The Bellair Lip Bombs : "Again"

This band from Austrailia has flown under the radar for 8 years, and it is now time for them to step into the spotlight.This serves as a follow-up to their album "Lush Life."  Their new album opens with a high-energy jangle that finds early college rock colliding with the slacker sounds of the '90s. Singer Maisie Everett adds a detached layer of cool girl indifference to the sonic ramble of their sometimes Velvet Underground-like sonic attack. The overall sound is a more historically accurate depiction of where post-punk originated before evolving into what we know as indie rock. This is highlighted on a song like "AnotherWorld," where the droning drive is punctuated by her vocal hooks. 

The real strength of their songwriting does not lie in when they are cranked to ten and riding the tension of the riff, but when they back off, give in to a quirky groove, and give Everett more room to sing. She shows the kind of pop sensibilities that make their true songwriting chops known. "Back of My Hand" finds more emotion creeping into her voice as she belts it out a little more. This is broken up by a more rock n roll riff. There is less twangy folkiness to her voice that, at times, reminds me of Kathryn Critchfield, who might be one of her more subtle influences. The more punk-rooted simmer of their music obscures this. 

"Hey You" takes post-punk tension and writes a pop song over the throb, but runs through a more organic guitar filter. The production choices with this song allow her vocal take more room to explore ambiance. Her vocal approach obcures the fact that they are employing riffs more like the Rolling Stones on " If You've Got the Time". They do not drag the song out but there is a more jammed feel to how it moves.. The jangle down the middle of the road with their less compelling "Smiling". Then things drop down into more of an introspective ballad of sorts with "Burning Up". The last song revisits sounds and themes we have already explored on this album. But overall, the personality of their songwriting wins out despite weaving the songs from familiar sounds; it works so well, I will give this album a 9.5 and see how it grows on me. Not that dark of an album, but it is still dropping on Halloween/

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Lillie Mae : "Other Girls"

This time of year when I am clicking around the internet looking for what I might have missed sometimes uncovers surprises  like this album . She is on Jack White's label and White has a taste for classic country.   If I am half way into the first song and looking for a way to down load it then you know something is right. The opener "You've Got Other Girls For That" is powerful songwriting as evident in spurning this reaction. When her sound expands beyond the strum and she really lets her melodies open up she is pretty unstoppable as a song writer. She has a quality to her voice that is similar to Kacey Musgraves, if this was not written with any pretense of a pop market involved. While that might find her expanding into the kind of gold a song like "High Horse" created, there is an honesty in what she does that compensates.

"How?" is an example of how this album keeps unfolding into other gems. It is the kind of songwriting that Taylor Swift would have been proud of in her earlier country days. Though this owes more to the classic than that era. It is not hyper polished pop. It's more hopeful and resolved even in the odes to various kinds of heart break. The use of the instruments sometimes has a more Americana feel.  "At Least Three In this Room" taps into the sweet again. It's a little more upbeat than some.  "Some Gamble" has a rich arrangement and it bears to say this album is really well produced and warm. She has a decent range, with more up top than an alto range. For that reason there is never a darker grit to these songs. The melody sticks with you a little better than some of the songs on this album.trains of melancholy, but compared to most of what we call dark here it is more a sentimental shade of gray. That is not to say this will not appeal to fans of artists like Marissa Nadler and Chelsea Wolfe.


"Didn't I" benefits from strong hooks."Terlingua Girl" is  a lazy casual strum that floats eventual into a more sonic dynamic that is more ghostly than what we have experienced with this album so far.    The last song also goes into a weird sonic place that is more experimental and darker than the rest of the album. Even as an indie country album this comes with some surprises that think out of the box and would appeal more to the normal readers here. This is a great album I will give it a 9.5. Guess that says the rest,