Dope Body - Nupping (2011)

Baltimore noise rock. False-harmonic-heavy anti-riffs, spastic but in-the-pocket drumming, and shouted, chant-like vocals. If Lightning Bolt is a fistful of uppers, Dope Body is a speedball.

Track listing:

1. Enemy Outta Me

2. The Shape of Grunge to Come

3. Bangers & Yos

4. Chain Link

5. Falling Down

6. City Limits

7. Mr. Black

8. 100 Mile

9. Loner Stoner

10. Force Field

Ash toke

Also listen to:

Lungfish - Artificial Horizon (1998)

Roomrunner - Ideal Cities (2013)

Tripping Daisy - I Am an Elastic Firecracker (1995)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Tripping Daisy - Tripping Daisy (2000)

Tripping Daisy and I Am an Elastic Firecracker are irrevocably wrapped up in three major milestones in my life, thus I will always see them through a refracted lens of youthful exploration and awe, and have no ability to gauge the band or album's quality. So this post is going to be much more autobiographical than music-related. 

I met my first "girlfriend" Becca at summer camp over a conversation about "I Got a Girl", Tripping Daisy's one quasi-hit and adult-me's least favorite song on the album. Later that day, things escalated over a game of spin-the-bottle, then that night, I snuck out of my tent and asked her to be my girlfriend while we laid on our backs looking at the stars. She said yes, and we smooched. One of the most magical nights of my life. When camp was over, it turned out that she lived an hour away, so over the course of the next few months, we went on a total of three dates -- one to see Batman Forever, one to see Waterworld, and one to see an Al Gore speech (L O fucking L) -- before she dumped me and I cried for a week.

Somewhere in there, I went to my first show, and you guessed it: Tripping Daisy, motherfucker. Hagfish opened, so technically they were the first band I ever saw live, and it was literally the loudest thing I had ever heard. I was completely overwhelmed, and bought their CD, which I still think is pretty great. But Tripping Daisy blew my fucking mind -- I just remember headbanging the entire time because I thought that's what you did at a show, and getting the sense that the people next to me were making fun of me. Fuck 'em, I kept headbanging. Then Reverend Horton Heat played and we left a couple songs in because even then I could tell that psychobilly was corny af. My ears were still ringing the next day, but I was in the cool club now. (Just googled the show, and unbelievably, there IS evidence of it on the internet courtesy of the Washington Post. 9/23/95 at Lisner Auditorium. I'm reminded that Supersuckers also played, although I have no memory of their set.)

The following spring, my grandmother died. My grandfather on my mom's side had died when I was 5, but this was the first time I'd really had to reckon with death on a meaningful, existential level. One night before bed, I asked my mom what happened when we die, and she told me that no one really knows for sure, but it's probably just like going to sleep and never waking up. Her answer and her obvious unsureness were both very tough pills to swallow. With my limited musical palette, "Motivation" was probably the saddest song I knew, so I just listened to that on repeat for weeks, including on the way to the ashes-scattering ceremony.

So that's a snapshot of the life of a 12-13-year-old DEAR SPIRIT. Listen to the album, too. Sugary alt-rock with splashes of starry psych, possibly of interest to Smashing Pumpkins fans. I threw in their cover of Harry Nilsson's "Jump into the Fire" from The Craft for bonus nostalgia. Also, I'd love to hear your stories of firsts and their musical associations, if you'd care to share them.

Track listing:

1. Rocketpop

2. Bang

3. I Got a Girl

4. Piranha

5. Motivation

6. Same Dress New Day

7. Trip Along

8. Raindrop

9. Step Behind

10. Noose

11. Prick

12. High

You can be what you want

It's a matter of time

Prepare to be amazed

More coming-of-age tunes:

Imperial Teen - Seasick (1996)

Psychotica - Psychotica (1996)

Skin Yard - Hallowed Ground (1988)

OG Seattle grunge. Hallowed Ground treads in the same psychedelic waters as early Soundgarden, but they're overall looser and more abrasive -- not to mention bizarre.

Track listing:
1. Stranger
2. Open Fist
3. G.O.D.
4. Needle Tree
5. Burn
6. Hallowed Ground
7. In the Blackhouse
8. Throb
9. OP4

Don't you know they all are dead?

Also listen to:

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides
of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Fatso Jetson -
Stinky Little Gods (1995)

Cows - Sexy Pee Story (1993)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Cows - Sorry in Pig Minor (1998)

Probably my favorite Cows record, and definitely some of the best noise rock in existence. Noise-fucked guitars, a beefy rhythm section, and a vocalist who sounds somewhere between pissed-off, dejected, terrified, and bored.

Track listing:
1. Blown
2. Shitbeard
3. Doing the Obvious
4. Ch
5. 39 Lashes
6. Uptown Suckers
7. Sexy Pee Story
8. The Ouch Cube
9. Mrs. Cancelled
10. You Owe Me
11. Sugar Torch

It cuts me right in half
It does it just for laughs
It's got me in its claws
It's my one true applause

Similar energy:

The Flesh Eaters - A Minute to Pray,
A Second to Die (1981)

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides
of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Roomrunner - Ideal Cities (2013)

Possibly because I'm headed back there on Sunday, I've been on a bit of a Baltimore trip for the past week or so. With that in mind, I give you the only full-length from the best grunge band of the decade. Ideal Cities hits hard and leaves a trail of noisy little earworms. You can play spot-the-influence -- I hear a bit of Helmet, Hot Snakes, and yes, much to the band's chagrin, Nirvana -- but really, they don't sound exactly like anyone but themselves.

Somewhat relevantly: the main dude from this band played bass in my high school screamo band, and the one time he left his CD wallet at my house after practice, it resulted in me finding out about My Bloody Valentine, Drive Like Jehu, and Unwound all at once. So you can thank him for helping to point me in the right direction, taste-wise.

Track listing:
1. Bait Car
2. Vaporize
3. Bowlth
4. Wojtek
5. Weird
6. Duno
7. May
8. Apse
9. Snac Error

Nobody gives a fuck what you go do with your life

You'd also like:

Magic Dirt -
Friends in Danger (1996)

Drunk Dad -
Ripper Killer (2014)

White Zombie - Make Them Die Slowly (1989)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
White Zombie - Gods on Voodoo Moon (1985) Pig Heaven (1986) Psycho Head Blowout (1986) + God of Thunder (1989)

White Zombie's second full-length, the Bill Laswell-produced Make Them Die Slowly was, as they say, a transitional record. It splits the difference between Soul-Crusher's noise-sludge trash-art and La Sexorcisto's psychedelic groove metal, landing in territory that didn't really make anyone happy -- including White Zombie, who were dissatisfied with it before it even came out. Except for a 13-year-old me, of course, who bought the cassette under the false assumption that it contained the song I'd heard on the radio, then nonetheless listened to it on repeat all summer.

Track listing:
1. Demon Speed
2. Disaster Blaster
3. Murderworld
4. Revenge
5. Acid Flesh
6. Power Hungry
7. Godslayer

Doomsday for all the beautiful people

You might also enjoy:

Fudge Tunnel -
Hate Songs in E Minor (1991)

Therapy? -
Suicide Pact - You First (1999)

7 Year Bitch - Gato Negro (1996)

Second and final album from the perennially underrated 7 Year Bitch. I remember hearing that lots of fans were upset with them for signing with a major label (and possibly for that silly-ass album cover) when Gato Negro was released, but I was too young to give a shit, so I just heard dissonant, pissed-off music that sounded best when played really fucking loud. Just snagged a copy of the OG green vinyl, and I think I like it even more now than I used to, as my older, jaded, life-sapped ears now can fully appreciate the darker, sludgier parts, which I used to skip over.

Track listing:
1. The History of My Future
2. Crying Shame
3. Disillusion
4. Deep in the Heart
5. The Midst
6. 24,900 Miles Per Hour
7. Whoopie Cat
8. Miss Understood
9. Sore Subject
10. Rest My Head
11. 2nd Hand
12. Jack

She came down the staircase
Climbed into a dumpster
She grabbed an index card and she taped it to her forehead and it read
"Poor White Trash"
She grabbed a gun, put it to her heart and pulled the trigger
Now she's dead
It's just a thought

You'd probably also enjoy:

Tad -
God's Balls (1989)

Katastrophy Wife -
Amusia (2001)

Katastrophy Wife - Amusia (2001)

Though Babes in Toyland have enjoyed a bit of a well-earned rediscovery over the past few years, I still don't hear anyone talking about Katastrophy Wife, Kat Bjelland's criminally under-appreciated post-BIT project. So here's their excellent first album, on which Bjelland continues to explore her pissed-off, emotionally raw, against-all-odds-catchy muse, with a haunting, subtly atmospheric undercurrent.

Track listing:
1. Gone Away
2. Boomerang Doll
3. Git Go
4. Rosacea
5. Pretty Car
6. Anathema
7. Knife Fight
8. Haunted
9. Window
10. Widdershins

Like a dagger through your heart

You might also like:

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides
of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Magic Dirt -
Friends in Danger (1996)

Jucifer - L'Autrichienne (2008)

Still on a favorites kick. A masterpiece of a concept album about the French Revolution, composed of heavy, hooky grunge, vicious fastcore, crushing sludge, ghostly folk-rock, and more, all with Amber Valentine's inimitable, alternately vicious and child-like vocals. Neither this band nor album get the recognition they deserve.

Track listing:
1. Blackpowder
2. Thermidor
3. To Earth
4. Deficit
5. Champ de Mars
6. Fall of the Bastille
7. To the End
8. Armada
9. L'Autrichienne
10. Behind Every Great Man
11. October
12. Birds of a Feather
13. Traitors
14. The Law of Suspects
15. Noyade
16. The Mountain
17. Window (Where the Sea Falls Forever)
18. Fleur de Lis
19. Procession a la Guillotine
20. Coma
21. The Assembly

The beautiful feeling is coming again

You might also enjoy:

Magic Dirt -
Friends in Danger (1996)

Drunk Dad -
Ripper Killer (2014)

Starflyer 59 - Americana (1997)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Starflyer 59 - Gold (1995)

Excellent third LP from the great Starflyer 59. Heavy, sugary alt rock, blissed-out shoegaze, and a bit of Mazzy Star-esque, opiated -- yes -- Americana. As far as I'm concerned, Americana is every bit as great as their first two records.

Track listing:
1. The Voyager
2. The Hearttaker
3. Harmony
4. All You Want Are the Things I Need
5. You Think You're Radical
6. The Translator
7. You Don't Miss Me
8. The Boulevard
9. Help Me When You're Gone
10. Everyone But Me

Tell me what you heard

You should also try:

Magic Dirt -
Friends in Danger (1996)

Air Formation -
Daylight Storms (2007)

Drunk Dad - Ripper Killer (2014)

Debaucherous grunge/noise rock/hardcore from Portland, OR. (Seeing as how grunge encompasses noise rock and hardcore, I guess you could just call them a grunge band.) Harsh, heavy, and completely miserable, yet... fun?

Track listing:
1. Five Pack
2. Life's Work
3. Fuck in Garbage
4. Light a Fire
5. S.O.U.
6. Ripper Killer
7. Worthless
8. Whiskey Liver

Useless and dumb

Also listen to:

Tad -
God's Balls (1989)

Fudge Tunnel -
Hate Songs in E Minor (1991)

Therapy? - Suicide Pact - You First (1999)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Therapy? - Babyteeth (1991) + Pleasure Death (1992)

To quote my last post about them: "Therapy? are at their best when they're at their noisiest and most inscrutable." This record is certainly those two things, but it's informed by the experimental quasi-pop that they'd dabbled with on their previous two records; there's a swagger under the pummeling, and vocalist Andy Cairns snarls, sneers, moans, and whispers his greatest performance on record. And when the bottom falls out on tracks like "Six Mile Water" and "God Kicks", it's goddamn devastating.

Track listing:
1. He's Not That Kind of Girl
2. Wall of Mouths
3. Jam Jar Jail
4. Hate Kill Destroy
5. Big Cave In
6. Six Mile Water
7. Little Tongues First
8. Ten Year Plan
9. God Kicks
10. Other People's Misery
11. Sister
12. [hidden track]

You were very young
When the law came to take you away
You had that stuff in your hair
Get you in trouble someday

If you're into this, try:

Cop Shoot Cop -
White Noise (1991)

Today Is the Day -
Today Is the Day (1991)

Fatso Jetson - Stinky Little Gods (1995)

Fatso Jetson's first record is a ridiculously entertaining mash-up of cowpunk, surf rock, and a bit of of sludge-y grunge. Meat Puppets are maybe the best reference point, but I'm definitely hearing some Tad in there, too, and maybe... Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet? I dunno surf rock, really. Factor in a sense of spontaneity and sardonic humor -- no "wackiness," though -- and you've got a real lost 90s gem on your hands.

Track listing:
1. Kettles of Doom
2. Joke Shop
3. Von Deuce
4. Captain Evil
5. Pressure for Posture
6. Nightmares Are Essential
7. Gargle
8. Salt Chunk Mary's
9. Highway 86
10. Corn on the Macabre

A firm piece of ass

Hey, listen to these, too! Why not, right?

Girls Against Boys -
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby (1993)

Cows -
Sorry in Pig Minor (1998)

Cows - Sorry in Pig Minor (1998)

Sorry in Pig Minor was, sadly, Cows' final album. While the band's core sound remains (noisy, feedback-addled guitars over a tight, hard-hitting rhythm section, a vocalist who shouts, moans, and sings off-key about the absurd and unpleasant) they end up in some bizarre places. It's not just the songwriting and instrumentation that's fucked up. On some songs, it's the mixdown; like, the drums will be all room-mic and low in the mix, while quietly sung, double-tracked vocals are uncomfortably, artificially loud. King Buzzo, who served as producer, surely is responsible for a substantial amount of this insanity.

Track listing:
1. Cabin Man
2. Finished Again
3. No, I'm Not Coming Out
4. Dear Dad
5. Eureka! Funday!
6. Death in the Tall Weeds
7. El Shiksa
8. Life After Beth
9. Saliva of the Fittest
10. Felon of Troy
11. Say Uncle

You wanna shove this horn up my ass?

You might also get some kind of sick enjoyment from:

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides
of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Today Is the Day -
Willpower (1994)

Magic Dirt - Young and Full of the Devil (1998)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Magic Dirt - Friends in Danger (1996)

Magic Dirt's second LP is druggier, dirge-yer, and all-around gnarlier than their debut. The soothing hum of that rumbling guitar tone, thankfully, remains.

Track listing:
1. Babycakes
2. She-Riff
3. Rabbit with Fangs
4. Shrinko
5. What Have I Done?
6. These Drugs Are Really Starting to Fuck Me Over
7. Short Black
8. X-Ray
9. Ascot Red
10. Babycakes You Always Freeze Me Up

If you touch me, I'll kill you

If you like this, you should check out:

Chokebore - Motionless (1994)

Starflyer 59 - Gold (1995)

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Alice Donut - Bucketfulls of Sickness and Horror in an Otherwise Meaningless Life (1989)

Possibly Alice Donut's finest hour. As nihilistic as it is fun, Untidy Suicides finds a bizarrely effective middle ground behind snotty punk, Sonic Youth-esque guitar bliss, and butt rock.

Track listing:
1. Magdalene
2. Untidy Suicides
3. Loteria*
4. The Tingler
5. Everybody Is On Sale
6. Hang the Dog
7. The Son of a Disgruntled X-Postal Worker
8. Annie's Empty
9. Loteria
10. Medication
11. Things Have Never Looked Better
12. Wire Mother
13. She Loves You She Wants You
14. Loteria**
15. In My Head

The boredom never seems to stop
It fills her head with ugly thoughts
Annie makes two small incisions
She's sure she's made the right decision

If you like this, check deez out:

The Flesh Eaters - A Minute to Pray,
A Second to Die (1981)

The Fits - You're Nothing, You're Nowhere
(1982)

Chokebore - Motionless (1994)

Noisy, grungy, negative guitar rock. Do I have to tell you that Am Rep put it out?

Track listing:
1. Shine
2. Never
3. Van McCoy
4. Spear
5. Motionless
6. 2nd Song
7. Nguyan
8. Coat
9. So Sour
10. Sãdãvia
11. 60,000 Lbs.
12. Hit Me
13. Line Crush
14. Cleaner

Why are you constantly bleeding?

If you like this, try:

Girls Against Boys - Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby (1993)

Tad - God's Balls (1989)

Starflyer 59 - Gold (1995)

I spent the evening in a nostalgic Youtube K-hole with an old friend, watching stuff like this and this and this and this. So, having 90s alt rock on my mind, here's an overlooked piece of grunge-y, shoegaze-y excellence. Gold is a druggy-er, gloomier record than its much loved (on the blogosphere, anyway) predecessor, Silver, and IMO it deserves the same kind of reevaluation that that record has received.

P.S. I seem to remember reading somewhere that this band was Christian, but I hear no evidence of this in their lyrics, and don't feel like Googling it.

Track listing:
1. A Housewife Love Song
2. Duel Overhead Cam
3. When You Feel Miserable
4. You're Mean
5. Stop Wasting Your Whole Life / Messed Up and Down
6. Messed Up Over You
7. When You Feel the Mess
8. Somewhere When Your Heart Glowed the Hope
9. Indiana
10. Do You Ever Feel That Way
11. One Shot Juanita

Leaping up into the air
Getting juiced up beyond belief

Tad - God's Balls (1989)

Tad were one of the best and heaviest of the OG Seattle grunge bands. God's Balls was their first full-length, and it's about as grunge as it gets.

Track listing:
1. Behemoth
2. Pork Chop
3. Helot
4. Tuna Car
5. Sex God Missy (Lumberjack Mix)
6. Cyanide Bath
7. Boiler Room
8. Satan's Chainsaw
9. Hollow Man
10. Nipple Belt
11. Ritual Device (bonus)

I'm just a pork chop, baby
That's all I'll ever be

Alice Donut - Bucketfulls of Sickness and Horror in an Otherwise Meaningless Life (1989)

It's a beautiful day, I'm stuck inside half-assedly working on a stupid essay for a stupid American history course, and someone in my Facebook feed just posted "My Life Is a Mediocre Piece of Shit", which really resonates with me right now. Jaded, noisy, but strangely melodic punk rock for those times when every little thing in your life is a drag.

1/6/24 update: Listening to this LP and realized that the chorus of "What's in My Head?" -- the signature song of Ty Segall's band Fuzz -- is practically identical to the bridge on "Dorothy". It's not the most uncommon chord progression, and I know these things often happen unintentionally, but goddamn.

Track listing:
1. Lydia's Black Lung
2. Testosterone Gone Wild
3. Sinead O'Connor on TV
4. Dorothy
5. Sky of Bones
6. Egg
7. Consumer Decency
8. My Life Is a Mediocre Piece of Shit
9. Incinerator Heart
10. Buckets, Forks, Pock
11. Demonologist
12. Lisa's Father (Waka Baby)

Pregnant with a fascist baby