I'm in the process of re-listening and re-evaluating my record collection, in no particular order. I'll be sharing the results of my evaluation and thoughts on the music in this blog.
Sometime ago I wrote a post on a record by Xylouris White. As I explained then, Giorgos Xylouris of Xylouris White is a Greek-born singer and lute player. As a young man, he immigrated to Australia and has made records blending Cretan folk with jazz and new wave. More importantly, he is also a member of a famous Cretan mountain clan; his uncle Nikos Xylouris started as a traditional folk musician but transcended all that to become one of the country's most beloved and respected singers of all time. He died in 1980, aged only 43, passing the torch of Cretan music champion to Giorgos' father, better known with the nickname "Psarantonis". What I didn't know until I watched documentary "A Family Affair" is that there's yet another generation of Xylourises: Giorgos' kids Apollonia, Adonis, and Nikos. They were born and raised in Melbourne Australia, where they were exposed to a lot of different music styles; Cretan, of course, but also punk rock and a lot of AC/DC. The whole family has since remigrated back to Crete, where the Xylouris youths hatched this little dynamite. It all started during the pandemic lockout: the boys, who earn their daily bread playing traditional instruments at weddings and festivals, switched to electric guitar and drums and started jamming, while their sister became the singer, main lyricist, and general frontperson of the group during the live performances. They released an EP in '22, and this LP last October (or is it a mini-LP? despite having 9 tracks, it's actually only 20 minutes long). The music is very fast and energetic, reminiscent of Black Flag, of Riot Grrrl archetypes Bikini Kill, or -closer to home- fellow Aussie troublemakers Amyl And The Sniffers. Favorites: opener "100°C" which somehow carries echoes of Rage Against The Machine, followed by "Sales", "Data Collector" and "Pink Tax"; these remind me a bit of Motörhead - until the vocals kick in, that is. Then the resemblance evaporates; Apollonia spouts the lyrics like a machinegun. "Angry" is the longest track, and it's one of those cases where the title says it all. It's also -along with the eponymous closer- the closest Frenzee get to thrash metal (think Suicidal Tendencies). The whole of the album really is a great little blast of manic energy and righteous anger. Highly recommended, I can't wait to witness this band live!
***** for 100°C, Angry
**** for Sales, Data Collector, Pink Tax, Ask Me Again, What's Wrong With Me
This is a band I've been wanting to get into for quite some time. In the absence of a Best-Of compilation, which is usually my first approach, I started out with the "critically acclaimed" one, Dig Me Out. Then I stumbled upon this CD, which seemed to be what I was looking for in the first place. It's not commercially available, since it's no "Best Of" but a promotional tool for the 2014 re-release of their (up to that point) complete discography in vinyl on Sub Pop Records. A box set called Start Together//1994-2006 containing all the LP's on coloured vinyl plus a bonus 7', was released simultaneously. This 15-track sampler with selections from the box set was therefore not intended as an introduction for the novice, but as a reminder for old fans who could spare $125 to re-buy in a deluxe package albums they may already have on CD. It contains 2 tracks from each album (3 from Dig Me Out) in order to be representative of their catalogue, but it sounds like a greatest hits, even if the band didn't have any hits proper. Most of their singles arehere, but in any case every song included sounds like a stone-cold classic: catchy hooks, powerful playing, passionate singing, intelligent lyrics. The CD is presented in reverse chronological order to front-load it with the most "commercial" tracks, but that's no way to tell a story, so we'll re-reverse it and start in 1994 and the nascent riot grrrl scene based in a Northwestern town called Olympia, Washington. Corin Tucker (lead vocals, guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (lead guitar, vocals) are members of two feminist punk bands - Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17, respectively. They embark on a romantic relationship and make a record together (Sleater-Kinney, 1995) From that album, "Be Yr Mama" is aggressive and sounds somewhat derivative to my ears, a bit too similar to the scene's de facto leaders, Bikini Kill.
On "The Day I Went Away" they play angular new wave with the two singers perfectly complementing each other, setting the foundation for what would be their signature sound. The next year, they left their former bands and put all their creative energies into Sleater-Kinney. While Call The Doctor (1996) is certainly no mellower, the eponymous song and "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" are catchier, the guitar playing is more sophisticated, and outbursts more rousing . On third album Dig Me Out (1997) the band is completed with the addition of Janet Weiss on drums (before they had relied on various temporary drummers). The music and lyrics present more variation: the happy-go-lucky chorus of "Little Babies" mocks traditional maternity roles, while "One More Hour" is an emotionally raw breakup song (about the end of Corin and Carrie's own romantic relationship, thankfully the artistic one would go on) and "Words & Guitar" a celebration of the power of rock'n'roll. 1999's The Hot Rocktones down the anger of their previous albums, with single "Get Up" and "Start Together" presenting a more experimental guitar sound a la Sonic Youth - though still quite easy on the ear thanks to the now-familiar catchy choruses and intertwined vocals. All Hands on the Bad One (2000), represented here by the title track and "You're No Rock n' Roll Fun" on the other hand is more straightforward effervescent pop-punk. One Beat (2002) continued churning snappy and radio-friendly punk pop, mixing the personal ("Oh!") with the political: shouting to be heard above the post-9/11 nationalist paranoia, Sleater-Kinney dared to go against the flow and question America's "war on terror". Sample lyric from "Combat Rock": "They tell us there are only two sides to be on/ If you are on our side, you’re right, if not you’re wrong/ But are we innocent, the paragons of good? Is our guilt erased by the pain that we’ve endured?". Considering their origins, one might say they were preaching to the converted, which prevented a Dixie Chicks-style backlash - still it was a ballsy move that must have hampered their commercial appeal. Which brings us to album No.7, the last before they went into an extended hiatus: The Woods (2006) is another artistic triumph, quite removed from their punk rock beginnings. "Modern Girl" is a semi-acoustic Kinks-like tune with harmonica, the ironic chorus "My whole life/ Is like a picture of a sunny day" belied by elements hidden inside the verse (sample "Took my money, I couldn't buy nothin'/ I'm sick of this brave new world"). The grunge/Pixies-like rocker "Jumpers" also hides its darkness: despite its preppy arrangement, it concerns alienation in modern cities and was inspired by an article on suicides at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. The quality of the songs crammed into this 15-song sampler is amazing. Compare it to any compilation by any rock giant of the era: Nirvana. REM. Pearl Jam. Green Day. Sonic Youth. Anyone. It proves that Sleater-Kinney were second to none. Though I should use the present tense: after a lengthy hiatus chasing other projects including Carrie's involvement in successful TV comedy series Portlandia, the band is back and apparently they're just as good as ever. It's too bad this compilation isn't commercially available to introduce them to younger audiences, but if its purpose was to persuade buyers to get the expensive vinyl box-set it was more than convincing. Consider me hooked.
***** for Jumpers, You're No Rock N' Roll Fun, Little Babies, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
**** for Modern Girl, Oh!, Combat Rock, All Hands On The Bad One, Start Together, Get Up, One More Hour, Call The Doctor, Be Yr Mama, The Day I Went Away
A few years ago I decided to acknowledge the 8th of March (International Women's Day) with the presentation of a Riot-Grrrl band, Sleater-Kinney. This year I thought I'd do the same with arguably the most iconic -certainly the most political- band of that movement, Bikini Kill. Why? you ask. Am I a feminist? No. Firstly, and more obviously, because I'm a guy. I know my profile photo isn't very clear, but don't let the long hair fool you. It's the photo of a guy, not of a bearded lady. And I don't think women need me to speak for them. Secondly, to one degree or another, all -isms seem to promote dogmatic and fanatic, even intolerant, behavior. That said, I do respect andsupport feminists, as I do all activists fighting for a righteous cause.
So I couldn't help being impressed while watching "The Punk Singer", a documentary on Kathleen Hanna, Bikini Kill's singer and de facto leader of the Riot Grrrl scene. I thought "wow! what an inspirational person! so radical, and provocative, and fearless!" which is obviously what the filmmakers wanted me to think, so kudos to them. They took an interesting story and made an arresting film out of it. I don't know if they overglorified their protagonist, but even if they did so what? The world needs hero(in)es. More to tonight's point, I liked the music in the film, so I went out and bought a CD by Bikini Kill. I chose this compilation of early material, as I recognized some titles from the film. Despite its title it doesn't contain any songs from their two LP's. The "two records" mentioned are the band's debut E.P. and a split L.P. with Huggy Bear. The reissue augments those with 7 unreleased demos, mostly of atrocious quality, but arguably of historic interest to fans. Not that the rest is the height of hi-fi but, hey, that's punk rock for you. Apparently many fans prefer these rough and aggressive recordings to the supposedly more "polished" later versions. The eponymous debut E.P. was "produced" by Fugazi's Ian MacKaye who basically just let them loose in the studio and recorded the result. His decision to not try to rein them in has ensured this EP has both fanatic admirers and adversaries (check out thiscontemporary review on Rolling Stone). If the best U.S. hardcore bands sound like a speeding train ready to destroy anything that gets in its way, Bikini Kill is the sound of a train that's been derailed and rolling down the slope at terrific speed. The drumming is just as aggressive but anarchic instead of mathematic. The vocals are simply out of control: Kathleen shouts, scoffs, snarls and screams with all the power she can muster. Which is a lot.
The first song of their first record serves as a perfect statement of intent: "We're Bikini Kill and we want Revolution Girl-style now! Hey girlfriend/ I got a proposition goes something like this: Dare ya to do what you want/ Dare ya to be who you will/Dare ya to cry right out loud 'You get so emotional baby' I Double dare ya/ Double dare triple fuckin' dare ya girlfriend". It's a veritable classic and, along with a few other songs here, strangely reminiscent of the Dead Kennedys. Surprising how often Hanna manages to sound like an unholy hybrid of The Kennedys' Jello Biafra and your typical valley girl. "Liar" could have been another anthem, but gets derailed by blood-curling screams over a mocking reference to John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance". Both this and the Ramones-y "Suck My Left One" reference rape and sexual abuse, not the lightest subjects in the world. "Carnival" is a dark satire and "Thurston Hearts The Who" a musical improvisation over reading a review of the band's performance. "Feels Blind" is the tragically poetic one, starting with melancholy before letting the rage out again "I'm the woman I was taught to always be hungry... I'd (even) eat your fucking hate up like love". Songs 7-13 come from the split L.P. "Yeah Yeah Yeah". They touch similar subjects and sport a similar hardcore sound. The highlights are "White Boy" (basically casting the typical male as an idiot and potential rapist, no wonder the band were portrayed in the media as man-haters) and, of course, "Rebel Girl" which became an unofficial Riot Grrrl anthem with its blend of politics and lesbian infatuation. Truth be told, of the 3 versions of this song Bikini Kill recorded, this is the least good one. The anthemic chorus and provocative lyrics are there, but it seems unnecessarily noisy and angry whereas later versions are proud and celebratory. Of the last 7 tracks, the less said the better: mostly uncooked punk in real lo-fi quality. Even lyrically they're quite weak. I mean "George Bush Is A Pig"? C'mon, is that all you got? OK, the spoken word "Chevy Window" is funny, though I suspect it was going for righteous anger. I choose to ignore the extra tracks that came with the latest reissue and give a solid 4* to the rest of the album. And, seriously, watch the embedded documentary above. You'll become a fan, too.
***** for Double Dare Ya
**** for Liar, Carnival, Suck My Left One, Feels Blind, White Boy, Rebel Girl
*** for Don't Need You, Jigsaw Youth, This Is Not A Test, Outta Me
** for Thurston Hearts The Who, Resist Psychic Death, George Bush Is A Pig, I Busted In Your Chevy Window, Get Out, Why, Fuck Twin Peaks, Girl Soldier. Not Right Now
Seeing that, by happy coincidence, I've presented 3 female artists in a row, I decided to make a thing out of it and continue until the 8th of March, which is International Women's Day. The actual meaning of this day is foggy to most of us. Well-meaning men understand it as a plea to be nice to your female co-worker and bring her coffee, for a change. Women often seem to think that "it's our day today, so let's drink and behave like men!". At the very best, people believe it's about showing women our appreciation for everything they do for us by giving them flowers or gifts - Valentine's Day and Mother's Day rolled into one. Well, don't let that shock you but International Women's Day is actually part of a Communist Conspiracy to undermine our freedom by making us unwillingly celebrate an idea proposed by an American socialist, ratified by the Second Internationale who set the date on the 8th of March, and sponsored by the Bolsheviks. In time it lost its socialist connections and came to be identified with the feminist cause in general, and even that tends to be underplayed nowadays. Maybe because many of them apparently regard feminism asirrelevant in the modern world. I get the fact that they don't see themselves as victims of discrimination but, even discounting the fact that women have absolutely no rights in a large part of this world, one look at political and business summits raises the question of why there are so few women up there. The music world is a prime example of that. And yes, I know there are super-dynamic and successful women out there, but one Madonna does not make the difference - after all Queen Victoria used to rule half the world, what good did it do to the women in the British Empire? Even in progressive underground subcultures, gender equality was always shrugged off as irrelevant. Girls in the hippie communes were still expected to clean, cook, and fuck the men as a matter of obligation. Punk did produce a number of strong and independent female figures (Patti Smith, Siouxsie, Poly Styrene etc) but its tolerance of violent and brutish behaviour (especially in its American hardcore variety) has often shut women out.
...which bring us to the Riot Grrl story. A politico-musical movement combining punk music with feminist consciousness, it started -like grunge, with which it's closely related- from the American Northwest and consisted of a bunch of loud-but-literate girl bands eager to create a place for themselves in a macho rock scene and touch on issues not commonly addressed in rock music, like violence against women and gender equality. Sleater-Kinney may not have been the most radical or outspoken of these bands, but they were by far the most popular and artistically successful. All of their albums are critically acclaimed, but Dig Me Out is the one that regularly makes the Greatest Albums of All Time lists. At that point (1997) the band consisted of singer/guitarists Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss. As expected by the trio form, the music is lean and stripped-down. The vocals are loud and guitars are angular and aggressive while musical influences seem to include Nirvana, The Ramones and Sonic Youth. The latter band's Kim Gordon served as a role model for many women in the indie rock scene, being an outspoken and dynamic woman in a rock band as well as the protagonist of many indie guys' fantasies. Incidentally her recently released memoir Girl in a Band is considered one of last years' must-reads. I haven't read it myself yet though, as I'm slowly working my way through an overlong reading list. Anyway, back to Dig Me Out and the same-named track that opens the record: it's as an in-your-face affair as you're ever going to find in the grunge scene, shouty vocals reminiscent of Courtney Love and Hole but abrasive guitar work rising above that level. "One More Hour", which was released as the lead single, is less aggressive and closer to the Throwing Muses' new wave style. The interplay between the singers is also a particular highlight while it's interesting to note that it's ostensibly based on the dissolution of a brief romantic affair they had (with each other). "Turn It On" is a rousing rocker and "The Drama You've Been Craving" sports angular guitars a la Gang Of Four and lyrics that could well have been sung by those striking female workers on the original 8th of March: "The clock I'm punching in (I'm a monster) Work till I can't give (I'm a machine)". "Heart Factory" alternates quiet and loud passages while "Words and Guitar" would be typical '77 style punk if not for the twin lead vocals. These are also evident on the punk'n'roll of "Little Babies", the album's poppier number and second single."Not What You Want" and the sax-blowing "It's Enough" are loud and fast, while"Buy Her Candy" and"Jenny" slower. None of them is particularly impressive. The new wavey "Things You Say" and "Dance Song '97" thankfully raise the quality level again, the latter introducing 80's-sounding keyboards. Definitely a classic record, with quality songwriting, great performances and crisp production, it has deservedly gained a position in the relative lists. The band broke up in 2006, while Carrie deployed her writing and acting talents as co-writer and star of the successful comedy TV series "Portlandia", a show satirizing hipsters, pretentious art types, political correctness and, yes, dogmatic feminists. For those who enjoyed last week's piece on Joanna Newsom here you can catch her guest starring on a sketch from Portlandia's second season, together with Carrie and co-star Fred Armisen:
Last year, and while the TV show is running its 6th season, they reformed to release a well-received new album and a triumphant comeback tour - hey: feminist female rockers (and former lovers, for extra spice!) hit forty and, in response, re-unite their 90's punk band to re-live their wild youth. Sound like an episode of Portlandia or what? Oh, the comedic potential...
***** for Dig Me Out, Turn It On, Little Babies, Dance Song '97
**** for One More Hour, The Drama You've Been Craving, Words and Guitar, Things You Say
*** for Heart Factory, It's Enough, Not What You Want, Buy Her Candy
