Albums by this artist

Diazepam (2000)

Bald Rapunzel

Diazepam

---

» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Bald Rapunzel Diazepam Resin/Dischord, 2000 RiYL: Hum, Castor, Juno

I held off on listening to this record for a while. I think it was the band name. To be perfectly honest, the concept of baldness spooks me. My dad is bald, real bald, and has been so for as long as I can remember. All of my uncles, too. Sometimes I pull my bangs up from in my eyes where they normally hang and stare at my forehead in the mirror, trying to figure out whether my hairline is receding. My mom tells me that her father had thick, lustrous hair up until the day he died. Of course, he died when he was 43. Given the choice, I'll take the baldness.

So the new Signal Drench had a really glowing review of Diazepam, and the competitive spirit flows as thick in me as the fear of hair loss, so I couldn't let this site go without commenting on it. I've been playing it a lot the past two days, and once again, I have to thank my friend Sebastian for turning me on to something I probably would have overlooked otherwise. Bald (eek) Rapunzel play nontraditional indie guitar rock with complex song structures, cyclical Juno guitars, and unexpectedly powerful vocals.

The a cappella rendition of the traditional "The Dark End Of The Street" is an unorthodox but effective beginning for the record, expressing in stark, simple terms what the rest of the record angles for in a more didactic manner. Elsewhere, on tracks like "Ms. Leading" and "Sun Drop," the band switch between dynamic instrumental passages and more direct vocal ones where lead singer Bonnie Schlegel blasts the listener with her powerful alto.

If you like Jawbox, Juno, Hum, Castor, etc. and are interested in hearing that same kind of hard guitar crunch with the added twist of excellent female vocals, Diazepam is a strong debut by a confident, original band. It may even make your hair fall out.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.