The New Puritan ReView: Archived Reviews

1. thoughtcloud
The band that coined the phrase, "hard rock coffeehouse", combining the bombast of classic guitar-driven rock with tender, heartfelt odes to unrequited love. How they get away with this, while deftly side-stepping the pitfalls of cliché-dom, owes everything to their complete lack of pretense. Whether a slap in the face or a gentle caress, you'll thank 'em for touching you, regardless.

2. Wicketran
Arena-sized monster grunge with a math rock sensibility. You want drum and bass? You've never heard it like this before - the latest in a recent tradition of two-piece bands, in this case reinforcing the notion that less really is more. Not like it's gonna matter, but the music is all instrumental as well, suggesting that the meaning of a song is not necessarily linked to the words. When this music hits you, you'll know exactly what time it is.

Articulate and too damn clever for his own good, this soft-spoken and dapper talking blues-meister exists in a class of own. Whether espousing the deficiencies of gender politics, or tossing class analysis back in the faces of the working-class oppressors, his charm lies in the fact that he never succumbs to the common denominator of rage. When Billy Bragg gets tired of paying lip service to Woody Guthrie, he should give a listen right here.

4. bibby
The only reason I can think of that this hardworking bass player (Autonomous) and mixmaster supreme isn't one of the remix celebrities of the year, could be that the same subtle skills he displays at the controls involve too much style and grace to let him pimp himself to the masses. Dropping knowledge and dropping the needle on a record are the same brand of self-promotion in his book - is anyone listening?

If one more girl in MpIs bemoans the lack of female role models in rock, I'm gonna scream, with bands like this one out there putting most boy bands to absolute shame. The beauty part is, it's not a "girl band" as such - there are two amazingly talented women and a (gasp!) boy. Guitarist/vocalist Alex displays a stage prowess which is awe-inspiring, if not somewhat frightening, and they rock like no one's business - in gravity-defying time signatures, nonetheless. They've put out one of the most sophisticated independent local releases in recent history - someone else should be picking up the tab for the next one.

The Hundred Flowers
Finally, a band that plays the glam card without going camp on us, featuring a stage show that will surely make you swoon. I'm holding out on this bunch until I hear 'em on record, but live, they recall an era of tragic beauty, flash and trashy elegance, better some of the progenitors of the genre who have outstayed their welcome these days. Glitter and butch never looked so good together.

Tulip Sweet and her Trail of Tears
Stephanie's brilliant and hilarious post-Beangirl cabaret act parodies self-deprecation and lambasts social mores in one deft swoop. The brilliance of her method-acting characterizations lies in the way she actually pays homage to a grand tradition of theatricality, while others who have attempted this fall into the disgrace of novelty for its' own sake.

Har Mar Superstar
Sean Tillman's entire shtick ranks among the cleverest of deceits of MpIs. has seen since the artist formerly known as.... The creation of his "alter-ego" - his own brother, and a freaky sex-obsessed super-hero with a nasty attitude works on a level that few could hope to succeed at. I just wanna know where he goes from here - until then, I'm hedging my bets.

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