Maryland-born quintet Velocity Girl created a bit of a buzz in the early to mid-’90s by marrying a blend of shoegazer guitar sludge with the pixie-pop vocal melodies of singer Sarah Shannon, snagging a minor MTV alterna-hit in the process. Then — pfft! — gone. So, why should you like Velocity Girl? The evidence, please:

“Bubblegrunge”: Shannon’s thin, almost uncharacteristic vocals, combined with all that guitar distortion, led the band’s detractors to coin a label for their sound: “bubblegrunge.” While that was meant to be a slam, it actually describes the group perfectly, especially if you remove all the indie-based shame and scorn behind it. Being signed to Sub Pop in the early ’90s meant grinding, angst-ridden wailing, and Velocity Girl’s melancholy Catherine Wheel-meets-the-Smiths meditations like “Crazy Town” (download) didn’t exactly fit that demo, no matter how hard the muddy production on their first album, Copacetic, tried to bury the pop in the mix. (more…)