Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

CD Release Party #1

(Or, the Windbreaker surfaces in Knoxville, of all places)

The Windbreakers were a critically-aclaimed folk rock outfit that never got the attention that compatriots like R.E.M., the Feelies, and the db's did in the 1980s. The Mississippi group worked extensively with Mitch Easter, recording music that Trouser Press wrote brought "something distinctly unique to the power pop genre, reflecting more of an American than English influence with strange melodic turns and a ragged Southern vocal style."

One day, maybe a bunch of hip bands will record a Windbreakers tribute album and the world will realize what great music they made and people will brag about how they saw them way back when nobody knew who they were. Or, something. But, perhaps none of that really matters. Because Tim Lee, who fronted the Windbreakers (along with Bobby Sutliff), now calls Knoxville home. And, he's made an excellent new album called under the house.

Recorded with members of the French Broads, the CD opens with "Keep It True," a survivor's statement of purpose: "crawling from the wreckage/ starting anew/ after falling off the face of the earth/ gotta keep it true." It doesn't read like poetry, but when you hear Lee sing it in his soft and worn voice, it's affecting. The mood is largely folkie, but it's folk amped up on electric guitar and pulsing with pop sensibilities. Much of the album is a reflection on music and performing, about getting old and feeling like you're not getting anywhere. There's the standout "Everywhere But Here": "I remember just how it felt/ We were so young/ so full of everything/ Now I'm wondering/ Where in the hell I've Been/ I've been everywhere but here/ Every here but there." On "Just Another Day," he mourns, "another day, another dollar/ another year, it's so hard to swallow."

But under the house is hardly some self-pity parade. The attitude is more shrug your shoulders and play than anything. "Any Part of This" is an agnostic's take on the living in the Bible Belt; "Highway Forty Nine" is about looking for redemption on the road.

John Baker, Jim Rivers, and Chris Hurt—all French Broads—make for a solid, sympathetic band and add nice backing vocals.

The CD release party will be at the Preservation Pub on Thursday, Jan. 16. The next week, Lee plays at Patrick Sullivans on Saturday, Jan. 25. But, of course, hopefully we'll get many chances to hear him. He's a welcome addition to the Knoxville music scene.

CD Release Party #2

(Or just another garage band makes a stand)

The God Star Social
A Queer Sultry Summer (Heavyhead Records)

There's always another band starting somewhere in the garages and basements of Knoxville. And this week, arising from the primordial murk of garageland for their proverbial fifteen minutes of fame is The God Star Social with a debut CD, A Queer Sultry Summer (Heavyhead Records).

Yes, the murk reference is somewhat intentional—in the best kind of way. Upon listening to the first track, "Sex Symbol," God Star's decidedly lo-fi debut recording brings to mind the feedback infused skronk and wail of the Meat Puppets' debut ep, though I doubt that's exactly what the band had in mind.

Delving further into God Star's six-song serving reveals a heap of influences, none of which point to a specific genre of today or yesterday. And this is a good thing. These guys (Jason Trout on guitar and vocals, Travis Schappel on drums, and Matt Field on bass) just want to rock, coming from the punk/indie/ garage tradition that makes all rock great.

Sure, God Star could be helped a bit by some studio trickery. And, owing to the recording date of summer 2002, I daresay the band has already expanded by leaps and bounds. But A Queer Sultry Summer is a success in its own right—one that just might be a sought-after oddity once the band makes it big. Let's keep our fingers crossed, AND check out the band on Friday, Jan. 17 with Brazilia and the Suburban Urchins at the oh so punky and ever cool Old City Java. Bang the head that doesn't bang.

—Madame "throw a rock'n'roll song on the fire" Georgie with Joe Tarr and John Sewell