Giant Drag

just read through this L.A. Times article yesterday and decided to check out the band they spoke of in it...

"That's what I like — shocking, Bill Hicks-type humor," says Hardy, whose fans adore the band as much for her unpredictable, off-the-cuff personality as for Giant Drag's artfully sludgy guitar rock.

On "Hearts and Unicorns," its debut album on Interscope, the group is definitely on to something — something that smells a lot like the early '90s. Many of the tracks seem to subconsciously channel the best elements of the best early alt-rock acts without overtly ripping them off. On various cuts at various times, Giant Drag recalls the smothering guitar fuzz of My Bloody Valentine, the spaced-out vocals of Mazzy Star and the menacing bass of "To Bring You My Love"-era PJ Harvey. And they do it as a two-piece, a trick they achieve with a double guitar-amp setup for Hardy, and Micah Calabrese's ambidextrous playing of the drums and synthesizer.

Live, the two are impressive to watch, but for very different reasons. In the case of Calabrese, it's his technique: He plays drums with his right hand and synthesizer with his left. For Hardy's part, it's not only her singing and guitar playing, but also her oddly childlike, anything-goes personality.

(there are song samples within that Calendarlive article and on their site but I was having trouble getting them to play on my Mac...so you can also hear the 30 second iTunes samples HERE or check out the music videos on their site)

I'm not sure which combo of 90's singers/bands they remind me of but the 90's sound is there for sure, and that's not SUCH a bad thing now is it? Speaking of which, #2 in our "Overlooked from the 90's" feature will be posted tomorrow. Go back and check out #1 HERE.