rip - poly styrene.

Punk lost one of its most influential figures when Poly Styrene, formerly of X-Ray Spex, passed away yesterday.

X-Ray Spex's first and only album, "Germ-Free Adolescents," has become a genre staple since it was put out in 1978, ranked as the eighth best punk album of all-time by The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Styrene's vividly harsh lyrical commentaries on misogyny, commercialism, and youth culture set the Spex apart from other acts of the time, while her shrill, shouted vocals have all but birthed the riot grrrl punk movement of the 1990s.

Though her very existence seemed to defy the genre's once-rigid standards of both race and gender, Styrene  went a step further and eschewed the prototypical punk "look" in favor of a more unconventional persona. She rejected leather and safety pins for vibrantly colored dresses and thick braces. She rejected androgyny or sex-symbol status for a more realistic model of femininity. Essentially, Styrene rejected everything that punk expected of her and pushed her way through the industry until she reached the status of icon, with or without the approval of EMI and the English rock press. If that's not punk rock, I don't know what is.

As if they were at all forgettable, take a few minutes to remember how truly spectacular X-Ray Spex were:

"she had the greatest band."

Teenage girl music was at its prime in the late '90s, with everyone from the Spice Girls to P.J. Harvey cashing in on the power-pop phenomenon that lent itself so achingly well to narrating teenage maladies. In the middle of it all was the sunny-sweet yet oh-so-sulky Juliana Hatfield, who happily spent the last few years of the 20th century head-bobbing her way through fuzzy guitar pop perfection.

Unlike many of her peers, Hatfield never had a "Seether" or a "Supernova" to immortalize her, meaning that her Internet presence today consists mostly of Comic Sans ridden fan-pages from 1997 and maybe the occasional Pitchfork nostalgia piece. But she's still not easy to forget. Gems like "My Sister" can't be described as anything besides classic.

coast to coast [mix]

If an artist qualifies as both indie and punk, chances are good that they've spent a couple of years in either D.C. or Seattle. The two Washingtons don't have much in common, but both have had pretty rad underground scenes since the 1980s - this playlist pays homage to that.



Enjoy!

wild flag makes riot grrrl punk sound like art-pop.

Listeners who still imagine the harsh, creaky chords of Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl" when they think of riot grrrl are in for a shock when they hear this band. With swirly, psychedelic guitar riffs, layered vocal harmonies, and - shockingly - a piano, Wild Flag begins where the increasingly artsy Sleater-Kinney left off circa 2003. This shouldn't be that surprising, really; the riot grrrl revival quartet is fronted by Carrie Brownstein, ex-vocalist of SK and the founder of seminal but little known Excuse 17.

Brownstein isn't the only star power in Wild Flag. Riot grrrl fanatics may recognize Mary Timony's vocals and guitar work from past bands Helium and Autoclave, while drummer Janet Weiss is another Sleater-Kinney alum and keyboardist Rebecca Cole was part of the Minders for several years.

Hearing more Patti Smith than "Pussy-Whipped" in the band's music might be disappointing to those who see riot grrrl as being at its best when it is both angry and angsty, but Wild Flag's sophistication is anything but a movement away from the origins of the genre. It's much closer to an evolution. After a ~ten year hiatus, it only makes sense for riot grrrl punks to make a comeback with more eloquence than ever before.

Wild Flag's first physical '7, Future Crimes / Glass Tambourine, was sold exclusively on Record Store Day, but you can buy the MP3s for around two dollars online at Merge Records' site, here.

hey, hello, good morning.

This is The Tom-Tom Club, a summer music blogging project with aspirations of making it into the autumn.

I should introduce myself before I explain any further: I'm Kay and I'm an undergrad from the DC area. I have spell-check and a penchant for Elliott Smith, meaning that my future absolutely screams "music blogger." Who am I to deny it?

Expect to see some mixes, record reviews, gig reviews, retrospectives, analyses, and shout-outs. Don't expect anything too indie-tastic, but don't expect Nickelback either. I have a pretty un-fashionably retro taste in music but most of the standard-issue favorites do apply.

I hope I introduce you to something cool.

xx, Kay.