The Geraldine Fibbers - Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home (1995)

Here on 1995's Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home, Carla Bozulich and company craft an honest sincerity and authentic emotionality while still being able to retain an unapologetic approach to their brand of alt-country and cowpunk; this record exists somewhere in the strata between the layers of the avant-garde and traditional folk, wedged right up against blues-based rock and noise.

This version of the band would feature Carla on vocals and guitar, Daniel Keenan on guitar, Jessy Greene on violin, William Tutton on bass and Kevin Fitzgerald on drums. Later incarnations would include Nels Cline (who's basically played with everyone and anyone in the LA avant-garde and jazz scene, and now of Wilco) and Jessica Moss (who's played with almost every "important" Canadian band of the last ten years), but this debut record would feature less of that straight-ahead guitar sound and focus more on Bozulich's stellar songwriting.

The Geraldine Fibbers - Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home (1995; Virgin Records)

Ciccone Youth - The Whitey Album (1988)

Minutemen bassist Mike Watt was still reeling after D. Boon's death; it took Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's Sonic Youth parody side-project Ciccone Youth to pull him out of depression and get him on his musical feet again. It would take the skewering of some Madonna songs (the Watt-sung Burnin' Up and Into the Groovey) as well as a Robert Palmer cover (an "as tongue-in-cheek as possible" rendition of his mega-hit Addicted to Love, recorded in a karaoke booth). It's a tragic reminder of how truly awful some of the music from the 80's was.

Where Sonic Youth was a serious creative outlet for Moore (here on The Whitey Album he dubs himself The Royal Tuff Titty), Gordon (Fly Fly Away), Lee Ranaldo (The Sigh) and Steve Shelley (SS Beat Control); Ciccone Youth shows them exploring "new" territory- pseudonyms, hip-hop beats (samplers & beat-boxes), parody, spoken-word, comedy and electronica. I picked this record up a few years ago when they re-issued it on the Goofin' label- and legend has it that Madonna was totally okay with them doing this (she remembered da Yoof from her NYC days, ain't that a trip?) 

If your personality veers more to the serious side and you're a fan of SY's "noise is my beautiful self-discovery" vibe, leave this alone. If you wanna laugh along with the joke (because we're all in on it if we survived the 80s), by all means check this out this now.

Ciccone Youth - The Whitey Album (1988; Blast First Records)

Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Press Color (1979)

Lizzy Mercier Descloux was instrumental in bringing Punk and New Wave culture to France during the mid-1970s; striking up friendships with both Richard Hell and Patti Smith on her visits to New York. She would eventually move to NYC smack in the middle of the New Wave/Post-Punk/No Wave phenomenon and contribute to the art scene musically, visually and with her performances (usually combining the two).

Press Color is her debut solo album from '79; and it's one of those records that you have to hear if you're a fan of any of those aforementioned genres. She also flirted with some island riddims as well- this record has some of the best bass lines from that whole time frame. Blondie may have written catchier tunes, the Talking Heads may have been funkier, Television had better guitar work, Patti Smith was more visceral, but this record is the real deal and deserves to be mentioned alongside them.

Don't let this record go the way of the dodo bird and passenger pigeon...

Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Press Color (1979; Ze Records)