Girls Against Boys - Venus Luxure No.1 Baby (1994)

Who knows what did the trick -- maybe it was just jumping labels to Touch & Go -- but when Girls Against Boys released Venus Luxure, it was clear that the quartet had really turned into something spectacular. Avoiding the clichés of early-'90s indie rock for its own surly, charismatic edge, Girls Against Boys here kicked out the jams like nobody's business. Ted Niceley helped out Janney with the recording, and together they got an amazing sound out of the band, its now thoroughly bass-heavy approach (Janney was now specifically credited with the instrument along with Temple) brawling like a bastard. A comparison to Flipper could be made, but instead of the generally slow, death-march tempos of that act, Girls Against Boys always keep moving, a dark death dance. McCloud, happily, was now a much more distinct singer, his voice deeper but still attractively ragged and right, whispering or spitting out sometimes cryptic lyrics about emotional confrontation and the vagaries of life. His nods to '60s lounge culture -- a thematic fascination that would grow even stronger over time -- crop up at points here, even if the whole atmosphere is more like Sinatra mean drunk and out for blood, lots of it. The band comes up with music that sometimes echoes it as well; imagine it's midnight at a bar, the lights are low and red, and mean-looking guys in the corner stare menacingly -- that's the spirit informing songs like the slow, threatening "Satin Down" and "Get Down." Janney's abilities on keyboards, meanwhile -- check the abbreviated, looped drones on "Go Be Delighted" -- gave the band an even further edge, unsettled and certainly not like many other bands in its general milieu. Add in some full-on rockers like "Let Me Come Back" and the focused snap of "Bulletproof Cupid," and the result is a stone-cold classic. Source: [AMG]

Girls Against Boys - Rockets Are Red


Track Listing
1. In Like Flynn
2. Go Be Delighted
3. Rockets Are Red
4. Satin Down
5. Let Me Come Back
6. Learned It
7. Get Down
8. Bullet Proof Cupid
9. Seven Seas
10. Billy's One Stop
11. Bug House

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Supernova - Ages 3 And Up (1995)

Supernova formed in 1989 by drummer Dave Collins, bassist Art Mitchell, and guitarist Hayden Thais. The band gained a following from their energetic and often wacky live performances, but it wasn't until 1992 that the band started releasing 7" singles on various indie labels, some of which went on to be major hits on college radio and with the indie music scene.

Supernova got significant exposure in 1994 when their song "Chewbacca" was featured in the smash hit indie movie Clerks. Later that year, however, Thais left the group, later to join two other sci-fi punk bands, Servotron and Man or Astro-Man?. He was replaced by Jodey Lawrence.

1996 saw the release of Supernova's first album, Ages 3 & Up, released on Amphetamine Reptile Records. A single, "Vitamins", was released, and received radio airplay. Source: [Wikipedia]

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Super duper fun! A totally irresistible pop album that is as wacky as the Presidents of the United States of America's debut, but somehow more fulfilling. Maybe it's those three or four extra guitar strings that Supernova have up on the Presidents that give them the musical edge. I'm utterly aghast that this is an Am Rep release, but it's a damn fine one all the same. You'll need an appreciation of dork rock to get into Supernova, but this is entertaining, brainless fun. Source: [Amazon]

Supernova - Math


Track Listing
1. Vitamins
2. Oreo
3. Harry Gato
4. Up & Down
5. Mechanical
6. Gum Fighter
7. Wabbit
8. Invasion
9. Best Coat
10. Drool
11. Hippy
12. Sea Stunt
13. Daredevil
14. Math
15. Mentos
16. Boo!
17. Our Way
18. Electric Man
19. Supersong
20. Close Encounters

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Nine Inch Nails - Broken (1992)

During the time that Pretty Hate Machine was becoming an underground sensation, Trent Reznor became embroiled in legal difficulties with his label that prevented the release of any new Nine Inch Nails material. But the three-year wait actually helped -- most of NIN's fans were relatively recent converts, and they eagerly snapped up 1992's Broken, which afforded the already angst-ridden Reznor the opportunity to vent his ample frustration over the imbroglio. Where Pretty Hate Machine had a few moments of reflection and sardonic humor, Broken is a concentrated blast of caustic, naked rage. Given how draining it is, a full-length album in its style would unquestionably have been wearisome, even self-parodic. So, Broken is the rare EP that's conceptually focused and complete unto itself. Production-wise, it's also a step up from Pretty Hate Machine, and a showcase for Reznor's flowering studio acumen. While Pretty Hate Machine was primarily electronic, Broken is loaded with heavy, jagged guitars, processed through a veritable meat grinder of effects into a massive wall of distortion. Each song one-ups the viciousness of its predecessor; even the two relatively subdued instrumental interludes are full of abrasive textures. There are two hidden bonus cuts at the end of the CD (early pressings had them on a separate disc); they're neither as produced nor as intense, and thus separated conceptually as well as physically. The cover of Adam Ant's "(You're So) Physical" was something of a revelation -- not just demonstrating Reznor's fondness for new wave, but serving as a touchstone for his self-conscious, glammed-up sense of style. That -- and his skills as a producer and arranger -- would reach their fullest realization on The Downward Spiral, but Broken's tight focus and frothing intensity make it a major work in its own right. Source: [AMG]

Nine Inch Nails - Gave Up


Track Listing
1. Pinion
2. Wish
3. Last
4. Help Me I Am in Hell
5. Happiness in Slavery
6. Gave Up
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98. Physical (You're So)
99. Suck

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Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

It may be a bit reductive to call Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain the Reckoning to Slanted & Enchanted's Murmur -- not mention easy, considering that Pavement recorded a song-long tribute to R.E.M.'s second album during the Crooked Rain sessions -- but there's a certain truth in that statement all the same. Slanted & Enchanted is an enigmatic masterpiece, retaining its mystique after countless spins, but Crooked Rain strips away the hiss and fog of S&E, removing some of Pavement's mystery yet retaining their fractured sound and spirit. It's filled with loose ends and ragged transitions, but compared to the fuzzy, dense Slanted, Crooked Rain is direct and immediately engaging -- it puts the band's casual melodicism, sprawling squalls of feedback, disheveled country-rock, and Stephen Malkmus' deft wordplay in sharp relief. It's the sound of a band discovering its own voice as a band, which is only appropriate because up until Crooked Rain, Pavement was more of a recording project between Malkmus and Scott Kannberg than a full-fledged rock & roll group. During the supporting tour for Slanted, Malkmus and Kannberg recruited bassist Mark Ibold and percussionist Bob Nastanovich, and original drummer Gary Young was replaced by Steve West early into the recording for this album, and the new blood gives the band a different feel, even if the aesthetic hasn't changed much. The full band gives the music a richer, warmer vibe that's as apparent on the rampaging, noise-ravaged "Unfair" as it is on the breezy, sun-kissed country-rock of "Range Life" or its weary, late-night counterpart, "Heaven Is a Truck." Pavement may still be messy, but it's a meaningful, musical messiness from the performance to the production: listen to how "Silence Kit" begins by falling into place with its layers of fuzz guitars, wah wahs, cowbells, thumping bass, and drum fills, how what initially seems random gives way into a lush Californian pop song. That's Crooked Rain a nutshell -- what initially seems chaotic has purpose, leading listeners into the bittersweet heart and impish humor at the core of the album. Many bands attempted to replicate the sound or the vibe of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but they never came close to the quicksilver shifts in music and emotion that give this album such lasting appeal. Here, Pavement follow the heartbroken ballad "Stop Breathin'" with the wry, hooky alt-rock hit "Cut Your Hair" without missing a beat. They throw out a jazzy Dave Brubeck tribute in "5-4=Unity" as easily as they mimic the Fall and mock the Happy Mondays on "Hit the Plane Down." By drawing on so many different influences, Pavement discovered its own distinctive voice as a band on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, creating a vibrant, dynamic, emotionally resonant album that stands as a touchstone of underground rock in the '90s and one of the great albums of its decade. Source: [AMG]

Pavement - Range Life


Track Listing
1. Silence Kid
2. Elevate Me Later
3. Stop Breathin
4. Cut Your Hair
5. Newark Wilder
6. Unfair
7. Gold Soundz
8. 5 - 4 = Unity
9. Range Life
10. Heaven's a Truck
11. Hit the Plane Down
12. Fillmore Jive

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Veruca Salt - American Thighs (1994)

With their thin, singsong vocals and fuzzed-out guitars, Veruca Salt may sound like the Breeders and the Pixies, but lack either band's talent for inverting pop conventions or taste for the bizarre. What Veruca Salt has instead is a raw talent for simple, infectious pop songs; the result is a surprisingly fresh fusion of alternative pop and bubblegum. Nina Gordon and Louise Post try hard to inject meaning into the sweet, distorted rush of "Seether," but all that sticks is the infectious melody and crushing guitars. That also applies to the slower songs, from the enchanting lust of "Spiderman '79" to "Forsythia," which is too close to the Breeders' Pod for comfort. But musically, American Thighs is surprisingly satisfying; it's a pure pop album masquerading as the next big thing. Source: [AMG]

Veruca Salt - Seether


Track Listing
1. Get Back
2. All Hail Me
3. Seether
4. Spiderman '79
5. Forsythia
6. Wolf
7. Celebrate You
8. Fly
9. Number One Blind
10. Victrola
11. Twinstar
12. 25
13. Sleeping Where I Want

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