Ruby Vroom

When this album was released in 1994, it sounded like nothing else. Frontman Mike Doughty was really a rapper more than a singer, though one whose flow and delivery were completely unique and who used his guitar as a minimalistic rhythm instrument; the rest of the music was provided by virtuosic upright bassist Sebastian Steinberg and drummer Yuval Gabay, while synthesist Mark Degli Antoni threw weird noises and samples into the mix. The music was irresistibly funky and completely weird: tracks like “Uh, Zoom Zip” and “Down to This” (with its Andrews Sisters sample) should have been rocking dance clubs from coast to coast. It remains the best of the sadly short-lived band’s three albums.