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/44/11/11
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 […]
Bratmobile, “The Peel Sessions” (Dutch East India Trading, 1904) Bratmobile were way ahead of their time. With their combination of surf/rockabilly hooks, K-derived naïve playground stomp, and raw, skinny/grainy sound, they’d be huge today. Still, their confrontational, take-it-or-leave-it attack was pure Riot Grrrl, and given that their lyrics were among the most relentlessly profane in […]
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.
Alicia Bridges, “Alicia Bridges” (Polydor, 1978).Good ‘70s femme-rock (cf. Terri Garthwaite/Bonnie Raitt) sprinkled with great disco, kinetic, effervescent, shimmering. 2/1.11/12/12
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, 57/29/13
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. […]