Just updated the iPod with Death Cab for Cutie, Mazzy Star, and Steve Taylor.
Death Cab for Cutie is one of those 10-year overnight sensations. That is, they’ve been putting out indie releases for years and have just had their first release on a major label.
The Mazzy Star album is “So Tonight That I Might See” released in 1993 – easily their best. If you like a psychadelic style, you need to check them out. I had the cassette tape when it first came out but never got around to buying the CD. Well, thanks to an iTunes gift card for Christmas, it was time.
The gift card also got me the Steve Taylor “Meltdown” album from 1983. Steve Taylor was a “Christian” act. He had a long solo career spanning into the late 90’s. He is certainly a Christian but he never was an evangelizer. His music was generally social commentary from a Christian perspective with a lot of humor thrown in. His biting wit frequently targeted so-called Christian beliefs he disagreed with. For instance his “I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good” from the album I Predict 1990 mocked abortion clinic bombers. (If you know where I can get a copy of that one on CD, let me know.)
Meltdown was his first full length album. Taylor was “alternative” before alternative was cool. Probably why I’m such a fan of the genre.