The random mid-90s alt-rock compilation; is there any better source for oddball rarities and bizarro obscurities? It's thanks to this trend of "let's package as many bands who we think the kids who like Nirvana might like together and see what happens" we have albums like No Alternative , with Soul Aslyum's awesome take on "Sexual Healing" and that crazy Carpenters tribute record with Sonic Youth's cover of "Superstar." Chairman of the Board , a collection of alt-rock groups taking on standards made famous by Frank Sinatra, doesn't have any classic cuts like those records [...]
Having just read Retromania , I'm finding that a lot of music I enjoyed in the '00s now feels tainted with the brush of nostalgia. Or worse, an anemic lack of forward-facing inspiration. Which now makes me look fondly on stuff in the '90s that may have been a bit cringe-worthy, but at least took risks. Babe The Blue Ox was one band that acquitted themselves quite well in that decade. They just suffered from a lack of hype and boosterism in the Brooklyn of their heyday (hard [...]
The sonic aspect of what we call Indie Rock has evolved so much in the last 5-10 years that it feels good to hear some good old old school stuff like if it was 1995 all over again. Babe The Blue Ox have been around long enough to give lessons about this: the band formed in 1991, and in the first half of these 20 years (happy anniversary by the way) released 4 full lengths - whose titles, for reasons unknown, are all adaptations of titles of Barbra Streisand albums. Their music is extremely [...]
Donewaiting pointed out that Andrew Bird's Noble Beast is on sale for $1.99 at the Amazon MP3 store. If you've been slacking on picking it up, here's your chance. Wavves is playing three shows over the next three days here in New York. Hipsters' heads all over Billyburg are exploding at the mere thought. The 2nd Annual Jan Kotik Memorial Show is being held tomorrow, 2pm, at Union Hall . Jan was an original member of the Mommyheads , as well [...]
They scream a lot, but, like, melodically. Babe the Blue Ox The Bell House Saturday, January 3 Love this band. Infectious pop spiked with equal parts blissful soul and dissonant, acerbic noise-roc... Continue reading "Live: Babe the Blue Ox Deny Our Request for "Fuck This Song"" >
I always hated pop music. The syrupy, sweet saccharine encrusted candy-pop moved me to nausea. VPN was the first pop band I ever truly loved. I saw them only once. For me, musically it meant a radical change in perspective. As it is with humans, my devotion always signals the end of something. [...]
There may be a few bands that deserve to see their records fall out of print, languishing at the Amazon Marketplace for a penny each, but Babe the Blue Ox is not one of them. Babe--an artsy-fartsy Brooklyn troika of guitarist Tim Thomas, bassist Rose Thomson, and drummer Hanna Fox (who, since she liked banging on nontraditional percussion items, always reminded us of the Skeleton Key drummer, except not as metal)--formed in 1991, put out a series of decreasingly weird, increasingly nostalgic records, then broke up. The penultimate Babe record, 1996's People , is our favorite; we still get [...]
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