Friday, December 19, 2008

For Your Consideration: Marnie Stern

A random discovery thanks to the power of Pitchfork + eMusic, Marnie Stern is one of my new obsessions of the year. She brings a bizarre mix of indie riot grrl with just ludicrous guitar shredding. You want finger tapping? Oh there's finger tapping. You want guitars overdubbed so many times that it's an insane wall of noise? You've got that too. She's not flawless - her work is best when there's a great song and chorus behind it, and sometimes that's a bit lacking. But more often than not, she blows me away. The first time I heard her I literally realized I was listening with my jaw hanging open in a sort of stunned state. Her album is great, but sonically punishing - it takes a lot to listen to the whole thing in one sitting. But at the end of the day, she makes crazy unique music that makes me smile, nod, and rock out. And I like all of thsoe things.

Here's one of the highlights of the new album - Ruler:



And I can't embed it, but I strongly suggest you head over to her MySpace page and listen to "Journey Cover Home Demo", which is so worth your time.

MySpace

5 comments:

texplush said...

I agree, this is a great album!

Quinapalus said...

Wow, that song is great! The Journey cover was also fun, although I liked the Lil' Mama mashup even more.

texplush said...

my favorite part of this album is the drummer, who is from a band called Hella.

drischord said...

That was a great track! Will definitely have to investigate further. As shredding goes, I'll take Buckethead and Bumblefoot... but give me everything else!

Via Chicago said...

Glad folks are liking this.

Tex, while not my favorite part, I will agree that the drumming on this is fantastic and really brings the album together. How is Hella? Worth a listen?