Funny Girl

Even though she’s still best known as the ‘I Kissed A Girl’ girl of 1995 (from her self-titled album of that year), Jill Sobule deserves a larger following solely based on the material that she has released since that headline-provoking song. Having an uncanny ability to forge her dry humor into a folk-styled musical backdrop, Jill has created an amazing catalogue of witty, well-crafted songs.

Jill’s first album, Things Here Are Different was released in 1990 and doesn’t possess the humor she’s known for today. Even though it was a solid effort from a debut artist, it didn’t register with much of the public.

Five years later, Jill resurfaced with her self-titled album, which spawned the novelty hit, ‘I Kissed A Girl’ and ‘Supermodel,’ which was widely used in the film, Clueless. The more mature, (yet still not barren of laughs) Happy Town arrived in 1997 and the equally superb Pink Pearl arrived three years later. Jill’s next record, Underdog Victorious, is slated to be released in September.

Having written songs inspired from such infamous people as Mary Kay Laternaue and Joey Heatherton, Jill herself entertains the thought of one day releasing an album of “E! True Hollywood” stories. My guess is that she has a lot of great material to choose from.

The song ‘Bitter’ is taken from Jill’s third album Happy Town and begins with a loud, thumping beat, exercising an array of sonic effects. Based on the line, “And the one who made it, made it ’cause her breasts were really big,” I interpret the song to be about Jill’s frustration with the music business and how quickly record companies were willing to take fluff over substance. Some critics belived that the song was also a swipe at singer/songwriter, Jewel. But feel free to draw your own conclusions.

The live cut of ‘Mexican Wrestler,’ (originally released on 2000’s Pink Pearl) was recorded on September 24, 2001 on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Like many of Jill’s songs, it contains its funny moments, but the listener won’t be sure whether they should laugh or feel sorry for the song’s subject.

On Jill’s wonderful official site, you can also find a rotating selection of some of her great songs, many of which have yet to be officially released. ‘Mickey & Me’ is one such song about a bumbling new waitress who is constantly spilling her drinks on her customers, but has somehow enamored a handsome patron, so much so that he jots down his number for her on a napkin. Unfortunately, she later uses it to clean up another spill. Tragic, but hilarious.

Although I have yet to see her perform live, I hear this is where Jill truly shines. Not only do you get to hear her unique blend of music, but you get her candid personality, which is nothing short of stand-up at times. Be prepared for one-of-a-kind moments, as when Jill’s mother phones her in the middle of her set and happily obliges in helping her sing ‘Big Shoes’ over the telephone. This song was performed at The Tin Angel in Philadelphia on February 10, 2002. The audience there loved it. I’m sure you will too.


Downloads:

Bitter
Mexican Wrestler (live)
Mickey & Me
Big Shoes (live)

Sinister Sister

When looking at the career of Lesley Rankine, it’s difficult not to think about Shirley Manson. For one, they both hail from Scotland and have had earlier musical stints in bands with ‘fishy’ names (Lesley in the London punk band, Silverfish and Shirley in the Scottish band, Angelfish). And since then, both have gone on to make engaging electronica/pop music.

But where Shirley found opportunity (and a higher profile) with the highly successful Garbage, Lesley teamed up with producer Mark Walk and created Ruby, a name shared by both of their maternal grandmothers.

Lesley began performing in the 80’s with the Grizzelders, but not long afterward, was asked to join Silverfish where she and the band eventually garnered a reputation on the punk scene for their industrial-laced, feminist musical anthems.

After the release of a few EP’s in the early nineties, Silverfish disbanded and Lesley relocated to Seattle to begin collaborating with Pigface, a large, industrial music project created by producer Martin Atkins. It was with Pigface that Lesley eventually met with another producer named Mark Walk, and the two of them formed Ruby in 1994.

Ruby’s first effort was the 1995 album Salt Peter, where Lesley shifted gears from the aggresive punk/metal she once recorded with Silverfish to a record rich with dark, electronic cuts, providing the perfect showcase for her strong, sinister-sounding vocals. The six-song EP, Stroking The Full Length followed in 1996 with a selection of remixed tracks from Salt Peter.

Interestingly enough, Lesley could be seen later that same year in a Mountain Dew commercial of all things, singing a particularly pleasing version of ‘Thank Heaven For Little Girls’ (which regrettably, I wasn’t able to obtain a sample of) and then later teamed up with Tom Jones (yes, that Tom Jones) for a remake of ‘Kung Fu Fighting,’ from the Jackie Chan film, Supercop.

But it would take nearly six years and Lesley’s return to Scotland before Ruby saw the release of 2001’s Short-Staffed At The Gene Pool, which continued their experimental musical approach with consistent results. Later spawned Altered & Proud, a remixed version of the album’s songs by people from Dot Allison to Kid 606.

It was difficult to pick just a few songs to showcase here, but I settled on the following four:

Taken from Salt Peter, ‘Heidi’ is one of the slower and spookier of the album’s eleven tracks, oozing with Lesley’s voice, eventually transforming when an electronic harmonica breaks through the dark clouds. It’s ending finds Lesley repeatedly declaring, “I can speak so softly, because I have so much power.”

On ‘Lilypad,’ (from Short-Staffed At The Gene Pool)the listener is taken on a lighter, more jauntier ride and the song easily qualifies as one of Ruby’s most accessible tracks to the virgin listener.

‘Grace,’ which became the first single from the 2001 album with its ‘feels like butter’ chorus, features a groovy, danceable beat and sexual innuendos galore. Who doesn’t love that?

The last track featured, ‘This Is,’ is one that was originally featured in the Jim Carrey movie The Cable Guy back in 1996. And while the film is forgettable, this track shouldn’t be. The song’s chorus finds Lesley singing, “This is such an opportunity for me.” And based on the growing commercial success that Shirley Manson was finding with Garbage at the time, it really should have been Lesley’s opportunity.


Downloads:

Heidi
Lilypad
Grace
This Is

Sun & Stars

Before the MP3 revolution began, there was a time when I would walk into my favorite record store and simply buy an album without ever hearing of the artist. Sometimes the impulse was prompted by a review I had read or a simple recommendation. Other times, something as simple as an appealing album cover would peak my interest. In the case of Joan Jones’s Starlite Criminal, it was pure chance.

I knew very little about Joan before purchasing the album. At the time I didn’t even realize that she was originally part of the alternative-folk-rock outfit Sun 60. So I decided to educate myself.

I discovered that Joan was born and raised in Los Angeles and in the late 80’s, her and musician friend David Russo started a band called Far Cry in 1987. After relentless club appearances, they began to build a strong, local fan-base and were eventually signed to Epic Records at the turn of 1990. The collaboration brought the arrival of a few more permanent musicians to flesh out the sound and they soon dubbed themselves Sun 60, lasting long enough to enjoy the release of three albums in the 90’s: 1991’s Sun 60, 93’s Only and 96’s Headjoy.

Sun 60 dissolved after the release of Headjoy and Joan started work on her debut solo album, Starlite Criminal with producer Nick DiDia shortly thereafter. The album was released in 1998, but it seemed it wasn’t garnering much attention.

Upon first listen, however, I knew I had made a good purchase. The album is solid throughout, with great songwriting, an appealing sound and is beautifully delivered. DiDia’s production was clean without being overly glossy and never once outshined the material itself. I truly feel that Joan made an excellent debut.

Since the release of that album, it seems Joan has worked on the music for the animated show The Prom Queens and has apparently released another album I have yet to hear titled Velvet Underdog. I can’t seem to find many details about it, but it can be purchased here at this fine site for Joan.


Downloads:

Forgetful
You Were There
The Lonely On

Dia All’Italia Il Mio Amore

Drew over at Omnium suggested that I check out an Italian group called Fiamma Fumana, not even realizing how much of a fan I am of Italian music to begin with.

The band, which consists of multi-instrumentalist Alberto Cottica, electronic musician Marco Bertoni, and vocalist Fiamma Orlandi, nicely blend dance rhythms with more traditional Italian folk, excercising a wide-array of instruments in the process.

‘L.I.L.T’ is taken from the band’s first album, 1.0 and instantly incites foot-tapping. I’m not quite certain what the acronym stands for, but I do like the overall sound. Although sung completely in Italian, you don’t have to speak the language to appreciate the good music.

‘Balla!’, from 2003’s Home, is very similar in style, but perhaps with a slight bit more of a folkier sound. The electronic presence is still felt, but the consistent flute throughout instantly allows the listener to imagine a scene of minstrels dancing barefoot in celebration.

If you’d like to hear more of Fiamma Fumana, there are more sound files found at Omnium’s page dedicated to the band as well as their their official website where you can purchase both of their albums.

And since we’re on the subject of fine music out of Italy, I figured this would be a good time to introduce everyone to Claud9, the first of the ‘menfolk.’

I discovered the music of Claud9 when I was in Italy last year on vacation. One night while in my hotel room in Rome, the video to ‘Addicted’ appeared on MTV Italy and I was instantly awestruck at what I heard and saw.

Once I arrived back in the States, I did my best to look up what I could on Claud9 in hopes to purchase his album through an online vendor, but there is virtually little available. I did discover that Claud9 is the pseudonym used by Claudio Pelissero and that there were a couple of mentions of his album, Eye Hear, on some music-related websites, but little else that directed me to own a personal copy.

Frustrated, I had just about given up when I had received quite the surprise. Mr. Pelissero himself had found a blurb I had written about him in an old blog of mine and explained in an e-mail to me that there were some distribution problems with his album and its release was extremely limited - even in Italy! He was kind enough to send me a copy of Eye Hear and gave me his blessing to share it. So here I am, giving his music to the people.

Claudio’s music paints itself to become a rare form of dreamy dance music; electronica with a heartbeat. I think that’s what attracted me to it to begin with. I find most music that fits into this genre to be great for dancing, but not much more. Here, Claudio has managed to create music with a soul; an amazing feat considering all of his music is created using only a computer. Even down to the human-like voices.

Below, I have selected three tracks from Eye Hear. The first being ‘Addicted’, the song that introduced me to him. It’s a shame that I can only provide the song itself and not it’s accompanying video. I fear that without seeing it, you will not be able truly enjoy the Claud9 Experience. For somehow, he is able to perfectly translate the mood of his songs to visual counterparts.

The video to ‘D Lake’ can be found here (note: the website is in Italian, but it should be fairly easy to navigate to the right area).


Downloads:

Fiamma Fumana
L.I.L.T.
Balla! (Dance!)

Claud9
Addicted
Digital Scream
D Lake
The Dreamer

Cover Girls, Vol. 2

For someone who grew up on a yacht for most of her life, Heather Nova sure does have excellent taste in music. Much of this is due to her parents, whose records entertained Heather and her two siblings while they sailed the ocean.

In 1998, Heather covered Jimmy Cliff’s 1972 classic ‘Many Rivers To Cross’ with crystal-clear precision. Accompanied with just a mellow guitar strum and the weeping of a single cello, Heather laces the song with melancholy and manages to the convey the longing and hopelessness of a lost traveler.

I am not too familiar with the bulk of Regina Lund’s catalog, but I was pleasantly surprised with her rendition of ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’ from her album Year Zero. The song was of course originally made famous by Tina Turner in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, but Regina’s take is much softer and is capable of hypnosis, which I assure you - is not a bad thing. Regina takes command of your mood and makes you feel as if you’re floating. Her voice bears noticeable traces of her Finnish accent, but adds to the song’s newfound fragility. 

A song recorded for the Sean Penn / Michelle Pfeiffer film, I Am Sam, Aimee’s rendition can be found on the international pressing. Why it wasn’t included on the domestic release, I’ll never know.
 
Sunny and upbeat, Aimee give the song a very jubilant feel, somehow possessing a knack for giving her cover songs new life. This version is blessed with modern production which cleans up the rough edges of its predecessor, but is thankfully not overdone.     
 

On Glee, the 1998 debut album from the unique and quirky musical project called Bran Van 3000, you’ll find ‘Cum On Feel The Noize,’ the song originally performed by the band Slade (and later made more popular by Quiet Riot and then Oasis).

BV3K members Jayne Hill and Sara Johnston sing on the interesting take, which sounds as if it was soaked in water and then wrung out and pinned on a clothesline, draining it of its original polish, but saturating it enough to provide it with some pleasant warbling. It’s a definitive description of much of the album actually, as most of the songs possess unconventional structures and too many audio effects which occasionally muddy it up.

Downloads:

Heather Nova - Many Rivers To Cross
Regina Lund - We Don’t Need Another Hero
Aimee Mann - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Bran Van 3000 - Cum On Feel The Noize

Your Guitar’s A Racecar

After spending years with her band Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh did what many frontwoman eventually do: she went solo. But by doing so, she worked doubly hard by working on both her solo material as well as the music for Muses.

Kristin’s first solo album was 1994’s Hips & Makers, an album rich with acoustic instrumentation, providing a better stage for Kristin’s unmistakable gritty voice and abstract songwriting. She would continue this avenue of sound with her subsequential albums.

When Throwing Muses disbanded in 1997 after the release and promotion of Limbo, Kristin continued work on her next album, 1998’s Strange Angels. Later that same year, she recorded an album of Appalachian folk songs which were originally sung to her when she was a child. Entitled Murder, Misery & Goodnight, ‘I Never Will Marry’, the ode to staying single, is taken from this album.

1999 brought the more electric Sky Motel and 2001 boasted my personal favorite, Sunny Border Blue which featured arguably one of her best songs: ‘Your Dirty Answer.’

Kristin’s latest solo album became The Grotto in 2003, released on the same day that Kristin and the Muses also released a new self-titled Throwing Muses album.

Never one to stay idle for long, she and members of Throwing Muses have begun their latest project: 50 Foot Wave. According to Kristin, 50 Foot Wave plans to perform at least 100 shows per year and release an EP of music every nine months. The songs on the first EP, which was released at the end of May, are considerably more fast and harsher than Kristin’s solo material. Noise is the focus here and I haven’t quite digested the tracks thoroughly enough to form an honest opinion. Nevertheless, I’m placing them here for you to decide for yourself.

For more information regarding Kristin, Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave, be sure to check out Throwing Music, the official site. There you will also find Kristin’s Works In Progress, an online subscription service where fans can purchase & download many demos and rarities.


Downloads:

Kristin Hersh
Your Dirty Answer
I Never Will Marry

50 Foot Wave
Clara Bow
Lavender
Long Painting

Country’s Alternative

Today marks Womenfolk’s first month online and I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has visited and made me feel welcome. Many people have been very supportive, welcoming me into this growing world of music-related blogs and I hope that I can keep the good music coming.

That being said, I figure I’m safe with Neko Case, for she is truly incredible.

Belonging to a genre most often described as alternative-country, I find Neko Case to be the perfect music for people who ordinarily wouldn’t find themselves listening to any sort of country.

She started her career in the early 90’s playing in various punk rock bands before releasing her first album of country, The Virginian (which was primarily a collection of great cover songs) in 1997. It’s on this album where Neko covers Ernest Tubb’s song ‘Thanks A Lot.’

During the following years, Neko worked on material which would eventually comprise her 2000 album, Furnace Room Lullaby, which served as the perfect spotlight for her smooth and powerful voice. From this album I have included a live version of the title song which provides a great example of Ms Case’s personality onstage. Although she sings a bit off key toward the end, she quickly and humorously dismisses the flaw as the result to being ill. Her imperfections only add to her charm.

Later that same year, Neko contributed to New Coat Of Paint: The Songs Of Tom Waits, beautifully delivering Waits’s ‘Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis.’

And she keeps getting better. For in 2002, Neko returned with her latest offering, the dark Blacklisted, which has introduced her to her widest audience yet and amassed her best reviews.


Downloads:

Thanks A Lot
Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
Furnace Room Lullaby (live)

Independently Blue

Rich with inexplicable soul, Nina Simone’s voice is unmistakable and capable of evoking a kaliedoscope of emotions.

A singer who combined classical, blues and jazz styles, Nina came into this world in February 1933 as Eunice Waymon, the sixth of seven children born into a poor family in Tyron, North Carolina. By the age of four, she was already playing the piano, her talents proving large enough for the people around her to take notice and fund most of her education.

Throughout her career, Nina built a reputation as an artist of diversity and independence. While she covered many traditional and religious songs, she wrote several of her own compositions, these songs often providing a vehicle for her strong opinions and emotions as a singer in the Civil Rights Movement.

After nearly a half-century of performing Nina passed away at her home in France in April of 2003, leaving behind a beautiful collection of songs that will forever resonate in the music world.

The selections I’ve featured are just a small handful of some of my favorites, as Nina has sung too many songs I adore.

‘Feelin’ Good’ is the quintessential Nina song, powerful in its simplicity. Accompanied by a smooth array of horns, stings and piano. It was most recently used in the promos for HBO’s Six Feet Under series.

Another classic is 1964’s ‘Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair,’ a soft and sweet song of love and longing with Nina’s stirring voice being its focus while ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’ is notably more up-tempo, served up in a classic lounge style.

Lastly, we have remixer and producer Joe Claussell boldly modernizing ‘Feelin’ Good,’ giving it a lush and sexy polish and making it perfect chill music. While it seems strange and unnecessary to electronically manipulate Nina’s voice, the song retains its overall mood and can be found on 2002’s Verve Remixed which also boasts remixes of Billie Holiday among others.

Nearly all of Nina’s catalog has been distributed on various compilations making most of her best songs widely available.


Downloads:

Feelin’ Good
Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair
Love Me Or Leave Me
Feelin’ Good (Joe Claussell Mix)