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| Patrick/Cindy |
I've wandered so far off-track and off-time that I've neglected this more-than-half-completed decade. Thus, like Imperial Contracting, I've been redoubling my efforts, with achilles-heel-style-vent included free of charge, just to catch up.
All three of the following records are from 2024, and all are cases of buy first, listen later. Aside from the utter dumbness of this approach, there's also the surprise factor. Does it sound as I expected (based on words used in reviews, band name, or - even more logically - the cover art)?
It's like a form of blind and/or speed dating. And all of these records confound such expectations to some degree. What is one to do? I already bought them, so swiping left (or is it swiping right?) is out of the question.
Plus, having one's expectations confounded is actually way more fun with music - I'd imagine - than actual dating.
Did I mention all three groups have female band leaders??
Illuminati Hotties: Let Me Do One More (2024)
Expectation: Energetic, hard-edged rock 'n roll.
Actual: Energetic, yes, but softer-edged and humorous. And there's even a name for it: tenderpunk.
It's fast and funny, but the high-pitched - okay, squeaky - voice can wear a bit (at least for my demographic). Thankfully, they relieve this somewhat with good melodies, great production, and a couple of strong slow ones as a change of pace.
A great listen if you're in the mood. I just haven't been, lately.
B+
Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Alive (2024)
Expectation: Loud, sleazy (just like the folks mentioned in their name) rock n roll. And forbidding. too, especially as she so resembles Aubrey Plaza on the cover.
Actual: Folk/country mid-tempo ballads, love songs to broken people, with a focus on lyrics.
The tunes are pretty basic. What really puts it all across are the lyrics and the urgency of her delivery. That little quiver in her voice shows that she really means it.
And it just rolls along, one simple song after another, and there's not a bad one among them.
Not quite compelling, but if you want forty minutes of a consistent quality - and a certain laid back, romantic, urgent mood - this is it.
A-
Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee (2024)
Expectation: Female singer, torch songs, with a little David Lynch thrown in.
Actual: Some of the above, but with a primitive edge. The guitars are not always in tune, but always there.
The "band" consists of Canadian expatriate Patrick Flegal with some help from Steve Lind. Patrick is also Cindy Lee herself. And they make the space sound huge and intimate at the same time. Like in an empty airplane hangar, or a desolate landscape dotted with factories, making for a "you can't get away from industrialization if you tried" feeling. (We - the USA - should feel so lucky.) Sort of an updated, more rural Eraserhead milieu, 'cept here EH is trans. David Lynch would be proud.
This record has been hard to find - poking around for most of 2024 in obscure places - but finally released on iTunes this month. Somehow, it nearly topped several year-end polls anyway.
Starting from absolute quiet, a slow fade-in with an acoustic guitar played with the minimal necessary technique, then a soft, high-pitched female voice, and then out of nowhere a feedback-drenched electric guitar (Peter Green comes to mind, but with none of the blues licks) played with delicacy. There's also a male voice, which is provided by the same person who provides the female one.
A
