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The Tough & Lovely : Born of the Stars (Spoonful Records 004), 2004.
I bought that album for two reasons : it was well exposed on the shelves, meaning that it could be great, and the cover was way different than the others. To be clear, it was neither appealing nor shockingly disgusting; the musicians had their photos in black & white, and they looked like everyone except that they had something good in their eyes. I bought it like that, without asking for a listen and it was worth it.
They're from Ohio, an American state that ain't particularly hip in the people's mind.
The album suits my tastes excellently, the singer is powerful, the music good, and so on. They're gonna release their second this summer in the US. I hope I can grab it here.
The composer recently wrote a tune for Mary Weiss from the Shangri-Las.
The Rebelettes : Shop Around / Don't Pretend (Sneakers Records 13), 2002
This one I found in Rennes (France) when I couldn't trace it in Paris. It's a Norwegian band with 3 members of Oslo band the Launderettes (great all girl live act). 60s pop-oriented with a really warm sound.
FM Knives : Useless & Modern (Broken Rekids 102), 2002.
The cover doesn't fit the music. The cover is a terrible black and white photo of two kids in a room. It's blurred and you don't really want to look at it. The kids don't move, one is sitting down, the other leaning on a wall. No energy at all when the band's music is powerful !
They sure knew how to write catchy bouncy songs, with a great bass sound. nothing unusual, sure shot Californian music. Good lyrics too.
They later did a 7" with a song named Keith Levene that sounded over-intellectual.
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