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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 Aug 21, 2018
Tuesday Aug 21, 2018
When musicians aren't busy writing, recording and touring with their main band, often times you'll find them in side projects, mixing it up with new sounds and new collaborators. The 1990s were no different, as folks from the biggest bands to lesser known indie artists often found a new creative outlet outside their main gig. But what exactly makes it a side project, as opposed to just putting out a solo album, or recording with a fabled "super group?" We try to lay down some (admittedly) shaky criteria to figure out what makes a side project, revisiting those that worked, a few that didn't, some that left us scratching our heads and some that left us wanting more.
Intro - Side Project Medley (Friends Of P by The Rentals, Hunger Strike by Temple Of The Dog, Tipp City by The Amps)
7:17 - That's Just How That Bird Sings by The Twilight Singers
20:06 - Gimme Indie Rock by Sebadoh
26:48 - Wasting Away by Nailbomb
40:57 - Song For A Dead Girl by Three Fish
46:54 - 20th Century by Brad
Outro - Yoo Hoo by Imperial Teen
Tuesday Aug 14, 2018
Tuesday Aug 14, 2018
After Nirvana exploded in the 1990s, bands across the globe got signed for sounding just enough like the Kurt, Krist, and Dave, an inevitable result of major labels hoping to find "the next Nirvana." It was also inevitable that young artists would be influenced by the band dominating radio and MTV, and so began the delicate balance of imitation and influence, recycling and reinterpretation. On their sophomore album Into The Pink, Verbena had a lot to shoulder. With the multi-pronged assault of electronica, nu-metal and manufactured pop, some decried the end of rock'n'roll in the later half other decade, and searched for a savior. With a single that tipped a nod to Cobain vocally and Nirvana sonically, and with Dave Grohl onboard as producer, the hype machine declaring Verbena to be "the next Nirvana" was in full swing, coloring the band before most got to hear the record in full. We try to get beneath the marketing and figure out what really worked, what didn't, and why rock music fans in general are so intent on tearing down the latest thing.
Intro - Into The Pink
15:09 - Baby Got Shot
19:06 - John Beverly
24:41 - Monkey, I'm Your Man
Outro - Pretty Please
Tuesday Aug 07, 2018
Tuesday Aug 07, 2018
On their 1996 major label debut Tin Cans With Strings To You, the Sacramento, CA band Far find themselves at an interesting crossroads. By this point in the decade, grunge is well past its expiration date, so how do you describe a rock band that can synthesize New York City post-hardcore and Washington D.C. emo, with hints of the burgeoning San Diego screamo scene? Thanks to our Patreon patrons suggestion, we revisit a record that on the surface hits all of our respective musical sweet spots, but gave us some some head scratching moments as well with regard to production choices and track list order.
Intro - Love, American Style
13:14 - Girl
22:30 - Celebrate Her
36:25 - Joining The Circus
Outro - Seasick
Tuesday Jul 31, 2018
Tuesday Jul 31, 2018
For the tens of thousands of bands who signed to a major label, put out a record, scored a minor hit and disappeared, there just as many divergent stories of what happened after the temporary spotlight dimmed. In the case of Jonny Polonsky, his tale started in the suburbs of Chicago, home recording cassette albums as a teen in his bedroom and dialing up famous guitarists for feedback, which lead him to move to Boston, the support of Frank Black of the Pixies, and a deal with Rick Rubin's American Recordings. His 1996 debut Hi My Name Is Jonny scored a college radio hit with "In My Head," but like so many in the mid and late 90s music industry machine, the churn happened quickly and soon after he find be looking to new outlets for releasing music and relocating to Los Angeles to start anew. There is a chance you've heard or seen Jonny in the 2000s without even realizing it, playing on records by Pete Yorn, Puscifer, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, Minnie Driver and more, while hitting the road with many more. Jonny shares with us his story, his approaches to songwriting, recording, learning new instruments, his love of David Bowie's side-project Tin Machine, and much much more.
Intro - In My Mind
Outro - Love Lovely Love
Tuesday Jul 24, 2018
Tuesday Jul 24, 2018
When an established name like Trent Reznor shows up in the credits of a 90s industrial album, the natural starting point is to compare it Nine Inch Nails. But what about when the artist is not a contemporary or disciple, but a predecessor? That's the case with Kevin McMahon, veteran of new wave group Lucky Pierre going back to the 70s, and where the Reznor connection occurs in the late 80s. Thanks to having over a decade worth of experience, on the 1995 eponymous debut by Prick, Reznor acts as less an overwhelming force upon McMahon and his band and more of a slightly different flavor. It's not hard to pick out which tracks Reznor had a hand in, but compared to the majority of the album, they pair nicely with the overall experience rather than stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. While so many industrial acts can either get weighted down by lyrical dreariness, musical repetition or underwhelming vocal performances, McMahon uses his new wave background wisely, crafting melodic hooks and not losing the rock aspect of industrial rock thanks to some well-produced guitar riffing.
Intro - Animal
9:36 - Tough
12:19 - Crack
14:44 - Other People
18:12 - No Fair Fights
25:42 - I Apologize
Outro - I Got It Bad
Tuesday Jul 17, 2018
Tuesday Jul 17, 2018
In the first of a new roundtable series, we're taking a look back at the 90s origins of Spoon, and how they went from devotees of Frank Black and Robert Pollard, to one of the most consistently interesting and successful bands of the 2000s. Britt Daniel and Jim Eno, the core singer/songwriter/guitarist and drummer/producer of Spoon, have been at it for almost thirty years. In the 2000s, starting with Girls Can Tell, and up to their most recent release Hot Thoughts, the band has managed to expertly toe the line between slick songwriting worthy of radio, television and film placement, while keeping a shape-shifting edge that expertly slips back and forth between minimalist and embellished production, tied together with Daniel's emphatic but easy on the ears delivery that manages to inhabit Ray Davies, Tom Petty and Prince all at the same time. But before they began their run of successful 2000s releases, the band was almost another tragic tale of the 1990s major label signing frenzy, bouncing between taste-maker Matador for their debut Telephono and EP Soft Effects, to then jump to the majors on A Series Of Sneaks at Elektra that saw them dropped four months after their sophomore release. Like so many before that have carved out long careers, the early years of Spoon reveal a band struggling to channel their influences into something wholly unique while Daniel's begins the process of finding his own voice.
Intro - Utilitarian (A Series Of Sneaks)
14:42 - Theme To Wendell Stivers (Telephono)
18:54 - Nefarious (Telephono)
22:43 - Mountain Of Sound (Soft Effects EP)
33:49 - The Minor Tough (A Series Of Sneaks)
47:39 - Metal Detektor (A Series Of Sneaks)
Outro - The Agony Of Laffitte (Laffitte 7" single)
Tuesday Jul 10, 2018
Tuesday Jul 10, 2018
Let's get this out of the way - thanks to the ridiculous nature of regional rights and legal mumbo-jumbo surrounding album releases, we are occasionally stuck reviewing the edited and inferior US release of an album rather than the original UK or Australian version that the artist intended. That's what happened when one of our Patreon patrons selected the sophomore album Six by Mansun for us to check out. The original 1998 UK release features extra songs, a different track list and mixes, and is overall considered to the superior to the chopped-down and rearranged US version released in 1999. Back in the day, we would have made a visit to the local Virgin Megastore and dropped twenty to thirty bucks on an important version, but that option is long gone, so we're playing the hand as dealt. While the band made no secret on their debut Attack of the Grey Lantern that straight-up Brit-pop was of no interest, the band managed to craft radio-friendly pop melodies with twisted instrumentation and odd embellishments. Six takes it one step further, honing the pop songs while doubling-down on the twisted and odd, taking long divergences into instrumental passages, drastic tempo shifts and, uh, The Nutcracker?
Intro - Six
14:23 - Negative
20:23 - Legacy
26:06 - Anti-Everything
34:48 - Being A Girl
Outro - Fall Out
Tuesday Jul 03, 2018
Tuesday Jul 03, 2018
Mark E. Smith of The Fall was a divisive character, turning people on or off with his kinetic one-note, occasionally slurred, stream of consciousness vocal delivery. After a decade and a half of abrasive post punk, line-up changes and restlessness led to a stylistic change, accounting for several electronic and IDM influenced albums. 1993's The Infotainment Scan falls into this era, while still featuring a jagged guitar line, clean (or sterile) production on programmed drums and synth keyboards dominates the overall sound, featuring odd cover song choices and sonic stretches that left us scratching our heads. There's a lovable cantankerous aspect to Smith's vocals that endears us to his limitations, but hearing the band go full rave seemed to a bridge too far.
Intro - Paranoia Man In Cheap Sh*T Room
14:17 - Glam Racket
19:30 - It's a Curse
28:44 - Ladybird (Green Grass)
Outro - Lost In Music
Tuesday Jun 26, 2018
Tuesday Jun 26, 2018
The story of The Nixons is not unlike a number of 1990s bands. Record some demos and release them on your own, find a small regional label to release your first album recorded on a shoe-string budget, get some buzz, the major labels swoop in, offer to re-release the album with a few new tracks, new cover art and a fresh mastering job, then throw out a single or two in hopes of a "next big thing" hit, only to see the follow-up album a year or two later (if they got one) get lackluster promotion and be promptly dropped. If bands like this were lucky, they managed one single that made an impression. With their 1995 album Foma, The Nixons managed just that with "Sister," which finds itself at the perfect crossroad of early Pearl Jam earnestness and Matchbox 20 radio pleasantry. What struck us and our guest about Foma was not the second wave of grunge sound that pins it so specifically to the decade, but the unexpected amount of social and political commentary in the lyrics that come across equally daring and off-putting. Listeners can still hear "Sister" on alternative rock radio stations across the country today, but thanks to a sound that covers all the 90s alternative rock touchstones, do they even know their listening to The Nixons?
Intro - Sister
17:37 - Sweet Belief
30:45 - Drink The Fear
Outro - Happy Song
Tuesday Jun 19, 2018
Tuesday Jun 19, 2018
Fini Scad only managed to release one album during their short existence, but thanks to one of our listeners we're giving it a new lease on life. 1998's Wider Screen, and their EP from two years early, got the band onto Australian radio and television, but they burned out quickly and were gone the same year the album came out. We don't know what exactly happened, but we do know they left behind an interesting album, partially thanks to the production work of John Agnello (Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur Jr.), who helps gives the guitars twin guitar attack the right amount of punch. Singer/guitarist Dave Thomas kept us guessing, as his vocals morphed from bellowing hard rock one moment to whispered and intimate the next, which worked on most if not all the album. As our listener noted, it's a shame Fini Scad never managed to follow-up Wider Screen, because what they do well could have easily been refined and expanded upon, and the few nitpicks we had could easily be rectified.
Intro - Coppertone
5:45 - Sonic Boy
8:13 - Just A Show
17:12 - Wider Screen
20:27 - It's Not Real
Outro - More Of The Same