It’s the best time of the year; the transition period from fall to winter! Here’s our favorite tracks to listen to when fog consumes the air, apple cider becomes our only source of hydration, and fireplaces are ignited. Enjoy!
Cali’s Pick
“Rid Of Me” by PJ Harvey, “Rid Of Me” (1993)
In the midst of riot grrrl and grunge movements prominent in the early 90s emerged PJ Harvey in her genre-bending, oftentimes experimental and avant-garde album, “Rid Of Me.” Appropriately opening up this seminal album is the dynamic and disquieting title track. Throughout the album, Harvey purposefully wrote lyrics with a shock factor, and this track is no exception, with discussions of emotional neediness within a relationship that is extreme to the extent of pleading and violence. The ditty softly opens with muted power chords and Harvey’s subdued yet clear vocals. This pattern continues until the chorus where the composition explodes into a distorted mess of cacophonic riffage and Harvey’s repetition of the line “Don’t you wish you never met her?,” a lyric derived from Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, one of Harvey’s greatest influences. Throughout the song, the quiet-verse, loud-chorus structure continues until the eerie outro, where a high-pitched intonation overshadows all instrumentals before fading into silence. Riddled with dissonant guitar trills and harrowing vocal samples, Harvey produces an overall unnerving mood to kick off the album that exhibits just why she’s a pioneering woman in the more experimental side of 90s alt-rock.
Brianna’s Pick
“Nutshell” by Alice In Chains, “Jar of Flies” (1994)
“Nutshell” is the second track gracing Alice In Chain’s second acoustic EP, “Jar of Flies,” with its honest and depressive lyricism. Layne Staley’s hauntingly beautiful vocals and refrained vocalise provides some elements of relief from the hopelessness illustrated in the verses. In a nutshell, the track conveys the brutal honesty of loneliness, sorrow, and feeling of the world swallowing the individual whole. It is an out-of-body experience walking through leaves, under a gray sky, with 90 decibels of “Nutshell” flowing through headphones. The brightness of the guitar chords also directly counterbalances the darkness incited through the lyrics. Transitioning from the forefronting acoustic guitar to the prominence of the electric guitar in the refrains and gut-wrenching outro reminds the listener of all of the layers that coincide.
