Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville [Matador 1995]
A middle-class suburban Chicago gal composes sharp and slyly critical guitar tunes aimed at the toxic and annoying men of the indie scene. What the sum total becomes is also a depiction of the kind of lives of young women who fuck and fuck up, with real desires leading to real regrets. Bohemia nothing, these are the natural and typical thoughts of a grade A shit talker who can sing. 4.2/5
Digable Planets – Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) [Capitol 1993]
Marxism and jazz-funk living side by side in the less misogynistic pre-Chronic era (not even one utterance of “bitch”) where street level tales about abortion, parties, and living day to day conveyed positivity-not-optimism. Fittingly from Brooklyn and all three have a love for naps. Butterfly is the clear leader and director, since then he’s shed that moniker and led the even more experimental Shabazz Palaces while Doodlebug and Lady Bug provide the respective perspectives of detail-oriented everyman and female fuck-you foil to his good vibes communist know-it-all. It is so good to be here. 3.9/5
Cymbals Eats Guitar – Why There Are Mountains [Sinderlyn 2009]
Staten Island band with youthful irreverence has energy and lyrics that don’t have any kind of staying power. 2.3/5
Husker Du – Zen Arcade [SST 1984]
A concept album, maybe even a rock opera, which (following the blueprint of every punk band worth talking about) featured sounds and ambition that at the time was sacrosanct in the guitar-bass-drums-vocals template in hardcore punk, from the city of Minneapolis no less. Bob Mould, ever the screamer, and Grant Hart, ever the singer, provide many instances when guitar noise and vocal melody convey the ennui and angst of being a teenage boy with nowhere to go. Along the way comes some art and some thoughts that might even be deep; “black and white is always grey”; “turn on the news”; “standing up for me and like a tree for what she believed”; “I’m never talking to you again”. It’s place as a touchstone for Gen X kids who now have 20-something kids themselves is not only solidified, it’s one of the records that both parent and child can share an appreciation for. 4.0/5
The Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime [SST 1984]
The most complete distillation any consumer will ever have of the working-class San Pedro Marxist hardcorers, due in no small part to D. Boon’s tragic passing soon after its release, is in fact a masterpiece. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. So to the uninitiated what is it? It’s punk made by a singer who can’t really sing, a guitarist and a bassist who didn’t know how to play their instruments, and a drummer who was classically trained, yielding a funk-jazz sound without the brass or piano and a sense of humor riddled with in-jokes and coded slang that tickles with pleasure. It’s avant-gardeism has already crossed over into the mainstream: Sublime sampled “History Lesson Pt II”, one of the most quotable songs of all time; one track is just called “Toadies”; oh yea and there’s this other called “Corona” that went on to become Johnny Knoxville & Co’s theme song. 4.2/5
Cosmic Hero 