Speaking of Seattle musicians (well, I think he lives in L.A. now like everybody and their dog, but he hails from Seattle) anybody here into Mark Lanegan? He was the lead singer of the Screaming Trees who got some minor attention during the grunge years. He’s been solo for a while now and has produced some interesting stuff.
My friend turned me onto the album “Bubblegum” a couple of years ago. Great album, wonderful pop craftsmanship. Covers everything from rock and blues to gospel with lots of sonic studio noisery. He’s got a gravelly voice that have led some people to compare him to Tom Waits, but I don’t think there is any contrived effort on his part to sound like the great Waits.
If you are into Tom Waits or Nick Cave or just a fan of intelligent, well crafted pop songs with some depth to them then I highly reccomend checking out Lanegan solo and some of his other projects.
He’s been playing alot here recently with Isobel Campbell of Belle And Sebastian fame. The stuff they’ve been doing is very good actually, and live they’ve been superb.
‘Whiskey for the Holy Ghost’ was a great album, I think the best he’s ever done. A great album to kick back to, though there is one song (‘Riding the Nightmare’ I think its called) and the strung out vibe is almost palpable.
Never liked Bubblegum because to me it sounded too messy or attempting to experiment to reach a younger audience, I dont know just never dug it apart from 1 or 2 songs.
Screaming Trees had one decent album: Dust.
Sweet Oblivion had a few good tracks but trails off big time. They have another album called Uncle Anasthesia or something and its rubbish.
Lanegan is a very good singer regardless, seen him play live in 2004/5. He had Nick Oliveri with him, who had just been fired from QOTSA ( I think Lanegan was wary of him, hoping he wouldnt flip out) and it was a very enjoyable gig. Also saw him play with QOTSA in 2003 and it was brilliant. Heard his recent work with Campbell is quite good as well.