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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Madrugada – “The Nightly Disease” (2001)
I can see where people are making the connection to latter-career Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, but I think Madrugada sound like a rockier Tindersticks. As such, The Nightly Disease (TND) is great gloomy, nocturnal music to down your liquor to. The non-depressed folk will still be able to get along with Robert S. Burås’s suave… (read more)
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The Auteurs – “New Wave”
Delightful. I thought I was never going to like Britpop outside of a few exceptions, but The Auteurs are much less obnoxious than the ear-splitting volume of Oasis or the smartass vibe of Blur. The guitar on this album is very light and sparkles with elegance, perfectly accompanied by Luke Haines’s soft vocals that still… (read more)
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Anathema – “Alternative 4”
Anathema are a funny little band. They have every melodramatic trope of progressive metal but aren’t heavy enough to be called metal. I think this works to their favor, because it makes their melodrama less obnoxiously… melodramatic. And in some cases, Alternative 4 actually makes it seem stylish. Listen to “Fragile Dreams,” for instance. It’s the… (read more)
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The Cardigans – “First Band on the Moon”
The Cardigans have an impeccable style inspired by ’50s lounge pop, but the incredible singles from ‘First Band on the Moon’ land every other song on the dark side of the moon. (read more)
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The Cranberries – “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?”
Wow, color me surprised (which in this case would be a dark red). I decided to trust history writing The Cranberries off as a three-hit wonder responsible for the classic singles “Dreams,” “Linger,” and “Zombie.” I may have to stop doing this, because history almost prevented me from discovering one of the ’90s‘s better alternative… (read more)
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The Church – “Coffee Hounds”
You guys wanna be mad? Have I got a hot take for you: The Church’s cover of “Hounds of Love” on Coffee Hounds makes Kate Bush’s original look like a joke. Steve Kilbey sells the lyrical metaphor with a sense of earnest, true vulnerability; desperation begging for release despite the anxiety stemming from love’s irresistible… (read more)
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Primal Scream – “Vanishing Point” (1997)
Vanishing Point is an album I’ve always wanted to like more, and that sentiment applies to Primal Scream in general. The album is so clearly cool. But the textures just aren’t to my preference. I like “Get Duffy” for its crystalline melody, but the vast majority of this album is rhythmically acidic. Just ain’t my… (read more)
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The Smashing Pumpkins – “Gish” (1991)
The Smashing Pumpkins’s first album Gish arrived at the forefront of the coming alternative rock and grunge movement, and like other acclaimed bands of the time, the Pumpkins pioneered the new sound and attitude shift from the currently mainstream ’80s heavy metal/glam scene. The Pumpkins certainly know how to rock just as hard, and they… (read more)
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The Smashing Pumpkins – “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” (1995)
I went through a phase of the music side of my life where I frequently said that I really liked double albums. This was when my experience with them was primarily the best stuff: London Calling, The Beatles, etc. It was only until I got around to listening to more double albums that I realized… (read more)
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Interpol – “Turn On the Bright Lights”
I just want to chime in and say Turn On the Bright Lights sounds almost nothing like Joy Division, other than possibly Paul Banks’s freak-out vocal delivery at some parts, and a comparison that simple can find a parallel with other vocalists even before the time of Ian Curtis throughout the earliest new wave movement. Joy Division’s guitars… (read more)