Regressive … it is perhaps the most appropriate adjective to describe my musical tastes these days. Yesterday, I was listening to Bunnygrunt; today, the Spinanes. Sure, the new National album is really good — I listened to nothing but it for three days straight earlier this month. And, yes, I wait patiently for the new New Pornographers record to come out in a few weeks. But, my god, I do miss the mid-1990s!
Remember when Simple Machines and Teenbeat ruled the indie galaxy? Of course, you cannot forget Merge, K Recs, Slumberland, Kill Rock Stars and the dozens of other basement operations that long have been forgotten. Back then, indie meant something. It was more than a hackneyed term tossed around by critics to denote music that evinces a modicum of artistic merit. Sadly, this is no longer the case. Do a Google search for the word “indie.” 62,800,000 results!!! This is more than twice the number of results for a search for “Obama” (a keyword that I selected at random). In an attempt to make things less frustrating for the user, Google recommends that the former search be narrowed by “indie clothes” “indie jeans” or “emo.” Such a dilution of culture is unfortunate.
So, as a tribute to the mid-1990s indie scene, I present my ten favorite albums released between January1993 and December 1995:
- Simple Machine’s Working Holiday Series (ok, not quite an album…but still)
- Liz Phair — Exile on Guyville
- Velocity Girl — Copacetic
- Sebadoh — Bubble and Scrape
- Mary Lou Lord — “Some Jingle Jangle Morning” 7 inch (also not a proper album)
- Ida — Tales of the Brave Ida
- Tullycraft — Old Traditions, New Standards
- Cub –Come Out, Come Out
- Pavement — Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
- Eric’s Trip — Love Tara
Honorable mention: Lois – Strumpet; Softies — It’s Love; The Spinanes — Strand; Tsunami — Deep End; The Crabs — Jackpot; Fugazi — In on the Kill Taker
Disclaimer: There are definitely some important records missing here…
