Herbal Mutilation

Keepin' it on the early 90's "alternative" tip comes Alice Donut's watershed Mule. Man, I can't tell you how many times this album stared me in the face as I repeatedly perused the "Alternative/Punk" section at my local Alwilk Records and yet I simply could not buy it. Just too much of a risk to spend my hard-earned $12 bucks on! Seriously, no one I knew had any fucking idea what the band sounded like... ironic since I lived only 25 minutes outside of Manhattan but that's another story. Decades later I finally grabbed a bunch of their music and discovered what a hesitant fool I was. Way ahead of their time, sounding like an even freakier Victims Family, Mule showcases Donut at their production-wise best. Lick-heavy proto-grunge with acoustic riffs interspersed throughout, this record eschews the "alternative" label and emerges as a pretty solid (albeit weird) party album. Nonlinear enough for the Ween/Lips fans and MTV enough for the Beck/Nirvana crew. Enjoy.

Crawlpappy