A Fine Mess
Cold Cases
Girls At Our Best!
May 3rd
A blast from the past! That I only recently learned about… Oh well. Formed in 1979, Leeds’ pop-punk outfit Girls At Our Best! only released a few singles and one full album, Pleasure (1981) before disbanding quietly. Despite the name there was actually only one girl in the band; singer Judy Evans, while James Alan played guitar, Gerald Swift took bass and late-joiner Carl Harper banged the drums. Apparently Thomas Dolby also appears here and there on the album playing (what else?) keyboards.
All in all Pleasure lives up to its name as it’s filled with lively New Wave-ish songs that have plenty of early punk attitude strewn on top. The album was recently re-released with extra tracks via Red Cherry Records where you can order it directly.
To round things off, here’s the video to my personal favorite track of theirs, “Fast Boyfriends”. I’m not quite sure what the concept of the video is though, other than the band physically harassing a waiter. Poor man!
Global Infantilists
May 9th
Global Infantilists were a short-lived Swedish rock band in the early 80′s with Olle Schedin and Mare Kandre (1962-2005) as the main members. Together they made two albums: the self-titled debut in 1982 and A Sense Of Belonging the following year.
While their debut had its roots in the punk scene, the second record sounded much more as the standard pop at the time with synthesizers and happier melodies at the center. Personally I think this made A Sense Of Belonging – with the exception of the pretty ballad “Still Water” – much less compelling than the debut with its rich personality of darkness and rebellion.
Despite plans of launching the band in England (their debut received a glowing review in The Sound), Global Infantilists went their separate ways in 1984 as Mare decided to concentrate on her writing instead, releasing her first book I ett annat land (In A Different Country) 1985. Even before the book was published the hype around Mare as an author was enormous and critics hailed her as a literary genius at the mere age of 22.
Throughout her career, Mare’s writing had a very dark side to it (including her lyrics) and the public impression of her as a person was that Mare herself was very dark and complicated. Her books never sold much but she was always (and still is) regarded as one of Sweden’s best authors. Mare died in 2005, only 43 years old. Though it has never been officially confirmed, many believe that it was a suicide.
The Divine Milla
Jan 24th
While watching The Fifth Element last night I was reminded of how much I love Milla Jovovich’s music. Actually, I think I love Milla, period. Besides her obvious beauty she is a genuinely talented woman, although acting-wise she still hasn’t gotten much opportunity to prove herself other than in trashy action flicks. Perhaps she is still most well-known as a model, then an actress and lastly a musician. It’s her music that I most love about her though and wish she would focus more on.
First time I heard The Divine Comedy - Milla’s first and so far only full album, recorded when she was still a teenager - I was very pleasantly surprised. It’s filled with beautiful folk music, very much inspired by her native Ukraine. It spawned an alternative radio hit with the song “The Gentlemen Who Fell” and gathered a lot of praise, even years after its release. Despite that music took a backseat as Milla became a famous fashion model and actress. She managed to combine her movie career with the music though by appearing on several soundtracks, something she still does today (the latest is a song on the “Underworld: The Rise Of The Lycans” soundtrack).
During the late 1990s Milla also fronted the band Plastic Has Memory, which had a far more experimental sound than her solo work. The band played a dozen or so shows before going separate ways, leaving Milla to go back to her solo career which continued to be mostly appearances on soundtracks and compilations, as well as performances at various events.
Milla recently became a mother which took her out of the limelight for a while, but she now has some movies in the making. No word though if she will ever give music another proper go, but let’s hope. Compared to most actresses/singers out there, Milla is rare in the way that she actually masters both professions well.
~ “Bang Your Head”, “Satellite Of Love”, “Breathing In Your Sleep” ~
