Dig Me Out: 90s & 00s Rock

Thanks to our voters at  Patreon , this week we’re checking out the 1997 album Animal Rights by  Moby . Plenty of ground is covered on this 72+ minute long, sixteen track album. Slow burning ambient tunes? Check. Pulsing instrumentals? Check. Industrial metal? Check. Down-tuned dirges? Check. Post punk cover? Check. There is a little bit for everyone, but who is this really for? We try to figure t...

The Tragically Hip  have been mentioned a few times on the show, but we’ve never gotten around to reviewing an album on an actual episode. Until now. Hailing from Kingston, Ontario, Canada, the band has been a stadium act for over two decades up north while making smaller inroads in the lower forty eight. With the spring announcement of lead singer  Gord Downie’s terminal brain cancer , and their...

This week were exploring the bands that sold millions of albums in the 1990s, but by the time the ‘00s rolled around, had disappeared from the sales charts and radio stations they used to dominate. The Cranberries, Live, Creed, Blues Traveler, Hootie & The Blowfish and more we try to figure out what happened - where they overexposed and people got bored? Did follow-up albums flop? Did the collapse...

Thanks to a requested review, we’re heading back down under to Melbourne, Australia check out the 1998 self-titled debut album by  The Living End . Best known in the U.S. for their 2000 single “Roll On,” from their sophomore release, we get an earlier glimpse at this three piece and their combination of punk, rockabilly and ska. They’ve got melodies and energy, but aren’t afraid to slow down the t...

Joining us this week is  Jacob Slichter , drummer for  Semisonic  and author of the 2004 book  So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star . Jacob talks about how the book came together and led to a career as a collegiate  writing professor . We discuss the financial realities of a major label artist and the impact of streaming, mp3s and YouTube. Songs in this Episode: Intro - Closing Time Outro - This Wil...

Recently we asked our  Pateron patrons  to vote on our first album review for August from five albums released twenty years ago in August of 1996, and the winner was The Curtain Hits The Cast, the third overall by  Low . Slowing the tempos to a glacial crawl is the sound Low is known for, leaving space and silence where most bands would try to fill space. Can they pull it off over the course of a...

This week our  requested review  takes us down South to Atlanta, GA to check out the fifth album Smoke by  Drivin’ N Cryin’ . After previously scoring a moderate hit “Fly Me Courageous” off the album of the same name, the band returned with this hard rock ode to the classic rock riffage of AC/DC, Aerosmith and Jimi Hendrix, with a little Paul Simon thrown in for good measure. Songs in this Episode...

This we’re talking about second acts, sequels, part deux - whatever you call it, it’s when band and artists get a second go around. Morrissey and Marr after The Smiths. Bob Mould after Husker Du. Dave Grohl after Nirvana. Which artists faired better the second time around, and which couldn’t escape their previous band’s shadow. To help, roundtable veterans  Eric Grubbs  and  Joe Royland  join us t...

This week we are joined (from across the Atlantic) by Andrew Low of  The Jazz June . He shares the origins of the band in Kutztown, PA playing house shows and VFWs before graduating to club shows in Philadelphia and New Jersey. He talks about his earliest influences and variety of pre-Jazz June bands. We get into recording their 2000 album The Medicine with  J. Robbins , how a multi-year hiatus ch...

Another week, another  requested review  from one of our listeners. This week we’re checking out  The Origin , and their second and final release Bend from 1992. Steeped in the pleasant pop that would guide Toad the Wet Sprocket to success, The Origin expand on that sound with touches of soul, psychedelia and country. This album didn’t make much of dent beyond college radio and we try to figure ou...

This week we travel to Denmark via a  requested review  and check out the 1994 debut album Travelogue by  Kashmir . Indebted to the early 90s American influences such as Pearl Jam, Primus and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kashmir concocts a sometimes compelling, sometimes frustrating combination of sounds and approaches that left us with more questions than answers. Songs in this Episode: Intro - Jam...

Joining us this week are Phil Leavitt and Joie Calio currently of the band  7Horse , who just released their third album this spring, Living in a Bitch of a World. You may know 7Horse thanks to  The Wolf of Wall Street  soundtrack, thanks to Martin Scorcese using their song “Meth Lab Zoso Sticker” in the movie. You might also know them as two-thirds of the band  Dada , who released five albums bet...

Expanding our our Metallica in the 90s roundtable from last month, this week we’re exploring the evolution of metal music in the 1990s. It’s a big job, so to help us take a chronological walk through the decade, joining us are our metal masters  Chip Midnight ,  Eric Grubbs  and  DX Ferris . Songs in this Episode: Intro - Metal Medley (Pantera, Megadeth, Prong, Korn, Sepultura) 17:27 - Sea of Sorr...

We’ve got a new requested review, and there’s a good chance this will be a new discovery for everyone who listens to the show. This week we’re checking out the band  Sect. 8  from New Jersey, and their album 88 CM. Kanone. As far as we can tell, it’s their only album, though the two members did spend some time in  Bone Machine , led by  Ted Poley  after 80s hair metal band  Danger Danger  broke up...

Since May gave us a bonus Tuesday to post an episode, we decided to try something new, as in new album reviews. We gathered up some of our roundtable regulars and  Patreon subscribers , and put together a bunch of reviews for new albums released in the winter and spring of 2016. Steve Muczynski  reviews You Know Who You Are by  Nada Surf   Joe Royland  reviews Hidden City by  The Cult Annie Zalesk...

This week  John Davis  ( Superdrag ,  Epic Ditch ) returns to chat about the second soon-to-be-released album by  The Lees of Memory . We go track-by-track through  Unnecessary Evil , talk song origins, recordings, influences, instrumental and mix choices, album artwork and much, much more. To hear 12 minutes of bonus material, become a subscriber at  Patreon . Songs in this Episode: Intro - Unnec...

The memory remains how much fun we had during our  Van Halen In the 90s round table  episode last year. The struggle within was to find another artist to fuel our conversation and load up on great guests, because in the end nothing else matters. Mama said  Metallica  would be our choice, with special guests  Annie “Fixxxer” Zaleski  ( AV Club ,  Salon  and more),  “Unforgiven” Eric Grubbs  ( Do Yo...

After our chat about the J on Spencer Blues Explosion last week , we decided to go a little further down the 1990s garage rock rabbit hole and check out a band we had both seen live,  Zen Guerrilla , and their 1999 album Trance States in Tongues. Whereas JSBX took a more stripped down and deconstructed take on the blues, ZG amps up the tempo and volume to eleven for a high energy brand of rock. Bu...

This week  Jim Hanke  of the  Vinyl Emergency podcast  joins us to revisit the 1996 album Now I Got Worry by the  Jon Spencer Blues Explosion . We explore the unique sound and place JSBX has in the overall landscape of 90s music. We also spend the first half of the show reminiscing about our personal recollections of Prince and his impact on our music listening history. Songs in this Episode: Intr...

With there eleventh album about to be released, we decided it was a perfect time to revisit the  Goo Goo Dolls  first release of the 1990s. For their third album Hold Me Up from 1990, the band began it’s transition from Robby Takac-led pop/punk band to alternative rock hit-makers of the 2nd half of the decade. This album shows the pieces falling into place, with guitarist John Rzeznik taking the l...

We’re kicking off a new roundtable series revisiting the dreaded sophomore slumps of successful bands from the 1990s. The first album we’re checking out is the 1996 album Wax Ecstatic by  Sponge  with special guests  Chip Midnight  of  KidsInterviewBands.com  and  Jeff Takacs  of  Rocketfuel Podcast . With two hit singles and a gold record on their debut Rotting Pinata, their second album took a n...

Our latest  requested review  takes us back to Australia, this time checking out the 1992 sophomore album Tear of Thought by  The Screaming Jets . On first listen, you might pigeonhole the band as nothing more than AC/DC influenced pub rock, but further investigation reveals a wide array of classic and hard rock influences from the twin guitar attack of Thin Lizzy to the southern rock boogie of Ly...

For this week’s  requested review  we’re taking a ride on the wild side, revisiting  Mötley Crüe ’s self-titled 1994 album, the only one featuring  John Corabi  on lead vocals. Mega producer Bob Rock returned after helming the successful Dr. Feelgood album, but the sheen of the Sunset Strip was cast aside for a heavier twin guitar attack. With a new singer and new sound, the album divided fans and...

We’re back with our latest  requested review , this week we’re checking out the second and final album by  School of Fish , 1993′s Human Cannonball. The band scored a minor hit on their first album, but none of the singles reached the same level of success from this release, and we try to figure out why. While the main songwriting tandem of Josh Clayton-Felt and Micheal Ward stayed in tact, the rh...

Last year we had a lot of fun (and learned a lot) during our  Australian music of the 90s  episode. In fact, we had so much fun, we decided to turn it into new series we’re calling “Digging Your Scene,” where we explore a city or region that made an impact on alternative and indie music in the 1990s. To kick off the series, we’re heading to a city once described (like a few others) as “the next Se...