Review: Bettie Serveert, Attagirl

Hoo-boy, I need some new music. Desperately. In case you can't tell by scrolling down, most of my purchases these days are either reissues of things I've owned forever, or increasingly non-essential new albums by bands who've long outlived their sell-by date. Attagirl, no kidding, is plainly in the latter category. Released in early 2005, I finally picked it up, more out of habit than anything else. I loved the band a decade ago, when Dutch chanteuse Carol Van Dyk wrapped her mighty pipes around the band's Crazy Horse-like grunge pop, and the goodwill they generated from 1994 debut Palomine was enough to let me overlook the increasing sameness of subsequent albums. For better or worse, they tried to shake the malaise with 2000's Private Suit and 2003's Log 22, dropping the noisy guitars in favor of smoother, keyboard-augmented balladry. Neither album was bad, but a couple decent tracks aside, neither was terribly interesting.

So I came into Attagirl with fairly low expectations -- and, as can happen in these situations, I liked this much more than I'd anticipated. Sure, it keeps in the vein of the last couple albums, mostly downbeat and easy-going, but mixes things up a bit with some electronic vibes ("Dreamaniacs"), jazzy bits (the title tune), and (brief) return to rockers of yore ("Hands Off"). Not a high-impact disc by any stretch of the imagination, but solid through and through.

p.s. I'm serious. I need some new music. There have got to be some new artists out there I'm missing. Drop me a line (marc@fagel.com) if you've got some tips. Thanks.

Quickie: The Killers, "Mr. Brightside"

Just thought I'd mention how much I like that single from last year, "Mr. Brightside." I guess it counts as a guilty pleasure, insofar as everything that gets played on MTV and "modern/alternative" radio pretty much sucks. Still, like the other 2 songs from last year that I similarly liked notwithstanding their general acceptance among the cretin crowd (i.e. Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" and Modest Mouse's "Float On"), the Killers' "Mr. Brightside" is a damn fine song, no apologies needed. As I don't download singles as a matter of general principle, I picked up the entire album, Hot Fuss. I guess it's ok, but really wouldn't know since I only listened to it once. But, jeez, what a great song. Sure, it pretty blatantly rips off Bowie's "Queen Bitch" at one point, but, then again, if every song ripped off "Queen Bitch" the world would be a far better place. Worth it just for that one part in the second verse (which is the same as the first verse -- jeez, one good song, and they couldn't even come up with a different verse? Anyways...) when the music drops out and he says "It was only a kiss" in that vaguely distorted voice that probably sounds just like the Strokes (I'm guessing, as that's another band whose albums I picked up and never play). Ok, hey, just wanted to get this off my chest.

Review: Roky Erickson, I Have Always Been Here Before

As far as greatest hits collections goes, it's hard to imagine one more necessary and long-awaited than I Have Always Been Here Before. I mean, seriously, just last week I saw The Essential Cyndi Lauper. The lady produced pretty much nothing I'd call "Essential," much less an entire disc's worth. Sure, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" has some fond memories, plus there was that one good song about female masturbation ("She Bop"), and... well, I think that's it. Yet she gets an entry in the Essential [sic] series? Good Lord, talk about scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Yet countless legends of the past four decades continue to wallow in obscurity. But I digress.

Roky, contrary to what you may have heard, is not God. No, that privilege is reserved for Syd Barrett. Nonetheless, on the scale of deranged acid casualties, Roky still ranks fairly high. You know the drill -- started with psychedelic garage band the 13th Floor Elevators, left after a few albums due to mental illness and/or drug abuse, spent the 70's and 80's intermittently releasing albums and singles on his own and with various backing bands, ranging from pretty acoustic ballads to straight 50-style retro kitsch to schizoid rave-ups about Satan. The usual thing. And it's all here. Unless you're a serious Roky fanatic, pretty much all the Roky you need can be found on these two discs. The 13th Floor Elevator stuff has never sounded better -- not exactly the standard bearer of high fidelity, but far superior to any other versions I've heard. Now, personally, I've always found them a bit overrated -- a few essential tracks worth of a Nuggets box set, but less psychedelic and experimental than their peers -- so for me this does a fairly decent job of cobbling together their high points. (Of course, if they did as nice a job remastering their albums, I'd probably go get 'em.) After that it's a mixed bag. The key Roky tracks are here, from the timeless beauty of "Starry Eyes" (damn, that's a great song) to the key rave-ups "Don't Slander Me" and "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" to one of my personal faves, "If You Have Ghosts." Anyway, even if you're like me and find the Erickson legend slightly more interesting than the music itself, this is a pretty amazing collection. Even after skipping through some of the meandering solo tracks, there's plenty of great music here for your money. Go get it.