Founders of Rock n Roll

Trixie Smith was born in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia. A blues singer, a vaudeville entertainer, and an actress, Trixie Smith is credited as having titled the genre of Rock and Roll with her 1922 track entitled "My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll). Take a listen to Volume 1 and 2 of her recorded works, 1922 through 1939 (2 discs, 1 download).

Trixie Smith

Wanda Jackson, born in Oklahoma in 1937, is often credited as the first female Rock and Roll singer. First recording in 1954, Wanda toured with the likes of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly, but never achieved the same level of success as her male counterparts here in the states. Today, she is still affectionately known as the "Queen of Rockabilly." Here are her recorded works 1954 through 1962 (4 discs, 1 download).

Right or Wrong

Great Garagers

I have been gone for quite some time - a few varied reasons, including a consuming interest in AfroBeat and Dub taking me in meandering directions, not always leading to female musicians, a full clean of my hard drive, which took some time to recover from, and laziness. I hope you enjoy this post on two female garage acts you might already know. Take a moment to fill out my survey - I'm closer to 100 responses than before, so just 38 more folks!! Much appreciated.

If you've had a chance to check our my good friend's blog over at the PsychoMafia (link to the right), then you may have had a chance to listen to April March with the Makers, a great example of garage rock. You may also be familiar with April March from "The Shitbirds" posted here on musicisabetternoise (see below). This bilingual album may not be her best example as a garage rocker, but definitely of the 60s Rock and Roll sort, and a bit of France Gall from "Gay Paris" (note French pronunciation on Paris). Hope you enjoy this one.

Paris in April


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.

Painted On

A Little Class

Hey all. Sorry, it's been some time since my last post. I'll try to stay on top of this more regularly, but keep those comments coming, and importantly, those responses to my survey! Thanks for your support.

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.

It is Finished

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.

Take One!

1979 + 1

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.

1979 EP

From Athens, Georgia, Pylon released their first 7 inch in 1979. I don't have that EP, I have this, their 1980 full-length debut album. When Pylon first emerged, they were able to make inroads in the New York City scene due to support from the B-52s, and soon were opening for The Talking Heads, Gang of Four, and REM to name a few. The group disbanded around 1983, but since 2004 have been playing impromptu shows. Singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay is currently part of a music project called Supercluster, which thus far, has no recorded albums.

Gyrate

60s Pop

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.

The Best of The Ronettes


Martha Reeves and the Vandellas gained fame around the same time as The Ronettes, surfacing first in 1963. Their motown style, as well as social relevance with anthems such as "Dancing in the Streets," allowed them to maintain fame into the early 70s. Martha Reeves today is still considered one of the most important vocalists in Rock n' Roll history, influencing Lou Reed and Mick Jagger to name a few. Here is another best of.

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas

Before They Were Stars

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.

Famous Recording Artists

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.

Dear Sir

Creepy, Yet Fun

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.

Thanks for the Ether

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

Punk vs. Post-Punk

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...

Soul Force

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.

Blondie

Music to Build Buildings By

Fear of modernization characterized the late 70s and early 80s. It is written all over ever sort of western-based cultural output from the time period. 28 years later, these albums are a still musically-relevant window into how we arrived where we did, and therefore a great opportunity for some cultural introspection. Therefore....

Stop with the bullshit about this album being for the post-9/11 world. Laurie Anderson is not Nostradamus (although she is the first musician in residence at NASA). This album was released in 1982, and epitomizes exactly what is described above, and it is damn good. Perhaps folks wanted to revive the album circa 2001 exactly because we were questioning the true benefit of modernization. Listen to the album, and be real.

Big Science

Flex represents much of the same fears - buildings shielding us from the sun, the destruction of the human race via atomic energy, but in a fun way! Lene Lovich was born in Detroit, but grew up in England, and therefore got the best of both modern worlds. Lovich is much more influenced by funk, and in some ways, you may hear a resemblance to Lora Logic's vocal style. Check out the album, and note the rising tensions of 1979.

Flex

What It Is!

The album title, and featured song, is indeed a Nina Simone original. When the album was released in 1972, Aretha was criticized as not having anything "left of her old Memphis-Muscle Shoals soul sound." Of course now, this album is praised as one of her greatest, and probably for the very reason which was cited upon it's release. Aretha's contributions to other genres, including funk (Rock Steady), are obvious.

Young, Gifted and Black

For those of you who don't know, Erma is indeed the sister of Aretha. The two have distinct soulful styles, Erma being the bit more rocking of the two (Listen to Hold on I'm Coming, probably the most powerful track on here that makes you want to sing at the top of your lungs). Erma's recording career was brief, and so in terms of available material, there is certainly not enough. Here is one of a few recordings.

Super Soul Sister

New York Electropunkfunk - No Wave

The Bush Tetras were popular in the New York club scene in the early 1980s. As you will gather, their music is part of a very small niche which was almost entirely based in New York City during this time period, and which included bands like ESG (below), Konk, Liquid Liquid, and perhaps a few others. With increased interest in the band, they reformed in 2005 and began doing tours once again. Check out their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/bushtetras.

Boom In The Night (Original studio recordings 1980 - 1983)

ESG, another band from this small scene, actually is an acronym for Emerald, Sapphire, and Gold. The group was initially made up of sisters Maria Scroggins (congas, vocals), Renee Scroggins (guitar, vocals), and Valerie Scroggins (drums), and friend Leroy Glover (bass). A resurgence in the interest of this band has been aided by hip-hop artists who have sampled their works, including Wu-Tang, Beastie Boys, and J Dilla. If you like the album, buy it! Valerie Scroggins is in some hot water with her employer, the MTA, and could probably use the kickbacks, however small they may be.

A South Bronx Story

Best of Unplugged

I've been searching and searching for the reason or reasons why this was never a wide release, but have yet to find out - if you know, fill me in. Most true Hole fans out there feel their collection is incomplete without this recording from Valentine's Day 1995, but could do without Celebrity Skin or anything thereafter. Truthfully, it is not "unplugged" in the traditional sense at all, but Courtney is best when she is able to make full use of discord. Despite all of Courtney's contrived bad press, she is still a quintessential figure in the rock and roll, and her music from this time period is now defined as classic.

Hole - MTV Unplugged

We all knew Lauryn Hill was a great artist, but did we really know the depth of her artistry until we heard this double disc unplugged? For myself, that answer is no. I knew of her convictions, but only vaguely understood through the press , which seemed to want to demonize her as anti-white. Eventually, Hill retreated from the public gaze and reemerged with this 2002 release. I wait for more of Lauryn's dose of reality.

Lauryn Hill - Unplugged