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The Mendoza Line

Via Brooklyn, via Atlanta, via Elvis Costello, via Roy Orbison, this band has been around the block too many times to count. Which amuses me, because, right now, alt-country is apparently "in" and "hip," particularly when you count the hipsters who line up to see the the drawling chantenuse of the moment. But Shannon McArdle of the Mendoza Line couldn't give a damn, since she's been holding down that particular fort for a long, long time.

Filled with handclaps, pedal guitar, and tambourines, The Mendoza Line make music that is comfortable and eminently hummable. And when the Mendozas display the interplay between McArdle's wispy voice and Timothy Bracy's creaky vocals, well, the songs just beg to be sung along to. Their penchant for witty one-liners and sarcastic comebacks is perhaps unmatched in the indie pop scene; who else would give albums titles like We're All In This Alone and I Like You When You're Not Around. I've witnessed many a fine moment when Bracy gives ups the ante on rockers like "Name Names" and "Road to Insolvency," bringing down the house. Although, it must be said that both some-time Mendoza Pete Hoffman and McArdle can hold their own--Hoffman on the bitter "Baby, I Know What You're Thinking," and McArcle on the scathing "It's a Long Line (But It Moves Quickly)." After all, the name of the band is self-deprecation at its best as it is a slang term describing the boundary between good and mediocre baseball batters.

The lineup has evolved over the course of a decade, and if you look closely you can see scars from the last near breakup of the band; I've been lead to believe the bitterness and irony found in We're All In This Alone stems directly from the entire band attemping to live in the same house. Their body of work shows a gradual maturation and finding of their unique niche: an abundance of hooks and an alt-country sensibility, built upon fuzzy indie pop hooks and an unwavering dedication. Mendoza Line albums are all over the place, as the band employs as many as three or four songwriters on a single album. You can call it messy, eclectic, and sprawling, but albums like Full of Light and Full of Fire and Fortune are ultimately winsome and satisfying.

The Mendoza Line - It's a Long Line (But It Moves Quickly)
The Mendoza Line - Catch A Collapsing Star
The Mendoza Line - Name Names
The Mendoza Line - The Lethal Temptress
The Mendoza Line - What Ever Happened to You?
The Mendoza Line - We're All in This Alone
The Mendoza Line - Baby, I Know What You're Thinking

The Mendoza Line's official site. Buy Full of Light and Full of Fire from Amazon or iTunes Music Store. They play Friday, March 17 at 8:00 p.m. at Maggie Mae's.

Shadows tags:mendozaline.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 03.04.06 at 2:39 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

Cue

[We covered Cue last year; here's a highly updated reprint of that profile.]

Sometimes you champion local bands, loyal to the hilt. And then sometimes you fall in love.

I saw Cue, one of my absolute favorite Austin-based bands and one of the hidden treasures of the scene, play to about 20 people the other night, most of whom were friends or die-hard fans or both. The show was running late, and I think we were all tired, but as soon as they started to play -- with "Bring Back My Love," which features Stacy Meshbane keening a haunting siren's call into the pickups on her violin and then hurtles into a building swirl of resonant melody and counter-rhythms beholden to Morricone -- the energy in the room palpably shifted. Not to sound trite or anything, but it was transformative. No matter the circumstances, Cue delivers at every set I've seen, and I've been to a lot of them in the past few years -- magical house parties, all racuous and all liquored up at the Carousel Lounge, sardine-crush nights at Beerland, and yes, more than a few sparse Wednesdays at Emo's.

The first time I saw Cue, it was at an early show at Beerland on Election Night 2004, before shoving my way through throngs of black-clad hipsters leaving Stubb's after Interpol to catch a late show from Shearwater and Decibully. It was a weird and special night, despite the results of the vote. I was then, and remain extremely impressed by Cue -- a four-piece instrumental rock band that's half chamber ensemble, half swirling guitar rock extravaganza. Unlike a lot of their brethren in the genre that put you to sleep as they bang away on their instruments or bore you to tears with swirling, shimmering songs that go nowhere, Cue's songs are incredibly thoughtful and packed with emotion -- big swooping tone poems that have velocity and heart that are slightly cloaked in shadows. Stacy Meshbane's wicked violin dances ahead of Jason Brister's tricky drumlines and Clarke Dominick's menacing turns on the bass (which he alternates with duties on keys and guitar as well), which in turn pull along the dark, fuzzy guitar from Colin Swietek. Plus, there's often multiple tambourines and specialty percussion in use, including a tiny zylophone -- or is that a tiny glockenspiel? Anyway, the end result is just gorgeous -- buzzy-loud yet dynamic, melancholic yet bittersweet.

I admit that though Cue's 2005 record Bring Back My Love is really wonderful, it just doesn't compare with seeing the band live -- especally in a dank club lit by one red spotlight and a string of Christmas lights garlanded around the kick drum. (And if you ask very nicely, they may pull out their cover of Julee Cruise's "Falling" -- better known as the theme from Twin Peaks -- which is always a pleasure to hear as they stuff it to the gills with a strange and dark joy that was missing from the original version.)

Cue - "The End of the Rule of Nostalgia"
Cue - Thusla Doom
Cue - Bring Back My Love

Cue's official site; there are other tracks available there as well -- including the stellar "The Sun Has Risen Twice Today." You can buy Bring Back My Love directly from the band or at local independent music stores in Austin and at Everyday Music if you're in Seattle.

Shadows tags:cue.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 03.03.06 at 11:44 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

Islands

Ah, those quirky Canadians! Just what will they do next? I'll answer my own question with this: Islands. It's a Quebec-based indie band risen from the ashes of the critically acclaimed band, The Unicorns, which seemingly imploded shortly after laudatory praise for their Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? on year end lists. Drummer J'aime Tambeur and singer Nick Diamonds, two-thirds of the now-defunct Unicorns, are forging a new identity with Islands, a seven piece, sprawling collective, where members join and leave with a certain nomadic quality.

All of which makes perfect sense, sorta, when you listen to the music: strangely beautiful, quirky pop melodies combined with sprawling instrumentation, a wicked sense of humor, combined two parts winking precociousness and freewheeling play. While the Unicorns' songs were sometimes so spare they could be called skeletons, the Islands use some of those same tricks (threatening synths, trembly duets) but ditches the lo-fi quality for some high fidelity. They also go ahead and mine much richer territory of tools: violin, horns, keyboards, the works. Instead of hitting the single dark and doom-filled note, the songs transition back and forth, and sometimes find themselves happy, sunny, even joyful. Islands' debut album, Return to the Sea, teeters back and both from sparse, carefully doled out phrases and parts to full on, tension-filled orchestral jams bursting with energy, with the occasional rap breakdown.

Islands currently boasts an all-star lineup, including but not limited to a Togo born bass player who formerly played with Prince, Woody Guthrie's grandson, two brothers who were former NES champions who play "Mario Paint Music Maker" in the group, and two LA-based rappers.

Islands - Swans (Life After Death)
Islands - Rough Gem
Islands - Tsuxiit

Islands' official site. Return to the Sea will be out on Equator Records in North America on April 4th. Pre-order it from Amazon. Islands plays Thursday, March 16 at 12:30 a.m. at Emo's IV.

Shadows tags:islands.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 03.03.06 at 1:38 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

Metric

There are times that I think that Emily Haines, the dour and deadpan front woman of Toronto-based Metric has more in common with cabaret singers like Ute Lemper and Lotte Lenya than ladies from indie rock who are name checked when writers attempt to shove Metric into a handy and wrong-shaped and sized pigeonhole. That is, a cramped space that clearly doesn't quite have a clear classification for the band's signature bizzaro glam disco cabaret sound that also owes just much to the chilled, synth-driven emotiveness of pop music written 20 years ago and, oddly enough, the great social commentary and protest song folkies of our time -- and their curious offshoots, too -- The Velvet Underground and David Bowie. Which of course, brings us right back 'round to glammy performance art again.

Indeed, Haines, along with Jimmy Shaw on guitar, Josh Winstead on bass, and Joules Scott-Key on drums possess one of the key characteristics that sets apart, at least in my mind -- and this may be clear from the profiles I've written to date -- a good band from a great one. A Metric show is half dance party, half white-tent revival for the misfits of the 21st century culture wars. From early on, Metric's songs poked fun at The Scene and hipsters -- and Haines' own position as a willing cog in that sparkling machine, but also touched on larger issues.

But it was with 2004's Old World Underground that the band blended indictments of the shallow, pretty people with indictments of the shallow and not so pretty world all around us -- credit card debt, urban sprawl, depression. "Succexy" is a direct hit on our bellicose-happy culture and the apathy of youth; "Hustle Rose" exposes the dark heart of trolling for love in nightclubs. Live It Out, the band's latest offering from 2005, is preoccupied with the troubles that accompany our generation's arrested coming of age, especially for women. Now before you cringe, remember -- you can also dance to these songs, which may actually be the secret ingredient that keeps Metric's brand of remix and DJ set-worthy modern protest songs from collapsing under the weight of their levity.

Metric - Poster of a Girl
Metric - Glass Ceiling
Metric - Live It Out
Metric - I.O.U.
Metric - Succexy
Metric - Dead Disco

Metric's official site. Buy their latest, Live It Out from Amazon or the iTunes music store.

Shadows tags:metric.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 03.02.06 at 10:43 PM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

Rahim

Three-piece Rahim, from New York city, are signed to Frenchkiss Records and play in the style of DC-born post-punk. Once those facts are out in the open, it's easy to guess at what Rahim might or should sound like. Les Savy Fav are an obvious reference point for Rahim (other easy or lazy comparisons: Q and Not U, Black Eyes, Fugazi), but instead of Tim Harrington's verbal barrage and penchant for spectacle, Rahim demonstrate a keen sense of restrain and a wickedly smart way with words and multi-part, buttery smooth vocals, not to mention the occasional orchestral flourish and spare but still gorgeous instrumentation.

Their debut album Ideal Lives veers from where last year's Jungles EP tread, with airy, literate post-punk with a heart of pop. They're a rare find in an era of way too many disco-dance-post-punk clones. How else can I explain the lush beauty of the backup "yeah, yeah"s and sustained organ in "Forever Love"? Sure, there's angular guitar lines and jittery drums, but also an appreciation of history and cliches. You won't find an abundance of copy-cat hi-hat nor a thousand guitar solos put in for the sake of creating complexity; Rahim's brainy songs are smooth, well-oiled machines: fully-formed, perfectly buffed into perfection, the moving parts all moving in harmony. And never fear, they do know how to rock out when appropriate. It's a shame Rahim are perhaps New York's most slept-on band.

The J. Robbins-produced Ideal Lives comes out April 4th and you'd be hard-pressed to find anything quite as unique coming out this year. Rahim play an early showcase, Thursday, March 16, at 8:00 p.m. at the Soho Lounge, and you'd best catch them before the masses figure it out; I'm picking them as one of my must-see picks for SXSW. I am telling you now: run, don't walk, as this genre rarely, if never, sounds quite as good.

Rahim - 10,000 Horses (from the forthcoming Ideal Lives LP)
Rahim - Forever Love (from the forthcoming Ideal Lives LP)
Rahim - Only Pure (from the forthcoming Ideal Lives LP)
Rahim - One at a Time (from the Jungles EP)

Rahim's official site. Pre-order Ideal Lives from Insound or Amazon. Purchase the Jungles EP from Amazon or iTunes Music Store. Again, Rahim play on Thursday, March 16 at 8:00 p.m. at the Soho Lounge. I'd go if I were you.

Shadows tags:rahim.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 03.02.06 at 7:38 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

Mazarin

For a good dosage of psych-pop that is hazy, cheery, and welcoming, I always turn to Mazarin. Although their heyday seemed to be a few years ago with the release of the lovely A Tall-Tale Storyline. After that, the band did a few tours here and there, but slowly faded from my consciousness until their triumphant return after a two and a half year absence. Where did they take their paisley-loving retro-pop? Where have they been these last few years?

But, who really cares? Not I, not any longer when I've been blessed with a beautiful, uber-catchy, and memorable work like last year's We're Already There. Perhaps the flowery, decorative, intricate cover of the album speaks volumes about the songs within: these dreamy, layered indie popsters have a sunny, West-Coast sheen that hides their Philly roots; the lyrical content is often dark, speaking of relationships and meditations on life, but settles comfortably among ringing guitars, programmed drums, and all manner of chimes, effects, and backup harmonies. A gentle, hazy rocker like "Wheats" has a candy shell that only hides the carefully sarcastic, bittersweet refrain: "I never loved you at all." My favorite Mazarin songs are the ones that are masquerading as lazy lullabies or tambourine-laden prayers or three-minute sparkling glasses of bubbly pop.

We're Already There is full of enchantment and energy, in carefully meted bursts like "The New American Apathy." Songs rarely outstay their welcome, pop hooks never get buried under too much studio trickery, and there's an overall sense of jubilation flirting with lots of reverb. Mazarin: we missed you, and we're entirely too glad to have you back. So here's a toast to a potential indie-pop uprising, lead by Mazarin's Quentin Stoltzfus.

Mazarin - Wheats
Mazarin - Green Lane
Mazarin - Suicide Will Make You Happy
Mazarin - The New American Apathy
Mazarin - Ne Winter
Mazarin - I'm With You And Constellations

Mazarin's official site. Purchase We're Already There from Amazon or iTunes Music Store. Mazarin play on Thursday, March 16 at 10:00 p.m. at Buffalo Billiards, as part of the Bigshot Touring showcase.

Shadows tags:mazarin.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 03.01.06 at 12:08 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

The Gossip

It's a bold statement, but I'm not afraid to make it: The Gossip's Beth Ditto is the most charismatic lead singer in all of indie rock. She's all sassy growls and shimmy, a big girl with a bigger voice and she's not afraid to use it. Backed by the impossibly ordered chaos of Nathan (Brace Paine) Howdeshell's sledgehammer guitar and Hannah (Stan) Blilie's clamoring drums, Beth leads The Gossip on a sinuous Southern Gothic blues trip by way of No Wave and punk. (Originally from Arkansas, Ditto and Howdeshell relocated to the international pop underground HQ and 'greener utopia of Olympia, Washington where they added Billie to the lineup in 2004 after the departure of original drummer Kathy Mendonca.)

To be more precise, The Gossip's catalog -- a couple EPs and 3 full-lengths, the latest of which, Standing in the Way of Control, is produced by equally magnetic Rites of Spring and Fugazi axeman Guy Piccioto -- are part Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, part Russ Meyer and most of the time sound like a rare and blue soul gem unearthed from an alternate universe where Robert Plant and Janis Joplin had a torrid threesome with Irma Thomas and later got it on with The Slits and ESG too and somehow birthed all the members of The Gossip in the process. The band fairly drips with a seemingly unending sexuality; Ditto is an equal opportunity crooner, singing her way into the pants of ladies and gents alike -- and it's quite impossible to resist her.

And their live show? Just let go and dance your ass off and get sweaty -- everyone else will. And there's nothing as satisfying as a good laugh over Ditto's stage banter with her sexily dour bandmates on topics that run the gamut from toilet humor to political statements to her craft and cooking projects and recent gall bladder surgery. Really, if you like what you hear here -- or even if it's just marginally interesting -- do make a point to catch up The Gossip on stage somewhere during SXSW. And if it's not the best damn live show you've ever seen, I totally give you permission to track me down and register a complaint personally. That doesn't mean I'll listen, though.

The Gossip - Listen Up!
The Gossip - Dark Lines
The Gossip - Rules For Luv
The Gossip - Don't (Make Waves)
The Gossip - Swing Low

The Gossip's offical webpage. Buy Standing in the Way of Control from Amazon or the iTunes Music Store. Listen to their amazing, melancholy cover of The Ramones' "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" at The Gossip's Myspace page. And there's more mp3s at the band's Kill Rock Stars page.

Shadows tags:thegossip.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.28.06 at 2:23 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

The Deathray Davies

(We featured this band on See You in the Pit last year, but here's a new and improved version!)

The lead singer of this six-piece Dallas band is blessed with a classic, sneering, snotty punk rock voice but chooses to pair it with sweet little melodies and big fat power pop harmonies, mixed up with touches of wacky theremin, fuzzed-out guitar lines, and more than a sprinkle of crashing drums, exuberant tambourine, and bouncy keyboards.

The Davies make good use of clever wordplay (one of my favorite lines of all time: "There's too much ulterior in your motive"), repeated motifs (check all the "They Stuck Me In A Box In The Ground" songs -- I think they're on "Part 9" by now), and an abundance of hooks ("I Regret The Day I Tried to Steal Daniel's Ego" and "Is This On?"). The chorus from "The Fall Fashions" seems to have been fashioned from the best parts of power pop, with triumphant horns on top. It could be easily mistaken for a Fountains of Wayne b-side. And all of the grown-up pop-punk kids will appreciate the bratty, infectious "Plan to Stay Awake," a song bouncing around like there's no tomorrow and gets stuck in my head for days at a time.

Their last album, The Kick and the Snare, was one of my sleeper favorites of 2005 which nobody else seems to have heard; ditto for 2003's Midnight at the Black Nail Polish Factory. The Deathray Davies are much like that obviously wasted, rambling, skinny hipster boy in the corner booth of the bar who can't stop talking about the same three things, but you still love him nonetheless because he's charming, sincere, and unpretentious; it's nothing entirely ground-breaking, but the pure joy in these songs is apparent in the first listen. Eminently danceable and tons of fun for those of you who appreciate retro-rock. It's lo-fi pop that meanders around, dreaming of being in the Kinks (or is that being the Kinks themselves?), hopping and bopping.

The Deathray Davies - The Fall Fashions
The Deathray Davies - Plan to Stay Awake
The Deathray Davies - The Girl Who Stole The Eiffel Tower
The Deathray Davies - Is This On?
The Deathray Davies - I Regret The Day I Tried to Steal Daniel's Ego

The Deathray Davies official site. Buy The Kick and the Snare from Amazon or the iTunes Music Store.

Shadows tags:thedeathraydavies.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.27.06 at 3:48 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)