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Exene, Tarantella, Blanche

Tarantella sound like exactly what their back story describes- Singer Kal Cahoon was married to an Argentine soundtrack composer, but moved back to Denver and fell in with the alt.country scene there, and Tarantella is her first foray into singing. The gothic twang of Sixteen Horsepower is a reference point, but there's something even more askew about them- it's appropriate they're on Alternative Tentacles.

Tarantella - Misa Gringa
Tarantella - Della Morte

"Misa Gringa" is a good example of the eccentricity which makes their debut Esqueletos such somber fun. It's not surprising that this kind of band builds a song around an Ennio Morricone guitar riff. But they throw in the Morricone grunting Indian braves too. "Della Morte" has a more a South American feel. You gotta hear the climax of Esqueletos though- the track "Dame Fuego" rolls along in the same Euro-Latin-noir fashion, but breaks in the middle with a blast of Yamaha DX-7 and power chords that isn't that far off from the "Eye of the Tiger." Yes, the Rocky soundtrack song. There's something confindent and brashly tacky about Tarantella that makes them truly alt. When they get back to their roots, it seems to mean Love and Rockets.


Like Tarantella, who's members came from the tamer Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Blanche grew out of the novelty country act Goober and the Peas, but is far darker.

Blanche - Superstition

They twist the Gun Club's "Jack on Fire" into something very special, too, draining off the original's shuffle and making it into a country-blues lament.

Exene from X has a new album, and she covers Gun Club's "Ghost on the Highway". The 2002 debut from the Original Sinners didn't put her name up front, and there was something admirable about that, 'cause it was as strong a cowpunk-a-billy record as has been made in this decade.

Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners - Ain't Supposed to Be

But maybe that's in part why it fell by the wayside. When she toured to support that first record, I interviewed the band on WXDU. It was one of the more nerve-wracking hours I've spent in my life. Exene was happy to see that the deejays had written positive stuff on the station's copy of the disc, but wasn't exactly easy to keep coversational, and the rest of the band seemed too intimidated by the situation to say much. Even my most innocent questions ("So what are some other bands out there you like?") were met with defensiveness.

But so what. You gotta admire that she's still hitting the road with new musicians and new material. Both the Original Sinners' debut and the new one,Se7en are punked-up rockabilly mixed with her own wordy style of songwriting. Her voice is still as cutting as it was with X, and of all the X side projects, The Original Sinners seems the closest to Billy Zoom-era X. Original Sinner mix roots and rough edges convincingly.

posted by bendy @ 4/04/2006 02:04:00 AM [permanent link]

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