scene but not herd

My friend has a record label called In The Red. He has put out out a lot of good music in the last thirteen years or so and I ordered some stuff the other day and received it in the mail this week. I got the new albums by the Mystery Girls, Reigning Sound, and the Ponys. I have to listen to the Mystery Girls' record again. It's straight up garage rock and it was good, but it didn't really hit me on the first listen. I'll have to give it another chance. The Reigning Sound record is a whole different story. Now this is great garage rock. Greg Cartwright really can make some good music and the Reigning Sound has been a relatively eclectic sounding band. The first album was basically a country album, the second album was more of a Rolling Stones kind of sounding record, and this one is a mix of that and straight ahead garage rock. My favorite of the albums I received was the one by the Ponys. It's weird because there was a little blurb about them in the last Rolling Stone magazine that I saw. I wonder if that will translate to record sales and popularity? Rolling Stone described them as post-punk with a hint of a girl group sound to them. I can agree with that and I would add new wave, garage rock, Richard Hell vocals, and oddly enough the thing they really reminded me of were bands on the Creation and Subway records rosters of the eighties. I think it is because of the sort of jangly, fuzzed-out punk guitar sound that they have. They are playing in June with the Hunches, which is another In The Red band, and I'm really looking forward to this show. I've never seen the Ponys live, but I know the Hunches are going to blow people's minds. Live, my friend described them as a combination of the Birthday Party and the Germs. I totally agree with that. They are loud and truly out of control and I know I'll be smiling the whole time.