Duos

Happy Flowers were, of course, a duo. Mr. Horribly-Charred-Infant, being the opinionated person he is, has prepared a page of other cool duos for you to peruse.

Akaten are one of many groups (many duos, for that matter) featuring drummer/percussionist/composer Tatsuya Yoshida, known most notably for Ruins, and Atsusi Tsuyama of Omoide-Hatoba. I've got only the first and last of the five CDs Akaten have released, but they're definitely keepers. I went home early from work the day I got the first one in the mail and one of my co-workers, on hearing it, suggested that's maybe why I got sick. I think that's as good a recommendation as any!

Ambitious Lovers were Arto Lindsay (ex-DNA) and Peter Scherer. They recorded three pretty cool albums in the late 1980's/early 90's that mixed Brazilian pop music (Lindsay was born there) with dancey stuff and Arto's amazing guitar shreik (though that was often pretty low in the mix). They recorded three albums of what would appear to have been a planned seven (hint: the titles were Envy, Greed and Lust) but that was it. Greed is my favorite, as it boasts the highest skree content ("Too Far" is rather punishing) but Lust is the easiest to find (as it was on a major) and I still see it often, over a decade later, at used CD shops.

Anaal Nathrakh are a black metal band from the UK. Now, usually I don't go in for this BM stuff other than Venom and Slayer (I think they're more thrash than black but I don't know all these damn metal subgenres, dammit!) and I'm starting to like Emperor but these two are so over-the-top I can't help but dig it, man. And I'm not even a beatnik! Irrumator is responsible for "all instruments and broken sound making pieces of crap" while V.I.T.R.I.O.L. handles the "vomiting of utter blasphemic stench and concepts." By the way, in case you were wondering, they are TOTAL FUCKING NECRO!

Animal Time were a drums/Chapman stick duo from somewhere in Georgia, USA. They released a great 12" EP called Double Veteran in 1986. I think they had a followup, but I never heard it.

Attila featured a young William Joel on Hammond B3 organ run through numerous effects pedals and Jon Small on drums. They released one eponymous album on Epic Records in 1970 and then broke up. William was actually Billy Fucking "Uptown Girl" Joel but, believe it or not, the album is pretty darn good hard rock of the period. I've just got a rather dodgy looking (but fine sounding) German CD of the album with a lame-o pic of BJ on the cover instead of the original cover art (see the link, baby).

Attwenger are a drums/accordian/vocals duo from Austria (Österreich for those of you that speak German). They've released five albums of increasingly strange music: sort of a hybrid of Austrian folk songs, rap and Krautrock. I discovered them in a used record store in Atlanta and quickly hunted down the rest of their full-length CDs and I recommend you do the same! Hearing an accordian run through a distortion pedal may change your life. By the way, if anyone can hook me up with a copy of their live CD, ¡WIRRWARR!, please let me know!

Big Stick released a couple of cool EPs in the mid 80s and wore weird masks long before Slipknot, though they are not a metal band nor were they from Iowa but rather New York. Yanna Trance played bizarre drum patterns while John Gill played heavily effected guitar and they both "sang." The Drag Racing EP is the one to get (make sure you get the four song version as opposed to the two song version or maybe you'd rather get the five song 12" version with the bonus track "Jesus Was Born on an Indian Reservation"). I lost track of them after the disappointing Crack Attack EP. Sorry.

Birdhouse remind me of those wonderful Vulcan harp/vocal duets Mr. Spock and Uhura used to do on Star Trek except both members of Birdhouse are human: Jon Catler on just intonated guitar (smash 12-tone oppression!) and Meredith Borden on just intonated voice. They use guests on some songs but enough of 'em were done by just the two of 'em that I listed them here instead of below in the Honorable Mentions section.

The Black Keys are getting a lot of hype but don't let that stop you from checking them out. Ralph Carney's (ex-Tin Huey and former backup musician for Tom Waits) nephew Patrick on drums and Dan Auerbach on downtuned, heavy guitar and old man kicked in the nuts vocals. They play "blues" so they seem to get compared most often to The White Stripes but that's not really that valid, based on the one White Stipes CD I have (OK, it's my boyfriend's but I probably listen to it more than he does).

Black Label Society is Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde on everything but drums and a handful of different guys on drums over the years (not counting, of course, the live album with full band). You want heavy? You got it baby. Not as much of a Black Sabbath/Allman Brothers crossover as Zakk's previous non-Ozzy band, Pride & Glory, but still darn good, anyway. Unfortunately, the one time I saw them live (augmented with a bassist and second guitarist) it was so loud that I actually left (earplugs just made it a slightly less loud wall of indistinguishable mud). In nearly 25 years of concert going, that was the first (and hopefully last) time I've ever done that. After that unpleasant evening, two years in a row, I tried to see them at OzzFest and missed 'em both times (the first time they played over an hour earlier than their advertised set time and the second time they started on the main stage while I was watching Down on the side stage). Oh well. I guess it is my destiny to never see them.

Böhm Ohne Köb was the Austrian duo of Hans Platzgumer (v, g) and Andreas Haller (b). They released a 7" of really cool acoustic covers of "South of Heaven" and "Spill the Blood" by Slayer! They also released an (electric) LP, Wake Up Square! under the band name Köb with Lissmo Knopfler on drums. Hans you should hopefully know from H.P. Zinker.

The Corries were a Scottish folk duo.  I've read some unkind things about them in books about folk music, but I really like the handful of albums I have. One of the things they did that I really like was invent their own instruments. There's one they called the "combolin" that sounds like a sitar crossed with a mandolin. The songs they recorded playing those sound fairly psychedelic (for folk music). Unfortunately, one of them died a few years back. 

Death Praxis is the Japanese duo of vocalist Tenko and percussionist Ikue Mori. This is a toughy to describe. Basically, Tenko sings/chants/vocalizes over a bed of percussion/samples/etc. created by Ikue. Their first CD, Death Praxis, is out of print but a good deal of it appears as bonus tracks on their second, Mystery, on John Zorn's Tzadik label.

Destroy 2 is Yamatsuka Eye (Boredoms) on voice and Chu on percussion. They've released one 3" CD, We Are Voice and Rhythm Only, which is very much truth in advertising (and it contains 48 songs performed live in 11 minutes!). Picture early Napalm Death without any guitar or bass. Now picture Eye screaming while the other guy pounds the drums. Decide which you'd prefer then proceed to prefer it. I prefer Destroy 2.

Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft, also known as D.A.F. or DAF, were a vocal/synth & drums duo, sort of a German answer to Suicide, albeit a lot more dancey. They have a couple of songs (especially "Der Mussolini" and "Verschwende Deine Jugend"--"Waste Your Youth") that would have made great covers on Metallica's The $5.98 EP.  All of their albums have been reissued on CD in the last few years, including the first two which were recorded as a five-piece but those sound quite different (good but different). News flash! They've reformed and released a new album called Fünfzehn Neue DAF Lieder (15 New DAF Songs) but I've not heard it yet as I have not been able to find a reasonably priced copy and it looks like they released an album in 1986 called 1st Step to Heaven that I've also not heard. Those bastards!

I've got Erasure's Pop!-The First 20 Hits CD and I love it. "A Little Respect" my favorite of nearly two dozen great songs. I guess that blows my credibility, huh? News flash: I've bought several more of their CDs and they're mostly pretty excellent. Loveboat is probably my favorite, so far.

Erehía is sort of Mexico's answer to Ruins, I guess. I wish I could tell you more about them but I don't know anything other than I like the CD I've got! They're a prog rock duo featuring, according to the only web page I could find with any info, the bassist from Mexican prog legends Nazca, another band I know nothing about other than I like the three CDs I have! As far as I know, Erehía have released only one CD, Manuzkritoz•Ze, on Smogless Records, in 1999. I bought it from the fine folks at Wayside Music, one of your best sources for off the wall music.

Five are a (most likely) crap UK boy band but 5ive are are a seriously downtuned, droning "rock" guitar & percussion behemoth from Boston. I've got their eponymous debut and The Telestic Disfracture (which features guest vocalists on a few tracks but I'll allow it) and both are most excellent. There's a third but I have just ordered as I typed this! Yay!

The Frogs are one sick couple of guys. Some people hate them because of their fake gay stuff. I don't care; I think they're hilarious. They have a few easy to find "lo-fi" albums (on Homestead and Matador Records), but my favorite is 8-08-88 on their own label. The production is ultra-80's-new-wave-slick and the songs are just plain weird. Sample titles: "Buried Me Alive", "F'd Over Jesus". We played with them in Cambridge, Mass., USA once and they were pretty incredible, even though they did have a guest bass player. 8-08-88 has been reissued on CD by Moikai Records, distributed by Drag City and you should pick it up!

The Great Unwashed was the Kilgour brothers' (David and Hamish) next band after The Clean--one the greatest pop bands ever. Their sole LP was recorded (at home, I think) as a duo, then they teamed up with Peter Gutteridge for an EP. The Clean have since had several reunions. We got to play with them in New York once. I broke a guitar string and David reluctantly lent me his guitar so we could keep playing. It was definitely one of the highpoints of my life. David has a few solo albums out that are also well worth getting.

Kenny Howes writes absolutely brilliant power pop songs--sort of a mix of The Who, Dwight Twilley, The Beatles and Big Star. His three albums (Nothing Wrong With That, Kenny Howes' Second Album and Back to You Today!) were all recorded by the duo of Kenny on everything but drums, which were handled spectacularly by Kelly Shane. He's got a full-time band together now (which includes Kelly) called The Yeah! and they can really tear it up. The first time I saw them was in an opening slot for Alex Chilton (another of my Gods) and they just totally blew me away. I was so impressed that I tracked Kenny down after the show and bought two CDs from him right then and there. Unfortunately, all three albums are out of print, but there is a compilation called The Right Idea available from Second Heaven Records. News flash: After recording and releasing a full-band album, the excellent Kenny Howes & The Yeah!, guitarist Jason NeSmith left to devote more time to his other band, Caspar Fandango (or Casper & The Cookies as they are now known or Casper Fandango & His Tiny, Sick Tears as they were known on their debut CD, How's Your Hand?) and drummer Kelly Shane left to spend more time with his other band whose name escapes me at the moment. Kenny assembled a new band and a bit later packed up and moved to New Orleans only to pack up and move again to LA. Luckily, a new CD with Kelly back on drums is due to be released sometime soon. I, for one, can't wait.

The Incredible String Band started out as a trio but, after their debut album, was quickly reduced to the duo of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. They came out of the British folk music scene but were freakin' pretty weird. Most folk bands, for instance. don't sing lyrics like "The dawn sneaks up when it thinks I'm not looking" and (my personal favorite) "Beautiful Jesus nailed to a tree." Williamson also had a really strange way of enunciating while singing that I've noticed in a handful of later bands like Dulcimer and Tyrannosaurus Rex (see below). After several odd little albums they decided to have their girlfriends join the band. I've not heard those albums but everything I've read indicates they're best avoided.

Jucifer are just about the heaviest thing I've ever heard out of Georgia. They hail from Athens but sound nothing like Pylon, oddly enough (OK, they might, I've never actually heard Pylon). Amber Valentine plays the guitar and sings (and sometimes giggles like a little girl about to slice open a playmate) and Ed Livengood pounds the skins. Their debut, Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip, was definitely one of my top ten albums from 1998 (I still listen to it at least every other week). By the way, the album was issued on a local label (Crack Rock) in 1998 then reissued in 2000 on Capricorn and then again (I think) on Velocette Records, who also released the excellent followups The Lambs and I Name You Destroyer. You should also know that they released a single of "Superman" (with a non-LP flipside called "Licorice") on Crack Rock in 1995 and it turns up on eBay every once in a while.

Dagmar Krause & Marie Goyette have recorded just one album together but I very much hope they do more! First off, let me just say that Dagmar is one of my favorite singers in the world. Heck, my dog is even named after her! She started out singing in the City Preachers in West Germany in the late sixties then somehow managed to hook up with Peter Blegvad and Anthony Moore to form Slapp Happy. After Slapp Happy joined forces with Henry Cow, a match that did not last, Dagmar ended up with the remainder of Henry Cow in the Art Bears, which sort of mutated into News from Babel after a few (well, three) albums. NfB lasted for two albums (and a one-sided single) then called it a day. This isn't very interesting, is it? Sorry, I'm not Mark Prindle. Anyhow, since all that Dagmar has collaborated with lots of folks but her CD with Marie Goyette, A Scientific Dream and a French Kiss is one of my favorites. Marie samples lots of classical music (and a touch of non-classical) and builds beds for Dagmar to sing over in her wonderful über-voice. This CD sounds like nothing else in my collection and I say go buy it!

Local H apparently had a big hit a few years ago with "Bound for the Floor" but I didn't recognize it when I picked up the album it appears on, As Good as Dead, after seeing them put on a great show here in Atlanta in 2002. I've got all of their albums now and I can say that, though they started as a two-piece Nirvana wannabe (sort of), they've matured into their own distinct and very good hard rock thing. Scott Lucas plays a modified guitar with a bass pickup added on the low strings so he can lay down the low and high end and a couple of different drummers have pounded the traps, the current one being Brian St. Clair. I'd put them in a tiny genre with Burning Brides and Queens of the Stone Age: they write "pop" music with overt metal overtones that doesn't sound (to me) contrived or written for hit potential.

The Malarkies started out as a trio for their first three CDs: 1, When Every Metal Shines and Andiamo. Then bassist David DeMallie left (or was whacked, I really don't know) and singer/guitarist/songwiter Matt Sutton switched from "standard" to baritone guitar and he and drummer/vocalist Ruth Keating put out possibly their best album yet, 10,000 Back Doors. I first saw them (as a duo) open for VPN in Athens in early 2002 and thought they were pretty good but not great. Then they came to Atlanta in early 2003 and I decided to give them another go and they were fantastic. They play addictive, low-key "roots"-ish music with an almost improvisational quality to it. Matt often plays around the chords instead of directly on them and Ruth either lays down cool patterns or embellishes with her lap, xylophone, melodica or other devices. She also sings beautiful backup vocals with a sort of "mountain" harmony. They are fast becoming one of my favorite bands; it's rare that I don't play one of their CDs at least two or three times before taking it out of the player. BTW, I got the last copy of 1 from their label, Muss My Hair Records, but the others should still be available and are most highly recommended.

MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse is MC Yamatsuka Eye (Boredoms) and DJ Otomo Yoshihide. As might be expected, this is pretty crazy stuff. I've got just one of their releases, Live!!, but I certainly wouldn't pass up an oportunity to get the others!

Microcosmos is the Japanese duo of vocalist Tenko and turntablist Otomo Yoshihide. They've only released one album, Pilgrimage, on John Zorn's Tzadik label but it's a strange, wonderful and densely noisy album of Tenko's initimitable vocals over Yoshihide's bed of sound that makes me want more, dammit!

Neu! is German for New! Isn't that clever? Michael Rother (sturms) and Klaus Dinger (drangs) quit Kraftwerk in the early 70's after their second album (hence the title Ralf & Florian for the third). They were pioneers of the "motorik" sound (pulse, baby, pulse) and their three albums are all emminently ownable. They may be pioneers of the "remix," as well, as they ran out of money while recording 2 and ended up using sped up and slowed down versions of some of the tracks to fill it out to LP length. There's also a live album from 1972 on the Captain Trips label but I've not heard it and it's not cheap and I think one of them licensed it to CT without the other's consent. I can't remember. Oh, and there's also 4 but that one I've also not heard and it's from the 80s but doesn't feature both guys. They hate each other now. It was considered quite an event when Rother and Dinger agreed to be in the same room together to prepare the three legitimate studio albums for legitimate reissue a few years ago. Yep. They hate each other.

Oversoul Hey, another two-man metal band! Mr. Surrogate Roadie complained to me when I first started this website that there wasn't enough metal. Well, now there's more! Oversoul is Dennis Cornelius from the final line-up of doom metal legends Revelation and drummer Patric Barret. Their one CD, Seven Days in November, is proggy doom rock and it sounds much better at high volume! It was in my sell pile for a while (having only listened to it on tiny speakers at work) then I listened to it at home good and loud and, what'd'ya know, it has a definite home in my home! News flash: I guess Oversoul is history as it appears that Revelation have reformed.

Platzlinger features Hans Platzgumer! This time around playing with drummer extraordinaire Peter Hollinger. They've got an LP (. . . best of ) and a cassette (The End). Their sound ranges from innocent pop songs ("Around and Around"), odd heavy metal ("Woman in My Band" really thrashes) and songs of unrequited love ("I'm Searching for Naked Girls"). What a lame-o write-up I've given these guys! Sorry! The LP was on the same label as the first Caspar Brötzmann Massaker LP, by the way. How's that for name dropping?

Ruins is a Japanese duo consisting of the amazing Tatsuya Yoshida on drums and vocals and a constantly changing bass player (who also sings).  I've seen them refered to many times as a Zuehl band, meaning they are influenced by the band Magma.  Well, I know very little about Magma, but from the two Magma albums I have (Live and Üdü Wüdü), I guess that makes sense.  Ruins play incredibly complex progressive rock filtered through punk rock.  I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but then again, I always thought (early) Fear were influenced a bit by King Crimson.  So there. Anyway, I've never heard a Ruins album I didn't like, but I've heard more than one person say their favorite was Burning Stone (and it is, indeed, a smoker--look for the CD version on Magaibutsu as it's got some bonus live material).

The Shaking Ray Levis are a couple of insane improvisors from Chattanooga, Tennessee (birthplace of the tow truck). Dennis J. Palmer (vocals and keyboards) and Bob Stagner (percussion stuff) have released a couple of albums on their own (False Prophets or Dang Good Guessers and Boss Witch) and have collaborated with all sorts of cool folks. I've seen 'em play with the late Tom Cora, Derek Bailey and even just the two of them on their lonesome.

Silver Apples were (in the 60's) Simeon on vocals and the Simeon (a collection of 32 oscillators, played with all available appendages) and Dan Taylor on an absolutely enormous drum kit.  They made odd, pulsating music with trippy-dippy lyrics. After two albums for Kapp Records they disappeared until 1997 when Simeon resurfaced and restarted the band with a new drummer. In 1998 someone tracked down Dan Taylor. I'm not sure what they're all up to now.  I'd just like to say that we recorded a cover of "A Pox on You" way back in 1990, long before the Silver Apples craze began. The CD on MCA of their two albums recorded in the sixties is well worth getting.

Skeleton Crew were Fred Frith and Tom Cora.  Fred played guitar with his hands and Tom the cello with his hands, and they both played other stuff with their feet; and they sang as well!  I's say more about these guys, but there is plenty of information out there about them and I don't want to sound stupid or anything.  I will say that their two albums are available together on a single CD (minus a couple of tracks, I think--I don't know; I've got them on vinyl).

Suicide were/are Alan Vega (vocals) and Martin Rev (instrument).  They started out in 1971 in New York and, from all accounts I've read, just scared the crap out of people.  Alan dressed in leather and safety pins long before Johnny Rotten and apparently liked to wrap chains around his fists and punch holes through walls where they played (not that I'm condoning that, mind you).  Martin stood at the keyboard behind him and played drony, repetitive figures while a cheap drum machine pounded out the beat. They've only released a handful of albums in the last 25+ years, unfortunately, but most of them are great (the only one I'd flat out avoid is Why Be Blue). I'd most highly recommend the double-CD reissue of their first album (Suicide) with a ton of bonus stuff (mostly live recordings). "Frankie Teardrop," from that album, still gives me the willies.

Sun Kich is yet another Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins) duo, this time with Seiichi Yamamoto of Boredoms! Like much Japanoise music, this is crazy/wacky/noisy/etc. I can't describe it darnit! I may not be the bloody Pope, but I know what I like and I like this. Their album is called Lucky Mountain Hey!!!!!!!!!!. Gotta love those bizarre titles! English is such fun filtered through foreign ears. Now don't get offended, I mean that in a good way! Heck, I wish I could communicate in more than one language! At least I can say something really strange and rude in Japanese: "Hajime mashite! Bukoroshite yaru!" (Japanese speakers feel free to correct my spelling, this is from memory).

Tall Dwarfs are what was left of the great pop/punk/new wave band Toy Love: Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate.  They're from New Zealand and they're brilliant.  They use a lot of tape loops and stuff and do everything from depressing acoustic songs to really grindy, noisy stuff. Chris and Alec also both have solo records out (Alec has one, Chris has a ton of 'em).

Tractor were The Way We Live but they changed their name after one album. No, I don't know why. Both bands were just two guys, Steve Clayton and Jim Milne, who recorded everything with multiple overdubs back in the early 1970's in England. They apparently really liked hard rock, psychedelia and folk music, 'cause both Tractor and The Way We Live mixed all of 'em up into an appealing mix. Wasn't it nice before there were rules about how a hard rock band could sound? I've been listening to a lot of early 70 hard-rock/metal lately and it just struck me how bands could mix things up without freaking people out. News flash: What'd'ya know, Tractor actually still exist as a full band and have recorded sporadically over the decades. I've now got a couple of those "new" CDs (Worst Enemies and Before, During and After the Dandelion Years . . . Through to Deeply Vale and Beyond) and they're pretty good (except for some really sappy, almost disco-y stuff from the mid-70's).

Tyrannosaurus Rex was the the name before it was shortened to T. Rex and then lengthened to Marc Bolan and T. Rex.  Their first several albums were acoustic guitar (Marc Bolan, ex-John's Children) and percussion (Steve Peregrine Took, later replaced by Micky Finn, ex-Hapshash and the Coloured Coat).  If you're looking for absurd album titles, their first is right up there: My People Were Fair and Had Sky in their Hair but Now They're Content to Wear Stars in their Brows.  I love this stuff, by the way. After a few albums, Marc pulled a Bob Dylan and switched from acoustic to electric guitar.  This made a lot of fans angry.  Then they expanded to a full band started making (great) major hit records, so maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. For the record, I got into the electric stuff first. Eddie Jetlag, the future Mrs. Jetlag and I played Trivial Pursuit and listened to my recently purchased Tanx and Electric Warrior albums in my parents' basement one New Years Eve many moons ago. We didn't even notice when the year changed.

Voice Crack started out as a jazz duo (Andy Möslang and Norbert Guhl), playing conventional instruments (saxophone, double bass, etc.), sometime in the 1970's.  They began incorporating electronic devices of their own making and eventually changed their name to Voice Crack and switched entirely to "cracked everyday electronics."  When I saw them play a few years ago, they had a huge sheet of wood with dozens of little things soldered to it: radio parts, motors, toys, light sensors, etc.  They, as many others on this page, have recorded only sporadically (though their output has increased dramatically in the last few years, luckily), but I have yet to hear an album I didn't like. I first heard of them when they recorded an album (Fish that Sparkling Bubble) with another of my favorites, Borbetomagus. 

The Way We Live was the the name before it was changed to Tractor (see above). The one album they released in their lifetime, A Candle for Judith, is highly recommended. There's also an album called Steve's Hungarian Novel that was released by Ozit Records in a limited edition of 200 copies. It's pretty good but it's expensive.

White Hassle is Railroad Jerk missing a couple of folks. Marcellus Hall plays guitar and sings and Dave Varenka hits assorted pots and pans and the occasional real drum (I think). On the one hand, their stuff isn't extremely original sounding, but on the other hand, the tunes are so catchy and the singing so "mountainy" that I found myslef singing along in the car with stuff I'd never heard before. How's that for a recommendation?

The White Stripes are the formerly married couple of Jack White and Meg White on vocals/guitar and drums, respectively. They've had some massive hits and I don't know what to say other than my boyfriend has White Blood Cells and I like it and I think I need to get more. Just because something is popular it's not necessarily bad, you twit.

Yume Bitsu were written up in the local free rag as "the most pretentious band in indie rock." Well, that made them somewhat intriguing and the fact that Euphonic Productions was bringing them to Atlanta made it obvious I had to go (Euphonic always brings top notch free jazz and avant garde rock to town). The guy sitting next to me said their albums were done as a quartet but there were only two guys on stage that night and the CD I bought from them, The Golden Vessyl of Sound, appeared to be a duo recording. One guy played guitar (mostly) while the other sang, played trumpet, did other stuff and reminded us often that they were pretentious. Actually, they were wonderful; sort of like a two man Sigur Rós but not quite and besides, I had never heard Sigur Rós at that point, OK? Hey, I like both, alright? Geez.

Honorable Mentions

This here section is for bands that either were not always duos or bands that were augmented duos (i.e., the core of the band was a duo with other folks joining them). A good example of the latter would be 2000 Grammy Award Winners Steely Dan. Yeah, I used to own one of their albums and I don't mind some of their songs but, come on, you know the reason they won was because the members of the "Academy" had heard of them, not because they're any good anymore (OK, they might be, I guess--prior to them winning the Grammy I had no idea they even released a new album).

The Carpenters Wanna get depressed? Find a copy of the movie Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. Now watch it. OK, now you're really depressed 'cause, even though it looks like it's gonna be funny 'cause the entire cast is made up of Barbie and Ken dolls, it's actually really creepy and, uh, depressing. I can see why the Carpenter family had this film supressed; it paints a horrible picture of them. Now here's chance number two to get depressed: Oh my God, the songs in the movie are really good! I like this Carpenters stuff! I have to buy CDs! That's what happened to me. How about you?

My favorite Chrome album, Red Exposure, was recorded as a duo by Damon Edge and Helios Creed (with minimal help from John L. Cyborg on a few cuts but he's just a drum machine). Most of their albums have more folks on 'em, however. Their music'd best be described as mutant, sci-fi metal; sort of like Hawkwind with more frightening drugs. Damon died a few years ago and Helios has started recording under the Chrome name again but I've not heard any of those recordings.

Fraser & deBolt were a weird-ass folk duo from somewhere in Canada. I know nothing about them other than they have two albums, Fraser & deBolt (with Ian Guenther) and With Pleasure, both of which came out on Columbia Records in the early 1970's. I have searched the Internet and found out virtually nothing about these folks (the link above is about it!); my friend Elizabeth suggested them to me when I told her I was getting into Tim Buckley. No, they sound nothing alike. Both are good, though, and both take a strange approach to folk music.

Half Japanese are my favorite band. They started out as a trio in Michigan in 1974 with David Stansky. Then Jad and David, the Fair brothers, moved to Unionville, Maryland and started putting out records. Their LP debut was a three-record-set called Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts. It has since been reissued on CD with bonus tracks! Their best album, LOUD , was recorded with an expanded six-piece lineup. It is also the best album ever, by anyone. Look for it. I have seen, I think, five copies in my whole life. Happy hunting! Drag City Records has reissued Our Solar System and Sing No Evil on CD! Sing No Evil is my favorite after LOUD, so there's no reason not to own it now.

Halo of Flies started out as the misanthropic duo of Tom Hazelmyer (v, g. b) and John Anglim (d). After their first couple of singles they added a full-time bass player. They recorded a whole ton of singles and then broke up. I have no idea what any of them are up to now. Get their Music for Insect Minds CD. It has just about everything they ever released.

H.P. Zinker started out in Austria as the duo of Hans Platzgumer (v, g) and Frank Puempel (v, b) playing with a drum machine. For some reason (Austrians not rude enough?), they moved to New York City and and recorded their first record, . . . and there was light for the new label Matador Records. A couple of months later they recorded a live LP (From Boston to Scwhertberg) with the same lineup. After that, they got a great human drummer (Dave Wozniak) and that was it for their duo days (they continued to make great music, however). Oh, yeah, the music: sort of a cross between Black Sabbath, Rush and some nice Brit-pop band, I guess. Now that the band has split, Hans has oddly enough started putting out techno CDs under his own name and under the name Aura Anthropica. They're not bad for techno but I miss his voice (luckily he does still sing occasionally). News flash: Hans has put together a new lineup of H.P. Zinker with an album due sometime soon! Yay!

Jade Warrior started out in 1970 or so as the trio of Tony Duhig (flute, percussion, etc.), Jon Field (guitar) and Glyn Havard (bass, vocals). After releasing three neat albums (and recording two more that didn't see the light of day until 1998!) which veered wildly between Jethro Tull sounding flutey stuff to oppressive hard rock (esp. the song "Snake" from Last Autumn's Dream), Glyn left and Tony and Jon went on to record six more albums (with lots of guest musicians, hence their inclusion in this section) of proto-new agey stuff that, for the most part, is quite good. Then Tony died and Jon found a couple of new guys and recorded two more albums. Now Jon apparently has hearing problems so that's it, unfortunately. Interestingly enough, their entire recorded output has been reissued on CD on several different labels in the last couple of years. The trio stuff is my favorite, but the others are good, too.

The Lapse (Chris Leo and Toko Yasuda) sound sort of like Jack Brewer (Saccharine Trust) and Bob Schick (Honor Role) singing for an alternate universe version of The Fall. Chris sings like he's got too many words to say and he has to get them out as quickly as he can and I really like that. Their first album, Betrayal!, is fantastic and the more I listen to their second, Heaven Ain't Happenin', the more I like it.

Pentagram (the US band, not the Hungarian one) are one of my all-time favorite heavy metal bands. They've been around in one form or another since something like 1972! Their latest album, Review Your Choices, was recorded by the duo of Bobby Liebling on vocals and Joe Hasselvander on everything else. It's monstrously heavy and is available in the USA from the fine folks at Southern Lord Recordings or in Europe (and the rest of the world, I suppose) from Black Widow Records. News flash: Their new album, Sub-basement, was also recorded as a duo and is just as dense and heavy as you'd expect. Whee!

Present was started by Roger Trigaux when he left Belgian chamber proggers Univers Zero to do a more RAWK oriented thing. For some reason, their third album was recorded just by Trigaux and his son Reginald. It's still (very good) prog rock but with much more emphasis on electricity than Univers Zero. Any fans of harder edged prog would be highly advised to check out both bands.

Royal Trux was Neil Haggerty and Jennifer Herrema plus a (constantly in-flux) rhythm section. Neil, of course, was in Pussy Galore before leaving to start Royal Trux. Few people know that he's been doing this music thing for a really long time, though. I've been a fan of his since he was in high school, fer chrissake! Back then, he was in a really cool little combo called Man Ray, who played several times at Oscar's Eye in Washington, DC back in the early 1980's. I think this was the year before "Revolution Summer," but I'm not positive. I interviewed them in a parking garage for a fanzine that never materialized. They were one of the first bands I heard to mix bits of improv with Velvet Underground "Sister Ray" style throb (I hadn't heard The Velvet Underground at that point, you see). After that he played with the Jet Boys of N.W., who had a song on a compilation tape that a friend of mine borrowed and did not return. They too, had a pronounced VU influence (judging from the one time I saw them). Well, that eventually led to Neil joining Pussy Galore, a band that I thought sucked 'cause every song sounded like a poorly executed Cramps cover. Well, he added something 'cause after he joined I became a big fan. Well, PG fell apart and Neil and Jennifer started this Royal Trux thing. News flash: They are no more and Neil has a couple of excellent solo albums out already with a third just out (so I've not yet heard it) as I type this.

Sebadoh started out as the duo of Lou Barlow (rudely kicked out of Dinosaur, Jr.) and Eric Gaffney.  They were one of the first of the "lo-fi" "movement."  They've changed a lot over the years and have not been a duo since the early 90's.

Last updated: May 26, 2003

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