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Showing posts with the label 1994

Thirty Horror Films for October 2025. Film Five. In The Mouth Of Madness (1994)

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More Lovecraftian madness from John Carpenter that takes the generic horror plot of a fish out of water character visiting a small town and discovering horrific happenings. John Trent (Sam Neill) morphs between sensible and insane as he investigates the disappearance of horror writer, Sutter Cane. The nonlinear plot and typical Carpenter flourishes make this one so much fun. 

Track This: Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia"

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Starting with Steve Shelley's basic drum fills before the brightly ringing guitars begin,  matching the drum beats, "Schizophrenia" from Sonic Youth's 1987 album Sister . builds in an orderly fashion that feels loose over Thurston Moore's vocals, slightly recalling the track "Bull in the Heather" from 1994's Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.  Chiming guitars answer the drums and bass throughout the song's nearly five-minute running time. Sonic Youth became the masters of this droning guitar dialectic with their different guitar tunings (in this case, F#F#GGAA for Thurston and DDDAA for Lee Renaldo) that they used to build a style and sound that was nearly unique in the early 1980s but meshed well with similar guitar interplay by contemporary indie bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Built to Spill.  After the first vocal part, the song becomes more schizophrenic with squealing, harmonic guitar interplay and minimal cymbals. This continues through ...

An Oasis in the Pulp: My Brief Flirtation with Brit Pop?

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When Definitely Maybe came out in 1994, I had not entirely solidified into my 1990s role as a primarily punk music listener. I loved much of what came out that year under the mantle of alternative rock. Cue Mr. T Experience's "Alternative is Here to Stay" for an appropriate soundtrack to the mainstream acceptance of alternative sounds that was foreshadowed by 1980s new wave. I bought records by Pavement, Wilco, the Meat Puppets, Tripping Daisy, 311, Liz Phair, the eels, and many others that popular media tangentially connected to the "Alternative Explosion" if they were not part of specific, related genres.  Oasis's first record was somehow different in my estimation because I seldom listened to other Britpop at the time. However, Blur's "Girls & Boys" and a track or two by Supergrass also caught my attention. There was something more rocking and seductive about their debut LP. Was it more specific rock and roll lyrical subject matter? Trac...

Helmet 1994

Listening to Helmet at the bar Milquetoast 1994 is the key text No one cares, but I sit back, Remembering my youth Thanks, Page Hamilton For the weird time signatures