The Boonaraaas
- title
U.G.L.Y. Girl
- label
Thunderwoman
- format
- LP
17 songs on capri blue vinyl with a comic book styled cover that folds out to a 24" x 24" full color glossy cover. The Boonaraaas are three Dusseldorf girls who sound more like The BobbyTeens than The Pop Tarts. They do a Romantics cover ("What I Like About You"), a Beatles cover ("I Need You"), a cover of "Love Potion #9", and a Ramones cover ("Oh Oh I Love Him So"). Although the choice of covers may seem like they didn't dig out any obscure gems, they treat each with their own style, and their originals, like "I'm in Love with Hulk the Monster" are pretty good themselves
---Carl, September 7, 1999
The first record that Boyracer ocalist/guitarist/drum/keyboard player Stewart stuck out on his own as Steward. At this point it seems that mentioning Boyracer is superfluous, as Steward has achieved more fans and attention that Boyracer ever did (at leaast here at WZBC). There was only 500 of these on vinyl, and it never came out on CD, so we are lucky to have the 466th copy to enjoy over and over. 3 of the songs feature lead vocals by Stewart's former bandmate Nicola, who has her own new band Empress (whose 555 Recording's 7" we have in our collection). 
First LP by the band whose 2 singles have done very well at WZBC. Their sound still harkens to the days when Sonic Youth provided the blueprint for the world of independents, but they do not sound dated on these recordings as the sound is filtered through a Red Monkeys-ish Gang Of Four sensibility on the 4 songs with vocals. There are 9 songs on the record, and 5 of them are instrumentals, which is not a bad thing, as the song which did best on WZBC by them was one of their instrumentals. The band continue the Yummy Fur/Lungleg type sound, characterized by a twin guitar picking of single notes instead of chords, though their use of this technique is more minor chord scale than either of those two bands. 
Did you used to love the old compilations on Creation records in the 80's? If so, this disc has lots that you will know and love. It compiles stuff that originally came out 1981-1984 on Wham! Records, the label founded by Dan Treacy of TVP (Television Personalities) and his best friend Edward Ball (The Times). Later Dan Treacy would disband this label and form the label Dreamworld (of which Vinyl Japan also has a compilation that I have been trying to find). On this Wham! comp are two early bands of Alan McGee, the founder of Creation Records. Those would be The Laughing Apple and Revolving Paint Dream, both which have incredible songs here. The sound throughout the comp is mod artpop. There's also 2 unreleased TVP cover songs, Syd Barrett's 'Bike' and Raincoats 'No One's Little Girl'. I'm not going to go over my favorite songs here, as for me they are the songs that I haven't known until hearing this record. For you they may be the songs that are quite familiar, like "My Favourite Films", "I Know where Syd Barret Lives", "Wouldn't you", and "In The Afternoon". 23 songs, and no clunkers in the lot. 
Jon Spencer's sister Muffin's band from London. These 3 song's are a rock/new wave/beats combination. There is even a 12" version of 'I Can't Wait' with various remixes on it. The feeling I get is a femal vocal punky indy band trying to keep up with the times and doing reasonably well at it, with nice production. We have several earlier singles from Brassy going back a few years that were more like Elastica new wave. They seem to have thrown in a touch of Luscious Jackson these days. They still don't have out a full length. 
(From their website)"Formed in 1995 by Deborah Wykes and Paul Kelly, Birdie released their first single "Spiral Staircase" on the U.S. label Summershine in 1997. Former members of Dolly Mixture and East Village respectively, they decided to form a new group while playing as part of Saint Etienne's backing band in 1994. Last year Birdie joined the new "It Records" label and 'Folk Singer' is the first single to be taken from their debut LP 'Some Dusty'. I know that friends of mine thought the Summershine single was spectacular, but this single is the one that I like. The sound on 'Folk Singer' just draws you right in. The vocal is warm and different; not a classical perfect voice, but the type of voice that makes rock n' roll or pop so exciting, as it is odd but appealing. The music is right there to pull you in as well. 
Two great unreleased Tracey originals recorded back in 1994. It's fun to add this the same week as the Wham! Records compilation, as you can see where he's gone in a decade and change. His sound remains amazing consistent to the original vision the TVP's shared in the early 80's.