Holly Golightly will rock your socks off. This British singer/songwriter once fronted the all female garage group "Thee Headcoatees," a variation on the Billy Childish act. You might also recognizing her as a collaborating artist with the White Stripes, but personally, I think she's much more rockin. Check this one out.
For some reason, this Nina Simone album seems particularly hard to find in its entirety, maybe because it is so highly coveted as her best. Recorded in 1974, this album contains some of her more funky tracks, most obviously "Funkier than a Mosquitoes Tweeter." Nina is just the best. Love this album.
Donna Hightower was a jazz vocalist from the 1950s, but you probably won't recognize any "hits" from her, surprisingly. Hightower was born in Missouri was discovered while she was working at a diner in Chicago - singing as she worked. After making a series of singles for Decca and RPM, Capitol records singed her on around 1958. This is the resulting record from that first session with sax giant Ben Webster.
Okay, forgive the recording, but I actually used an ipod microphone to get this in digital format in my living room. The acoustics aren't great to say the least, but I can't find this anywhere but the actual 7 inch, so here it is. Model Citizens was another no wave group from New York, and recorded this solitary 7 inch with producer/legend John Cale in 1979. Model Citizens split into two bands - The Dance (see earlier post), and Polyrock. Hope you enjoy the recording, maybe one day I'll update my recording technology.
The Ronettes were from New York City, and gained fame in the early part of the 1960s with songs like "Be My Baby." The group did not record a significant body of work before going on hiatus, and when they reemerged, the "girl-group" format was no longer interesting in American pop culture. By 1966, the band had permanently split. Here is their best of.
Elinor Blake was the front-woman of The Shitbirds before becoming the April March we all know and love today. The Shitbirds started in 1991 when Blake moved to LA to animate for the Ren and Stimpy show. This album was released in 1995, after the bands breakup, and is a collection of all 15 Shitbirds recordings.
This is Cat Power's first full-length album, also released in 1995. While Chan Marshall's style has been characterized as unpolished, listening to this, you begin to see where that all started, and appreciate her roots in punk, blues, and folk.
Rasputina, contrary to popular thought, began in Brooklyn circa 1992, and signed to Columbia records in 1996 with this album. As you will hear, the band is centered around the cello, as Melora Creager, founding member of the band, has been playing since she was 9, appearing with the likes of Nirvana and the Pixies. Read the wikipedia entry to see just how many members this act has been through.
This album is a bit reminiscent of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, although was out in the world way before - 1982 to be exact. Nina is from Berlin, Germany, which you probably won't find surprising when you take a listen. Nina is still around making music and being politically active, but is now in the states. Take a listen to the Nina Hagen band, her first solo gig.
Nunsexmonkrock
As with so many musical genres, boundaries are blurry, definitions unclear. The Dance is a group that was formed in 1979, and the album featured here was released in 1982, and is considered part of the post-punk genre and part of the electropunkfunk/No Wave scene of New York City. As described on their MySpace page, you will find influences from Hip Hop, funk, punk, reggae and so on, culminating in what is truly a great album start to finish, and is truly danceable. But how can you listen to this album without, by track 2, thinking...
How is this so different than Blondie who is part of the "punk" genre? In my humble opinion, Blondie is the more radio-friendly of the two, and therefore more easily classified in a genre whose boundaries seem limitless, and has become more about attitude and an in-your-face aesthetic rather than a particular sound. Here is Blondie's 1976 debut, nearly as danceable as the above.
