For several years, I reviewed submissions to the 75orless music review site. It was always exciting to learn that a band had used my words to promote themselves. Unfortunately, a site redesign destroyed the archive search function, but I've copied and pasted some of my favorites below.
Allison Weiss - Allison Weiss Was Right All Along (100% Records)
Allison Weiss hasn't yet graduated from college, but she may as well have degrees in entrepreneurship, management, communications, composition, and indiepopfolkrock. And an A for the thematic unit on "feel-ings" (TM my sister Laura). As Weiss herself puts it, "Her songs sound like your saddest memories sung to the tune of your happiest." It's like your bubblegum fell on the floor, but you don't notice the grit so much because you're concentrating on the sweetness. Weiss' fans funded this album via Kickstarter.com; I think they got their money's worth.
Linda Draper - Keepsake (Planting Seeds)
Hey, wanna come by the coffeehouse tonight? Linda Draper and her guitar will be there. Yeah, her songs are simple, but their spartan-ness showcases her lyrics and sweet Joan-Baez-on-the-low-notes voice. You know how I fixate on the words... she's got lines like "My eyes see things a little out of tune" and "looking over your shoulder/at the mountain of salt you tossed." Guests will play bass and piano, and if we're lucky, she'll bust out the toy xylophone. I'll get us a table and a pot of tea.
The Gothic Archies - The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events (Nonesuch)
Categorized as "goth-bubblegum," this album is stupendous—a word which here means that I adore it. Stephin Merritt, his trademark deep voice set against synthesizers and clanging percussion, is joined by none other than Lemony Snicket on the accordion during this romp through the 13 Series of Unfortunate Events books (the songs were originally written for the audiobooks). But you don't need to know who Count Olaf is to appreciate the record—"This Abyss" could pass for your run-of-the-mill depiction of angst. Except that Merritt is anything but run-of-the-mill. Marvelous.
Vivian Linden - Watch the Light Fade (Tarnished Records)
In "Pass the Wires," the first of nine bluesily country tracks, Linden murmurs that "I am restless; I am sleepless; I am weary." Those qualities lace the entire album of sorrow-soaked slow songs, shot through with Cowboy Junkies and embroidered with Mazzy Star. Singing of "love, lust, lonesomeness and loss," Linden's plaintiveness recalls a deeper-voiced Iris Dement or Emmylou Harris. If you like your music darkly acoustic and sweetly bitter, add this to your collection.
The Slow Break - Inside the Dark Mountain (Ionik Recordings)
Like the results of a fingerpainting session gone wild, this messy mix of styles can't be described easily. Deceptively bright chaos throws forth alt-country, punk and rockabilly guitars and frenetic saxophone under grim lyrics. The best tracks contain Katie O'Brien's yelping rasp; she sounds like Kristin Hersh, Stiffed and Dolly Parton got thrown into a blender with a pack of cigarettes. All bands should put this much passion and fire into their albums.
Maryrose Crook with The Renderers – Ghosts of Our Vegas Lives (Three Beads of Sweat)
Evidently Margo Timmins of The Cowboy Junkies has changed her name to Maryrose Crook, gene-spliced in some Maria McKee, and taken up with the offspring of The Bad Seeds and The Dirty Three. The result is fabulous: mournful and haunting, but with an aggressive edge ... and a wawa pedal that manages to inject a menacing spookiness. You can picture the band onstage of Twin Peaks' Roadhouse as Agent Cooper looks around furtively for murder suspects.
MC Lars - The Graduate (Nettwerk Records)
MC Lars is brilliant ... brilliant! When not adapting classic literature to rap or imagining what he'd do in a time machine, he is making pointed statements about the music industry and pop culture in general. While he is sometimes heavy-handed in his criticism, who really cares when he delivers such songs as "Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock" or "Generic Crunk Rap" (complete with random yelps of "what??"). "Signing Emo" is destined to be a classic, and articulates the reasons that 75orless exists—the listeners, not the label execs, should determine who they like.
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Memphis Industries/Columbia Records)
1-2-3-4 Get your butt out on the floor! 2-4-6-8 I think this record's really great! Yeah! Woo! This collection of exuberant shouts, cheers, and big boisterous sound evokes Saturday morning TV back in the '70s as remembered on VH1; it's like a bunch of cheerleaders, backed by a marching band (with a piano in tow), showed up on Sesame Street to support the Double Dutch team. My favorite parts are "Get it Together"'s crazy recorders, kickdrum, and record scratching and "We Just Won’t be Defeated"'s chanting. Gooooooooooooo Team!
