<< Neal, please tell us (me) what else is ringing your bell.>>
Off the top of my head (and again, this is only six weeks into the year):
Wilco, Summerteeth -- *really* something special. That boy Tweedy can do
whatever he pleases and impress the hell out of me. Sonic, orchestral pop
while no less worn than Wilco's earlier albums. (Maybe a bit too long tho.)
Damnations TX, Half Mad Moon -- the finest thing to happen to ND/alt-country
in recent memory. Just when I was getting bored with the concept.
Olivia Tremor Control, Black Foliage -- an epic lo-fi pop-acid trip of the
Sgt. Pepper-ish kind. Supplemental chemical enhancers not necessary.
Paul Westerberg, Suicaine Gratifaction -- somber and folky, this is the first
Westerberg release since the Replacements' Tim that I'm finding I'm not
pretending is something special... at least not yet.
Joe Henry, Fuse -- maybe a bit of a disappointment after Trampoline but still
plenty interesting.
Eddie Hinton, Hard Luck Guy -- Stax soul of the most righteous kind.
Buck, Buck -- girl pop-punk from LA, CA. Fans of LA homegirls the Muffs, the
Go Gos and L7 might wanna check it out.
Lone Justice -- The World Is Not My Home: Even if just for the first seven
songs, previously unreleased demos of cow-punk greatness that explain maybe
for the first time what all the fuss was about a decade-plus ago.
<<As far as Sparklehorse goes, I saw the video on 120 minutes the other
night and was wondering...are the rest of the songs sung with distortion used
on the vocals? I have read quite a bit about this band here and elsewhere
and was pretty excited to hear what they sounded like. Gotta say the song
didn't do much for me and that distorted vocal thing is kinda tired. Not
saying I'm giving up, just wondering. >>
No doubt, Sparklehorse is weird, tweaked and warts and all, definitely not for
everyone. But below all the (IMHO) glorious noise and cut-and-paste-iness are
songs as poppy, folky and emotional as I could ever hope for. That's what
makes Sparklehorse so wonderful is that it works on so many levels for me.
I've yet to get tired of hearing their last album, nor have I ceased
extracting something new from it. Good Morning Spider is the same way.
Now that I've babbled, I'm successfully burned the get-ahead time I earned by
getting up early today. Damn you P2, damn you.
Neal Weiss
