Barry Andrews - "Haunted Box of Switches"

Shriekback - "Having A Moment"

Barry Andrews has been one of my favorite pop singers ever since Michael Shannon made a compilation tape for me way back in highschool that just happened to have Shriekback doing "Fish Below the Ice" on it AND a remix of it at that! Since then, I've found Andrews' deep crackly baritone voice to be just the evil kind of voice to light a fire under the collective ass of pop music. Shriekback never quite had THAT kind of impact, but even after their most popular song (popular in terms of charts, mass culture, etc.), a cover of "Get Down Tonight" (by K.C. & The Sunshine Band), and their subsequent meandering on to other projects, Andrews and the rest of Shriekback are still making music worth listening AND that stands out from the pack.

"Haunted Box of Switches" is Andrews' solo piano CD where he does not only his own original compositions, but he does these truly tearjerking reworks of classic and current Shriekback songs, like "Faded Flowers" and "This Big Hush" (both from the "Oil & Gold" album from back in the early 80s). The lead-off track, "God's Gardenias" is also on the Shriekback NEW mini-album called "Having A Moment" and hearing the greatness of both of these versions just shows how Andrews with or without the band can make a song work.

"Haunted Box" was supposedly recorded in Andrews' living room and took many many many practice sessions for him to learn how to semi-flawlessly get through singing AND playing the songs all the way through without any editing, re-working afterwards, which he talks about on the Shriekback website. "Licking Honey from a Razor" shows how just a piano accompaniment can be seriously intense, just as his piano version of "Faded Flowers" shows that Andrews has both the devil AND an angel inside him. I can't say I like EVERYTHING on both of these albums, but I'm just happy that there are bits here and there that to me still have the same Shriek feel & sound.

You can only get these albums online at:
Official Shriekback website
Official Barry Andrews website

Smoke City - "Heroes of Nature"

I first heard of Smoke City from an import compilation double-cd mixing mid-1990s pop/electronic with bits of modified 80s pop and electronic stuff. They had this amazingly sultry, dark & sweet tune called "Underwater Love" that was like a Spanish siren pouting and grinding into your brain with an accent to die for.

That track came out in 1997, but the Smoke City CD I recently found in the bargain bin at Newbury Comics came out in 2001 and I was totally shocked to find it at all! Just like with the song I'd come to know the group for, "Heroes of Nature" successfully blends electronic sounds with tropical, Brazillian beats, samba eased-back feelings, etc. all topped off by Nina Miranda's gorgeous voice. They're songs about love and about just BEING in general, nothing too deep, very laidback... Relaxing stuff for driving or lounging around...

Underworld - "1992-2002"

Being a devoted Underworld fan, I had to pick up this double-cd compilation of what Underworld (or their label) consider to be some of their finest recorded moments. The collection was written up as having many "unreleased" tracks/remixes, etc., but thanks to my friend Michael and my own searching out of hard to find singles (not to mention the collection of Underworld videos), I know that all of these rarities WERE available at one time or another despite the hype.

Nevertheless, this is a great collection from one of the most original electronic groups to ever hit the scene. I remember the first time I ever heard the classic single from the "Trainspotting" soundtrack called "Born Slippy"... I was living at my Mom's house, my girlfriend was off at a rave in Boston called Vinyl and I was staying up late listening to Liquid Todd 's techno/electronic showand on came this song that didn't sound like anything else... Pounding drumbeats, echo-y sonic booms of synth sounds and VOCALS... yes, VOCALS on an electronic track... tripped-out, hypnotic, seemingly meaningless but I can still sing along even to this day... And that song came out at least 7 years ago...

My favorites on this have to be Underworld standards from the earlier albums like "Cowgirl", "Dirty Epic", "Dark Train", "Rez" (absolutely LOVE the video to "Rez")... but the songs off of the album "Beaucoup Fish" because they lose some of the originality that the earlier albums & singles had. Yeah, I still like "Jumbo" and "Snake Dancing", but I actually like the stuff off of the minus-Darren Emerson album MORE, like the sadly left-off track "Dinosaur Adventure 3D". Good collection nonetheless...