Tunes for [Wednes]days: Alison Mosshart

One cocked eyebrow and a slow pull on a cigarette is all it takes for her to seduce a crowd. She packs heat in her vocals, striking a fine balance between assertive blues and back room grit. With guitarist Jamie Hince, the indie clubs were ablaze with fuzz guitar riffs and a take-no-prisoners sex appeal. Now, with Jack White on her side, she's got the world in her cross-hairs.

She's the girl your Mama warned you about.

She is Alison Mosshart.

***

I cannot believe I have waited this long to showcase The Sex that is Alison Mosshart. It is a travesty to this blog. Serious.

I make amends with this post, ladies.

Now, I believe I've made it clear I like a girl who wields her feminine charms like a cold, clean blade. Amanda Palmer, PJ Harvey -- these are the women who command stronger magnetism than I can ever hope to channel. Alison Mosshart has an edge in her that she's willing to throw you from. It's reckless liberation at its hottest.

She is the kind of girl I'd roll out of bed past midnight for if she called and asked for a pack of cigarettes.

I first came across Mosshart on a now extinct music segment titled The Wedge. MuchMusic sponsored it back when the station played music. It was an hour-long program designed for indie artists and other avant garde musicians to get their sound to the masses and to break the endless drone of mainstream manufacture. It was a sleepless night in high school, somewhere near 2 AM, when The Kills found me: it was love at first riff.

Before I lumber on with excessive praise and more groveling for Alison Mosshart, I will let that same tune speak for itself:

Sweet damn. Hits me every time.

I would like to point out now that I find it astounding The Kills make poor grammar a sweltering scene for seduction. Case and point:

• "I won't move over/I won't get gone" - "Fried My Little Brains" (Keep On Your Mean Side, 2003)
• "Did you got me the good ones/The real good ones, what you got" - "The Good Ones" (No Wow, 2005)

Mmm.... I know I'm a former English major, but MMMMosshart.

Over the course of her career, Mosshart has lent her searing vocals to numerous collaborations with an eclectic group of musicians. If it means I can listen to more of her with the headphones on, then so be it. I will champion it at all costs.

A quick glance at her credits, for the curious:

• 1999: "The State of 6AM" and "Voice of the Actors" with Palatka on The End of Irony
• 2002: "No Smoke with The Foundation Band on the EP Homecoming.
• 2005: "Old Child" with French rock group Dionysos
• 2006: Duet with Brian Molko for "Meds" on Placebo's album, Meds.
• 2006: Back-up vocals on "Dolls" with Primal Scream on Riot City Blues.
• 2009: "Fire and the Thud" with the Arctic Monkeys on Humbug.

At the start of last year, Mosshart even launched a new band project with Jack White of The White Stripes. The Dead Weather's first album, Horehound (2009), features Mosshart on lead vocals and with guitar and percussion credits to round out her presence. Again, their sound is pure grit and it draws rock back to its roots in pure raunch.

For The Dead Weather component of this evening's post, I thought I'd share their first single, "Hang You from the Heavens." Mosshart is given the spotlight on this track and, heck -- she even co-wrote it for the album.

Heck, I'd take a black eye from her if she waltzed in with a song like that.

For now, I'll settle for music to shudder to.