I’ve published a few of these on Rosy Overdrive by now, but for those who are unfamiliar and don’t know the drill, here’s what you’re reading: In September, I listened to one new-to-me album from 1993 every day, wrote down a little bit of what I thought about it, and posted this in the Rosy Overdrive Discord (which I encourage you to join; it’s a lot less toxic than Twitter, for one). At the beginning of the year, I did this for 1997, and in the middle of the year I tackled 1981 (which had to be split up in two parts).
I went into this exercise having heard about a hundred albums from 1993, substantially more than either 1997 or 1981 (if you’re wondering why you aren’t seeing Icky Mettle or Last Splash or Exile in Guyville or Star or any number of albums I already know and love on here, well; I’ve spent plenty of time in this year before). I was a bit skeptical that I’d be able to put together a list I’d be excited about for an entire month–I’m happy to say that this skepticism was ill-founded. There will be a part two of this (edit: you can read it here).
Bandamp embeds are included when available.
September 1st: Bjork – Debut (One Little Indian/Elektra)
Well, we have to start with “debut”, right? The last 90s Bjork album left for me to hear, and the most immediate one to “hit”. I love Homogenic but it took me a while—this one sounds great out the gate. Of course, it helps if you have a three-song run like the first three here to launch your solo career. I think that part of why I like this one is that there’s still traces of The Sugarcubes’ party pop rock, even as she’s pretty clearly “Bjork” now (“Big Time Sensuality” could’ve been a Sugarcubes song, but it works perfectly fine as a “Bjork song” too).
September 2nd: Redd Kross – Phaseshifter (This Way Up/Mercury)
Been told for a while that I’d be into Redd Kross, and turns out: I am! This album rocks! It’s a really big power pop thing, to me—the way that the band really embraces big hooks, big guitars, and rockstar moves feels a lot like modern power pop revivalists, even as the 70s hard rock/glam is a lot more clear here than most modern bands would dare. The music is no-nonsense, lyrics are…not the main draw here but other than on “Saragon” they don’t get in the way of the Tunes. Probably a song or two too long but today’s bands cutting 24-minute records could learn from the swagger.
September 3rd: Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians – Respect (A&M)
There are more solid Robyn Hitchcock albums than we as a society deserve. He’ll always be most associated with the 80s but he had an underappreciated 90s and Respect is no exception. Not here to tell you it’s his crowning achievement, am here to say that this solid and laid-back (“The Yip Song” excepted) collection coinciding with the end of his time as a college radio hitmaker is another piece of a rewarding puzzle. And that nobody other than Hitchcock could’ve written something like “Serpent at the Gates of Wisdom” and then stashed it on a mid-career album’s B-side.
September 4th: Vic Chesnutt – Drunk (Texas Hotel)
Been looking forward to this one. Love some of Vic’s other albums (Little, Is the Actor Happy?) but I’d missed this one until now. It starts off alright, but it really takes off in the middle—starting with “When I Ran Off and Left Her” and continuing through “Naughty Fatalist” is just one near-perfect Vic song after another. And they’re pretty varied too; some of them are spare acoustic Vic and others are cranked electric Vic—he’s giving the best of his unmistakable and unique performance on all of them, though. I don’t know if this would knock Little off as my favorite Vic but my initial impressions suggest it’s possible (not sure I needed two versions of “Sleeping Man”, though).
September 5th: Aimee Mann – Whatever (Imago)
I’d apologize for starting this exercise with a bunch of layups, but I’m having too much fun. Anyway: Aimee Mann is great. Jon Brion is great. This album has plenty of what I enjoy most about both of them (I’m shocked that “Mr. Harris” isn’t one of the Brion co-writes, but that just goes to show how the two of them have a sound that’s inseparable to me at this point). All of these songs sound great; some of them “hit” for me immediately, others are okay but I could see them revealing something with time, which has been a characteristic of pretty much every Mann album I’ve heard before (it’s nice to hear how fully-formed this all was on her solo debut).
September 6th: Bratmobile – Pottymouth (Kill Rock Stars)
Yeah, I can get down with this. Going into this, I wasn’t really sure what differentiated Bratmobile from the other prominent riot grrl bands—the cover of “Cherry Bomb” is a good indication of where Bratmobile are coming from here. There’s some rage on this album but it’s not really the dominant mode here—Bratmobile are a bit more interested in filtering older pop music through their setup. It’s a very fun-sounding album, and one that seems aware of what was going on around them in the PNW, with moments recalling a bit of Beat Happening (“Polaroid Baby”) and Dead Moon (“No You Don’t”). Even their more fiery moments (like “Bitch Theme”) are pretty pop-informed. Holds up pretty well, enjoyed this more than I thought I would.
September 7th: Hum – Electra 2000 (12 Inch/Cargo)
Hum! Been a fan of Hum for several years now; I think I passed over this one because I was confusing it with their disavowed, Hum-in-name-only debut Fillet Show. This one definitely belongs under the Hum name—the band sound great already. Still, their combination of alt-metal, post-hardcore, grunge, and stoner-y rock, while intriguing, maybe hasn’t progressed to “greater than the sum of its parts” territory here. Fewer instantly memorable songs/moments/riffs. Worth a listen but this band was only going up from here.
September 8th: Dog Faced Hermans – Hum of Life (Konkurrel/Project A Bomb)
Gotta think of something to say about this one other than “it rocks!” Excellent vocalist, really smooth and thrilling low-end, ace deployment of string and horns at various points, clean sound—it’s just an excellent post-punk/art punk/noise rock whatever album. If this came out today, it’d sound like the freshest thing. Been into their ‘91 album for a bit now and happy to report this one is every bit as good (and more accessible probably, so maybe a better starting place). DFH seem like one or those bands that not that many people know but those who do are really into them—would recommend joining the club.
September 9th: Superconductor – Hit Songs for Girls (Boner)
Oh, yes. This is absolutely the back-of-the-rack indie rock kind of stuff I’m looking to hit in this project. This is AC Newman’s pre-New Pornographers (at this point, pre-Zumpano also) band, and it sounds like post-hardcore and fuzz pop fighting for control with each other. This is pretty fucked up (as in they kinda sound like the band Fucked Up); or if you prefer they sound like Sonic Youth if they weren’t cool and favored guttural vocals. Is it “good”? I’m not really sure, but I do think there’s some pockets that are worthwhile even if I can’t sign off on the full thing at this time. “Thorsen’s Eleven”, “There Goes Helen”…not sure where else you’re gonna get stuff like this. Ends with a thirty-minute track of feedback because of course.
September 10th: MK Ultra – s/t (Artichoke)
This is another “early release by someone whose later work I like a lot” pick. MK Ultra was John Vanderslice’s pre-solo career band; this was their first album of three. It’s definitely a rougher, less polished version of the sound that he’d nail around the turn of the century (and subsequently move on from)—vaguely edgy, scrappy but deceptively slick barebones indie rock. JV was already establishing himself as a resident of the outer edges of acceptable society with songs like “Death’s Superstar” (a tribute to the Zodiac Killer) and “Post Office Bomb” (use your imagination on this one). Definitely loses some momentum in the second half (a bit too many boilerplate midtempo rockers), but stuff like “Twenty Seconds” is a nice “in progress” snapshot of a soon to be great songwriter.
September 11th: Quicksand – Slip (Polydor)
Even though it’s heavier than most of the 90s indie rock I like, it does feel like a glaring omission that I’d never checked Quicksand out til now. I always just kind of assumed they were a DC band (they’re NY); listening to Slip, an album that doesn’t contain that much reverence for hardcore, I get how they differ (not an expert on this, but I’d guess this is a key album on the journey of how “post-hardcore” became something completely divorced from its roots). Even if I’d still say this is on the whole “not my bag”, I can tell that it’s good at what it does—rocking out enough for the punks while remaining grounded enough for the indie rock crowd. Unsurprisingly I like the moments where their post-punk side (rather than their metal side) peeks through. It’s intriguing enough I could see myself returning to it, if more for a still-unsatiated curiosity than being blown away by it.
September 12th: Lovesliescrushing – bloweyelashwish (Lullaby)
There are a lot of canonical shoegaze albums from this year. I wanna listen to a lot of them, but I’m going to have to spread them out because I get burnt out on this kind of music pretty quickly. Anyway, this one was a bit of a slog for me to get through. Bloweyelashwish—great album title, great band name, just not for me. Solidly on the post-rock/ambient side of the shoegaze spectrum, the album kind of just feels like an hour of unmoored, slightly directed guitar feedback. I will say that it’s quite interesting this came out in ‘93, and I certainly get why it has something of a cult following, but it’s just not what I come to guitar music for.
September 13th: Cub – Betti-Cola (Mint)
Ooh yes, I’m really into this one. Pop-twee-punk from British Columbia, just one hit after another. I think Betti-Cola is half compilation, half new material—either way, it goes through two dozen great pop songs in 45 minutes or so. Their cover of Beat Happening’s “Cast a Shadow” rules so hard and helped me realize that Calvin Johnson might be my Bob Dylan (love the songwriting, can’t get past the voice), although they knock plenty of their originals out of the park, too. I’ll single out the simple effectiveness of “Pretty Pictures”, the decidedly less clear but no less potent “Electric Chair”…oh, “My Assassin”, that one rules too. Really, you can hit something great no matter where you are on Betti Cola. Pop music!
September 14th: Robert Earl Keen – A Bigger Piece of Sky (Sugar Hill)
Goodness. The first half of this album is hands-down the best thing I’ve heard for this so far. Elevator pitch would be: what if Richard Thompson was from Texas? Mr. Keen has had his songs recorded by several notable country artists, but this album isn’t hamstrung by tradition—it comes barreling out of the gate with its hybrid electric country-rock-and-roll. Any of the first five songs would be the highlight of most songwriters’ careers, there’s so much going on in all of them (shockingly, the cover of the legendary Terry Allen is the least interesting of the five-but it’s still great). The rest of the album is more laid-back, less immediate, and more ballad-heavy. Was disappointed in that half at first but I’m on the second listen and appreciating some of these more—“Here in Arkansas” especially is just about as good as any of the earlier highlights. (Note: I listened to the 2004 “resequenced” version, which apparently reflects Keen’s original intended track order. The 1993 version spread the “rockers” out more, while Keen’s version grouped them together at the beginning. Surprised that the label apparently didn’t want that!)
September 15th: The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps (Creation)
I don’t think The Boo Radleys really ever made it to the States, but they were (are?) pretty big over “across the pond”. I had this in my head as a shoegaze album, but turns out that’s not quite accurate. What it is is a very British album—there are some distorted guitar heavy moments, but there’s also (perhaps even more) a lot of Britpop, Beatles-y psychedelic pop, and even a bit of Madchester sound. Plenty of hooks here, importantly—a 60+ minute 90s Brit-rock album feels like a recipe for bloat but it appears pretty consistent all the way through, even though it’s a lot to take in and I’m still figuring it out. There’s probably a more utopian alternate future where this blew up over here instead of that one Oasis album.
September 16th: Matt Keating – Tell It to Yourself (Alias)
Alias Records singer-songwriter; got on my radar due to Scott Miller writing about “Sanity in the Asylum” in Music: What Happened. That song leads off this album and it’s as I remember it—an excellent piece of post-college rock power pop. Was trying to think of who the chorus to “‘92” reminded me of and I realized it was Tommy Keene, and Miracle Legion/Mark Mulcahy is another big point of comparison throughout the record (Keating is from Boston; this album feels very “New England”). The rest of the album is more mellow than “Sanity” and not as immediately brilliant, although there’s definitely some very good songs here (“When You Don’t Have to Work” , “‘92”, “Nostalgia”). A little on the longer side but if this description sounds up your alley it’s worth checking out.
September 17th: Madder Rose – Bring It Down (Seed/Big Beat)
Not sure if I’m gonna have much insightful to say about this one. In a good way, I mean. It’s just…really solid, sharp 90s rock music. I listened to Madder Rose’s 2023 album, thought it was quite good, went back to what seems like their most popular one, turns out this was good too. Thought they were more of a slowcore, dream-folk band but turns out they’re a lot closer to Belly-ish fuzz pop (still somewhat dreamy) here, or like if Mazzy Star were trying to be more power pop. Again, great pop songs, not sure if I’ve got much more to add.
September 18th: Hypnolovewheel – Altered States (Alias)
Another Alias Records act (this was unintentional!). This is some really great classic American indie rock. Their main mode on this one is fuzzy rock—definitely a band that heard what was going on in New Zealand and was influenced by it, and I hear Dino Jr. and Sonic Youth in here too. They arose from the same relative location and time period as Yo La Tengo—they’re sort of a punkier version of earlier YLT. The separation factor between them and most of the other basement rock bands is that this is a big big pop album—Hypnolovewheel had the tunes. First two songs are fuzz pop classics, plus “Turn You Off”, “Dysfunctional Friend”…jeez.
September 19th: Even As We Speak – Feral Pop Frenzy (Sarah)
First of all, what an album title. Feral Pop Frenzy is what this thing is, after all. Even As We Speak are still around (they actually had a song on that Skep Wax comp I wrote about last year); until 2020, this was their only full-length, though. It’s an incredibly fun listen, nearly twenty songs that veer between perfect guitar pop (“Straight As an Arrow”, “Falling Down the Stairs”, “Love Is the Answer”, “Swimming Song”, “One Step Forward”) and shorter, occasionally weirder “snippet”/interlude kind of songs. Obviously I prefer the “hits” but I can appreciate the journey…I understand this kinda thing. Alien Lanes for the Sarah Records scene, maybe.
September 20th: The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience – Bleeding Star (Matador/Flying Nun/Mushroom)
First of what’ll probably be several New Zealand entries on this list. JPS Experience were from Christchurch and put out music on Flying Nun (this one also came out on Matador), but their sound was more shoegaze-y and heavier than most of the Dunedin bands (although it’s also 60s psychedelic influenced, so it’s more like a fuzzier cousin to the rest of those bands). Bleeding Star was their final album, and it has one perfect fuzz pop tune in “Into You” that kicks things off. Subsequently it peaks very early; the rest of the album is fine but it doesn’t reach those heights again. “Still Can’t Be Seen” is pretty good though, as is the title track. The spaciness in the last couple tracks is enjoyable too—look, it’s a solid album overall.
September 21st: Digable Planets – Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (Pendulum/Elektra)
Oh yes. I like a 90s hip hop single here and there but generally don’t enjoy getting through the full-lengths (gun to my head, The Low End Theory is my favorite). This one though is definitely my speed. People who view music differently than I do would say it “aged well” (thematically as well as musically). The snappy jazz rap is cool and interesting-sounding enough to me to build an hour-long album off of, and the smooth flows are really fun to listen to as well. Other than the single “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” the songs kinda still blend into each other for me at this point, but that’s less of a complaint and more of a “well, it’s all solid-sounding” observation from me. And, unfortunately, the content about pro-lifers and the Supreme Court is, if anything, even more relevant today than it was 30 years ago. Earmarking this one to come back to.
September 22nd: The Harvest Ministers – Little Dark Mansion (Sarah)
This one wasn’t on my radar initially (h/t @trisarahtops in the Discord). This is a long-running Irish group that still appear to be going. On the surface, this album has a lot in common with a bunch of 80s C86 guitar pop stuff, albeit on the slower/folkier side and with string touches. There’s a really big heaviness that hovers over these songs, however—it’s there for the entire record, but it really overtakes things starting with “When You Have a Faint Heart” and it does not let up from there. It’s pretty serious and haunting-sounding stuff. It’s not my favorite album I’ve heard through this but it’s a unique application of some musical tools I like a lot and I’m glad to have heard it.
September 23rd: Flying Saucer Attack – s/t (FSA/VHF)
We’re back in the shoegaze realm again today. Like the Lovesliescrushing album from earlier, Flying Saucer Machine land on the spacey/atmospheric/experimental/ambient whatever end of the spectrum, although there’s more “rock” for me to hold onto with this one. Effectively it’s some heavy reverb rockers mixed in with odder fare, with the first couple songs and “Wish” being highlights of the former (and the barren martian closing track being a nice final left turn). Nevertheless it’s still a bit far away from what I typically enjoy, so it’s probably not something I’d come back to very much. I’ve liked a few FSM influenced bands in my day though and it’s nice to hear more clearly what they’re drawing from.
September 24th: Lisa Germano – Happiness (Capital/4AD)
I’m feeling pretty conflicted about this one. Like—I like it, I think that this is a “good” record, but I still can’t but help feeling like I don’t quite grasp/vibe with Lisa Germano’s whole sound. The songs on this album that I gravitate the most towards are the simpler ones—”Energy”, “Cowboy”, “The Dresses Song”. These huge-sounding, layered orchestral dream-folk pieces like “Puppet” and “Sycophant”? I mean, I see the appeal of them, and they’re impressive, but they’re less my thing. Also, there’s some “multiple versions with different tracklists” fuckery going on here—the widely available version is from the 1994 4AD reissue, and one of my favorite songs (“Destroy the Flower”) wasn’t even on the 1993 Capitol version (and a couple songs on the original version aren’t streaming and I didn’t go out of my way to seek them out—any Germano-heads can let me know if her version of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” is an absolute must-listen).
September 25th: Urge Overkill – Saturation (Geffen)
There was a time in my life where I cared too much about what Steve Albini said thirty years ago to listen to this album. Anyway, this is a perfectly fine, inoffensive, if not particularly memorable power pop record. Gets off to quite the hot start with “Sister Havana” and “Positive Bleeding” but it definitely loses some steam from there on out. It mostly just kinda feels like attempts to recreate those earlier successes but in a not as interesting way. The only song that really stuck out to me in the second half was “Dropout”. Probably would’ve been cool to hear most of this on the radio in ‘93 though.
September 26th: Stephen – Radar of Small Dogs (Flying Nun/Festival)
David Kilgour started a band called Stephen after The Clean broke up for the first time; they made an EP in the late 80s and demoed another before, I guess, The Clean got back together. Radar of Small Dogs is technically a compilation—it’s the first EP, the second EP demos, and a couple live recordings. If you like The Clean, I’ve got good news—this band also sounds like them! The first EP is a great translation of Kilgour’s poppy side—the second is too, but (probably partially due to the demo nature of it) these ones are a bit fuzzier/spacier. Great listen, recommended if you like any of the NZ stuff and haven’t heard it. The 2020 reissue has two songs (“Splash Yre Jewels” and “Kills All My Fun”) that weren’t on the original, and also, shout out to Grouper for reissuing it on her label.
September 27th: Moss Icon – Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly (Vermiform)
The music here is great, although I think I might not be able to get past the vocals. It’s funny—on the surface, these vocals should be more my thing than the skramz stuff that was coming down the pipeline, but the guy reminds me of Black Flag and I have the same problem with Rollins, namely that angsty-aggro guy speak-singing frantically isn’t something I enjoy in more than small doses. Again, though, I really do like the music on this one—really good, adventurous punk stuff that sounds pretty timeless. It wouldn’t be a landmark historical emo album if you weren’t thinking, “these vocals man, I don’t know” at some point in the album, though.
September 28th: Nanci Griffith – Other Voices, Other Rooms (Elektra)
The country-folk singer plays an hour’s worth of her favorite songs—Dylan, Guthrie, Prine, Van Zandt, and some people you haven’t heard of, too. The quality here is undeniable; these are pretty much all great songs, and Griffith largely does them justice. Definitely a CD-era runtime, although I can’t fault Griffith for running up the tracklist for something like this. A bunch of guest stars here, too—Prine himself sings on a version of his “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”, which I hadn’t heard before but I think is one of his finest songs after hearing it. One needs a pretty high tolerance of folk-pop to enjoy it as a whole (which I do have), but it’s worth a listen if this description sounds intriguing.
September 29th: Adickdid – Dismantle (G)
Eugene, Oregon riot grrrl group. Probably most notable for being Kaia Wilson’s pre-Team Dresch band. It’s a lot more…subtle? than I’d expect from “starting teenage band from somebody who would eventually become a queercore/punk icon”. This album has a slower heaviness to it—it’s some dark, dreary, probably grunge-influenced Pacific Northwest punk/indie rock. There’s a couple scorchers (namely “Ask Nicely”) but mostly they seethe in a less open way. Really interesting/intriguing sound, even as the songs themselves are mostly just okay—maybe not the most memorable on their own. Solid listen regardless, though.
September 30th: Smog – Julius Caesar (Drag City)
Bill Callahan did how many push-ups? He was how drunk at your wedding? Why is he singing about looting? And what does Star Wars have to do with any of this? Haha. Anyway, early, lo-fi clang-folk Smog is pretty hit-or-miss for me, but this might be the most consistent pre-Red Apple Falls album by him that I’ve heard (and actually, I think I’ve heard all of them now after this). Maybe the highs aren’t as high as some of those other ones, but it’s intriguing and gripping throughout I’d say. “What Kind of Angel” is creepy as hell but that’s maybe the point. Not a Callahan diehard by any means but glad he’s got so much weirdo music just sitting back here.
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