/|\(;,;)/|\ There's an ocean of music, and I'm swimming as hard as I can. I use this blog to post music & commentary; I hope you find something here that does it for you. Peace!
I won’t ruin this song for you by rambling on about the (real or imagined) influence of Riot Girrrl bands, and I won’t waste our time with some bullshit over-analyzing (and over-generalizing) re: Women In Punk, or the lack thereof.
Repeat after me: Fuck. That. Shit.
Just do yourself a favor and forget all that shit for long enough to enjoy this awesome fucking song.
You know what does it for me? Female vocalists on records that make my ears bleed. Here’s White Lung, from their album Sorry.
“Will There Be Enough Water?” by The Dead Weather
I finally (reluctantly) picked up Jack White’s solo album Blunderbuss, and found I liked it. What took me so long? It’s not that I didn’t expect Blunderbuss to be a good record, it’s just that I strongly felt that it would feel anticlimactic in view of his best records. Jack White should, ideally, have collaborators in the studio who can challenge him and contribute their own ideas, and I wish he was making another record with Alison Mosshart or Meg White. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that Consolers Of The Lonely record as much as anyone, but I have an odd theory (or perhaps it’s just a fluke of personal taste), but I think Jack White makes his best records with women in the studio. Not just with the White Stripes and The Dead Weather but also his Third Man Records productions with kickass female talent. Or maybe I’m a dumbass. Fuck it, I just want another Dead Weather or White Stripes album.
“Avalanche” by Zola Jesus
Aside from the just-this-side-of-Synth-Punk oddity “Odessa” on a Fathers and Sons of Garage Punk comp, I’d never heard anything by Zola Jesus before, and Conatus is one helluva record to begin with. She’s opera-trained, apparently—just listen to those vocals! She worked closely with a producer and spent months on the trippy synth rhythms, some live drums, ambient effects, etc. It’s much more slickly produced than my usual listening fare, but there’s a rigorous minimalism to this album that I respect: remove one element and the whole thing would unravel. Nothing is superfluous. I’m still not quite sure what to make of this album, but I know I’ll be playing it again in the near future.
Chris’s Stash #2
“Ask The Angels” covered by The Distillers
Brode Dalle, marry me.
“Dancing Barefoot” by Patti Smith
Patti Smith gets in touch with her inner Stevie Nicks. Sure, why not?
PS: I’m referring to her vocals. The lyrics would make Fleetwood Mac too nervous.
“Fairytale In the Supermarket” by The Raincoats
All-female Wold Music-influenced Post-Punk band. Kurt Cobain loved ‘em. You know a band has a helluva unique sound when you find yourself describing them with awkward metaphors like this: “Put The Slits and The Vaselines in a jar, throw in a dash of Poly Styrene’s fury, shake well, and serve.” I wish I could do better, but I’m a little stoned right now.
“The Civilization Show” by Star Fucking Hipsters
Featuring my own personal Jesus, Dick fucking Lucas, of Subhumans, Citizen Fish, and Culture Shock. And Nico de Gaillo, the woman of my dreams, who unfortunately left SFH a couple years back.
“Marianne” by The Hypnotic Eye
Someone—I think it was iamthegoldenstone—recommended this single to me. I dig it. It sounds like a young Wanda Jackson backed by a Nuggets-era Garage Pop band. If that doesn’t sound awesome to you, you might be following the wrong blog.
“So Dim” by Brain F≠
Hardcore peaked when I was a toddler, but don’t tell this band. There’s something different about their sound. It’s like nobody taught these kids to color inside the lines, and they’re better for it.
“Kill Coyotes” by Songs For Moms
There’s nothing I don’t love about this track. Yet another reason to follow rawpowerwritings:
Here’s a band that I literally discovered only about a week and a half ago. The group is Songs For Moms, they’re from Oakland, and they play a really interesting blend of punk rock, country, and American roots music. I’m not exactly sure how I stumbled across these ladies but after reading the Thrillhouse Records website which describes them as “a combination of Loretta Lynn and Patti Smith”, I knew I needed to give their record a listen. What I discovered is that, first, that description isn’t far off, and second, I feel like a detect a bit of Riot Grrrl influence in there as well. What ever their influences may be, it doesn’t change the outcome which is that this record is just as ridiculously awesome as it is diverse in sound and style. This tune, “Kill Coyotes”, was one of the immediate stand outs for me. However, this is a record that almost needs to be appreciated as a whole because of the incredible amount of ground these girls cover in only ten songs. Their Facebook page seems a bit inactive but I have hope in my heart that these ladies are out their writing more beautiful tunes like the ones on this record so that they can come back and blow our collective minds soon. Check Songs For Moms out. Immediately.
More information on Songs For Moms can be found via their Facebook. Copies of I Used To Believe In The West can still be picked up via the fine folks at Thrillhouse Records
“Chatterbox” covered by The 5.6.7.8’s
I’ll never not love these girls.
Also: How cool is it that this record even exists? I’m talking about Valley of the Tokyo Dolls: A Tribute to Johnny Thunders, a tribute album by Japanese artists covering an American original most Americans have forgotten about.
“Warrior In Woolworths” by X-Ray Spex
Ladies & gentlemen, introducing Poly Styrene, a half-Somali British Punker who could make a fashion statement out of a garbage bag. Reportedly the only woman who ever made Johnny Rotten nervous. With her band X-Ray Spex, she made one perfect Punk album—Germ Free Adolescents—packed with humor, fury, commentary on consumer culture, and a whole lot of saxophone. Yes, saxophone. Because why the fuck not?
“Dirty Old Man” by Thee Headcoatees
I love the earlier version by The Sonics (click here), but this song is so much funnier when it’s done by an all-girl band.
“Hand’s In The Jar” by Brain F≠
This album’s got a messier sound than their singles led me to expect, but I’m not complaining. I’m impressed: It’s very rare I pick up a Hardcore record that doesn’t sound like a dozen other albums I already own.
