Luniz - Operation Stackola (1995)

"Pimps, Playas & Hustlas" by Luniz

"Chris spreading faulty rumors around the town like Club Nouveau/Really though?"

Luniz used a degraded sample of Club Nouveau's "Why You Treat Me So Bad" to lay the framework for their song "I Got 5 On It".  (On the all-star remix, E-40 is hip to the sample and runs the line to start his flow.)  The song also featured Michael Marshall of Timex Social Club singing the chorus.  Luniz released their debut album Operation Stackola in 1995 on Noo Trybe Records (a sublabel of Virgin Records.)  

Here is the discography surrounding Luniz's debut album:

(Formally Known as The LuniTunes) (1994 EP)

I Got 5 On It (1995 single)

Operation Stackola

Playa Hata (1995 single)

Operation Stackola (6 Tracks EP) (1995 promo EP)

Operation Stackola (Hot Club Wax)

X.O. (1996 single)

Out to Be the Boss (1996 compilation track with Seagram)

Bootlegs & B-Sides (1997 compilation album)

"I Got 5 On It" by Luniz

"I Got 5 On It (Clean Bay Ballas Vocal Remix)" by Luniz

"5150" by Luniz

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Key Kool & Rhettmatic - Kozmonautz (1995)

"Wreck N' Destroy (Non-Believers Get Stomped)" by Key Kool & Rhettmatic


Chillin Villain Empire's debut album was almost entirely instrumental, a highlight of their production work.  One track, however, featured a series of guest rappers almost all members of Project Blowed.  Some of them were members of a rap group named The Visionaries.  Before stopping there however, Visionaries members Key Kool and Rhettmatic teamed together (perhaps as The Kozmonautz?) to release their debut album Kozmonautz in 1995 on Up Above Records.

Here is the discography surrounding Key Kool & Rhettmatic's debut album:

Can U Hear It? (1995 single)
Head Trip (1995 single)
Kozmonautz

"Head Trip" by Key Kool & Rhettmatic


"Reconcentrated (Past, Present, and Future)" by Key Kool & Rhettmatic


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Chillin Villain Empire - Portrait of a Serial Chiller (1995)

"Freestyles" by Chillin Villain Empire


Busdriver's debut was produced by the production team of Chillin Villain Empire.  They are also members of Project Blowed and their debut album Portrait of a Serial Chiller featured Busdriver's first recorded freestyles.  The album was released in 1995 on Afterlife Recordz.

Here is the discography surrounding Chillin Villain Empire's debut album:

Can U Love a Villain? (1988 single)
Portrait of a Serial Chiller

"The Afterlife" by Chillin Villain Empire


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Jenny Mae - There's a Bar Around the Corner... Assholes (1995)

"Runaway" by Jenny Mae


While playing with Gaunt, drummer Jeff Regensberger also performed with the short lived Vibralux.  Vibralux was headed by guitarist and songwriter Jenny Mae Leffel who would go on to record solo as Jenny Mae.  Jenny Mae released her debut album There's a Bar Around the Corner... Assholes on Anyway Records in 1995.

Here is the discography surrounding Jenny Mae's debut album:

For You Ears Only! (1993 split single as Vibralux)
Cowtown EP Vol. II (1993 compilation album as Vibralux)
Corporate Groupings (1993 compilation album as Vibralux)
If We Wait / Red Chair (1993 split single)
Hercules (1994 single as Vibralux)
There's a Bar Around the Corner... Assholes
Runaway + 2 (1995 EP)

"Christmas Song" by Jenny Mae


Vibralux Live at Stache's 10/93

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Gaunt - I Can See Your Mom from Here (1995)

"Hangover" by Gaunt


Gaunt and New Bomb Turks both hailed from the punk scene in Columbus, Ohio during the early nineties.  The two bands recorded, at the onset, for the local Datapanik label, covered each other's songs, and featured together on a couple split singles and compilation albums.  Gaunt released their debut album I Can See Your Mom from Here in 1995 on the Thrill Jockey label.

Here is the discography surrounding Gaunt's debut album:

Rocket to Nowhere / Dear Richard (1989 single by Two Hour Trip)
A Datapanik Split Single EP (1991 split single EP)
Fielder's Choice (1992 single)
Bumped by Karaoke: Datapanik's Greatest Hits Vol. II (1992 compilation album)
Jim Motherfucker (1992 single)
Whitey the Man (1992 EP)
Cowtown EP Vol. I (1992 compilation EP)
Solution (1993 single)
Good Bad Happy Sad (1993 single)
Pop Song (1993 single)
For Your Ears Only! (1993 compilation album by Gaunt and Vibralux)
Rock 'n' Roll / Ohio (1993 split single)
Cowtown EP Vol. II (1993 compilation EP by Vibralux)
Corporate Groupings (1993 compilation single by Vibralux)
Hercules (1994 single by Vibralux)
Sob Story (1994 EP)
National Postal Museum (1994 single)
I Can See Your Mom from Here

"I Don't Care (live at Stache's)" by Gaunt


"Weekend" by Gaunt


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Joan Osborne - Relish (1995)

"Dracula Moon" by Joan Osborne


Joan Osborne shared the same circles and management as the Spin Doctors and can even be heard as a back up vocalist on Blues Traveler's debut.  Although active since 1989, Osborne didn't release her debut album Relish until 1995 (although she did self-release a live album on her own record label Womanly Hips).  The album went triple platinum in the United States on the coattails of her hit single "One of Us".  The other songs on the album reflect Joan and her co-writers' influence of blues, country, gospel, and classic rock (with a debt to Janis Joplin).  For a time, Joan Osborne sat at the top as one of the biggest singer-songwriters of the 90s.

Here is the discography surrounding Joan Osborne's debut album:

Soul Show: Live at Delta 88 (1991 live album)
One of Us (1995 single)
Relish
St. Teresa (1996 single)
Right Hand Man (1996 single)

"One of Us" by Joan Osborne


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Once Blue - Once Blue (1995)

"Trumansburg" by Once Blue


After meeting Norah Jones while she still attended UNT, Jesse Harris (already established in the music industry) began writing songs for her.  He helped her establish her persona after she moved to New York and started to find her voice.  He wrote several of her first few hits including "Don't Know Why" for which he won a Grammy.

At one time, he was half of a duo with fellow singer/songwriter Rebecca Martin called Once Blue.  In 1995, they recorded their debut album Once Blue together.  They held recording sessions for a second album that would not come to fruition except as bonus tracks on re-releases of that only album.  The duo discontinued in order to pursue their solo careers.

Here is the complete discography for Once Blue:

Once Blue
Once Blue (1995 EP)

"Save Me" by Once Blue


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The Raymond Brake - Piles of Dirty Winters (1995)

"Philistine" by The Raymond Brake


If you were in a Chapel Hill indie band during the nineties, chances are your band's recordings would be produced by Caleb Southern.  From Archers of Loaf to the Ben Folds Five, his fingerprints were all over any album that made it out of North Carolina to gain critical acclaim on the national stage.  One of the bands he produced that faltered out of the gate was The Raymond Brake, a four-piece alternative band from Greensboro (because Chapel Hill is really only 45 minutes away).

The Raymond Brake formed in 1994 with Andy Cabic (guitar, vocals), Ryan Stewart (guitar vocals), Peder Hollinghurst (bass), and Joel Darden (drums).  Their only album Piles of Dirty Winters released as soon as 1995.  They gained a little success after touring the country and garnered favorable comparisons to other successful Chapel Hill alternative acts.  The band began to unravel soon after, having to replace Peder on bass with Matt Houston in 1996.  They released an EP that same year before the band slowly stumbled to the group's dissolution in 1998.

Here is the complete discography for The Raymond Brake:

The Raymond Brake (1994 single)
Split (1994 single)
New Wave Dream (1995 single)
Sentiment (1995 compilation track)
Piles of Dirty Winters
Never Work Ever (1996 EP)
Threnody (1997 compilation track)

"New Wave Dream" by The Raymond Brake


"Easter" by The Raymond Brake


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Compulsive Gamblers - Gamblin' Days Are Over (1995)

"Way Down in the Hole" by Compulsive Gamblers


The Reatards (in this case just Jay Reatard, really) got some early help from drummer Greg Cartwright and engineer Jack Yarber in getting their early EPs off the ground.  Note: The two declined to take the Reatard surname as they already had one... to be continued, I'm sure. Instead of explaining what Greg (guitar, vocals) and Jack (guitar, vocals) went by,  let's cover their first mutual band the Compulsive Gamblers, a quintet formed in Memphis at the onset of the nineties.

Together with Bushrod Thomas (drums), Fields Trimble (bass), and Greg Easterly (violin), they played blues and punk inspired garage rock and released three themed EPs without snagging a good record deal for a full length album.  They did, however, collect an album's worth of material from previous sessions ironically titled Gamblin' Days Are Over as it saw release two years after the band dissolved.

Jack Yarber was also a member of another band, Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves, before the Gamblers.  They didn't release much but left a notable impression on the Memphis punk and garage scene.

Here is the discography surrounding Compulsive Gamblers's debut album:

Joker (1992 EP)
Church Goin' (1992 EP)
Chokin' on a Lude (1993 EP as Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves)
Gamblin' Days Are Over
Good Time Gamblers (1996 EP)
Thanks for the Ride! (2005 EP as Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves)
Running in a Rat Race (2006 EP as Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves)

"Sour and Vicious Man" by Compulsive Gamblers


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hitomi - Go to the Top (1995)

"Go to the Top" by hitomi

Both debut albums by U2 and J-Pop singer hitomi were mixed by audio technician and producer Kevin Moloney.

Just out of middle school, Furuya Hitomi began her career as a model but was recruited soon after to the Avex Trax record label on a chance meeting with one of Japan's most successful producers.  Branded as 'hitomi' (lowercase and all), she put out her first single in 1994 to little notice.  It was not until her third single "Candy Girl", backed with a substantially important Kodak TV spot, that her singles began to gain any selling power.  Despite that success, her 1995 debut album Go to the Top surprised a lot of industry heads when it landed as high as #3 on the Oricon charts and remained there for a total of eight weeks.  Although hitomi's producer, Tetsuya Komuro, held a strong influence over her sound, by writing her own lyrics she was one of the few J-Pop artists to hold any creative control of their music whatsoever.

Here is the discography surrounding hitomi's debut album:

Let's Play Winter (1994 single)
We Are "Lonely Girl" (1995 single)
Candy Girl (1995 single)
Go to the Top (1995 single)
Go to the Top

"Candy Girl" by hitomi


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Elastica - Elastica (1995)

"Annie" by Elastica

Although Justine Frischmann was kicked out of Suede, she hardly remained idle and went on to form the band Elastica with another early line up Suede member, Justin Welch.  The band released their first single "Stutter" in 1993 and eventually led 1995 with their record-breaking debut album Elastica.

Here is the discography surrounding Elastica's debut album:

Stutter (1993 single)
Line Up (1994 single)
Connection (1994 single)
Rockslide Live 1994 (1994 live bootleg)
Weekend Swingers (1994 live compilation)
Waking Up (1995 single)
Elastica
Car Song (1996 single)

"Connection" by Elastica


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