Tapping the Vein

During the early to mid-90s, a confluence of musical factors produced a crop of alternative bands headed by female vocalists. Garbage might be considered the first and most notable, but the likes of Evanescence (and a slew of lesser known bands) predate Garbage's initial success. One of those "other" bands is Tapping the Vein.

Formed in 1995, the band's basis is drummer and programmer Eric Fisher and vocalist Heather Thompson. Though the name (and to some degree the lyrics) suggest "goth," Tapping the Veins sound is separate from the punk influences of early gothic rock and shuns the genre's later darkwave influences by keeping the musical elements to a minimum. Thompson's vocals are not unlike Trent Reznor's of Nine Inch Nails: she knows when the song needs to be delicate and when it needs a banshee.



Tapping the Vein's first album The Damage was released in 2002 on Nuclear Blast Records. It is currently available in CD form via Amazon.com and other merchants. According to the band's MySpace page, their second album Another Day Down is scheduled for release on March 10, 2009 through Dancing Ferret Discs and IsoTank Music and will be available through other online retailers.

Of particular personal note, the VOTS 2009 Spring League team Plastic Falls was named for the song "Sugar Falls":

Judybats

During the popularity of alternative music in the late 80s and early 90s, Judybats may have been overshadowed by the likes of Toad the Wet Sprocket and R.E.M., but they had something their peers often lacked: bite. Under the sprawling guitars and tight harmonies are lyrics with a healthy dose of satire and irony. How many bands can get away with a song entitled "Intense Beige" or the lyrics to "Ugly on the Outside"? Their most noted track is "Being Simple":

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Judybats produced four albums in the early 90s for Warner Bros and was disbanded in 1995 by lead singer Jeff Heiskell. The band was reformed in 2000 for the album 2000 and the EP Six Pack of Tracks. Heiskell and other band members have since gone on to other projects. Recently, Native Son, the band's first album, was re-released by Wounded Bird Records and is currently easily available in CD form. The other albums can be found used through multiple sellers.

February Hiatus

Obscure Music Monday will be on hiatus until Mondays become a little less full, or the author becomes a little smarter.

I'll return in March with the likes of:
Transister
Darling Violetta
Dies Irae!
The Judybats

Covered in Black

Cover songs have the ability to truly let obscure music artists shine. There's nothing like a familiar song done in a different way to catch a listener's ear. Nonetheless, it's often difficult to find a really good album of covers. The music of the original artist might be too far ranging to lead to a cohesive album when the styles of the cover artists involved also vary. One of the best cover albums I've heard involves an artist with a solid style, AC/DC, and group of artists working in a complementary genre, industrial music.

In 1996, Cleopatra Records (notable purveyors of goth and industrial music) released Covered In Black: An Industrial Tribute To The Kings Of High Voltage, AC/DC. As with any album, not every song is great, but most of the industrial artists do a good job of adding a new dimension to the songs while staying true to the spirit of the original. (The exception being Pigface Vs. Sheep On Drugs' befuddling rendition of titular "Back in Black.") An example of a well done cover can be found in The Electric Hellfire Club's version of "Highway to Hell":



Also outstanding are "Squealer" covered by the particularly obscure female industrial group Genitorturers, and "TNT" covered by Sister Machine Gun. In all, Covered in Black is a worthwhile listen for an industrial music fan. It is current available as a digital download from Amazon.com.

Single Gun Theory

Canada's Nettwerk label is fairly notable for releasing and managing some strong female vocalists. Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and Leigh Nash of Sixpense None the Richer have all called Nettwerk home at one time or another. But as far as purity of vocals goes, Jacqui Hunt of Single Gun Theory has them all beat. The Australian trio released three albums between 1987 and 1994 featuring Hunt on vocals with Pete Rivett-Carnac and Kath Power on samplers and keyboards. In style, Single Gun Theory combines the electronic beats of dance music with nuances of Indian and Middle Eastern music and ethereal vocals.



The band also scored the 2000 film, The Monkey's Mask before the members went their separate ways. The three albums Exorcise This Wasteland, Like Stars in My Hands, and Flow, River of My Soul are out of print, but available from Amazon.com as digital downloads.

The Second Coming of Die Warzau

A good number of industrial bands that began in the 1980s still exist in some form or another. Very few of these bands do so on the strength of four full albums, the most recent of which was released ten years after the previous album. Such is Die Warzau. Originally founded in 1987 by Jim Marcus and Van Christie, the duo put out three albums, culminating in the critically acclaimed Engine (1995). Unlike many "obscure" bands, the ten years that lapsed between Engine and 2005's Convenience was not due to label woes. The two main artists simply decided to take a hiatus from Die Warzau to work on other projects. Convenience was worth the wait. While Die Warzau never shied away from its industrial roots, it also has never hesitated to deviate from the usual non-melodic noise. This constant melding and reworking of electronic, dance, funk, jazz, industrial and Jim Marcus's expressive vocals come to fruition on Convenience.

"Glare" off of Convenience and Vinyl 88 (2008):



Part EP and part best-of, Vinyl 88 was released in 2008, perhaps in an effort to combat Convenience's rapidly occurring out-of-print status. Vinyl 88 includes six new tracks and 10 others from the previous four albums. Songs from Convenience remain pretty much unchanged while tracks from the first three albums have been tweaked and remixed to bring forward Marcus's vocals and to create a cohesive album. Considering that only Engine and Vinyl 88 are easily available from Amazon.com, the compilation is a good choice if Convenience isn't available. (As of 1/12/09, a Google shopping search reaped Convenience available through Walmart!)

Ruby

There are a couple of similarities between Ruby and Garbage. Both are headed by Scottish female vocalists with US backing and production. Both released their debut albums in 1995. Both pushed genre boundaries: Garbage with their lush, heavy sound and Ruby with their esoteric mixture of electronic, trip-hop, industrial and even jazz.¹ The inability to comfortably box Ruby into a single genre might be part of the reason that they have remained less popular. Ruby consists of vocalist Lesley Rankine and producer Mark Walk. Unlike Garbage, aside from the vocals, Ruby's music is entirely synthetic, made of samples and loops. It is Rankine's voice that anchors the potential chaos.

Their first album, Salt Peter reaped their biggest US release, "Tiny Meat":



While the duo began work on a second album in 1996, very poor luck with music labels postponed it's release to 2001. Short Staffed at the Gene Pool is a slightly more mellow effort relying more on the down-tempo dance and jazz qualities of the first album. Both albums, as well as two remix efforts for Short Staffed, are available from Amazon.com. Short Staffed is also available on CD.

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_(band)