Artists starting with S

Invitation To . . . .

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Student Teachers, “Invitation To . . . .” (Nacional 2013; original recordings 1978-80)
A unique and excellent thing. These gals and guys were NYC teenagers drawn to the early/arty Big Apple punk scene, and they created a distinctly teenage take on that sound – twisty song structures and sarcastic/Dada lyrics delivered with glitter-rock energy and edge. Imagine a post-punk Monkees as conceived by Tom Verlaine, David Byrne and Debbie Harry, and you’re getting the idea.
Try 1, 6, 7
2/21/16

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Classic Quatro

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Suzi Quatro, “Classic Quatro” (Razor and Tie, 1996)
These early- and mid-1970s recordings were as crucial to the emergence of punk and new wave as the contemporary work of Bowie and the New York Dolls. Quatro’s pioneering modern, hard-edged, tough-girl glitter sound and persona was a direct inspiration to a teenage Joan Jeff, among many others. Historical interest aside, this is excellent cool-rocking tuneage that moves your feet and sticks in your head.
Try 1, 3, 10, 11
5/23/12

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If You Knew Suzi . . .

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Suzi Quatro, “If You Knew Suzi . . .” (RSO, 1979)
The glam-rock goddess comes back as a hard-rocking singer-songwriter, starting fresh in the Holly/Everlys early morning of r&r history and using it to stake her claim to new maturity.
Try 1/ 2, 1/ 3
6/18/18

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Filth/Body To Body, Job To Job

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Swans, “Filth/Body To Body, Job To Job” (Young God, 2014 [?], original recordings, 1982-85)
Much as I respect their cathedral-scale recent achievements, this is what I think of when I think of the Swans – atonal sheet-metal guitar grind powered by rumbling rhythm-section clatter, songs like Black Sabbath flash-frozen and distilled into its minimal essence.
Try Disc 1: 1, 3, 9; Disc 2: 8, 13
4/17/16

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Limbo

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Summer Twins, “Limbo” (Burger, 2015)
Sophomore effort by this sibling duo finds them taking the fresh-faced charm of their twee-pop-meets-garage/surf debut into darker, more complex territory, in sound and feel. It’s a measure of what makes them special that you can’t always tell if these songs are happy or sad.
Try A/3, B/3, B/4, B/6
2/21/16

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The Seer

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Swans, “The Seer” (Young God, 2012)
Seminal NYC noise-rock unit (close colleagues of Sonic Youth when they were both starting out) returns with what has rightly been characterized as a summation of their entire career. Crunching sheets of distorto-guitar, thundering drums, bizarre-world Gregorian chants, and much more, integrated into a coherent whole. Towering, epic, wall of sound, sheer transcendent power – this is one of those rare works such words are truly meant for.
Try CD 1: 1, 4; CD 2: 2, 4.
1/13/13

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Take It While It’s Hot

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Sweet Sensation, “Take It While It’s Hot” (Atlantic, 1989)
One of the great girl-groups of Latin freestyle, the ‘80s dance music that updated classic disco with slamming beats, as many polyrhythms as you could cram into a measure, and pop melodramas of yearning and exuberance worthy of Phil Spectator himself.
Try 1, 8
7/11/18

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Peek-Ara-Boo

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Synapse, “Peek-Ara-Boo” (Tzadik, 2)
Collaboration between two titans of the international avant-art-noise-rock-improv underground who also happen to be Japanese women – DNA-drummer-turned-electronic-percussion-polymath Ikue Mori and vocalist/found-sound-collagist Haco.
The Japanese echoes are clearest in some of Haco’s melodies and a certain use of space and silence, but it’s most reminiscent of (and seriously of comparable quality to) Eno’s “Another Green World” LP. It has the same quality of genuine ambience, i. e. creating a model of the random everyday world, but with all of its hidden depths and contrast brought into a breathtakingly sharp relief that has a certain unassuming magic about it.
Try 3, 4
3/18/18

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Raw

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Synapse, “Raw” (Tzadik, 2005)
Synapse is a project featuring Haco on vocals and samplers/keyboards and former DNA drummer Ikue Mori on electronic percussion. These women are among the giants of Japanese Fringe-avant-rock, and this is among their best work. It’s all breathtakingly inventive and fully realized, but the true astonishers are 3 (“Red And Green,” a peculiar, curling melody sung a capella by Haco, alternating with a ringing spiral-march of clamor, like a Phil Spector production from another dimension) and 4 (“Morning Song,” cacophony of a city waking up, then submerging and/or opening out into a warm, fluid hum-drone of perfect beauty and stillness).

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Little Girl

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Syndicate of Sound, “Little Girl” (Sundzed, 1997; original release 1966)
The title track is an all-time classic mysterioso/cool psych-punk stomp, so I was a bit disappointed by the well-scrubbed Brit-invasion-generic popness of a lot of this. But it does make for pleasant listening, and some of it does approach the disorienting fever-pitch of their great moment.
Try 5, 6, 14.
4/19/13

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