Bettie Serveert, Palomine (1992)

One of the defining albums (and bands) of the 90s indie rock era for me, alongside Pavement, GbV, YLT, Liz Phair, Luna, etc.  The Dutch band rises above much of the pack thanks to the wonderful vocals of Carol Van Dijk, whose sweeping, expressive voice, uniquely accented from her time in both Canada and Holland, comes across like a ferocious Joni Mitchell.  And while their acoustic, folkier tracks, melodic and panoramic, could have served them well in the Lilith Fair crowd, their employment of raging, Crazy Horse guitar grunge where it serves the song puts them firmly in the indie box.

Although they've been reliably releasing great music for over 25 years now, their debut album is packed with standout tracks that keeps it fresh and exciting after all this time.  "Tomboy" is of course the centerpiece, an anthemic midtempo pop-rocker that offers their own understated spin on the Riot Grrl revolution.  Elsewhere you've got sweet, low-key ballads like the title track, "Brain-Tag," and "Under the Surface," all joyously hummable, as well as raging rockers like "Kid's Allright" and the particularly Crazy Horse-ish "Balentine."  While sonically of its era, it's a surprisingly durable album, one I still love to take out for spin with the volume way the hell up.

(The 1995 follow-up, Lamprey, was in a similar vein and also has a number of great tracks; over time, they've left behind some of the noisier guitar work and gone for a slicker, more contemporary sound, like on 2000's fine Private Suit.  But their most recent work, 2016's solid Damaged Good, shows the band still knows how to rock out.)

Here's the "Tomboy" video:
 ... and some live "Balentine":




Buy it on Amazon. (That's the out-of-print original pressing; I'd try to hunt down the later reissue, which has better sound and bonus tracks.)

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