Troy Gregory is also the man behind Detroit's neo-psych freaks the Witches, as well as a part-time member of the Dirtbombs. On this solo CD, he plays almost all the instruments himself shades of the Bevis Frond, with help on a couple of songs by Jim Diamond and Mick Collins. The fuzz is cranked up on this, and there's a tripped-out vibe throughout. Vocals are drenched in reverb and echo, instruments drift in and out of the mix, and spacey effects dominate the proceedings.

Reverb/echo addict Troy Gregory is a true original. A member of multiple bands (most notably The Witches) as well as a solo artist, Gregory's musical output is a seemingly endless stream. His last album (Sybil) impressed many...and Laura is likely to have the exact same effect. Troy's music sounds something like a cross between The Lyres and Bruce Joyner...but his presence is scarier than either. Laura is chock full of garage rock with the only constant being those unmistakable vocals absolutely drenched in reverb and echo (a trademark of the man's vocals). Gregory wrote every song on the album and played most instruments himself. Not surprisingly, every song is a keeper...and from the sound of this album (co-produced by Jim Diamond), you would never know this is a (mostly) one man affair. Fantastic cuts include "Dracula Has Risen From the Pond," "Yer Secret Santa," "In Thee Popsicle Patch," and "Bananas N' Dynamite" (how 'bout them great song titles...!).

Highly recommended. (Rating: 5+++)

indieworkshop.com

Troy Gregory appears to be one busy guy. His resume is among the most impressive in the underground and I’m sure all of Detroit knows him on a first name basis. Either the guy can’t so no or he’s the hardest working man in music. Whatever the case, The Witches frontman has released his second solo album, Laura.

Laura is an interesting girl. Yes she’s dark, yes she’s eerie and yes she has some pop qualities hidden beneath all the sludge and muck. That last part meant that she might be a pretty girl if she cleaned up her act a little bit. You know, maybe took a shower, washed her hair and wore some nice clothes. Come on, aren’t we over the black hair and nail polish thing?

Get with it Laura, pretty is so in. It now costs hundreds to look punk rock and pink’s the new black. But even cooler, wear pink and black! ALL PINK AND BLACK! Yeah, that’ll look really good, especially if you wear it everyday. Now, that’s punk rock.

Now that we got Laura looking good, let’s move on to how she sounds. Laura opens up with track one, Dracula Has Risen From the Pond, and we find Gregory wading through a sea of heavy reverb. It’s not the best choice for a first track as it’s a more extreme level of reverb than we find on most of the consequent tracks but it at least does the job of putting us on guard. He shakes that off long enough to make it to track two where his real intention is more easily visible.

Gregory sounds like a lazier, less fashionable Bowie, which may or may not be a good thing. After all, Bowie was never really known in the mainstream for his music as much as he was his keen fashion sense and ability to transform himself. So, at least he always looked good. Bowie’s music was, however, never something to turn your nose up at. It was, even in it’s lower moments, nothing short of classic. I mean you’re technically not cool if you can’t appreciate at least one of his albums. So I guess that would make Gregory’s coolness immeasurable. Technically.