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Episodes
J and Tim dig into the grunge, alt-rock, and indie albums that changed everything—the forgotten classics, the underappreciated masterpieces, and the legends worth hearing again. One album at a time. Let’s dig it out.
Episodes
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
We've revisited many 90s rock bands from Australia of various types, but Big Heavy Stuff is the first to nail the post-hardcore sound made (underground) famous by bands in D.C., Kansas City, and Chicago. On 1997's Maximum Sincere, the band takes full advantage of the spacious room recording to showcase the drumming via slowed tempos and minimal arrangements that spark and blaze sonically at just the right times. There is enough melody and interesting guitar work to keep the album interesting, always a tricky proposition when slowing down, but that leads to some less than stellar material on the back half the overall strong album.
Songs in this Episode:
Intro - The Train Stops Here
14:07 - Maximum Sincere
25:31 - Cheating on a Dead Wife
29:43 - May
Outro - Big Mouth
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Tuesday May 25, 2021
Tuesday May 25, 2021
Few bands are more rightly associated with the rise of alternative music from the underground to the mainstream than Soundgarden. Starting out in the mid 80s as a prototypical Seattle band backed by Sub Pop, produced by Jack Endino, and indebted to the heavy thud of 70s Black Sabbath combined with punk aggression, the original line-up quickly coalesced, releasing a slew of material in just three years. With Sub Pop in financial dire straits, the band recorded the debut album for SST, and showcased Chris Cornell's unique falsetto paired with the band's growing technical proficiency. A year later, they would end the decade on A&M records and release Louder Than Love, which further evolved the band into the metal sound that drove original bassist Hiro Yamamoto to quit, unhappy with the musical direction of the band. Within these recordings are the DNA that would lead to the breakthrough Badmotorfinger, and set the band up as the pre-eminent hard rock band of the 90s.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Hands All Over (from Louder Than Love)
14:48 - Nothing To Say (from Screaming Life EP)
32:07 - Flower (from Ultramega OK)
42:26 - Head Injury (from Ultramega OK)
50:46 - Ugly Truth (from Louder Than Love)
Outro - I Awake (from Louder Than Love)
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Tuesday May 18, 2021
Tuesday May 18, 2021
For such a short career, Jellyfish managed to pack decades worth of musical ambition and melodic knowhow into just two studio albums. The comparisons are nothing new - The Beatles, Queen, The Beach Boys, Badfinger, Wings - but while plenty of bands have been tagged with the "power-pop" label over the years, Jellyfish occupy a unique space of both defining and transcending the label. On 1993's Spilt Milk, for as much Raspberries and Cheap Trick influence a listener can spot, the band is clearly going for a bigger, more grandiose sound that draws inspiration from the stage and screen.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Joining A Fan Club
17:36 - All Is Forgiven
28:13 - Brighter Day
32:55 - Sebrina, Paste and Plato
Outro - New Mistake
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Tuesday May 11, 2021
Tuesday May 11, 2021
On their 1995 sophomore album Killjoy, New Zealand's Shihad might fool you with their opening Helmet-like salvo of "You Again" and "Gimme Gimme," two tracks of chugging down-tuned riffage with bass and kick locked-in. But this is not a Helmet clone, or a clone of any American post-punk band you might conjure, as the band shows off a variety of stylistic and rhythmic approaches that recall late 80s albums by The Cure. Somehow this band managed to slip under our radar in the mid-nineties, which is surprising considering the comparisons to bands such as Barkmarket and Jawbox.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - You Again
19:22 - Deb's Night Out
26:55 - The Call
34:34 - Bitter
41:49 - Silvercup
Outro - Gimme Gimme
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Tuesday May 04, 2021
Tuesday May 04, 2021
Eclectic bands can be a tricky proposition. Too much genre-switching and musical diversity can strip a band of an identity, with the disparate parts not adding up too much. But done right, and finding a unified sound in the song-to-song evolution, can make for an exciting listen. Luckily, with Boston's Tribe and their 1991 album Abort, it's the latter. While chronologically they're at the start of the emerging 90s rock scene, their sound harkens back to the 80s in a variety of ways, weaving in new wave, jangle pop, and underground college rock with layered harmonies, nods to shoegaze and dream pop, while keeping the arrangements tight.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Joyride (I Saw The Film)
19:19 - Abort
21:03 - Here At Home
29:42 - Jackpot
32:25 - Daddy's Home
Outro - Tied
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Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Regionality isn't talked about much outside Seattle with regard to 90s rock, but just like how the Pacific Northwest was experimenting with punk and metal in unique ways, other parts of the United States had an impact on the bands from their locales. Like our recent Better Than Ezra episode, Cowboy Mouth is from Louisiana, a state which boasts a deep and rich musical history that can't help but imprint on the latest generation. In the case of Cowboy Mouth and their 1996 album Are You With Me?, and the members' previous 80s bands Dash Rip Rock and Red Rockers, the influence of roots rock, blues, Americana, and more can be heard throughout in subtle nods and swinging rhythms. Unfortunately, some of the personality gets sanded off for a sound that is ready for mainstream radio, but also lacking some needed edge.
Song In This Episode
Intro - Jenny Says
20:39 - Man On The Run
30:27 - God Makes The Rain
34:28 - Love Of My Life
38:02 - How Do You Tell Someone
Outro - New Orleans
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Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Lo-fi isn't unique to the 1990s, but it is the first decade that the recording technique (meaning literally "lo-fidelity") merged with indie rock and take on a genre identity. Artists like Pavement, Sebadoh, Guided By Voices, Liz Phair, and more found their bedroom and basement recordings appealing to more than just a tape-trading crowd with the advent of cheap CD reproduction and small labels with better distribution. But it begs the question - is lo-fi simply a recording technique based on circumstance, or an aesthetic artists strive for to attain a particular emotional effect.
Song In This Episode
Intro - I Am A Scientist by Guided By Voices
12:57 - Splendid Isolation by The Bevis Frond
22:49 - Drive All Over Town by Elliott Smith
32:37 - Losercore by Sentridoh
45:56 - Parting Shot by The Grifter
1:06:38 - Anytime You Want by Eric's Trip
Outro - Summer Babe (Winter Version) by Pavement
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Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
After the early 90s explosions of Seattle grunge and alternative rock, labels swept up bands from across the country (and globe) that had any sonic resemblance to the chart toppers. By 1994, the signing frenzy was in full swing, and bands new and old found their way to major labels. Some were teenagers from Australia, while others might have veterans of midwestern hard rock and metal bands, as was the case with Sponge. If there is a reason why their major label debut Rotting Piñata from 1994 sounds so confident, it's because these weren't first timers figuring it out. That confidence shows as the album balances tight, melodic singles with album tracks that incorporate a wide pallet of influences from 80s Psychedelic Furs and R.E.M. to 90s shoegaze and metal.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Molly
16:32 - Miles
18:00 - Neenah Menasha
28:00 - Giants
31:36 - Pennywheels
Outro - Drowned
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Monday Apr 05, 2021
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Bands only get to make their debut album once, but for Jimmie's Chicken Shack, a few practice swings paid off. Taking tracks from several low-profile independent releases and combining them for the 1997 major label debut means the material on Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope sounds refined and well-thought-out without being stale and lifeless. Unlike some contemporaries who relied on thick, down-tuned guitars to push their angst, JCS work in layers of intricate guitar leads that recall 1970s progressive rock or 90s math rock but with a funk metal twist.
Songs In This Episode
Intro - High
21:00 - Dropping Anchor
24:16 - When You Die You're Dead
33:14 - This Is Not Hell
36:02 - Milk
Outro - Hole
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Tuesday Mar 30, 2021
Tuesday Mar 30, 2021
We've listened to plenty of Australian 90s rock that made little to no impact in the United States many times but rarely has a band sounded so US-based in its influences as Hoss. On their third album Bring On The Juice, swinging punk rhythms recall Detroit's 70s action rock scene, while more dissonant moments sound like pre-90s grunge from the likes of Mudhoney or early Dinosaur Jr. Attitude, confidence, and swagger abound on these eleven tracks, sometimes leading the band into overly long excursions that could use some trimming. But overall, Hoss finds a way to sound off the moment and timeless concurrently, not an easy feat to pull off.
Songs In This Episode
Intro - 11:11 Again
21:36 - Mighty Hand
28:04 - Lip From Lip
31:27 - Gentle Claws
Outro - The Tiredest Man Awake
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.