CATERWAUL

These guys were, unfortunately, both from/in the wrong place AND the wrong time.


Put them in the UK, early 80s, and they'd be getting a massive re-issue campaign right now, or maybe a box set with all 4 albums and some rarities.


They never would've been huge, but they would have been the flavor of the week long enough so that, in these hipster times we now find ourselves in, they'd be getting  name-checked by the weenies over at Pitchfork as a "pre-cursor" or a "forerunner" or some such pseudo-intellectual wanker shit.


Unfortunately, they were from Phoenix and were active from around '87 to '91, so they were an oddity.  Not hardcore, not Americana or synth-pop or what have you.  They might have gotten some props if they'd lasted long enough to make it through the heady days of grunge, or maybe not. 


In any event, everything is recommended (if you can find it), and their middle 2 albums are particularly nutso good.  Both came out on IRS, which was always a pretty interesting label.


Abstract, artsy tunes, off-kilter rhythms & beats, bass holds down the melody while the guitar goes off and does it's own crazy shit, and Betsy Martin was in a league by herself as a vocalist.  I think she played the mandolin, too, for those few calmer, reflective tunes.


Fuck the Smiths, fuck Radiohead, fuck U2's "ironic" phase - this is
the tonic: