Punk Rock: An Oral History – Pop Matters Review

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July 30, 2012 by A.S. Van Dorston

We Made Ugliness Beautiful: ‘Punk Rock: An Oral History’
By John L. Murphy

Imagine 150 pioneering musicians, managers, artists, and fans settled into a commodious pub. The oldest are well into their 60s, the youngest have recently passed 50. Their spiky hair might be grey, if they still sport some. They tell one by one (if such order might be imagined in politely logical, topical and chronological sequence) of what they heard in the ‘60s and ‘70s on vinyl, and the singers they watched on television. Gradually, they speak of their involvement in what would be peddled—if not in British cities and on tabloid and official media until the summers of 1976 or 1977—as punk. Continue…

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March 29, 2024

Fester’s Lucky 13: 1994

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Fester’s Lucky 13: 1989

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Fester’s Lucky 13: 2023 Year-End Summary

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The School of Post-Punk – Class of ’83 In bet

The School of Post-Punk – Class of ’83

In between Oxford, Cambridge and Hogwarts, there was the mysterious PPU (Post-Punk University) it’s star pupils who matriculated in 1980.

Unfortunately, it seems lesser genre spinoffs like New Romantics (with after school classes held at the Blitz club in Covent Garden in 1979-80) and students who flunked out attended nighttime adult education classes in Goth at the Batcave from 1982-85, got more of the glory, or at least impact in fashion and culture.

More: https://fastnbulbous.com/the-school-of-post-punk-class-of-83/

#post-punk #thecure #thesound #comsatangels #echoandthebunnymen

Bought my tix. Truckfighters! I highly recommend

Bought my tix. Truckfighters!

I highly recommend this fest. Hell's Heroes is the best festival for heavy metal, and RippleFest Texas has taken over from Psycho Las Vegas as the best stoner/fuzz/desert/psych fest in the U.S. Desertfest in Queens last year had a good lineup, but was indoors. Both stages are outdoors at The Far Out Lounge and Stage, my favorite venue in Austin, and also no overlap in sets.

Bandcamp Friday purchases. Sheverb, High On Fire

Bandcamp Friday purchases.

Sheverb, High On Fire, Ed Harcourt, Still Corners, The Unknowns, The KVB and Ephlexia (Károlyi Gábor, bassist of Hungarian post-rockers Silent Island).

Also an older release, Shlap, from Glasgow post-rockers @El Hombre Trajeado circa 2004!

https://bandcamp.com/fastnbulbous

Iconic Black Albums None more black, the blackest

Iconic Black Albums
None more black, the blackest of black albums. Ran out of room before I could get to This is Spinal Tap (1984), Prince's The Black Album (1988) and Metallica. Pink Floyd doesn't count cuz there's a whole dang rainbow in there.

Monks - Black Monk Time (1966)
The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1968)
Faust - So Far (1972)
Soft Machine - Fifth (1972)
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Talking Heads - Fear of Music (1979)
AC/DC - Back in Black (1980)
The Damned - The Black Album (1980)
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field (1980)

#joydivision #talkingheads #monks #velvetunderground #faust #softmachine #acdc #thedamned #bauhaus

Anticipated Albums The release schedule has filled

Anticipated Albums
The release schedule has filled out with some biggies the past couple weeks. I'm curious to hear Still Corners - Dream Talk, which will start streaming at 11 PM CST tonight. Their past couple albums have been a cool mix of dream pop, desert/folk psych noir and ethereal wave. This will be their sixth album.

Really stoked to see albums announced from Shellac, Uncle Acid and Dirty Three. I pre-ordered The Sonic Dawn a month ago!

More:
Still Corners – Dream Talk (Wrecking Light) Apr 05
Temple Of The Fuzz Witch – Apotheosis (Ripple) Apr 05
The Cosmic Dead – Infinite Peaks (Heavy Psych Sounds) Apr 12
High On Fire – Cometh the Storm (MNRK) Apr 19
Valley Lodge – Shadows in Paradise (Tee Pee) Apr 19
Sheverb – She Rides Again (Ladies of Reverb) Apr 20
Quasi – When the Going Gets Dark (Touch and Go) Apr 20
Black Tusk – The Way Forward (Season Of Mist) Apr 26
Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All (Peaceville) Apr 26
Freeways – Dark Sky Sanctuary (Dark Victim) Apr 26
Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror (Pelagic) Apr 26
Inter Arma – New Heaven (Relapse) Apr 26
Camera Obscura – Look to the East, Look to the West (Merge) May 03
MaidaVale – Sun Dug (Silver Dagger) May 03
The Sonic Dawn – Phantom (Heavy Psych) May 10
Uncle Acid and the deadbeats – Nell' Ora Blu (Rise Above) May 10
Pallbearer – Minds Burn Alive (Nuclear Blast) May 17
Shellac – To All Trains (Touch and Go) May 17
Ufomammut – Hidden (Neurot) May 17
Vitskär Süden – Vessel (Ripple) May 17
The Janitors – An Error Has Occurred (Rocket) May 24
Goat Girl – Below the Waste (Rough Trade) Jun 07
Dirty Three – Love Changes Everything (Drag City) Jun 28
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God (Bad Seed Ltd) Aug 30

A few artifacts from the 90s I dug out from the ba

A few artifacts from the 90s I dug out from the barn. I was originally looking for the 1994 Festival International poster, but also found the original CD longbox for Walt Mink's classic 1992 debut, and also cutouts of Nick Cave gazing longingly at PJ Harvey. That was on my office wall in 1992 -- did I do some vodou and conjure their romance a few years later? They kind of look like they're related in those pics.

Fester’s Lucky 13: 1994 30 years ago while the m

Fester’s Lucky 13: 1994
30 years ago while the mainstream suffered a post-grunge hangover, creativity was bubbling over in Post-Rock, Trip Hop, Electronic, Stoner Metal, and Noise.

1. Disco Inferno - DI Go Pop
2. Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley
3. Laika - Silver Apples Of The Moon
4. Portishead - Dummy
5. Shellac - At Action Park
6. Jeff Buckley - Grace
7. Pram - Helium
8. The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken
9. Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
10. The Obsessed - The Church Within
11. Acrimony - Hymns To The Stone
12. Low - I Could Live In Hope
13. Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
14. Dirty Three - Dirty Three
15. Unwound - New Plastic Ideas
16. Chico Science & Nação Zumbi – De Lama Ao Caos
17. Tortoise - Tortoise
18. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In
19. Melvins - Stoner Witch
20. Solitude Aeturnus - Through the Darkest Hour
21. The Sea And Cake - The Sea And Cake
22. Codeine - The White Birch
23. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
24. Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound
25. Bark Psychosis - Hex
26. Massive Attack - Protection
27. God - The Anatomy of Addiction
28. Slant 6 - Soda Pop*Rip Off
29. Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds
30. Bedhead - What Fun Life Was
31. Luna - Bewitched
32. Pentagram - Be Forewarned
33. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
34. `O'rang – Herd of Instinct
35. Jessamine - Jessamine
36. Flying Saucer Attack - Flying Saucer Attack [Rural Psychedelia]
37. Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops
38. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
39. Hole - Live Through This
40. Eleventh Dream Day - Ursa Major
41. Weezer - Weezer
42. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange
43. Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
44. Versus - The Stars Are Insane
45. The Wedding Present - Watusi
46. Starflyer 59 - Silver
47. Rodan - Rusty
48. Magic Hour - No Excess is Absurd
49. Magic Dirt - Life Was Better EP
50. Red Red Meat - Jimmywine Majestic
Shows
#1 Jeff Buckley, Hot House
Movies
#1 Red – Krzysztof Kieslowski (drama)
Books
#1 Haruki Murakami – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

https://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-94/

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 3. Laika - Silver Ap

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

3. Laika - Silver Apples Of The Moon (Too Pure)
By the time Moonshake released the Big Good Angel EP (1993), the difference between Dave Callahan's songs and Margaret Fiedler's was very distinct. With assistance from engineer Guy Fixsen, Fiedler's "Two Trains", "Girly Loop" and "Flow" were definitely the best half of the EP, where she role plays various aspects of a sexual predator, albeit one that's alluringly, if not slightly creepily, irresistable, her breathy voice up close in your ear, over a dense melange of percussive loops and samples like the Bomb Squad wobbly on cough syrup and John Frenett's dubbed out bass. These provide the template for Fiedler, Frenett and Fixsen's new band, Laika, where they double the density of the sound layers, which can threatend to overwhelm, but make for some endlessly fascinating headphone listening. The album was released five months after Simon Reynolds infamous post-rock piece in The Wire, and would have merited top billing. The Wire critics agreed, with Laika reaching #5 in the year-end poll, while Disco Inferno and Bark Psychosis didn't make the cut. Despite those props, the album has remained under the radar ever since, but deserves to be revisited as the utterly unique, groundbreaking classic that it is. "Marimba Song" and "44 Robbers" are favorites, but the whole album is intoxicating, like being lost in a jungle full of sensory overload of sounds, fragrances and colors. The vibraphone on tracks like "If You Miss" over circular percussive patterns are gently hypnotic, balancing out the more frenetic moments of the album. Variously associated with trip hop, post-rock, downtempo, ambient pop, dream pop and psych, it falls between ALL the cracks, which is precisely why it's essential listening. There was nothing else like it.
#bestalbums1994 #laika

4. Portishead - Dummy
5. Shellac - At Action Park
6. Jeff Buckley - Grace
7. Pram - Helium
8. The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken
9. Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
10. The Obsessed - The Church Within
11. Acrimony - Hymns To The Stone
12. Low - I Could Live In Hope
13. Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
14. Dirty Three - Dirty Three

Albums that are 30 Years Old - New Addition 16. C

Albums that are 30 Years Old - New Addition

16. Chico Science & Nação Zumbi – De Lama Ao Caos
I first heard of Chico Science and Nação Zumbi in 1995 on a music discussion list. I was just launching Fast 'n' Bulbous, and a couple members of Tortoise had provided an intriguing list of music artists the were not strictly influences, but simply their favorite music. The name Chico Science & Nação Zumbi stood out as a name I had never heard of. This is understandable, as their debut album, Da Lama ao Caos (From Mud To Chaos) was just released in 1994, only in Brazil. Brazilian imports were nearly impossible to come by then, and there was zero media coverage in the U.S., outside of more established former tropicálistas like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Tom Zé. Perhaps the folks in Tortoise caught their performance at Central Park’s SummerStage that summer opening up for Gilberto Gil. I was grateful for the tip, as the money spent on the import was well spent. The album was simply explosive, mixing the power of three large bombo bass drums culled from the Afro-Pernambuan maracatu tradition with embolada, raggamuffin, heavy metal, psychedelic rock, punk, funk and hip-hop. This fusion music was far more successful than the clumsy attempts of American bands to fuse rock, funk and rap, though fans of Rage Against Machine should take note. I would have thought they’d become immensely popular here. But the release of their second album, Afrociberdelia (1996) came and went with no acknowledgement here, and by February 1997, Chico Science was dead from a car accident. Just as Joy Division’s future was in doubt after losing Ian Curtis, many wondered if they could make it without their charismatic leader. Check out the rest of their catalog and hear for yourself. #bestalbums1994

Albums that are 30 Years Old - New Addition 20. S

Albums that are 30 Years Old - New Addition

20. Solitude Aeturnus - Through the Darkest Hour
Fresh from Hell's Heroes VI last weekend, I still have Solitude Aeturnus' triumphant reunion set ringing in my ears. Formed by John Perez in Dallas in 1987 and inspired by the epic doom metal of Sweden's Candlemass (who also played at the Houston festival last week) and Trouble, Through the Darkest Hour may be the band's finest hour. They recorded their third album at Rhythm Studios, in Warwickshire, England, soaking in the gloomy weather and traditional English pub ale that spawned Black Sabbath. This is my kind of rock 'n' doom, with all six of their albums containing overall better riffs than Candlemass, Trouble, Saint Vitus and Pentagram. #bestalbums1994

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 4. Portishead - Dumm

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

4. Portishead - Dummy (Go! Beat)
You couldn't ask for a more perfectly timely album for 1994. Beyond drawing from the Bristol based trip hop scene, Portishead also includes Beth Gibbons' intensely dark chanteuse fatale vocal performance (like Sade were she obsessed with Joy Division), some fancy turntablism just starting to get popular via the likes of DJ Shadow, DJ Krush and the Mo Wax label, and forward looking avant garde innovations with dusty sounding samples of spy films, western noir and spectral sounds that would foreshadow hauntology a decade later, popularized on the Ghost Box label. Boards of Canada's downtempo electronic music and Burial's dubstep also reflected Portishead's influence. The only band to top The Wire year-end poll and the pop charts. #bestalbums1994

5. Shellac - At Action Park
6. Jeff Buckley - Grace
7. Pram - Helium
8. The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken
9. Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
10. The Obsessed - The Church Within
11. Acrimony - Hymns To The Stone
12. Low - I Could Live In Hope
13. Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
14. Dirty Three - Dirty Three
15. Unwound - New Plastic Ideas
16. Tortoise - Tortoise
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In
18. Melvins - Stoner Witch
19. Solitude Aeturnus - Through the Darkest Hour
20. The Sea And Cake - The Sea And Cake
21. Codeine - The White Birch
22. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
23. Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound
24. Bark Psychosis - Hex
25. Massive Attack - Protection
26. God - The Anatomy of Addiction
27. Slant 6 - Soda Pop*Rip Off
28. Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds
29. Bedhead - What Fun Life Was
30. Luna - Bewitched
31. Pentagram - Be Forewarned

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 6. Jeff Buckley - Gr

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

6. Jeff Buckley - Grace (Columbia)
The best show I saw in 1994 was Jeff Buckley at The Hot House, an intimate venue that mostly featured jazz, folk and world music when it was still in Chicago's Wicker Park. It was a magical July summer night, and while I first learned about him because I was a fan of his father Tim Buckley's work, he appeared to be on his way to becoming a legendary chanteuse in his own right, unafraid to perform audacious covers of his influences that would intimidate lesser talents -- Van Morrison, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and THE definitive version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." We met him after the show and his charisma from the performance continued to radiate in person so much that when he flirted with my date, I was like, okay, that's a throuple situation I might consider. His sole studio album boils over with confidence and swagger, his classic rock of "Mojo Pin," "The Last Goodbye" and "So Real," adorned with ornate, sensual touches of jazz and otherworldly global music as well as Indian classical scales and melismas on "Dream Brother." He was touring hard and we got to see him three more times over the next year at Uncommon Ground, Metro and the Green Mill. It's one of music's greatest tragedies that he was taken by the Mississippi near Memphis in 1997. #bestalbums1994

7. Pram - Helium
8. The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken
9. Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
10. The Obsessed - The Church Within
11. Acrimony - Hymns To The Stone
12. Low - I Could Live In Hope
13. Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
14. Dirty Three - Dirty Three
15. Unwound - New Plastic Ideas
16. Tortoise - Tortoise
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In
18. Melvins - Stoner Witch
19. The Sea And Cake - The Sea And Cake
20. Codeine - The White Birch
21. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
22. Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound
23. Bark Psychosis - Hex
24. Massive Attack - Protection
25. God - The Anatomy of Addiction
26. Slant 6 - Soda Pop*Rip Off
27. Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds
28. Bedhead - What Fun Life Was
29. Solitude Aeturnus - Through the Darkest Hour
30. Luna - Bewitched
31. Pentagram - Be Forewarned

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 7. Pram - Helium (To

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

7. Pram - Helium (Too Pure)
Unlike Too Pure labelmates PJ Harvey, Moonshake, Laika and Stereolab, Pram never really became known in the U.S. So I'm glad they made an appearance in the 2017 book Fearless: Post-Rock 1987-2001 by Jeanette Leech. Inspired by early The Raincoats and The Slits, their dark, macabre music took a playful approach with unusual instruments, some of them toys. Despite the "carousel-from-hell" motif gone wonky, there is also a warm, friendly tone to their music that's pretty damn delightful. They weren't really a significant influence on post-rock, but it would have benefitted if they were. #bestalbums1994

8. The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken
9. Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
10. The Obsessed - The Church Within
11. Acrimony - Hymns To The Stone
12. Low - I Could Live In Hope
13. Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
14. Dirty Three - Dirty Three
15. Unwound - New Plastic Ideas
16. Tortoise - Tortoise
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In
18. Melvins - Stoner Witch
19. The Sea And Cake - The Sea And Cake
20. Codeine - The White Birch
21. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
22. Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound
23. Bark Psychosis - Hex
24. Massive Attack - Protection
25. God - The Anatomy of Addiction
26. Slant 6 - Soda Pop*Rip Off
27. Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds
28. Bedhead - What Fun Life Was
29. Pentagram - Be Forewarned
30. Luna - Bewitched
31. Solitude Aeturnus - Through the Darkest Hour

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 8. The Gits - Enter:

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

8. The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken
The Seattle music scene in the early 90s had an abundance of tragedy and hype. Somewhat lost between the cracks, the headlines and big names was the fact that the band that created some of the most enduring music was also snuffed out the most brutally. The accidental overdoses of 7 Year Bitch’s Stefanie Sargent (June 27, 1992) and Hole’s Kristen Pfaff (June 16, 1994) and Cobain’s suicide stung, but The Gits’ Mia Zapata was yanked from the world violently and completely against her will, raped and strangled on July 7, 1993. They performed their gritty punk blues outside the spheres of grunge and Riot Grrrl, yet were respected and revered by both scenes. Because when it came down to it, it was all just one fairly small local scene that was marketed with different labels after the fact. The fact that Zapata was such a charismatic and loved singer made no difference to her tragic end, which made the inflated importance of grunge in the media seem inconsequential, and the squabbling over the meaning of Riot Grrrl petty. If anything, Zapata’s murder proved how important Riot Grrrl and all other feminist efforts to put a spotlight on the senseless violence against women that had not really gotten any better in the past millennia. The documentary covers not just her murder and eventual capture of the psychopath, but the first half focuses on the creative process that produced early songs like “Another Shot Of Whiskey,” “While You’re Twisting, I’m Still Breathing,” “Cut My Skin It Makes Me Human,” “Second Skin,” and “Precious Blood.” In any of those songs, Zapata’s vocal talents can stop you in your tracks and inspire goosebumps. Her affinity for the blues approached Janis Joplin levels, while conveying emotional power through melody not unlike Stevie Nicks. She could have also been influenced by Kat Arthur of L.A. punkers Legal Weapon. Their second album was released after Zapata's death, and is somewhat overlooked. But it shows the band at peak powers, and some would argue is better than the debut. Case in point, "Seaweed." #bestalbums1994

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 9. Stereolab - Mars

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

9. Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet (Elektra)
After just one album on Too Pure alongside Th' Faith Healers, Moonshake and Pram, Stereolab quickly connected with a larger audience and moved to Elektra on Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements (1993). While that major label debut best represents their early style at it's giddy, energetic peak, their third album luxuriates in the sounds, like nestling into a cocoon with pleasantly warm analog tubes. I'm glad they did one more album with their original formula, space age pop mixed with Velvet Underground drones and kosmische motorik beats, Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hanson trading deadpan vocals like a friendly rivalry between Nico and Astrud Gilberto. Stereolab would soon move on to toy with various elements of trip hop, indietronica and ambient pop, but this remains a top notch document of their early analog sound. #bestalbums1994

10. The Obsessed - The Church Within
11. Acrimony - Hymns To The Stone
12. Low - I Could Live In Hope
13. Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
14. Dirty Three - Dirty Three
15. Unwound - New Plastic Ideas
16. Tortoise - Tortoise
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In
18. Melvins - Stoner Witch
19. The Sea And Cake - The Sea And Cake
20. Codeine - The White Birch
21. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
22. Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound
23. Bark Psychosis - Hex
24. Massive Attack - Protection
25. Slant 6 - Soda Pop*Rip Off
26. Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds
27. Bedhead - What Fun Life Was
28. Luna - Bewitched
29. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
30. Jessamine - Jessamine
31. Flying Saucer Attack - Flying Saucer Attack [Rural Psychedelia]

Best in fest so far, Dallas’ devils of doom, Sol

Best in fest so far, Dallas’ devils of doom, Solitude Aeturnus!

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 10. The Obsessed - T

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 11. Acrimony - Hymns

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

11. Acrimony - Hymns To The Stone (Godhead)
Still early enough when the stoner rock genre was not yet named as such, these heavy psych rockers formed in Abertawe in 1992, may have been referring to one of Wales' many stonehenge-like stone circles like Bryn Cader Faner, Pentre Ifan, Tinkinswood or Gors Fawr on the title of their debut album. "Leaves of Mellow Grace" and "Herb" leave no doubt as far as the band's preference of illegal substances. The band comes from a death doom metal background, as evidenced on their A Sombre Thought (1992) cassette. But their full-length album's sound was more fully formed in terms of what the style developed by Monster Magnet, Sleep, Kyuss and Fu Manchu would evolve into, particularly in Europe. And by their second album, Tumuli Shroomaroom (1997), they would challenge the originators for best album of the 90s. All the elements are here, great vocals by Dorial Walters, the guitar tones, the riffs. The best way to appreciate this is to free your mind of analysis and comparisons, and just let the stones sing to you. #bestalbums1994 #acrimony

12. Low - I Could Live In Hope
13. Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
14. Dirty Three - Dirty Three
15. Unwound - New Plastic Ideas
16. Tortoise - Tortoise
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In
18. Melvins - Stoner Witch
19. The Sea And Cake - The Sea And Cake
20. Codeine - The White Birch
21. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
22. Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound
23. Bark Psychosis - Hex
24. Massive Attack - Protection
25. Slant 6 - Soda Pop*Rip Off
26. Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds
27. Bedhead - What Fun Life Was
28. Luna - Bewitched
29. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
30. Jessamine - Jessamine
31. Flying Saucer Attack - Flying Saucer Attack [Rural Psychedelia]

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 12. Low - I Could Li

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

12. Low - I Could Live in Hope (Vernon Yard)
One of the most iconic slowcore albums ever had such an understated power beneath it's placid surface that one could easily believe it was the side project of a Norwegian black metal band. The fact that it's a Mormon couple from Duluth, MN makes Low even more fascinating. While they never released a bad album in their run of thirteen albums in 27 years, their debut was about as close to perfection as they'd ever get. Listening to this for the first time in years, the doleful melodies have been branded into my brain not unlike the best of Joy Division and The Cure, from the epic length "Lullaby" to the zen koan of "Sea." This band could sing the phone book and make it smoulder, and probably could have kept at it had Mimi Parker not tragically passed in 2022. Her contributions should earn her a place in Valhalla. #bestalbums1994

13. Motorpsycho – Timothy’s Monster
14. Dirty Three – Dirty Three
15. Unwound – New Plastic Ideas
16. Tortoise – Tortoise
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Let Love In
18. Melvins – Stoner Witch
19. The Sea And Cake – The Sea And Cake
20. Codeine – The White Birch
21. Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary
22. Dinosaur Jr. – Without A Sound
23. Bark Psychosis – Hex
24. Massive Attack – Protection
25. Slant 6 – Soda Pop*Rip Off
26. Dog Faced Hermans – Those Deep Buds
27. Bedhead – What Fun Life Was
28. Luna – Bewitched
29. Drive Like Jehu – Yank Crime
30. Jessamine – Jessamine

Albums That Are 30 Years Old 13. Motorpsycho –

Albums That Are 30 Years Old

13. Motorpsycho – Timothy’s Monster (Stickman)
No matter how hard they tried, no one was going to find ALL the great music at once in the 90s. It took me a good 14 years to discover this album, after hearing this Norwegian band's 11th album, Little Lucid Moments (2008). While most Yanks were unaware of this band, in Europe they already had the stature along the lines of Radiohead. The band was a lot, not just for their massive discography, but also the amount of ground they cover just on their first few albums, including stoner rock, sludge metal, grunge, noise rock, psych, folk, post-hardcore, doom and post-rock. In just their second album, Demon Box (1993) they already unleashed their first double album to stuff all their ideas. Once freed, their demon grew into a monster that needed an even longer album for their third to cover everything -- nearly 100 minutes. The first disc feels like a summary of all the influences that got them to that point, exemplified by "Wearing Yr Smell," the title a nod to Dinosaur Jr. It's the longest track, "Giftland" that points toward their future, as well as "The Wheel" on disc two, the longest and proggiest song at 16:57. The only track included on their 2015 compilation Supersonic Scientists - A Young Person's Guide to Motorpsycho, is album closer "The Golden Core," which foreshadows the approach a lot of post-rock bands would take with a string section and a gradually building crescendo. In between cheesy Eurovision pop and black metal lurked what would become one of my all time favorite bands. In 2010, the album would be reissued as a 4 disc box set, over four hours of music, including a scorching cover of Hüsker Dü's "New Day Rising" as well as Ace Frehley and Lynyrd Skynyrd covers. Just as I was discovering them, they were only a couple miles down the street from me recording Child of the Future (2009) at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio. Sadly I missed a rare chance to see them live at the Empty Bottle because I was out of town. Sixteen years later I'm still waiting for them to come back. #bestalbums1994

14. Dirty Three – Dirty Three
15. Unwound – New Plastic Ideas
16. Tortoise – Tortoise

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