In many ways, the Screaming Trees missed their opportunity. They released Sweet Oblivion just as grunge began to capture national attention and they didn't tour the album extensively, which meant nearly all of their fellow Seattle bands became superstars while they stood to the side. After four years, they returned with Dust, their third major-label album, and by that point, the band's sound was too idiosyncratic for alternative radio. Which is unfortunate, because Dust is the band's strongest album. Sure, the rough edges that fueled albums like Uncle Anesthesia are gone, but in its place is a rustic hard rock, equally informed by heavy metal and folk. The influence of Mark Lanegan's haunting solo albums is apparent in both the sound and emotional tone of the record, but this is hardly a solo project -- the rest of the band has added a gritty weight to Lanegan's spare prose. The Screaming Trees sound tighter than they ever have and their melodies and hooks are stronger, more memorable, making Dust their most consistently impressive record. Source: [AMG]
Screaming Trees feat. Josh Homme - Witness
Track Listing 1. Halo of Ashes 2. All I Know 3. Look at You 4. Dying Days 5. Make My Mind 6. Sworn and Broken 7. Witness 8. Traveler 9. Dime Western 10. Gospel Plow
In Phaseshifter, Redd Kross has stripped away many of the '60s and '70s pop-culture trappings that figured prominently on earlier recordings (covers of Brady Bunch and Charles Manson songs, for instance). As a result, the band (basically brothers Jeffrey and Steven McDonald) have brought their strong melodic sense, psychedelic punk/metal mix, and fine harmonies to the fore on standout tracks like "Lady in the Front Row" and "Monolith." The brothers' '70s-TV obsession certainly hasn't disappeared, though, as evidenced by songs like "After School Special" and the Partridge Family-inspired cut "Dumb Angel" (Susan Dey being replaced here by keyboardist Gere Fennelly); but they seem more bent on cutting straightforward and driving, power pop/rock anthems than going in for their '80s-style, HR Pufnstuf form of garage psychedelia, and even the paisley is conspicuously missing, replaced by t-shirts and jeans. Is the shift due in part to the pervasive influence of grunge and Nirvana? Maybe. But one should remember that, as early as 1980, Redd Kross was incorporating the same Black Flag, hardcore stylings that Cobain and company were admittedly inspired by. It doesn't really matter, though, since this album stands on it own just fine, especially considering the inclusion of one of the band's best rockers ("Crazy World") and most rewarding pop tunes ("Pay for Love"). For some great Redd Kross music, get both Phaseshifter and the band's 1997 release, Show World. Source: [AMG]
Redd Kross - Lady In The Front Row
Track Listing 1. Jimmy's Fantasy 2. Lady in the Front Row 3. Monolith 4. Crazy World 5. Dumb Angel 6. Huge Wonder 7. Visionary 8. Pay for Love 9. Ms. Lady Evans 10. Only a Girl 11. Saragon 12. After School Special 13. Any Hour Every Day*
By this juncture, you either love Jon Spencer enough to listen to every record, or you've heard plenty and are decidedly uninterested. Still, Orange mines the same territory as Extra Width, and that may not be enough. At times, even during Orange's best tracks ("Bell Bottoms"), the thin, retro-'70s worshipping sounds phoned in and lacking in real emotional commitment. But, as with a lot of junk rock, sometimes it can be appreciated for simply being junk, and that's fine. But it's likely that Spencer's core fans like the idea of the blues more than the reality. In other words, they don't mind the pose, nor do they mind the facade. In Jon Spencer's world, image is everything. Source: [AMG]
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Dang
Track Listing 1. Bellbottoms 2. Ditch 3. Dang 4. Very Rare 5. Sweat 6. Cowboy 7. Orange 8. Brenda 9. Dissect 10. Blues X Man 11. Full Grown 12. Flavor 13. Greyhound
Darlings of the press and near icons in their Australian homeland, You Am I never broke through in the U.S., and this ambitious Warner Bros./Sire release did little to ingratiate the group to an America fascinated with the packaging of youth culture. Commercial issues aside, any fan of Cheap Trick, the Replacements, and a few older stars of the British Invasion will revel in Hourly, Daily, a conceptual piece that is obsessed with the past but without retro trappings. Singer/guitarist Tim Rogers laces together complex ideas with a narrative that transforms the pain of growing up artistic and male in Australia into a weird rock & roll existentialism. Examinations of socially distorted animal fright (like "Please Don't Ask Me to Smile") are told during lonely bus rides and alcoholic meditations. Impressively, the coded messages are never overbearing, as many songs (the opening title track, for instance) are immediately attractive pop numbers that can survive by their melodies. After repeated listening, the lyrics then blur into a naked prose that's rich and almost distracting. When the narrator lifts his eyes from the cracks in the pavement ("Wally Raffles," "Baby Clothes"), the pop surprise is almost euphoric. The rest of the time, he's just a boy trying to be free of himself, hopeless about his prospects. It's all done with such grand style that listeners will never worry about the antihero's proximity to the edge. That is, as long as he can sing. Source: [AMG]
You And I - Baby Clothes
Track Listing 1. Hourly, Daily 2. Good Mornin' 3. Mr. Milk 4. Soldiers 5. Trike 6. Tuesday 7. Opportunities 8. If We Can't Get It Together 9. Flag Fall $1.80 10. Wally Raffles 11. Heavy Comfort 12. Dead Letter Chorus 13. Baby Clothes 14. Please Don't Ask Me to Smile 15. Who Takes Who Home
After spending the first half of the 1990s as one of America's hardest-working independent bands, Southern Culture on the Skids took the bait and signed with a major label in 1995, releasing its fifth album, Dirt Track Date, on Geffen/DGC that year. Dirt Track Date proved to be something of a disappointment for the group's hardcore fans; nearly half the album's songs had appeared on previous SCOTS releases ("Eight Piece Box" hit plastic for the third time on this set), and while producer Mark Williams was sympathetic to the band's approach, the slightly grittier, more homemade sound of For Lovers Only and Ditch Diggin' better suited the band's Dixie-fried guitar textures than Williams' tidier approach. But while Williams cleaned up the band's sound a bit, he didn't rob Rick Miller's hot-rodded guitar of its power to shake the house, and if the set list is familiar to old fans, it makes for an excellent "Greatest Hits" set, with the chicken-scratch R&B of "Soul City," the faux-exotica of "Galley Slave," and the slow-turning dance groove of "Camel Walk" offering rockin' proof that there was a lot more to this band than hillbilly jokes. For Lovers Only is probably Southern Culture on the Skids' best album, but Dirt Track Date may well be the best place for first-time listeners to investigate the band's enchantingly warped take on American roots rock. Source: [AMG]
Southern Culture On The Skids - White Trash/Greenback Fly
Track Listing 1. Voodoo Cadillac 2. Soul City 3. Greenback Fly 4. Skullbucket 5. Camel Walk 6. White Trash 7. Firefly 8. Make Mayan a Hawaiian 9. Fried Chicken and Gasoline 10. Nitty Gritty 11. Eight Piece Box 12. Galley Slave 13. Whole Lotta Things 14. Dirt Track Date
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
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
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]
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
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
