Which is, of course, the Horse Flies, one of upstate New York's all-time best bands. Dark and creepy Americana is just one of the ingredients the band throws into their musical stew. Their first album opened with a cover of The Cramps' "Human Fly", and these guys TOTALLY OWNED IT. Sounds nothing like the original.
A lot of their music centers around some oddly funkalicious rhythm, the banjo-pickin' & uke-strummin' of Richie Stearns and Jeff Claus and the thoroughly amazing fiddle playing of Judy Hyman.
First album also featured a cover of "Hush Little Baby", the video got some play on MTV.
Second Album Syndrome, it seemed to me, killed some of their momentum. Waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy over-produced to my ears, kills a lot of the organic vibe, But DAMN "Sally Ann" is a ridiculously powerful tune. Natalie Merchant covered this version a few years later and made it even MORE haunting. Kudos to her.
Took them SEVENTEEN YEARS to follow up Gravity Dance, but Until the Ocean was worth it. Much more organic, but still incredibly haunting and hypnotic. Standout track on this platter, I'd say, is "Cluck Old Hen".
A lot of excellent live stuff can be found at archive.org/details/HorseFlies . When they get a jam going, they're just as insanely trance-inducing as Spacemen 3. Ya can't beat that.
And, of course, they tend to be all over the upstate New York festival circuit every summer. Do yourself a favor, see them often.
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