The Boston Phoenix
January 1 - 8, 1998

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Local forecast

Come, Mary Lou Lord, Trona, Buffalo Tom, and more

by Brett Milano

Mary Lou Lord We'd be the last to subscribe to the "indie rock is better than major-label rock" myth, or even the one that says "local rock is better than national rock." But really, when you hear an album as good as Come's Gently Down the Stream (out February 10 on Matador), you have to wonder about 90 percent of the major-label hype out there. Here we've got a band into their fourth album, with no big-label money behind them and none likely to come along, making an epic-length album of emotional catharsis and big-guitar thrills. You expect a Come set to leave you drained, but this one leaves you exhilarated as well.

It marks an about-face for Come, whose leaders Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw swore off the guitar-band format after losing their original rhythm section two years ago. The last album, Near Life Experience, was made with three rhythm sections and added horns and keys; later gigs suggested they'd move to an acoustic format. But with a new, seemingly permanent rhythm section (drummer Daniel Coughlin and Fuzzy bassist Winston Braman), they're back to the big, electric and blues-infused sound of their early discs. The current band have a sharper grasp of dynamics, and have fewer qualms about throwing in major chords -- Brokaw's well over his reluctance to play the guitar hero. The current ebb-and-flow sound comes out sounding more powerful than their old swamp drone, and has its celebratory rock-and-roll moments as well -- sure, it gets dark and murky, but so did a lot of Led Zeppelin.


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Likewise, Zedek's tempered her vocal approach so her whispers are as mesmerizing as her screams; now she draws you close before hitting you upside the head. Her lyrics, dealing with relationships and other disasters, are unflinching as usual; you know there won't be a lot of holding back when the first song makes the request "Leave me in one piece/Please!" The album's nine-minute centerpiece "Saints Around My Neck" (which opened a few recent shows) is the best display of Come's current firepower. It begins with near-silence, gathers volume and momentum, kicks into an tense vocal section, and builds to a fearsome peak -- three times.

Mary Lou Lord's major-label debut Got No Shadow (WORK/Sony) will be one of the year's higher-profile local releases -- in fact it already is, with Lord making the cover of the CMJ New Music Monthly a month before her album's release. A much-liked local figure, she's released relatively little music in her eight-odd-year career (I count two singles and two EP's, plus a cassette album she disowns) and is still known mainly for singing other people's songs at subway stations. Not the case here, where she and Bevis Frond mastermind Nick Saloman did most of the writing. Lord had a hand in seven of the 13 tracks (the two outside songs are good choices from Freedy Johnston and Elizabeth Cotten).

As for the album's sound, imagine if a California singer-songwriter from the mid-'70s had been able to skip forward 20 years for material. Despite the prominent producers, LA dudes Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock (whose past credits include discs by Beck and the Foo Fighters), Got No Shadow takes an old-fashioned acoustic-based approach, with only "Lights Are Changing" and "Some Jingle Jangle Morning" (both re-done from her Kill Rock Stars singles) showing a harder edge. Elsewhere she takes the sweeter approach that's charmed a thousand subway passengers.

The album also bears out Lord's heavy music fandom. She puns on famous song titles ("His Lamest Flame"); references Axl Rose when spilling personal details ("My dance with Mr. Brownstone got too rough"); and works in some borrowed-lyric in-jokes (the ones I caught were from Dinosaur Jr and the Pogues). And when a song calls for Byrdsy 12-string, she brings Roger McGuinn in to play it. Only false move: the promotion makes heavy use of her years as a subway singer (the CD cover shows her on the Red Line) and her press kit includes a prominent reference to a long-ago affair with Kurt Cobain -- an odd strategy, since Got No Shadow proves that her music can stand on its own.

"If our first album was huge, this would be our follow-up backlash record," notes Trona's ever-quotable bass player Pete Sutton. In fact, Trona's second album, Red River (CherryDisc), should have plenty of the left-field pop that the band, fronted by ex-Orangutanger Chris Dyas and co-singer Mary Ellen Leahy, is known for. "We're jumping a lot of styles on this one," Sutton promises. "Out of 11 songs, we've got some rave-up punk numbers, some introspective country-type ones, and some weird ones that don't fit our mold. One of those is seven minutes long, an epic. It's definitely not a flavor-of-the-month thing; we're going to confound all the niche marketers."

Sounds like a change from their self-titled debut, which went for a semi-acoustic, countryish sound and wasn't always as satisfying as the band is live. Despite the album title, which they pinched from an old John Wayne movie, Sutton says they're toning down the Western imagery. "I saw our album in a used bin in Disc Diggers, with a sticker on it that said `Not Rubber Rodeo' (referring to a not-too-fondly-remembered Boston country band). That cured us."

Recall, if you will, the career of Soul Asylum: nice-guy punk/pop band, well-liked for years, made a bunch of good albums that never topped the charts. Then they took a couple of years off, signed with a different label, wrote slower songs and got heavier production, and suddenly they were the toast of the alternative world with Grave Dancers Union (Columbia). Two of Boston's best-liked pop bands are now back in the studio after years in record-label limbo; and each is looking for its own version of the Grave Dancers Union effect. Buffalo Tom took some time to regroup after the relative flop of their 1995 album Sleepy Eyed -- one of their best, but its raw three-piece sound wasn't what radio wanted to hear. They wound up switching record labels (they're now on PolyGram), adding a fourth member (keyboardist Phil Aiken, who stepped in after ex-Belly member Tom Gorman didn't work out), and polishing new material in a long string of club shows. They spent the past month recording in Woodstock with Teenage Fanclub producer David Bianco, laying down songs they've introduced at recent shows: "Scottish Windows," "The Bible," "Knot in It," "See to Me," "Register Side," and "Rachel." They're heading to Los Angeles next month for mixing and overdubs, at which time some well-known guest singers may be called in, so expect fuller arrangements and production on this one.

The Gigolo Aunts have had no trouble writing new material since their last album (1993's Flippin' Out). They've just had trouble releasing any. A 15-song album was finished and scrapped two years ago, after which the band changed half its personnel. With a louder guitar sound provided by ex-6L6 member John Skibic, the new, improved Gigolo Aunts have been playing almost nothing but new songs in concert. Onstage last week at T.T. the Bear's Place, singer Dave Gibbs announced that the Aunts have just signed with the Geffen-distributed label owned by the Counting Crows' Adam Duritz, and they're about to record at Q Division with producer Mike Denneen. The show featured yet another batch of new songs, taking a more jangly approach with Gibbs playing acoustic.

One of Boston's smarter pop outfits, the Gravel Pit, is midway through the recording of its next album, which will be out on Q Division before the middle of '98. While the last full-fledged Pit album, Manifesto, focused on their basic garage/pop side, the new one, reportedly titled The Silver Gorilla, will feature a lot of their quirkier material. "It's more stupid-sounding, but in a good way," reports bassist Ed Valauskas. "It's a bit more experimental. We're exploiting [singer] Jed [Parrish]'s knack for being a multi-instrumentalist. He plays tons of percussion stuff, more wacky keyboards, and saxophone. He and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants were the sax section on a song called `The Silver Gorilla' -- and that title might change because we don't want a title track. It doesn't resemble the Jersey Shore sound or Kenny G."

Though Strange Angels (Rykodisc, due January 15) will be Kristin Hersh's second solo album, it will mark the start of her career as a full-fledged solo artist, now that Throwing Muses are officially defunct. As with her solo debut, Hips & Makers, the sound is pretty well stripped down -- one voice and one acoustic guitar, with minimal bass and keyboard overdubs. On the surface this is a warmer, poppier effort than anything she's done before. But there's a lot simmering beneath. Much of the album has a creepy beauty recalling "Delicate Cutters," the acoustic closer of the first Muses album. Images of sex, ghosts, and alcohol turn up throughout. Hersh turns in some vivid imagery even when dealing with more mundane topics. How many writers would express motherly love with a line like "When he drools, it's like he's spitting jewels"?

Star Ghost Dog's forthcoming Happylove (Catapult, due February 10) is a sweet-and-sour pop gem that adds some subversive twists to an effervescent guitar-band sound. Singer Ginny Weaver's delivery is so charming that you barely notice the nasty wit in a lot of her lyrics. Try this for a pledge of love: "If I had a dollar I'd buy a flower, and stick it in your ear. If I had some vodka I'd throw a tantrum, and pretend that you were here."

The bright guitar sound and abundance of hooks makes it all sound more innocent than it really is. The obvious hit is "Heroic Face" -- yes, a no-regrets love song to a junkie that would make a killer segue into Everclear's "Heroin Girl" if radio stations still did such things.

Keep your fingers crossed that Velvel will finally release Talking To Animals' long-overdue Manhole on February 25, the latest of many planned release dates. This is the album that Sony was originally set to release in late 1996, and the music holds up fine after the 15-month delay. If you've heard the band only live, you may be surprised at the darker, more sultry sound that they and producer Mike Denneen cooked up for the disc. The Velvel version has an extra song, the ironically-titled, "Everlasting Ache," which is the catchiest of the batch.

Details are sketchy on the new Sebadoh album; it will be their first for Sire but nobody seems to know when it's coming out, who's producing, or even who (besides founder Lou Barlow and second-in-command Jason Lowenstein) is in the band. But after a pair of stellar albums for Sub Pop, Sebadoh are unlikely to blow it now. There's a going-away party/show for Barlow this Sunday at Green Street because, yes, he's reportedly moving to LA.

Also look for a these long-delayed albums to hit the streets next year: A couple of local labels are gunning for Fuzzy's third album (including the live standout "Summer"); while major labels are in hot pursuit of Juliana Hatfield's God's Foot, which will be released as soon as Hatfield's ready to let it go. Look for stylish techno-poppers Splashdown to put out their Capitol debut, and for songwriter Merrie Amsterburg to record a followup to last year's wonderful Season of Rain. And, of course, if recent patterns hold up, one of year's best albums will be made by some band nobody knows about yet.

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