Day 0737 - New Wave

The Auteurs “New Wave” (1993)

The Auteurs were started by then couple Luke Haines and Alice Redman with former classmate Glenn Collins.  They put together a demo and were quickly signed to Hut Records.  “New Wave” was their first full-length release.

The entry in the book talks about them being progenitors of ‘Britpop’… but then, as frequently happens with genres or musical movements, several albums in the book have been given this honour.   I do find it interesting that so many of these musical movements can spring up like this, with multiple different bands all relatively independently arriving at similar musical destinations.

While I was living in the UK there seemed to be this trend towards artists who ruminated on everyday things (the Streets, Arctic Monkeys) whereas I’ve always preferred more obscure lyrics that maybe use a bit of clever or creative wordplay.   This band seems to have a more cinematic/theatrical vibe, such as on opening track "Show Girl" with the crashing, flashy intro suddenly vanishing into a quietly subdued verse.  The arrangements are bit more interesting than straight-ahead ‘rawk n roll’ and I could certainly hear similarities between this band and artists like Blur or Suede (Supergrass at a stretch).

While I won’t say they’re my new favourite band, I do think they are an artist that requires further investigation.  

Day 0730 - Dirt

Alice in Chains "Dirt" (1992)

The band had been formed by guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Starr and drummer Sean Kinney.  Cantrell had been at his friend Layne Staley to come on as their vocalist while Staley was trying to get Cantrell as guitarist for his funk band.

Eventually the funk band disbanded and Alice in Chains was solidified.  Elements of funk showed up in their debut "Facelift" which was otherwise already fairly well formed with their signature mix of blues rock, chugging riffs and Staley and Cantrell's vocal harmonies.

The band followed up their debut with an acoustic EP (which they would also do after "Dirt") before coming back to their rock sound with "Dirt".
 
While the vocal harmonies are still present and there's melody to be had, these are some of the heaviest, most punishing riffs laid down by the band.  The lyrics are fairly dark, with the subject of addiction featuring largely, which is not surprising given that Staley would die of a drug overdose 10 years later.

Some great tracks on here with "Would" (featured in Cameron Crowe's "Singles" film), "Rain When I Die", and the one that first pricked up my ears towards AIC, Rooster.