OT: Chistmas comes to my CD player

[Fritz]

The Beards – Funtown

The Bears are a side project for Lisa Marr (Buck, LMX) and Kim Shattuck (the Muffs). Most of the songs can be found on CDs from Buck or the Muffs, but this pairing is marvelous. On this CD is the fantastic song “True Confessions,” which I have a poor demo version of on MP3. The band also covers Thalassocracy, a Frank Black (former pixie) tune. Shattuck is what Courtney Love could have become if she did not sell out. Lisa Marr may just be the best woman rocker ever.

The Blue Hawaiians – Christmas on Big Island

This is a CD full of Christmas songs done with Surf Guitar. I love surf guitar.

Buck - Buck

Buck is Lisa Marr’s LA based project following Cub. Lisa Marr may just be the best woman rocker ever. The songs are energetic, edgy, and smart. Buck has been on my mp3 player since I bought it back in June. Songs like Cesare Said and My Fascination never get old. Old Blue Sweater hints at the Alt-Country direction Marr would take with LMX. Unlike many woman rockers who use their platform to shed their pains, Buck’s songs are remarkably upbeat and optimistic.

Camper Van Beethoven – Cigarettes & Carrot Juice (The Santa Cruz Years)

For those that do not know, CVB is David Lowery of Cracker’s earlier band.

This is a 5 CD collection with the first 3 albums (Telephone Free Landside Victory, II & III, Camper Van Beethoven) all from the IRS label, Camper Vantiquities (B sides), and a live disc (Greatest Hits Played Faster). This covers almost all of CVB’s work minus Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, Key Lime Pie, and Tusk (a new release of an unpublished recording that completely covers the Fleetwood Mac album of the same name).

I have always loved CVB, and this set fills in some gaps.

Crash Test Dummies – Jingle All the Way

Crash Test Dummies make a Christmas Album in what I assume is an attempt to keep eating. The female lead is worth a listen anyway.

Cub – Box of Hair

MMMMMMMM Cub. Cub is Vancouver Cuddlecore at it’s finest. Lead Lisa Marr may just be the best woman rocker ever. Cub is one of her earliest projects and her voice has a young sound. I wish I had found them earlier in life. Like most of her work, this CD moves along quickly and is upbeat.

Dressy Bessy – Dressy Bessy

I bought this based on a 10 second sound bite, and I am thrilled that I did. Power-pop with a nice female lead. I wouldn’t say they have an original sound, but this CD is well worth the purchase price. The up-tempo music plays well with some volume. Time to track down some live tracks from the band.

Frank Black and the Catholics – Dog in the The Sand

I love Frank Black (Black Francis of Pixies fame), but this CD is going to take a while to get used to. At one point during the first listen I thought the music sounded a little like the Stones.

The Lisa Marr Experiment (LMX)

LMX is Lisa Marr’s foray into Alt-Country. Lisa Marr may just be the best woman rocker to do alt-country ever. Most of the songs include the heavy guitar sound that her songs are known for, but this album include a variety of instruments from horns to fiddle to whistle.

The Primatives – Best of the Primatives

The Primatives hit American college radio in the late 80’s with the song Crash. I have been in love with their sound for a long time, but have always had to dust off the turntable to listen to them. This CD contains Crash, + 20 other songs, including most of the album I own. This is good power pop with a female vocal.

Brian Setzer Orchastra – Boogie Woogie Christmas

When KurtisM heard I was buying a bunch of Christmas CDs he begged me to check this one out. Brian Setzer (Stray Cats) does traditional Christmas tunes in a nostalgic 30s/40s/50s style. The duet of “Baby its Cold Outside” with Ann Margret is done very well.

Shalini – We Want Jelly Donuts

A former “Kissyfish” (who the Madison folks may remember), who joined forces with Mitch Easter and company to put out a power/jangle pop album. Some of the songs are heavily influenced by electronica.

Tuuli – Rockstar Potential

Tuuli is an all girl Canadian group that was the house band for Comedy Central’s Premium Blend. I enjoyed their sound, but didn’t get a chance to hear much of it until now. The Toronto based band is, like much of the music on this list, a power pop band. This is the type of band that could make it big, and then I would have to hate them.

Various Artists – For the Kids

I have a pair of god daughters that I am nuts about, and I picked this up to have a kids song CD around the house. Some of the artists on the album are Cake, Barenaked Ladies, Tom Waits, and Darius Rucker.

Various Artists –Maybe This Christmas

This CD is a collection of traditional and not so traditional Christmas songs by modern artists.

[Cringer]

I remember Cub when they put out a CD that was a joint release by 2 record labels, some Vancouver label i believe and the other being Lookout Records. Didn't get into it to much but i was younger and my tastes have widened since then some. I should look that up again. That was Lookout Records period were they had a lot of 50ish/surf pop-punk kind of bands if i remember correctly, about 8 years ago or so i think.

EDIT:

My only holiday edition to my CD collection was the first Jeff Ott (Fifteen) solo album. Great acoustic stuff since i don't mind his political views and have always been a Fifteen fan.

[Fritz]

Well, the Frank Black CD did nottake as long as I thought it would. I just needed to seperate it from all the girl bands.

The AMG Review:

Now that he's released more albums as a solo artist than with the Pixies, Frank Black seems comfortable with his place in alternative rock's history. Instead of avoiding the anachronistic tendencies of his old band and his first two solo albums, on Dog in the Sand, he embraces them. A happy marriage of his recent work's directness and the whimsical rock of Frank Black and Teenager of the Year, the album also features the return of Eric Drew Feldman and Joey Santiago. His most interesting work since Teenager of the Year, Dog in the Sand sounds like a slightly slower, rootsier version of that album. "Blast Off"'s angular riffs and surreal lyrics ("I'm in a Beckett trance/From all that chemical") recall Black's heyday, mixed with the rougher, spontaneous feel of his Catholics work, as does the epic "Robert Onion," which sounds like a distant cousin to Teenager's "Freedom Rock." The Stonesy "Hermaphroditos" is one of Black's most convincing rockers in years, and features some great, Black Francis-style lyrics: "Forget your yin/And go f**k your yang." If they were faster, spaghetti-western ballads like "Bullet" and "Llano Del Rio" — a song about California's first Socialist collective - would fit on Doolittle. But Dog in the Sand expands on Black's past triumphs instead of rehashing them. "I'll Be Blue" and "St. Francis Dam Disaster" prove that his ballads keep growing more genuine and emotional; rootsy pop songs like "Stupid Me" and "If It Takes All Night" feature pedal steel, banjo, and understated keyboards. Though it's likely that the most influential years of Black's career are in the past, Dog in the Sand makes it clear that not all of his best work is. — Heather Phares

[cthomer5000]

take the skinheads bowling.

[Butter]

I'm sure everybody (esp. Fritz) will be glad to know that Dressy Bessy is an indie lesbian favorite.