For one brief moment, the Boo Radleys were great. Whereas their previous album had been a fairly routine (if still decent) shoegaze affair, the aptly named Giant Steps (1993) incorporated...
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In the ‘60s, the Beatles introduced the sitar to the Western world; in the ‘80s we listened to Paul Simon’s Afro-Funk lite and Peter Gabriel’s use of Middle Eastern and...
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There’s something about Mazzy Star’s particular brand of drugged-out melancholy that really hooks me in, even though I don’t consider myself a very melancholy person, and I’m certainly not drugged...
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I’ve made plenty of disparaging remarks about Ride’s ho-hum vocals—which in my estimation seem to run the emotional gamut between bored and comatose—but there’s no doubt the band has some...
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After a Top 6 that was easy to select—it contains some of the greatest albums of the decade, hands down—the next 20 or so albums feel roughly equivalent to me,...
Read MoreIn the U.S., 1993 kicks off memorably, with one celebration and two calamities. President Bill Clinton is inaugurated, after twelve years of Republican control of the White House. Just over...
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Sometimes it’s best to keep things simple and direct, prune the excess and get down to basics. Many an out-there band has found success by taking a step back toward...
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Björk’s Debut (1993) album came as a bit of a surprise to me. I had known her previously through the Icelandic band the Sugarcubes, whose debut album was a late-‘80s...
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When I first checked out the Afghan Whigs back in the day, I couldn’t get into them. Returning to them now, I confirm that on first (re)listen I don’t find...
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Being in Boston for grad school in the early- to mid-‘90s meant that Morphine was the local act to see. I saw them several times, and at their best, they...
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