Music undercover: CDs you may have missed in 2002
Is it gets cheaper and cheaper to record and release
CDs, more and more music fans are setting up tiny boutique labels to release
music by their favorite niche market bands. And there were some great indie
releases in 2002. The problem is, unless you're tapped in to the right Internet
grapevine, or are already part of a particular band's circle, you're not likely
to find some of these discs. You certainly won't hear them on most narrow-formatted
commercial radio stations. Here are a couple fine indie releases I stumbled
on last year:
I
saw a Florida goth band called The Cruxshadows put on an exciting set
complete with sidestage dancers and an electric violin player on Halloween in
Austin, Texas, last year (they even presented a scary recitation of Edgar Allen
Poe's "Annabel Lee" in the set), and their latest release, Wishfire,
on the tiny Dancing Ferret label (www.ferret.com) is worth seeking out for anyone
who loves the dark, pounding synth programming of German club music. (They're
not German, but they hide it well – and Wishfire has been on the German
music charts this year). They've played with The Cure and The Mission in Europe
over the past few months, and their CD is a top notch collection of darkwave
danceable tracks, from the fist-raising anthem of "Return (Coming Home)" to
the more ambient synthesizer mood of "The Seraphs." Anyone who loves dark but
danceable electronic music should check this band out at www.cruxshadows.com.
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Speaking
of '80s throwback music, Champaign-Urbana's Menthol unleashed a pounding
paean to that decade of skinny ties, crunchy guitars and warbly, tinkly synthesizer
leads in Danger: Rock Science! The album, which was supposed to arrive
in different form years ago on Capitol Records, was finally released on Hidden
Agenda/Parasol Records and features a singer who manages to sound like classic
synth band ABC, with the addition of guitar bite. Singalong choruses, riff-happy
guitars, retro synthesizers, all set the sound for the listener to relive 1984.
"Future Shock" sounds like a lost Cars track while other bits remind one of
the electro-snap attack of Thomas Dolby. The band manages to tuck in some lyrical
and musical references to several bands of that time –you can pick out the nods
to New Order (listen to the break of "Bitter Feud"), Devo, Love & Rockets and
even Throwing Muses (they lift lines from the first verse of the Muses' "Hate
My Way" in "The Professor"). This is pure rockin' retro fun on CD. Look for
it on Parasol's Web site at www.parasol.com/hiddenagenda/aha042.asp.
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I
was doing some Internet surfing a few weeks ago, looking to find whatever happened
to a couple of my favorite bands of the early '90s. When I looked up Tami Show,
a Chicago band fronted by two of the Massey sisters that scored a couple of
Top 100 singles in "She's Only Twenty" and "The Truth" before breaking up, I
discovered that one of the sisters, Cathy Massey, had released an independent
disc a couple years ago under the name Kiss Me Luna. The other, Claire,
has been working on a solo album with fellow Tami Show guitarist Tommy Gawenda
for the past couple years. After putting out a "sampler" disc a couple years
ago, they finally unveiled a full-length CD in spring 2002. Released under the
simple moniker Claire, the album, Suncat Muse, had a mildly successful
single in "Butterfly" which garnered some adult contemporary radio airplay thanks
to its bluesy guitar groove and Claire's always achingly beautiful vocals. But
"Butterfly" is only the appetizer to a delicious mix of a dozen songs here combining
hummable pop melodies, warm guitars and dreamy vocals.
The "sound" of Tami Show lives on in Claire's solo release – Suncat Muse
is more organic and less synthesized than her albums with Tami Show, but one
thing remains the same: the solid songcraft spotlighting the distinctive strength
and silvery sensuality of Massey's vocals. "Once Again" offers a strolling mix
of acoustic guitars and a keyboard accent, as Massey slips in and out of earthy
croons and breaking falsettos to sell the melancholy melody. "Don't Take My
Family" is a pounding stadium-ready anthem, and she touches a toe into funky
rockin' Sheryl Crow/Amanda Marshall territory in "Hot Blood." But the real hidden
hit here is "Heart Souled Out," a bass-driven sibling of "The Truth" that hides
the same heavenly harmony structure that made Tami Show's singles so irresistible.
Produced by "big name" studio maven Kevin Shirley (who's worked with Amanda
Marshall, Black Crowes and Journey), Suncat Muse offers a treasure trove
of well-produced, well-written songs with deep heart and emotion. Sometimes
blue, sometimes crystalline pop, and always enticing, this was definitely one
of the finest "lost" albums of 2002. To find a copy, check her Web site at www.planetclaire.com.
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