UGLY BEAUTY The Sweetness 1997

 

Discogs

Formed in 1994 when Schnabel met DiRienzo in LA after a show of his other band Cell (3). Cell split soon afterwards and Schnabel and DiRienzo - now joined by drummer Danny Ellen - started focusing on Ugly Beauty. The band signed a record deal with Atlantic Records in 1995.

They had a minor hit with 'Forgotten Too.' The song was played in the American Horror movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer" at the beach in the beginning of the movie. The band split up in 1998, a year after the release of their debut.

Tracklist

1. Seven Days
2. The Only Heroine
3. Bring Me Flowers
4. Forgotten
5. This Defeat
6. Faded Love
7. Way Down
8. Endless Stream
9. The Sweetness
10. La La La
11. Forgotten Too

CELL Never Too High 7 inch 1991

 

Discogs

Alternative rock band from New York City, New York. Active from 1990 to 1995.


Trouser Press (in a not so flattering review of Cell's releases):

Cell

Operating under the rationale that songs and singing don’t matter much if you’ve got a bombass guitar sound that screams indie cred and supportive pals like Sonic Youth (who’ve certainly coasted down that same carpool lane on more than one occasion) in your corner, New York’s Cell made an exceedingly underwhelming bow on Slo*Blo, shaking the walls in a rich, tuneless blare. Singing guitarists Ian James and Jerry DiRienzo mash together roaring, boring textures while drummer Keith Nealy (a onetime Sonic Youth guitar tech) and bassist David Motamed (ex-Das Damen) kick the tracks along in vari-speed drive; if commercial post-punk noise were to get more formulaic than this, it’d have to be stacked in the generic-brand aisle. “Two” mounts a usable Led Zeppelin beat and something approaching a melody (to carry along the timeless “Your world’s in trouble and I’m seeing double”); the acoustic digression of “Bad Day” suggests Love It to Death-era Alice Cooper (though the opera singer that filters in from somewhere at the quietest moments doesn’t figure in that equation). Although “Hills” reaches for some pop purpose, Cell doesn’t get a firm grip, and jamming lets it slip away.

Firmly wacked into a presentable state by producer John Agnello, Living Room makes a concerted effort to tone down and shape up something better (setting the thresher controls closer to Crazy Horse) — and to a degree succeeds. It’s amazing what a difference a little loud/not-loud dynamic variety can make. Beyond the refurbished sound, DiRienzo’s songwriting is functional (“Goodbye” roughs up an attractive descending figure and serviceable pop melody), but even the better ones (including “Milky,” “Fly,” “Soft Ground” and the Johnny Thunders-styling “Sad & Beautiful”) are limited by the lack of an able singer and the are-we-done-yet? slouch that underlies all of Cell’s work.

Following Cell’s demise, DiRienzo launched a new quartet, Ugly Beauty, in 1996.[Ira Robbins]

Tracklist

A		Never Too High
B		Stratosphere

CELL Slo⋆Blo 1993

 

Discogs

Cell Biography by Erik Hage

The New York band Cell consists of singer-guitarists Ian James and Jerry DiRienzo, drummer Keith Nealy (who was once a guitar tech for Sonic Youth) and bassist David Motamed (ex-Das Damen). The group produces densely textured guitar layers of post-punk, a la Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., debuting with the album Slo-Blo in 1992. Living Room followed in 1994 on DGC. That sophomore effort, helmed by producer John Agnello (Buffalo Tom, Jay Farrar, Steve Wynn), displayed more nuances than its predecessor did; the dense blare of the preceding album was sculpted into more supple arrangements this time around, with the guitars landing somewhere in Crazy Horse territory. After the dissolution of Cell in the mid-'90s, DiRienzo formed the group Ugly Beauty, which released the album Sweetness in 1997.

Tracklist

1		Fall	3:34
2		Wild	3:46
3		Cross The River	2:56
4		Dig Deep	3:29
5		Stratosphere
5:35
6		Two	2:58
7		Everything Turns	4:11
8		Tundra	3:06
9		Bad Day	2:24
10		Hills	4:08