I’ve been listening to all the albums that I own. I am currently making my way through years ending in 4.
Melvins – Stoner Witch I equate this to Black Sabbath’s “Master or Reality” it’s the idea of what everyone thinks Sabbath sounds like. “Stoner Witch is that for the Melvins.
Material Issue – Freak City Soundtrack Their third album of that 1990s heavy punk infused power-pop. They also like songs with woman’s names in them.
Mary Beats Jane – Mary Beats Jane A stylistically all-over-the-place album, I’d say alt metal but there’s thrash, grunge in it too. Features Peter Dolving before he joined the Haunted,
Magnapop – Hot Boxing Excellent punk-pop-indie-rock with Bob Mould producing.There a line in one of the songs I love “Kick that dog and you will die”
Madder Rose – Panic On Pleasent 90s indie rock that I’m on the fence about booting from my collection.
Lush – Split The quintessential Lush album. 90s shoegaze is the best shoegaze.
Low – I Could Live in Hope Usually I only listen to Low in the Fall and Winter. Twice in one week is dragging my summer to a crawl.
(The London) Suede – Dog Man Star Got this cheep and I dig. It goes off the theatrical deep end on the second half though. Top notch pop rock jams on the first half.
I’ve been listening to all the albums that I own. I am currently making my way through years ending in 4.
These were originally posted on Mastodon, so one big post. I’ll post when I listen from now on.
August 12
Pale Saints – Slow Buildings Their last album and without Ian Masters so a kind of different band. All being said may be my favorite or theirs.
Page & Plant – No Quarter The second best MTV Unplugged (UnLedded) album. A fun surprise at the time.
Nova Mob – Nova Mob Second album by the Grant Hart lead band. Not as good as The Last Days of Pompeii, but worth your time.
Nirvana – MTV Unplugged In New York The best MTV Unplugged album.
NineI nch Nails – The Downward Spiral Everything NIN is about is in the first three releases. They get repetitious for me after this.
New Raidant Storm King – August Revital Sonic Youth worship, it’s OK. The next album “Hurricane Necklace” is the one you want to check out.
New Order – (The Best of) New Order I’m more a Joy Division guy. Thus the best of.
Mercyland – Spillage David Barbe better know as the basist for Sugar. A few stand out tracks.
August 11
Polvo – Celebrate the New Dark Age Warped, psychedelic noise rock from Chapel Hill, NC.
Pitchblende – Au Jus If a Discord band turned into a noise band. Yes they are from Washington DC. No they’re not on Discord.
Penance – Parallel Corners The lone outlier. Traditional doom from former Dream Death members.
Panel Donor – s/t Lawrence KS has their own special kind of noise. I put out a split with this band. Another band from Lawrence to check out is Zoom.
August 10
Queensryche – Promise Land Their last good album. Less of a clinical production here.
Pure Joy – Unsung Rusty Willoughby of Flop, Fastback, Llama. This is more straightforward 90s power-pop.
Punchdrunk – From Dad Milwaukee ex-pats. Melodic angular indie rock. The Replacements meet Jawbox?
Portishead – Dummy Sour Times is an all time favorite. Friends at the time gave me the business for liking this. Not sure what their problem was.
August 9
Sebadoh – Bakesale Easily their best, rivals Dino Jr. None of that fucking around noise crap and ditched the lo-fi.
Samiam – Clumsy Melodic Post-Hardcore? I won’t call them the e-word. Their best.
Rodan – Rusty Slint meets Shellac. Prime Touch & Go.
REM – Monster Peter Buck overdosing on a tremolo pedal. This is a boring album. The most popular R.E.M. is the worst.
August 5
Solitude Aeturnus – Through the Darkest Hour Doom in the Dio Sabbath fashion.
Smashing Pumpkins – Pisces Iscariot Odds and Ends. I only need their first two.
Silkworm – Libertine Noisy 90s Guitar indie rock. The smarmy, slacker kind. I want to like it. I don’t.
Shudder To Think – Pony Express Record The question is can you deal with the vocals? When I’m in the mood. Outside the first album this may be their best.
AUGUST 4
Versus – The Stars are Insane I keep this for the song Blade of Grass, the rest isn’t so good. Quieter end of the loud quiet indie rock of the time kind of like a twee Seam or Codeine.
The Veldt – Afrodisiac What if you crossed Shoegaze with R&B?
Various Artist – Working Holiday Simple Machines Comp of singles and live tracks.
Various Artists – If I Were a Carpenter The 90s loved its tribute albums. Saved by Sonic Youth’s “Superstar” which is one of my favorite covers ever.
Thirty Ought Six – Bosozoku Cross between Fugazi and Tad, throw in a little Sunny Day Real Estate.
Superchunk – Foolish Breakup Superchunk isn’t for me. They righted the ship on “Here’s Where the Strings Come In”.
Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary Say what you’d like it’s not emo. Grunge arena rock? Sure.
Sugar – File Under Easy Listening The least of the Sugar releases. No one wanted to hear anyone but Bob sing.
Steel Pole Bath Tub – Some Cocktail Suggestions Albini recording doesn’t do it, go listen to the Miracle of Sound in Motion instead.
Soundgarden – Superunknown This album is way too long and way too normal, all the edges are buffed off. 4th of July is great though.
Sonic Youth – Experimental Jetset and No Star Good not great.
AUGUST 1
Wool – Box Set This is pretty much Scream doing grunge/stoner rock)
On Mastodon people post a theme for the week of a five song playlist on Thursdays. I did two for this week as too many songs to whittle down.
Shadow
1. You Cast Long Shadows – Arabrot 2. Peter Pan’s Shadow – Compound Red 3. Shadow of a Fool – D.I. 4. Shadow From Mordor – Sacrilege 5. I Lived My Life to Stand in the Shadow of Your Heart – A Place to Bury Strangers
Albums released on August 13th that are in my collection.
The Beatles – Help! (1965) Sometime my favorite, usually the best pre-Rubber Soul album.
Flo & Eddie – Moving Targets (1976) A bit fun, a bit schmaltzy. These guys probably sang on a record you own. They were also in the Turtles
The Cure – Head on the Door (1985) When you want a far less drab Cure.
Twisted Sister – Love is for Suckers (1987) Actually a Dee Schneider solo album. Pop metal. Meh.
The Pixies – Bossonova (1990) If you ask what my favorite Pixies album is this will most likely be the answer.
Low – The Curtain Hits the Cast (1996) The slowest and quietest of the slow core. Fragile and pretty. I fell asleep at not one but two different shows of theirs.
Every week Apple Music makes a Friends Mix. Each week I will make off the cuff “reviews” of the songs in this list. As Apple Music likes to put the same bands on the list often, so I will skip some of the tracks.
Les Savy Fav “Void Moon” I try liking this band every once in a while. Nothing once again. Like a pop-punk version of Fugazi. 40 seconds.
Alan Sparhawk “Can U Hear” All the bullshit vocoder electronic stuff that was on the recent Low albums. Sounds like a hip-hop backing track. 40 seconds.
Polvo “The Purple Bear” North Carolina’s Sonic Youth? Even more atonal. This is a wobbly one. Love it. Listened to it all.
Drive Like Jehu “Super Unison” You should own both Drive Like Jehu albums. Angular and powerful 90s DC like post-hardcore. Listened to it all.
Lungfish “Seek Sound Shelter” See previous Hate My Friends post. Skipped.
Soul Side “Pocket Hurts” Influenced slightly by Fugazi. They’ve got their own spin on it, so more than a clone. They turned into Girls Against Boys, well some of the members. Listened to it all.
Arcwelder “The Carpal Tunnel Song” I listened to them a ton in the 90s, still great. What if you took Husker Du “Flip Your Wig” and mixed in some Big Black, you get Arcwelder. Listened to it all.
Sebadoh “Mystery Man” Bakesale is the best Sebadoh record by a mile. Fully realized and nothing that seems like a joke song. Not the best song on the record. Listened to all of it.
The Breeders “Forced to Drive” As I just told someone all you need from The Breeders is “Safari” ep, “Pod”, and “Last Splash”. It’s fine. Listened to a a minute fourth-eight.
Husker Du “Don’t Want to Know if You’re Lonely” One of the greatest songs ever recorded. A Grant Hart jam. Listened to all of it.
Wipers “Someplace Else” Not familiar with later Wipers. Not as urgent but still sounds like the Wipers. Will have to investigate. Not as good as the early stuff, a little too alt-rock. Listened to it all.
Hum “Why I Like Robins” My Bloody Valentine playing Slayer? The other way around? Regardless, fucking great. How to be heavy without being heavy metal. Listened to all of it.
Unwound “Kantina” I try and I try. Nothing that makes it stick for me. They fit in that Fugazi / Drive Like Jehu sound. Listened to it all.
Crooked Fingers “Big Darkness” Archers of Loaf are one of my favorite bands. This is what Eric Bachman did after the band originally spit. I dig the first two albums but this ventures into Springsteen territory. Listened to it all.
Portastatic “Sour Shores” Mac from Superchunk. I’d rather listen to Superchunk. Listened to 59 seconds.
Voxtrot “Fast Asleep” Always thought this was post punk. guess not, jangly indie rock. Listened to a minute and five seconds.
Built to Spill “Hindsight” You don’t need any Built to Spill after “Ancient Melodies of the Future”. This is from after that. 30 seconds.
Versing “By Design” Decent 90s Sonic Youth worship. Listened to it all.
David Nance “Negative Boogie” New to me. I kind of like it and hate it at the same time. It wore out it’s welcome. Definitely unique. 1:25.
Guided by Voices “Romeo Surgen” Not sure who’s still buying GBV, but it sure seems to have run it course. 53 seconds.
Cocteau Twins “Garlands” One of the parents of shoegaze. Kind of like the dreamy Cure stuff but with a drum machine, Listened to it all.
Metallica “The Wait” From the last great thing Metallica did. A great cover of the Killing Joke song. Listened to it all.
7 Seconds “It All Makes Less Sense Now” When they decided to be U2. Kevin isn’t much of a singer, better as a shouter. 1:15.
Rolling Stones “Midnight Rambler” I’m a “greatest hits” Stones fan, This is a “greatest hit”. Listened to it all.
