A tour of Fisher Meehan’s Asheville, North Carolina, would not be complete without a visit to the local coffee shop/bar where he has vomited more than once onstage. “You get relaxed playing your hometown,” the DrugMoney singer/songwriter explains. “But puking is nothing. One time, this girl danced out her tampon. That was pretty heavy.”

 

Heavy is a good word for the stories that drop out of Meehan after a couple PBRs. Like how he uses open guitar tunings so that he can play all his songs "completely shit-faced." Or the way he got cut off by a Brooklyn drug-delivery service while recording his debut, Mtn Cty Jnk. "The dealer was like, 'I'm not coming back. Get as much as you want now.'"

That album may be the most addictive Carolina export since tar met nicotine. Meehan's gruff voice lends an unusual Grover-fronting--the-Replacements feel to charming pop songs such as "I Know" and "Small Thinking." It's what you would expect from a guy who was weaned off Ozzy and Kiss and onto eccentric indie rockers such as the Pixies and the Archers of Loaf. But it's not always clear which influence is stronger, especially considering that Meehan ingested most of his record-company advance in a mere two weeks: "I was like, 'I already got a couple guitars. I got an amp. Let's party!'"

Murder by Death
Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them?
(Eyeball)
This doom-country album about a frontier town overrun with demons was recorded by a bunch of Indiana indie rockers who dress like tent-revival preachers and sound like Thursday after watching Unforgiven 20 times. Finally, freaky Christianity without the unwelcome goth aftertaste.

Immortal Technique
Revolutionary Vol. 2
(Viper)
Born in a Peruvian military hospital and raised in Harlem, Immortal Tech is a fatigues-rocking raptivist who humanizes his left-wing-nut conspiracy spiels by filtering them through a past that includes time served at a Pennsylvania jail. Extra points for shouting out the late senator from Minnesota Paul Wellstone.

Hella
The Devil Isn't Red
(5RC)
If you missed the 20/20 expose, our nation has been overrun by two-piece spazzcore bands, including Lightning Bolt, Pink and Brown, and this pointillistically wankadelic drum-guitar duo. Hella ride the lightning and up-jump the boogie--they obviously spend way too much time together. A superb argument against Ritalin.