Top 10 Indie Rock Records 1990-1995

[Blake_T]

let's be uber-geekz and make listz and make fun of other people's crappy lists. this is how the internet got popular.

to keep things interesting i'm limiting to 1 record per band.

in no particular order:
archers of loaf - icky mettle (1993)
sunny day real estate - diary (1994)
pavement - slanted & enchanted (1992)
superchunk - foolish (1994)
sebadoh - bakesale (1994)
hum - you'd prefer an astronaut (1994)
built to spill - there's nothing wrong with love (1994)
velocity girl - simpatico (1994)
june of 44 - engine takes to the water (1995)
fugazi - repeater (1990)

[Parks]

Really Blake?

Really?

You touched on most of the albums that I would put on this list, but...

You forgot motherfucking Bee Thousand? The King Shit, among these Golden Boys?

Hell, you could throw a couple other Guided by Voices albums, Propeller and Alien Lanes, in there, too.

Dinosaur Jr's Green Mind, Sonic Youth's Washing Machine (on a major label so not indie enough?), Jawbreaker's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, and probably some other crap I can't think of could be in the mix as well.

[Blake_T]

yes, really

GBV is waaaaaaay too inconsistent imo to try to slap one of their records into a list like this. they would probably make a list of band honorable mentions (along with bands like Rodan, Polvo, Shellac, etc.) who never had a record that ripped hard enough to break their way in. alien lanes is my fav GBV record but i think i enjoy about 1/4th of the songs on it (but it's a GBV album, so that's like 37 of the 221 tracks on the album ).

in all honesty i tossed in june of 44 and fugazi mainly because i thought by snubbing rodan i needed to have june on there and fugazi because they're important even though i rarely like their entire albums.

i pretty much gave up on indie rock late '96 early '97. could never get into the newer breed of stuff like mogwai, black heart procession, blonde redhead, unwound, etc.

[Blake_T]

heh, you did an edit while i was replying.

don't get me started on dino jr. a couple of months ago a song was on the radio at work and i wasn't really focusing on it but upon hearing the guitar solo i immediately said "omfg, a guitar solo that bad has to be dinosaur jr." and low and behold, it was

i walked out of jawbreaker shows twice during the first 4 songs of their set heh.

jawbox is the acceptable jaw----- band to be mentioned though (they don't have a record i think is strong for more than 1/2 of the album)


also keep in mind that when it comes to music, my drink of choice is hateraid

[Blake_T]

also, if i wasn't such a genre purist/snob cap'n jazz's schmapp'n schmazz would have probably made that list but they weren't in the indie scene back then even though in hindsight they would probably be classified as indie rock (in a similar way that people try to retro-classify sunny day real estate as emo).

[Parks]

Haha, I love it.

Bee Thousand is a perfect record in my book. Some songs are certainly imperfect, but they suit the record's flow amazingly well. I think I'm with you on Alien Lanes in that it has the most individual songs that I like on it, but Bee Thousand just plays so well as a full album. I'm with you on Diary, but I don't see how you can include that and not Bee Thousand. Diary is certainly an album where 50% of the songs are amazing and the rest are kind of filler. Icky Mettle is somewhat the same, and it is just as anthemic and gloriously sloppy as Bee Thousand.

Dinosaur Jr. Yea. The solos (and sometimes the rest of the songs) are wankery, but its loose, fun, drunken, yet earnest wankery. It parallels GBV in that fashion.

With Fugazi, I'm somewhat with you. They're important and should be included in some fashion, and Red Medicine is often regarded as their artistic peak, but my favorites are the bookends of 13 Songs and The Argument. Neither of which is from 1990-1995.

Jawbox... Meh. They were never my style for some reason. Same with Burning Airlines. I don't know why, but the both the vocals and lyrics don't really seem to have emotional impact with me.

I imagine Jawbreaker shows could be very hit or miss :D

I only know of Cap'n Jazz because I enjoy a couple Promise Ring and Maritime albums, but I don't think I've ever heard one of their songs.

I'll have to check out June of 44 and Rodan. Never heard their stuff.

Oh yeah, I think we both forgot My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. Its not one of my favorites, but it is certainly a top album of the period for its influence and the way it was so ahead of its time in some respects.

I think its a shame you've lost touch with indie rock after a certain period. There is good stuff from the last 15 years, and I'm not sure exactly what it is you think is missing that bands from an earlier era have. Of the bands you listed, I really only like one album of Mogwai's, and the rest don't get me going.

[abcd]

+1 on Diary
slint - spiderland
elliott smith - self titled
jawbox - novelty
bad religion - against the grain

[discspeed]

What about the Jesus Lizard's Liar? That album rocks. Also, I don't know if Mudhoney counts since Subpop got big, but they put out some great stuff. I really liked Spiritualized as well.

[Timko]

I'm not really sure what 'Indie' means. Does this album qualify?

My Bloody Valentine - Heartless

[Timko]

If you move the date up to 2000, I'd include

Neutral Milk Hotel - The Aeroplane Flew Over the Sea

[Blake_T]

slint - spiderland

this album is technically from 1988-89 (if you count the original vinyl release)
while spiderland is a more important album, i enjoy listening more to tweez (i'm the only person on the planet that would probably admit to that).

Diary is certainly an album where 50% of the songs are amazing and the rest are kind of filler.

it depends on how many times you listen to diary. the first 50 listens or so songs like in circles and seven generally end up being the favorites. after like 1500 listens songs like grendel, the blankets were the stairs, and 48 tend to pull ahead. the only song on that album i admittedly skip is sometimes.

Bee Thousand is a perfect record in my book.

Icky Mettle is somewhat the same, and it is just as anthemic and gloriously sloppy as Bee Thousand.

i guess i'm just not a GBV-head. imo, they recorded too many songs. if you write 42 songs in 6 months and then go record all of them vs. writing 42 songs in 6 months, picking the 15 best ones and recording those.

the thing is that icky mettle really brought a new sound to the table (that is dissonant and abrasive but with pop hooks as well)... basically, i see them as one of the pre-cursors to modest mouse even if they really aren't.

What about the Jesus Lizard's Liar? That album rocks. Also, I don't know if Mudhoney counts since Subpop got big, but they put out some great stuff. I really liked Spiritualized as well.

i like the jesus lizard, but not enough to put any of their albums on that list. most of the favored mudhoney works were from pre-1990. piece of cake was probably their most listenable album but it doesn't hold up over time from a quality-standpoint like the other albums i listed.

I'm not really sure what 'Indie' means.

Indie = independent. it eventually grew to its own sound which was noticeably different from what was deemed as "alternative" music. i've usually traced husker du to really being the primary influence of 1990's indie rock.

I'll have to check out June of 44 and Rodan. Never heard their stuff.

aside from slint's spiderland, rodan's rusty is often considered to be the most important indie rock record... like ever. basically, they used to describe many of the indie sounds coming out of louisville/chicago as "post-rodan era." for people who were math rock fans in the 90's, those 2 records are quite important. nowadays this style is generally referred to as post-hardcore.

With Fugazi, I'm somewhat with you. They're important and should be included in some fashion, and Red Medicine is often regarded as their artistic peak, but my favorites are the bookends of 13 Songs and The Argument. Neither of which is from 1990-1995.

odd. red medicine is probably my favorite album of theirs but when it came out it got very luke warm reviews (3.5 out of 5, etc.). repeater and 13 songs are their only records i can listen to all the way through without track skipping.

I only know of Cap'n Jazz because I enjoy a couple Promise Ring and Maritime albums, but I don't think I've ever heard one of their songs.

cap'n jazz is probably the most important band ever in terms of what emo-core became 1996-present. yah, davey from the promise ring was in cap'n jazz... but if you want to make more links, the members also went on to form joan of arc, american football, the owls, ghosts & vodka, owen, etc. if you go back in time to what the members of cap'n jazz did before cap'n jazz, you get to the sky corvair (which had bob nanna from braid, the friction, hey mercedes, etc.). cap'n jazz played fun music that was very raw.

I think its a shame you've lost touch with indie rock after a certain period. There is good stuff from the last 15 years, and I'm not sure exactly what it is you think is missing that bands from an earlier era have. Of the bands you listed, I really only like one album of Mogwai's, and the rest don't get me going.

[/quote][/quote]

i looked for new things that caught my interest. 96-97 is when i discovered braid's the age of octeen, the promise ring's 30 degrees everywhere, giants chair's purity and control, cursive's such blinding stars for starving eyes, rainer maria's past worn searching, compound red's first 4 7", boys life's self-titled, hot water music's forever and counting, very secretary's best possible souvenir, etc. and i found that stuff infinitely more interesting than the indie rock that was being spit out at the time.

on the heavier side of things, saetia's self-titled, closure's self-titled, four hundred years' transmit failure, grade's and such is progress, etc. also grabbed my interest.

there were a few other factors that probably aided to my loss of interest... sunny day real estate's failure to fully reunite, rca's delay of hum's downward is heavenward, hollywood records refusal to release and subsequent break-up of seaweed leading to the 3 year delay of the actions and indications record being released, etc. it didn't help things that the indie bandwagon decided radiohead and weezer were the best things since condoms. the subsequent trickle down from that decision has left me jaded and i rarely find anything that stands out to me.

my favorite indie records from the late 90's are probably tullycraft's old traditions new standards, dianogah's as seen from above, jeremy enigk's return of the frog queen, modest mouse's the lonesome crowded west, and maybe don caballero 2.

btw, my snub of american music club's everclear on my initial list says to me that there probably isn't anyone more than 2 years older than me posting on this thread

[zj1002]

If you move the date up to 2000, I'd include

Neutral Milk Hotel - The Aeroplane Flew Over the Sea

best album no one ever realizes influenced a ton of shit currently on the market. it is creepy how many current artists he inspired with that album. just an amazing album.

[Timko]

If you move the date up to 2000, I'd include

Neutral Milk Hotel - The Aeroplane Flew Over the Sea

best album no one ever realizes influenced a ton of shit currently on the market. it is creepy how many current artists he inspired with that album. just an amazing album.

I didn't find it until a couple of years ago either. But I totally agree with it's influence on a lot of modern music.

[what'shisname]

don't get me started on dino jr. a couple of months ago a song was on the radio at work and i wasn't really focusing on it but upon hearing the guitar solo i immediately said "omfg, a guitar solo that bad has to be dinosaur jr." and low and behold, it was

you take that back!

[what'shisname]

Bad Religion - Against The Grain
The Lowest Of The Low - Shakespeare My Butt
Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley
Watchmen - McLarenFurnaceRoom
13 Engines - Perpetual Motion Machine
Dinosaur Jr - Without a Sound
Moist - Silver
Crash Vegas - Aurora