throwing muses et. al.

there are three ladies that go together in the american indie musical landscape of the 90s; kristin hersh, tanya donelly and kim deal. all of them also go together with my favorite label, 4AD.

the first of them, kristin hersh, formed throwing muses in the early 80s (in her early teens). in the line-up were her stepsister, the second of the ladies, tanya donelly. they were signed by 4AD in '86. in '91 their 4th and pure fantastic album the real ramona was released, after which tanya donelly left the band. by then donelly had already started a side project with kim deal (of pixies) called the breeders. later that year, 1991, she also formed belly, one of my absolute favorite bands. more about them in a later post.

a few year later kristin hersh also started to release solo albums, something she's continued to do. she also formed 50 foot wave in 2003.

here's throwing muses "not too soon" off of the real ramona. love it!



also, here's "bright yellow gun" from album university from '95. (no real video)



also, "your ghost" from hersh's first solo album hips and makers. interesting note: michael stipe sings backgrund vocals here.

this is 2011

well, not really. at least not on this blog. rest assured, we're very much still in the 90s here. although i will lend an ear to 2003 with the second video here which is death cab for cutie's fantastic song "the new year". this first video is not a video, just a song, but the song is so good that it won't matter. it's the breeders' "new year" from my favorite album of theirs, last splash, from 93. you will hear more about the breeders later on on this blog.

for now, happy new year!

So this is the new year.
And I don't feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions

So everybody put your best suit or dress on
Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
As thirty dialogs bleed into one

I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then I could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that could hold us back.
death cab for cutie