Showing posts with label Rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rock. Show all posts

Nov 12, 2007

Carina Round - The First Blood Mystery (CD, 2001)

I've had this cd for a while, and paid a pittance for it, but I seem to have been lucky, given the prices on amazon.com ($75 US bucks is freaking ridiculous - I paid 10 of a much less valuable currency!). Prices on amazon.co.uk seem substancially more realistic, but still, all the copies seem to be used, maybe because I can't find any trace of the label that released it (Animal Noise).

Anyways, I like this album a lot, about as much as her second album, The Disconnection (which, being on a different label, is easy to find in most places). I'd avoid her latest album though. Too commercial. Yucky. The only flaw on this album is the arrangement of 'Let It Fall', which I have attempted to remedy by including her far superior (i.e. there's more screaming, and Pixies and Iggy Pop references) live version of the same song.  She gets compared a lot to PJ Harvey and Patti Smith, because that's who all loud female singer-songwriters are compared to, but she isn't that similar. Her vocal and lyrical theatrics are the things to watch out for here. Highly recommended.



Oct 29, 2007

Straitjacket Fits - Melt (1990)

A slice of excellent homegrown music today! I found this album at my grandparents' place a while back, left there when my uncle emigrated to the UK an aeon ago. For some inexplicable reason, it is out of print, so I thought I'd post it. Straitjacket Fits are legendary round these parts, but if you haven't heard of them, read this bio for info on their career up to 1993 (update your website Flying Nun!). Anyway, after this bio so abruptly stops, Straitjacket Fits unfortunately broke up. They reunited for a tour a few years back, but the members remain focussed on their new projects, the most notable of which is Shayne Carter's Dimmer.

This is definitely one of my favourite kiwi rock albums (which is saying something), so I highly recommend that you download this. You can buy their best of here, and you should. For more obscure releases by them (some links are dead unfortunately, but a couple are still active) and their contemporaries, visit KiwiTapes.

Melt