Sonic Youth - EVOL (1986)



EVOL marked the moment where Sonic Youth moved away from the less accessible experimental art-rock of their early releases Sonic Youth, Confusion Is Sex and Bad Moon Rising and onto something more coherent. EVOL pretty much established the template for following releases with its mix of more recognisable song structures and melodies and experimental textures which still retained their early avant-garde feel. It marked the beginning of my favourite phase in Sonic Youth’s history which also includes 1987’s Sister and 1988’s Daydream Nation. Songs like ‘Tom Violence’ and ‘Green Light’ still retain a dark and weary atmosphere yet have an urgency and focus that was somewhat lacking in their music before. The Kim Gordon-fronted ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ is the real gem here. Kim’s sexy, whispered voice sits on top of a calming psychedelic landscape before the tension builds and spills over into an outpouring of frustrated vocals and noisy guitars. The results are jaw-dropping. ‘Starpower’ sets the template for a lot of typical Sonic Youth songs with its vaguely melodic vocals, oddly-tuned guitars and of course some guitar noise thrown in for good measure, just in case. What’s not to love? There’s still plenty of discordant and loose moments on this album, such as the chaotic ‘In The Kingdom #19’ which features distinctive spoken-word vocals from Lee Ranaldo over grinding and screeching guitars. The album ends with Thurston Moore’s magnificent and sprawling ‘Expressway to Yr. Skull’ which is right up there with the best of the best Sonic Youth songs. If you ever get the chance watch the film 1991: The Year Punk Broke, where the live performance of this song makes for an unforgettable ending to the film.

EVOL was also the first album with Steve Shelley on drums, thus the definitive line-up was in place and the chemistry in the band seems just right on this album. EVOL showed signs of the indie-rock underground gathering momentum and influencing everything from Seattle grunge to British shoegazing. A key album in alternative music’s history.

Recommended Songs: ‘Tom Violence’, ‘Shadow of a Doubt’, ‘Expressway to Yr. Skull’


Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription (1987)



This album is indeed the perfect prescription if you require a dosage of feel-good, psychedelic rock. Here the band build on the minimal psych-rock of their 1986 debut Sound Of Confusion, adding more depth and variety to their sound and accessing the outer reaches of your mind from new angles. It’s well known that the band openly embraced drug culture and supported the legalisation of drugs. The Perfect Prescription is sort of a concept album in a way, intending to chart the highs and lows of a psychedelic drug trip. The opener ‘Take Me to the Other Side’ is its rallying call and a wonderful slab of spaced-out, uplifting garage rock. Quite interestingly the band display a religious music influence on ‘Walkin’ With Jesus’ and ‘Ode To Street Hassle’, something new and different from Sound Of Confusion. It has a calming and almost spiritual effect on the listener yet can also be linked to the fuzzy feeling of the effect of drugs coming on. The album peaks however with the swirling, hallucinogenic sounds of ‘Transparent Radiation’, you’ll be tripping balls by this stage. The words and music paint a landscape of vivid colours and you almost feel high just by listening to this. ‘Things Will Never Be The Same’ shows the power of repetition and minimalism and what it can achieve while ‘Come Down Easy’ has a very easy going, almost Beatles-like feel to it. Of course you have to come back down to earth eventually, and ‘Call The Doctor’ takes you into a darker place and leaves you feeling helpless and alone.

Spacemen 3 had it their stride by this album and it was something that they would continue on 1989’s Playing With Fire. They still feel like a complete band here as the divide had yet to fully develop between Jason “J. Spaceman” Pierce and Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember. This album, along with their first, also paved the way for co-conspirators such as The Telescopes and Loop to assault ears and minds with their own brand of fuzzed-out psychedelic rock as well as having an influence on countless bands ever since.

Recommended Songs: ‘Take Me to the Other Side’, ‘Transparent Radiation’, ‘Come Down Easy’

Swirlies - They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons (1996)



Hailing from Boston these guys and girls sounded like the bastard children of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Seriously I don't fucking know what to write here. While their oddly-tuned, angular guitars and mumbled, half-heard vocals are undoubtedly homage to the noisy gods and goddesses of indie rock mentioned, their sound has something else which I cannot describe, but I’ll do my best. In a way they sound like they’re making music and fucking around with the formula of 90's indie rock for their own amusement. Their sense of humour shines through in the interludes and the more experimental tracks on this album such as ‘You Can’t Be Told It, You Must Behold It’, ‘Do Any of You Know Anything About Love?’ and the oddly bizarre yet fascinating ‘Untitled’. Of course when the band are playing it (almost) straight they are seriously good. The almost metal riffage and screeching guitars of ‘San Cristobal de Las Casas’ makes this song a particular standout and for some nice hazy, shoegazey guitar goodness feast your ears and imagination on ‘Two Girls Kissing’. The highlight of the album of course is the magnificent ‘Sunn’ which gives you some wonderfully inventive use of guitar sounds married to some tantalising melodies. In short it’s one of the best shoegaze songs ever.

Between this album and their full-length debut Blonder Tongue Audio Baton you can’t go too far wrong for some quality 90’s indie rock with a twist. I chose this album over their debut because the songs are just that bit more memorable and the experimental moments are that bit more out-there and intriguing. Then there’s that mouthful of an album title which I can never seem to decode.

Recommended Songs: ‘San Cristobal de Las Casas’, ‘Sunn’, ‘Untitled’


Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (1991)



Their uneven debut album A Catholic Education had all the signs of a band on their way up but missing that special little spark. Lo and behold that little spark came on 1991’s Bandwagonesque and the band were forever to be worshipped as power-pop and slacker torch-bearers. One of the first things about this album you’ll notice is how unmistakably 90’s it is. You can almost feel your hair going floppy just by listening to it. You could argue that the oh-so 90’s production sounds badly dated but to me it’s almost part of its charm, with songs as good as these that shouldn’t matter one bit in the slightest. Nearly every song on this twelve track album will remind you why you love 90’s indie rock, right from the epic opener ‘The Concept’ up to the epic instrumental closer ‘Is This Music?’ Meanwhile songs like ‘Metal Baby’, ‘What You Do to Me’, and ‘Alcoholiday’ will remind you what it’s like to be helplessly smitten with someone.

Listening to the lyrics of ‘Guiding Star’ always makes me feel some kind of reassurance in myself and reminds me that my life isn’t going to go around in circles. Even the entire album has a warm and blissful tone to it which makes you feel great on the inside. 1995’s Grand Prix and 1997’s Songs From Northern Britain are also well worth checking out for reasons of their own but Bandwagonesque is the best starting point in my view. It’s also well known that this album pipped Nirvana’s Nevermind to become Spin Magazine’s number one album of 1991, deservingly so.

Recommended Songs: ‘The Concept’, ‘Guiding Star’, ‘Is This Music?’