Recalling the no wave movement of the late '70s, the self-titled debut of New York City's Blonde Redhead is a glorious piece of dense, art-damaged noise, with songs that move from drifting melodicism to raging aural assaults in the course of a few measures. Taking their cues most directly from Sonic Youth (Steve Shelley produced the album), Blonde Redhead revel in noise and create vast sonic landscapes out of which songs naturally emerge. The focus here tends to be on atmospherics, and yet there is never the feeling of utter chaos; instead, the album functions like a work of controlled mayhem, referencing a wide range of musical approaches. The opening track, "I Don't Want U," starts off like jazz-rock, building momentum until it erupts in a blast of indie rock noise, anchored throughout by a steadily rolling bassline. "Snippet"'s quite-loud-quiet dynamic ... Read more »

Ruth's Refrigerator was a short-lived collaboration between Leicester, England-based neo-psychedelic guitarist/songwriter Alan Jenkins (formerly of the Deep Freeze Mice and the Chrysanthemums) and the British indie pop band Po! (not to be confused with American alt-rockers P'o). The members were Jenkins, namesake singer/guitarist Ruth Miller, keyboardist Blodwyn P. Teabag (whom Jenkins later married), bassist Terri Lowe, and drummer Robyn Gibson. Ruth's Refrigerator released two fine albums' worth of jangly psych-pop, 1990s Suddenly a Disfigured Head Parachuted and 1991's A Lizard Is a Submarine on Grass, but was never meant to be a full-time project. Miller and Lowe returned to Po!, and Jenkins, Teabag, and Gibson went on to form the Creams.

The first of the two Ruth's Refrigerator albums is the stronger of the pair. Ruth Miller's artless (and occasi ... Read more »