically lysergic feel to it, and if you listen to this long enough you might well find yourself trapped in the canyons of your mind, pursued by three-headed bobcats, with luminous, candy-colored pelts.
Try A/2, A/3, B/4, B/5
2/21/16

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Saturn Rings

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Michele, “Saturn Rings” (Fallout, 2006; original release 1969)
Late-‘60s acid-folk outing from one of the most in-demand L. A. studio backup singers at the time, who was also rumored to be a witch, which is pretty cool in my book. Exceptionally shimmering and otherworldly, but with an unusual sense of pop playfulness.
Try 3, 4, 10
4/4/11

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I Was Punk B 4 U Were Punk

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Mikey Wild And The Magic Lanterns, “I Was Punk B 4 U Were Punk” (Bulb, 1999; original recordings 1970s/80s/90s)
As the title suggests, Mr. Wild is one of the pioneers of the Philadelphia punk scene, going back to the mid-‘70s. He’s also struggled with serious mental disabilities, but in the bizarre-mirror anti-society that is punk rock, that’s an asset. There’s an alienation and rage here, and a crude, absurd humor, that can’t be faked. The music is rumbling, mid-tempo sludge, so jagged and ungainly it’s avant-garde without even half trying, and Wild’s vocals pour out in a tongue-tied, volatile torrent of free-association frenzy. Singularly inventive, totally fucking primal, this makes most other punk rock sound like mere studied mimicry by comparison.
Picks: 2, 5, 7-10, 12, 15

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Psionic Impedance

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Microwave “Psionic Impedance” (ugEXPLODE, 2012)
Really good noise-rock that’s able to graft jerky, twisted rhythms onto magma-churning monolithic heaviness, inject it with jolting electro-cacophony, and make it all work as a whole. These guys sound like they wanted to creatively anticipate the collapse of modern civilization and they kind of do.
Try 4, 7, 9.
7/12/12

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The Best Of . . .

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Melanie, “The Best Of . . .” (Buddah, 1972, original release late 1960s)
Melanie was the archetypal diva of hippiedom – jubilant, kooky, ingenuous, arms spread so wide to embrace the world she always seemed on the verge of falling over. The musical settings range from nursery-rhyme to barrelhouse rock and roll to acid-folk-gospel mélange to classic singer-songwriter strum, and Melanie invests it all with drama, imagination and a pure and powerful utopian spirit that may well make you wish we still lived in her world instead of ours.
Try 1/ 2, 2/ 2, 4/ 2, 4/ 4
11/10/16

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Mantasy

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Michael Mayer, “Mantasy” (Kompakt, 2012)
This guy is the mastermind behind Kompakt, and everything of theirs I’ve heard is exceptional electro-dance music. This ranges from semi-ambient sounds to moody techno to robotic/funky house and beyond, and it’s all typically excellent.
Try 1, 2, 4, 10
2/14/13

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Modernes

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Mathematiques, “Modernes” (Medical, 2013; original release 1981)
Avant-synth-rock from France. An interesting blend of coldly melodic electro-po surface an dknotted off-kilter song structures, almost prog in spots.
Try 1/3, 1/ 4, 2/1.

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Single Life

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Marvellous Darlings, “Single Life” (Deranged, 2011)
Here’s something unusual – power pop with serious teeth. Hard-edged attack on melodic, exceptionally well-written garage punk with echoes of prime N.Y. Dolls and Replacements.
Try 1, 2, 6, 8
5/5/12

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Blues Funeral

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Mark Lanegan Band, “Blues Funeral” (4AD, 2012)
Mark Lanegan’s ‘80s/’90s band, the Screaming Trees, were one of the first, best, and most underrated exponents of the “Seattle sound,” which they framed in a more mid-‘60s/garage/Brit invasion way than their peers. Two decades later, Lanegan’s immense, rich tenor (picture an indie-rock dude who can really sing – a white Luther Vandross in a flannel shirt) is as powerful as ever, and this superb album blends his solo work’s dominant blues-fatalist mode with a return to harder-rocking vintage Trees-isms.
Try 1, 3
2/28/12

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Sounds From The Gulf Stream

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Marine Research, “Sounds From The Gulf Stream” (2000 [?])
After the tragic death of her brother and Heavenly/Talulah Gosh bandmate, Amelia Fletcher regrouped most of Heavenly for one of her bst albums ever. Fletcher’s trademark jangly/clangy/winsome take on mid-sixties guitar-beat-pop

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