Scrawl - Velvet Hammer

 1993; 12 tracks  Scrawl was an underrated grunge/shoegaze (I have no idea) three-piece band from Ohio formed in the late 80s by Marcy Mays (guitar, vocals), Sue Harshe (bass, vocals), and Dana Marshall (drums). I'm pretty sure they were discovered by Steve Albini, and their first show was a 20-minute opening for the Meat Puppets. Scrawl were active throughout the 90s, and Velvet Hammer was the band's fourth full-length. It is a simple, emotional record, containing an atmosphere potentially that of a "coming-of-age" story. I don't know. It's a river full of stories that I could relate to.


do you wanna scream?
do you wanna take a swing?

Funland - Sweetness EP

1993; 7 tracks
Just another drop in the post-Nirvana ocean? You decide.

   Download.

Mr. Epp and the Calculations - Ridiculing the Apocalypse

1996; 24 tracks

The self-proclaimed "worst band in the world," Mr. Epp and the Calculations, seem to have been the forerunners of the genre now known as grunge. Formed in the late 70s by a group of teenagers and named after one of their high school math teachers, the still highly unknown band created an EP and several compilations and tapes before disbanding after about 3 years. Ridiculing the Apocalypse, released officially in 1996, is an anthology of the group's work.

I fucking love this band's approach to music. Their music is playful, but darkly so. Many times there is a spoken intro or dialogue, one of my favorite of which is when the lead singer says to the crowd:

"Some people say, 'What good is the message if you can't understand the words?'123GO" (unidentifiable noise ensues).

Pure grunge! Pure noise! Pure shit!

L7 - Smell the Magic

 1990 (Re-issue, 1991); 9 tracks  Smell the Magic is a really awesome piece of grunge/punk/angry girl rock. It is the second release by the LA-based grunge band L7, who also founded Rock for Choice, a pro-choice women's rights group supported by another favorite band of mine, 7 Year Bitch. Anyway, this is an incredibly heavy and abrasive album full of fast and furious angry girl music.

Download.

7 Year Bitch - ¡Viva Zapata!

 1994; 11 tracks 7 Year Bitch was an all-girl grunge-influenced punk rock band from Seattle, Washington, that yielded three albums in their nearly decade-long career. ¡Viva Zapata! is their second release.

After the release of their first album, Sick 'Em in 1992, the band's guitarist, Stefanie Sargent, died of a supposed heroin overdose. Not long after, the lead singer of another American punk band, Mia Zapata of The Gits, was brutally raped and strangled walking home from a bar. These two deaths left a profound mark on 7 Year Bitch, and ¡Viva Zapata! was made as a sort of tribute to Mia Zapata. It is also the debut of their new guitarist, Roisin Dunne.

All in all, this is one of the most incredible punk / grunge albums I've heard, ever. Their sound is unique and fierce, the guitars and vocals being absolute perfection. I love Selene Vigil's voice so much - she is very convincing, and her lyrics are precise yet rugged... I think I might like the lyrics to "Cats Meow" (wow, that track... I'd give it a 100 / 10) more than is healthy.


There's so many good reasons for you to keep your mouth shut
Like actions speak louder than words
And if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all
But I can see you've got a lot on your mind
So let it drop to your throat and try not to choke

Disregard the pity if you wanna get to the nitty gritty
Can't survive in the city and still remain witty
No tough little alley cat is gonna come run to no kitty kitty
No tough little alley cat is gonna come run to no kitty kitty
So disregard the pity
Get to the nitty gritty
Remain witty

I also love the tracks "It's Too Late," and "Kiss My Ass Goodbye." If I could have just those three songs on repeat forever, I'd be very happy. But it must be said, there is no way one couldn't at least enjoy this album.

Download.

Treepeople - Something Vicious for Tomorrow / Time Whore

1992; 13 tracks

Treepeople was an American-based indie/grunge/undefinable band from the 90s. Here is their 1992 full-length album, which includes the 1990 EP Time Whore.

This is one of the most amazing things I have ever heard. In my life. Once you listen, you will know why.



Download.

Cherubs - Heroin Man

1994; 13 tracks

The more I listen to this album, the more I adore it. Cherubs is a Texas-based noise rock band from the 90s whose name is a deceptive look into the nature of their sound. They create a tasteful mix of blistering vocals/harsh noise and garage-esque punk rock, rendering Heroin Man, the band's second and final full-length effort, a work of phenomonal noise rock.

"Stag Party" is the GREATEST opening track I have ever heard. In my life. I cannot stop listening to this album. I downloaded it about 2 years ago apparently (long story) due to a recommendation from Phonsie, of all people. He went through this crazy noise/math rock phase and I wanted to copy him but couldn't quite get into it at the time (Shellac, Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Arab on Radar, etc.) Well, now I am, so... yay.

Download.

Lungfish - Artificial Horizon

1998; 11 tracks

Lungfish presents another chapter in the thinking man's modern rock. On this album, Lungfish continues a pattern of isolating crypto-philosophical songs with minimalist free-rock instrumentals. The resultant mood is somber and cathartic, focused and pointed, intellectual and freeing. Lungfish suggests simplicity as a gateway to melody, and poetry as a vehicle for intelligent observation. Single-mindedly, Lungfish combats obsession ("If love is all you hope to find / Love will ruin your mind") and chaotically they call for greater control ("Bridges crossing, bridges crossing land / Subterranean rivers seeping through the sand: Oppress yourself") over a deconstructed and unornamented rock groove. In essence, this is most likely my favorite Lungfish album aside from Feral Hymns :')

Push and pull, open and close
Ears and mouth and eyes and nose
Big and small, short and tall
Light and dark, rise and fall
(Tick Tock, Tick Tock)

Download.

Pond - Pond

1993; 10 tracks

"Pond is remembered by people who don't really know what they're talking about as a 'grunge' band, but I wouldn't call them that. Yeah, they rose to prominence in the NW in the early-to-mid 90's, and it's easy to slap that label on them to quickly reference their involvement in that scene, but "grunge" has dumbed-down connotations that I would never attach to Pond. Their music, even though it was never short on gristly, fuzzed-out tones, was deceptively intricate and fully reliant on melody over all else. Trying to compare the resulting sound to any other band is pointless, and in this case, that's a high compliment.

Pond was a three-piece band that sounded like a four-piece, thanks both to Charlie Campbell's dexterous fingers on the guitar, and Chris Brady's penchant for playing weird-ass semi-chords on his bass. (He would also use a bow sometimes.) And, of course, Dave Triebwasser pummeled the drums. That guy was the perfect drummer for this group. They all sound huge, but like I said, it's the precision that made it work. There were plenty of bands who tried to play loud, melodic rock, but Pond was just really fucking good at it.

The fact that Campbell and Brady's voices sound similar to the untrained ear made the whole thing even more interesting. Their harmonies were dead-on, and instead of their being a slight disconnect when one or the other took over the lead vocals (I always just assumed they sang the songs they wrote, and the vocal duties usually ended up being split down the middle - also cool) - like, say, on a Sebadoh record - you were never left with any sense that things had shifted. Tough to do, and a real testament to how well Campbell and Brady worked together.

So, yes, this is their debut, and though I bet the band considers this their finding-their-sound LP, it's full-blown awesomeness. (Quick aside - I went to see Pond in 1997, and someone yelled out 'Agatha' - one of the singles from this record - and Brady made a comment about how they're "not that band anymore" and they did not play the song. Hence my assumption that they disowned this record at some point.) Trying to explain what Pond sounds like is difficult, so describing the exact merits of these songs is a little tough. They're heavy in a way, but also the sort of songs that I used to sing along to at the top of my lungs. I still can. They're catchy. And the lyrics are smart."

That was taken from here, but I thought it was really great. I agree with that author - Pond is nothing like Nirvana, or Alice in Chains... it is on a completely new level, and the lyrics ARE smart! I will be listening to this album for a few more days, medititating on the full-blown awesomeness of Pond. Every time is a new experience.

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