Alternative
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the alternative music genre. Combine with other tags for subgenres, e.g. “alternative+rock.”
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The Jesus and Mary Chain Retrospective
(Original publication date unknown) We all know Psychocandy, the landmark album to introduce writing songs with noise. Yeah, The Velvet Underground were one of the first to use noise feedback in their songs, but they used it in a more abrasive manner, writing songs around the noise, where The Jesus and Mary Chain (JaMC) chose to work… (read more)
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Foo Fighters Retrospective
(Original publication date unknown) Oh ho, neighboring music nerds. So you want me to apologize for my love of Foo Fighters? Call them a “guilty pleasure?” Say the usual stupid image-preserving apologies like “I like them, but they aren’t objectively good?” Tough luck. Foo Fighters are great. Foo Fighters kick ass. Foo Fighters are possibly… (read more)
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Mercury Rev – “Yerself Is Steam” (1991)
Yerself Is Steam is a big pool of stereotypical early ’90s alternative rock noise to get lost in. If you’re a fan of the aesthetic as I am, it’ll make you feel just at home. This is best viewed as a collage though; focus on anything specific and you may realize there isn’t much in the way… (read more)
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The Gathering – “Afterwords”
You know, I came into Afterwords optimistic. I was already planning on writing a review that praised this album. It was going to go a little something like this: It’s time we face the facts: Anneke van Giersbergen is not that amazing of a vocalist. She’s great at what she does, does it well, and… (read more)
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Grinderman – “Grinderman”
Nick Cave was 50 years old when he released Grinderman, a desperate bid at recapturing his youth with unsubtle noise-rock-by-numbers freakouts such as “No Pussy Blues.” It’s a midlife crisis if I’ve ever seen one, like an old man popping Viagra because he doesn’t want to come to terms with the fact he no longer… (read more)
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Devin Townsend Project – “Epicloud” (2012)
Oh, boy. I have a new album to direct people to when showing them the worst the cliches of progressive metal. Epicloud features vocoder vocals, “epic” operatic backing vocals, constant switching between clean vocals and screams, loud as fuck, formulaic guitar playing pursuing volume and pleasant textures, occasional “soft” acoustic segments that are, for some… (read more)
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Renegade Soundwave – “Soundclash” (1989)
Awesome. Renegade Soundwave are cool as fuck and they know it. During 1989 on Soundclash, they were already in the future. Industrial-esque riffs covered by gleaming synths with catchy beats underneath it all while a suave, rhythmic vocalist grooves on top. Soundclash is as dirty and hedonistic as the cover’s dominatrix-featuring nightclub sign suggests. I… (read more)
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Pale Saints – “In Ribbons” (1992)
The shoegaze “canon” be damned; In Ribbons is objectively the best Pale Saints album—much, much better than The Comforts of Madness. The thing that killed the shoegaze movement was the fact that many bands thought all you had to do was step on effects pedals and find a pretty noise so you wouldn’t have to bother writing any… (read more)
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Band of Susans – “Veil”
The riff in “Not in This Life” is so similar to the Big Black song “Kerosene” that I kept expecting Steve Albini to shout the title. I originally got this album because it had a pretty, purple cover. As it turns out, Veil is a solid B-tier shoegaze album that’s worth checking out for enthusiasts… (read more)
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Catherine Wheel – “Painful Thing E.P.”
The two exclusive songs on the Painful Thing E.P. (“Spin,” “Painful Thing”) are great but really held back by awful production values. Additionally, the two early versions of songs that would end up on Ferment are better experienced there. Rob Dickinson’s vocals sound much younger here than they’d be on their debut and beyond, which… (read more)