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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 Nov 12, 2019
Tuesday Nov 12, 2019
A lot of ink has been spilled on the biggest band of the 90s. Whether it was reviews, interviews or in-depth cover stories, or modern retrospective or anniversary pieces, it's not hard to find a "your favorite band's album ranked" clickbait article on nearly every "grunge" platinum seller. What is there anything left to say about these bands? When Nirvana's 1993 album In Utero enter into our review queue, it timed nicely with our recent Producers Of The 90s roundtable, because it's hard not to discuss In Utero without the sonic contributions of Steve Albini. For as slick and radio-friendly their sophomore album Nevermind sounded, Albini and the band take a utilitarian approach to In Utero. Effects are minimal, overdubs are minor, reverb is hardly noticeable, Cobain growls and howls with abandon. It's the sound of a band making a fast and deliberate record for themselves, with an undeniable ear for hooks and melodies that manages to stand the test of time.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Heart-Shaped Box
19:03 - Scentless Apprentice
31:13 - Milk It
Outro - Pennyroyal Tea
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Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
Twenty years ago, emo wasn't a Hot Topic brand or a nostalgic DJ night. It was the sound of teenagers and twenty-somethings taking the urgency of punk, combining it with emotional and confessional (re: not sad) lyrics, and playing to a generation of kids too young for the early 90s grunge wave. If you were apart of that scene, hitting all-ages venues or DIY punk houses at the end of the 20th century, there's a chance you caught Saves The Day on one of those nights, perhaps after the release of their 1999 album Through Being Cool. Joining us to discuss the 20th anniversary of the record is lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Chris Conley, sharing thoughts on making and revisiting the album for its re-release, the emo label, touring then and now, being a rock 'n' roll parent, and much more.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Shoulder To The Wheel
23:15 - Third Engine
Outro - All-Star Me
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Tuesday Oct 29, 2019
Tuesday Oct 29, 2019
Steve Albini. Nigel Godrich. Butch Vig. Bob Rock. Jack Endino. Michael Beinhorn. J Robbins. Sean Slade. Paul Kolderie. Youth. Ric Ocasek. Dave Fridmann. Ken Andrews. Brendan O'Brien. Brad Wood. Rick Rubin. Ted Niceley. Stephen Street. Flood. Terry Date. Dave Jerden. Alan Moulder. Dave Ogilvie. Chances are, if you purchased a CD in the 1990s and read through the liner notes, whether it was a major label release or a regional indie label, there is a possibility their name, or someone else you may recognize, is listed as the producer. But what does a producer do, and how do they influence the sound of a record? We often talk about liking or not liking some aspect of the production, and on this roundtable, we dig into what exactly that means, who does what in the studio, and some traits, commonalities, and differences of producers who worked in the 1990s.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Stuck On You by Failure (Ken Andrews)
8:04 - Rusty Cage by Johnny Cash (Rick Rubin)
17:36 - Pull The Cup by Shellac (Steve Albini)
41:56 - Holes by Mercury Rev (Dave Fridmann)
49:04 - Buddy Holly by Weezer (Ric Ocasek)
1:08:59 - Girls And Boys by Blur (Stephen Street)
Outro - Never Said by Liz Phair (Brad Wood)
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Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
When our listeners bring us an obscure 90s album to check out, it's usually something along the lines of a rock band on an indie label that managed one or two releases before fading into obscurity. On the flip side, we have Café Tacuba - a massively successful band around the world, including the United States. Unless you are tuned into the rock en español bands, you've probably never heard them or of them. While rock en español goes back decades, the 90s saw the incorporation of a variety of sounds, including ska, industrial and alternative rock. On their 1994 sophomore album Re, the band explores all that and more alongside norteño, huapango de mariachi, and bolero. With twenty tracks, it's easy to be overwhelmed, but that approach means whether your interested in more traditional sounds or newer flavors, there really is something for everyone.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - El Tlatoani del barrio
14:08 - El borrego
16:52 - Madrugal
21:51 - El metro
26:52 - Verde
Outro - La pinta
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Thursday Oct 17, 2019
Thursday Oct 17, 2019
If there is a new episode of Dig Me Out in your feed on a Thursday, that can only mean one thing - we are sharing with you a preview of our latest Dig Me Out '80s episodes. With the help of our Patreon Board of Directors and Steering Committee tiers, we're revisiting another album from the 1980s based on suggestions and votes of our patrons. This month we're checking out the 1982 album Junkyard by The Birthday Party. Join the DMO Union for as little as $2 a month and get access to bonus content like this episode, vote in our album review polls, get exclusive merchandise and more!
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Oct 15, 2019
Tuesday Oct 15, 2019
Though best known for their string of pleasant if repetitive mid-to-late 90s alt-rock radio hits, Everclear started out as a scrappy, rough-around-the-edges early 90s trio with as much fire in their sound as their lyrical content. On their 1993 indie-label debut World Of Noise, singer/guitarist/songwriter Art Alexakis was able to channel the trendy soft/loud verse/chorus format made commercially successful by Nirvana without devolving into a Nirvana clone. The reported $400 recording sounds immediate and visceral, pairing well with his matured voice and lyrical content, and left us wondering what would have happened if the band had kept some of their raggedness going forward to keep from becoming too slick and sterile in comparison.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Your Genius Hands
14:10 - Nervous And Weird
18:31 - Fire Maple Song
Outro - Malevolent
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Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
The 1993 debut Exile In Guyville by Liz Phair was declared a landmark album that helped define the 1990s almost as soon as it was released. To be a decade-defining artist can be a stifling burden, but Phair managed to release a worthy follow-up in 1994 with Whip-Smart, sticking with mostly the same group of players and studio folks for both. On her third album whitechocolatespaceegg from 1998, all the lo-fi was stripped away as 3/4's of R.E.M. and a bevy of other musicians and studio pros joined the team on Phair's quest to reinvigorate and reorient her sound. From touches of trippy psychedelia on the opening title track to the swinging sixties Baby Got Going, Phair isn't afraid to explore and expand. Layers of guitars and synths pair well with her songwriting, which switches between character-driven story songs and personal sketches of aging, motherhood, and marriage. But at sixteen tracks and over fifty minutes, the precise production can get fatiguing on the ears, and we wondered if some editing and rearranging would have been for the best.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Polyester Bride
11:26 - What Makes You Happy
13:44 - Whitechocolatespaceegg
22:02 - Baby Got Going
Outro - Johnny Feelgood
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Tuesday Oct 01, 2019
Tuesday Oct 01, 2019
Having a three-guitar band can often mean the lead singer simply strumming chords on an acoustic while the other two do the heavy lead lifting and riffing. That's not the case with Juno, and their 1999 debut album This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes on DeSoto Records. Like their then label-mates Shiner, Juno unleashes a big, layered guitar sound, but Shiner sound much leaner in comparison, as Juno gets full usage out of their three axe attack. The sound shifts from a hoe-gaze influenced, wall of sound approach that dips its toes in the space and math rock sub-genres, as delayed guitar leads bleed over lush mid-range distortion, to straight-on instrumental jams that would find a nice spot on any Explosions In The Sky album.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Rodeo Programmers
11:26 - A Listening Ear
14:55 - The Great Salt Lake/Into the Lavender Crevices of Evening the Otters Have Been Pushed
20:33 - January Arms
27:15 - Leave a Clean Camp and a Dead Fire
Outro - All Your Friends Are Comedians
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Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
What if Nick Cave or Mark Lanegan decided to record an album of Bob Marley, ZZ Top, War, and Slim Harpo covers? That's the question posed by the 1993 album The Honeymoon Is Over by The Cruel Sea, an instrumental blues and surf band from Australia that added Beasts of Bourbon frontman Tex Perkins to create a weird and oddly compelling album. Somehow, that combination managers to come together better than we could have ever expected, as the players involved completely buy into the swampy grooves with organ stabs, lurching bass lines and more. It may not be for everyone, and we may not even agree on it completely, but it's definitely worth a spin to reorient your understanding that the 90s weren't just grunge, pop-punk, industrial rock, etc.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Delivery Man
5:27 - Black Stick
14:36 - Naked Flame
21:48 - Woman With Soul
Outro - Better Than Love
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Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
On their 1994 debut album Rubberneck, the Toadies managed to score a hit single that is still a staple of rock stations spinning 90s alternative hits. But like a lot of people, that one single is our starting point with the band. When we gave the entire album a listen, we discovered a band confident from the get-go in their style and strengths - energetic, concise, no-frills alternative riff-rock with a distinctive lead vocalist. Spending time with the record, the deeper layers revealed themselves - a circular rockabilly-esque riff on I Come From The Water, nods to the blues-based thump Led Zeppelin on Backslider - without being obvious or sounding dated. But the superior single Possum Kingdom also made us wonder what happened to the distinctive and inventive lead guitar driving that tune, and wonder if this material translated better to the live setting.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Possum Kingdom
17:59 - I Burn
20:17 - I Come From The Water
22:22 - Backslider
Outro - Quitter
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