The Geraldine Fibbers: Butch

From the first few seconds of Butch, it's obvious that the members of The Geraldine Fibbers are incredibly flexible musicians; "California Tuffy," the album's first track, is so frantically busy that it nearly exhausts the listener. The group doesn't sound quite like anyone else, either, in part because it isn't afraid to take the common indie-rock cello-as-bass idea a step further and use an upright bowed bass on every single song. The Fibbers mix it up songwise, too, somehow stuffing Butch with an old-fashioned murder ballad, a couple of straight-ahead country songs, an amazing cover of "Yoo Doo Right" by krautrock giant Can, and a dozen well-crafted originals. It's hyper, heady fun, with the only common thread being the strong, angry voice of ex-Ethyl Meatplow frontwoman Carla Bozulich. Unfortunately, that will probably be the single thing that drives away the most potential listeners. People tend to want female vocalists to coo, even when they're pissed off, and everyone else gets lumped in with shrill ninnies like 4 Non Blondes. It'd be a shame for that to happen to The Geraldine Fibbers, because the band is everything those groups aren't—smart, fun, and going places.