MusicalFamilyTree.com, a website dedicated to spreading the word about and sharing the music of Indiana bands, recently released the Delicious Berries compilation, and it is awesome. Fresh voices, ambitious sounds — I wish someone here in Michigan would tap into our local talent the way the MFT folks have. For my weekly posts in August, I’ll be featuring bands from the compilation, because it really is that good. The first, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, starts the disc, and with its deal on Artemis is likely one of the most commercially successful of the bands on Delicious Berries. The tracks below, full of quiet harmonies and pop hooks, are taken from their 2005 album The Dust of Retreat.
Marah
So, I was cleaning out the closet in my old bedroom at my mom and dad’s house and I ran across a bunch of Marah singles from about 1984 or ’85, old 45s to play on the Panasonic turntable I got for my 13th birthday. Actually, that’s not true at all, but it should be. Marah sounds like middle school, all big guitars and big hair and rock ‘n’ roll, baby! It’s like late ’70s Springsteen demo tapes with someone else singing, or Bon Jovi a little less high-pitched. You can tell me that “The Rough Streets Below” wasn’t recorded in 1983, but I won’t believe you. Not even you, Tim O. (Thanks for the tip!)