Mary Lou Lord's full length debut, Got No Shadow, paints a portrait of a cute, pretty, safely seductive, technically capable, young woman with a knack for writing intricate lyrics. Mary Lou has the potential to become another MTV darling singing folky songs and playing guitar. Performing a solo acoustic set between Tiffany Anders and J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) to an extremely enthusiastic audience, Lord has what it takes to move to the fore of popular music while Tiffany's delicate melancholy will surely be lost in the stampede of cotton-candy female folksters. Four enamored men lined the front of the stage as Mary Lou strummed her way through a half-hour-plus set which included material "Got No Shadow" in addition to older songs like "Camedon Town Rain."

The challenge for Mary Lou will lie in her capacity to stand apart from the vast influx of female folk-inspired singers with guitars such as Lisa Loeb, Jewel, and (Mary Lou's inspiration) Shawn Colvin. If not, she will easily fall from the public's sight and be dropped from formerly adoring fans' music collections everywhere come the end of the female alterna-folk trend.

Lord is the type of performer that harder edged indie-rockers love to hate. Unfortunately, her somewhat monotonous recorded material does not do justice to her textural live performance. She used her time on stage to play up her vocal skills, and reveal a great sense of humor in lyrics which is not always apparent in the recorded versions. Mary Lou was all smiles, with an ease that swept into the audience and created a calm throughout the venue. On the recording Got No Shadow, however, despite a clear, strong, feminine voice, Lord fails to let loose the anger she speaks of in her songs. The result on her LP is a tension created by the knowledge that a potential beast lurks beneath the clean-cut outskirts of her sweetheart vocals, but is never given space to breathe. At Brownies she cut loose a bit, retorting to a request for a song she didn't feel inclined to play with a joking "I know your mother" and teasing another audience member with "What the hell are you clapping for?"

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On the other end of the modern rock musical spectrum lies the awe-inspiring Nashville Pussy, whose debut LP Let Them Eat Pussy features the songs "All Fucked Up" and "Fried Chicken and Coffee." On Saturday, they performed at Tramps, erupting into an utter celebration of biker-babe culture and truck-stop chic.

Whereas Mary Lou Lord creates a laid back, audience-interaction friendly show, Nashville Pussy are hands down, erotic, fast, loud domination. Incorporating fire breathing, woman-on-woman french-kissing, leather, satin, spitting and glitter encrusted tattoos, Motorhead-influenced Nashville Pussy have mastered an image of glamourous grit both in form and function. The attention to detail in their appearance can only be matched by their faultless performance.

Flanked by wife Ruyter Suys on lead guitar, and bassist Corey Parks, lead singer and guitarist Blaine Cartwright (formerly of Nine Pound Hammer), looks like he'd be just as comfortable chomping on a sloppy joe at a greasy spoon as positioned between two blonde bombshells from Hell. He rips through lyrics to songs like "Go Motherfucker Go" and "I'm the Man" while Corey blows fire, spit and smoke over the ultra-enthusiastic audience. I dare say this is a feminist band. By taking lyrics like "I'm the Man" and juxtaposing the male singer against two powerful women, Nashville Pussy pokes fun at male chauvinists everywhere. He may be the man, but the women seem to be the ones in charge.

A few minutes into the set Ruyter and Corey peeled off their tops to reveal leopard print and black satin bras respectively. Ruyter attacks her guitar with masterful venom, even while engaged in a tongue tangling smooch with Corey. All the while, drummer Jeremy Thompson (formerly of the Phantom Creeps) pounds out a steady and secure beat.

Perhaps it's something in the water. Nashville Pussy are based in Athens, Georgia, which also spawned the likes of the B-52s and R.E.M., two of the earliest alternative bands to find widespread success. Whether Nashville Pussy will follow in their footsteps remains to be seen.

The band took a stronghold of the audience even before they hit the stage with superstar-esque Corey Parks heading from the bar area to the stage in a black cowboy hat, skin-tight leather pants and a Kiss T-shirt, glitter adorning her arms and face amidst points and whispers as onlookers recognized the 6'3" femme fatale as the fire-breathing bassist of Nashville Pussy. As she stepped on stage while the band prepared for the performance, cheers erupted from the crowd. Psychobilly fans in requisite creepers, punks, a handful of glam rockers and a slew of plain ol' music fans united and turned their senses over to the fierce foursome as they churned out songs including "Eat My Dust" and "Go Motherfucker Go."

Ruyter, who has been playing guitar since the age of 10, broke no less than 3 strings during the mind-blowing close to this hypnotic performance while Parks proved that spitting and fondling herself are as much a part of her onstage vocabulary as the notes she whips out. I am completely sold; do yourself a favor and see this band play live before you die.