Solid tunes, and quite the propulsive rhythm section too. There's nothing particularly seismic about French Plums, just loud, jangly rock sung in English with a discernible Scandinavian accent. I wasn't hip to Cod Lovers when this came out some twenty years ago, but listening to it today I wish I had been. The album jacket was a picture perfect mock of the color scheme and font that adorned the paperback version of Catcher in the Rye.
Instead, in 1994, the band decided to re-record pretty much their full repertoire (in vastly improved fidelity) for an essential but overlooked album on Lookout Records, J.D. On the heels of a demo tape and this slim batch of singles, not to mention lineup changes in the early '90s, the Riders were already branching out into other projects and were about to pull the plug on the band entirely. Another Bay Area band of note, Green Day, was in the early stages of hogging the spotlight, but the Wynona Riders, who also flew the flag of suburbanite angst were equally as catchy but ten-fold more sophisticated, not to mention a lot more diverse.
This was also the year that a scrappy but ultimately ingenious East Bay punk-pop band swapped the "i" in her first name for the "y" in her surname, and proceeded to use it as their crafty moniker for the better part of the '90s. Ryder was riding high on the crest of her successful starring roles in Beetlejuice, Heathers, and Great Balls of Fire. If anyone has any further info on this disk, or better yet, has an original copy they're willing to unload (though I don't understand why anyone in their right mind would) please get in touch.Īny scholar of the somewhat "fallen" actress Winona Ryder is well aware of her affection for Salinger's writing - so much so that she pointed out to one Rolling Stone scribe that she owned first editions of his entire catalog (something like four books from what I recall). In short, this is pretty damn impressive. Buhne's passionate, yet somewhat high-pitched vocal timbre, coupled with light keyboard flourishes imbue "I Can't See Nothin'," and the even more winsome "I'm Waiting" with a fun, breezy fervor, without sacrificing one iota of integrity or songwriting aplomb. The four songs here don't particularly lend themselves to Buhne's punk pedigree, rather the kind of early-80s MTV wave/power pop that might receive airtime in the wee-hours of the morning. From what little I've been able to glean on Oznerol, this rather ingenious ep was a one-off affair.
In more recent years, he's pursued a solo career. The focal point of the curiously named Oznerol was Lorenzo Buhne, onetime bassist for The Dickies, and to my knowledge beer-breath punkers Fear as well. Were it not for his generosity, this post would be as blank as a blind man's stare. who supplied all music files and artwork. At the very least, a must hear for Chainsaw Kittens fans.īefore delving too far into this record, I owe a hearty thanks to my buddy A. Think a less self-absorbed Morrissey fronting Cheap Trick, with some occasional violin thrown in to keep things interesting. makes for a compelling precursor to Meade's slightly more renown outfit, albeit a tad less frenzied. Very much in the same vein as the Chainsaw Kittens, Dali.
By virtue of the now defunct Feelin' Kinda Froggy blog, I present to you Defenestration's Dali Does Windows, which is noted as being their second and final release. These were righteously heavy and melodic platters of the first order, but it turns out that leadman Tyson Meade was cranking out material equally as substantive and satisfying prior to the Kittens in an outfit called Defenestration. They gave a rather indifferent world some tremendously grand music, especially their first two albums, Violent Religion (1990) and Flipped Out in Singapore (1992). Remember the Chainsaw Kittens, that slightly off kilter '90s alterna-punk band from Oklahoma with the singer who dabbled in cross dressing? Sure you do.