This week's all-female edition of the Indie Round-Up is brought to you by the Sisterhood of the Happy Pants.
INDIE ROUND-UP for August 25 2005
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Cruiserweight, Sweet Weaponry
Like a female-fronted Green Day or a slightly sped-up Letters to Cleo (Telegrams to Cleo?), Cruiserweight weighs in with a strong album of pop-punk. The band's crisp songwriting isn't brilliant, but the tunes squawk by with such raunchy energy it matters less than you might think. Sung by Stella Maxwell in vibrato-free punk style, they express in equal measure youth's bravado and confusion, though there is a little too much sameness to them - it's the sort of music that's best sampled in 25-to-30-minute doses, and the CD goes on too long.
Maxwell's brothers Urny and Yogi along with David Hawkins round out the quartet, driving the songs with modern punk precision. This is a very, very good band that has already made some waves on college radio. A hit song or two could be all that stands between them and national prominence.
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Denise Barbarita, Chaos & Congeniality
Producer, guitarist and singer-songwriter Denise Barbarita's second CD explodes out of the starting gate with three chilly-sweet songs that restore your faith in the spirit of art-pop originality. Barbarita's talents as producer and sonic guitar artist are matched by her vocal power and, most important, a fine melodic sense that lifts her best songs to majestic heights.
Starting the CD with the spooky "In Pieces" might have been a little risky but it turns out to be an excellent introduction to all her strengths. Imagine a Tori Amos (circa Little Earthquakes) style melody over a Led Zeppelin acoustic-guitar hum with a gushing U2 production, and you'll have some idea of what this song is made of. "Happy Happy" is a a short and sweet knockout punch of an anger song (it's the most requested at her shows), and "Appleseed" has a gorgeous melody, swelling choral backing vocals and sweeping waves of sound from keyboards, guitars and percussion that form a bed of lush aural blossoms for the song's somewhat abstract narrative.
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