Enumclaw Do Some Soul Searching on ‘Home in Another Life’
Enumclaw’s sophomore LP, Home in Another Life, again delivers 1990s alternative sounds but is confessional in nature and speaks to what ails us.
grunge
The Mysterines’ New LP Is Moodier, Darker, and Slower
The Mysterines’ new record is the aural equivalent of a spooky, creaky old house—at an amusement park. It gets the look and feel right, but it’s artifice.
Cicadastone’s ‘Future Echoes’ Is Grunge’s Rip-Roaring Last Stand
Cicadastone’s Future Echoes is a gleeful, rip-roaring, endlessly entertaining beat-down of everything sensitive or delicate in our homogenized society.
The Dark Beauty of Alice In Chains’ ‘Jar of Flies’
Unplanned and unprepared, when Alice in Chains recorded Jar of Flies‘ catchy songs on the fly, they created some of their career’s darkest yet warmest music of their career.
Rock and Ruin: The Downfall of Courtney Love’s ‘America’s Sweetheart’
Concocted in a three-year maelstrom of excess, the highly anticipated solo LP America’s Sweetheart was overshadowed by Courtney Love’s erratic behavior.
‘In Utero (30th Anniversary Super Deluxe)’ Re-Canonizes Nirvana’s Best Album
Nirvana’s In Utero is both an acknowledgment of the deleterious impact of fame and a real-time endeavor to use that fame to beneficial ends.
Soundgarden’s ‘Ultramega OK’: Now With More Ultramega at 35
The fundamental building blocks of Soundgarden and Nirvana’s sounds could be found in their debut LPs, which foreshadowed alternative rock’s commercial breakthrough.
The Menacing, Grimy Weirdness of Melvins’ ‘Houdini’ at 30
Once Houdini dropped, all the agonizing over whether Melvins would debase themselves and compromise their sound petered out before we were halfway into “Hooch”.
Revisiting Melvins’ Mid-1990s Makes Claim for Their Sheer Excellence
At the Stake: Complete Atlantic Recordings 1993-1996 gathers the three album run Melvins delivered during their short stint on a major label.
Bluegrass’ Iron Horse Pick on Pearl Jam This Time
Pearl Jam’s songs are too prescient to be ignored. Bluegrass kicks butt. Put them together, and voila! Iron Horse’s Pickin’ on Pearl Jam does just that.
Mudhoney Confront Fascism and Little Dogs on ‘Plastic Eternity’
The theme of survival forms the subtext of Mudhoney’s Plastic Eternity and topics of environmental crisis, overrun capitalism, and anti-democratic politics.
Depeche Mode’s ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion’ at 30
While 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion is rightfully recognized as one of Depeche Mode’s best, the experience came close to being their last as a group.