Alt Rock Special Edition

Brilliant Swords – Bury Me (self-released)

Campbell Kneale is best known as a maker of heavy underground drones and noises, but in the last nine years he’s been moonlighting writing pop-punk anthems for an imaginary ‘90s alt fest. A fellow massive Husker Du fan, he’s forged that fandom into an almost religious practice here. This is Mould and Hart with the added heaviness of Amp Rep and Touch & Go bands. I’m thinking of Tar or Arcwelder (one of the best/lost bands of the ’90s) with all the sounds compressed into a massive brick-like shoddy ‘00s black metal CDs. I’m struck by how well-played everything is and can’t help but think Kneale should have had a serious rock career alongside other massive punk acts like Against Me! or Bad Religion. Alas, we get these gems all to ourselves via ‘Name Your Price’ boutique listening and minus the horrible Warped Tour carnival atmosphere, the earnest sound of middle age pain as soaring hook-filled fury, and he does it so well.

Hum – Inlet (Earth Analog Records)

Who is Hum? A sorta big ‘90s band I completely ignored in their heyday because I was getting into more esoteric things. They had one hit that was like “They Don’t Use Jelly” with a more Sabbath-y riff behind it. Without warning, Hum is all over my feed with a new Bandcamp reunion album in 2020. I’m not sure why I clicked, but before I knew it I was on my third listen all the way through. The mix on this is a thing of beauty, huge but so warm and mellow, like listening to Helmet on Xanax. It’s an expansive and very hypnotic album. The vocals oddly remind me of Wayne Rogers in his Magic Hour days while the music is massive guitars and heavy drums rendered very dreamy by pillows of compression and harmonic distortion.

Hotline TNT – Go Around Me (self-released)

Hotline TNT is a band that woulda been big in the early ‘90s with their perfect blend of Merge Records energy, Dinosaur Jr hooks and Swervedriver guitar swirls. But this is the boutique-era, where we can all have our cake and eat it too, while the excellent bands we enjoy toil away with no reward. So if you prefer Squirrel Bait over Slint or feel Superchunk sold-out after their third 7”, Hotline TNT is a goldmine. They write catchy songs and their recordings are warm, mid-fi bliss. Their latest is a 12” mini-LP well worth mail-ordering, but collect ‘em all. The track that sold me was the melancholy “Are U Faded” from a 2018 7” EP.