Photek - Modus Operandi

Virgin Music Canada: 1997

Along with Goldie's Timeless and Roni Size/Reprazent's New Forms, Rupert Parkes' debut Photek LP Modus Operandi established itself among the first drum 'n bass albums you were supposed to have, even if you weren't a d'n'b fan. That was back in the mid-'90s though, when journalist interest in the scene was high, and LP options were low, Modus Operandi one of the few finding any sort of cross-over attention. It didn't hurt Photek's prospects that he signed to Virgin, at the height of 'electronica's promotion abroad. You couldn't miss this album on shelves because the mega-label paid good money for that space.

In hindsight, it's astounding someone saw mainstream marketability in Photek. His style, one of precision tech-step drum programming, spacious sound design, and bleak industrial imagery was so unique for the jungle scene, no one's come near replicating it – those drumfunk guys are heavily inspired by it though. There were far easier sub-sets of '90s d'n'b a casual listener could get into – jump-up, atmospheric, even ragga – so all the more amazing tunes like Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu and The Third Sequence got airtime on Amp or R U Receiving, much less Virgin’s blessing.

Also understandable, then, is why so many folks remain forlorn that Parkes hasn't seen much need to return to this style of music. I’m not sure there was anywhere left to go, though; even with an unparalleled sound, Modus Operandi soon runs thin on ideas. Opener The Hidden Camera gets things off on a chill, mysterious note, then we’re off to the sparse tech-step business for a long run of tracks, some of which are almost carbon copies of each other. Seriously, the difference between Smoke Rings and Trans 7 is marginal at best, but since they’re separated by half an album, you barely notice it on a play-through. Between the two tracks, there’s a lot of piercing synths, lean melodies, and cool drum work. Though not a slog, Minotaur, Aleph 1, groovier 124, and minimalist ‘sci-fi-step’ Axiom feels like you’re trapped in a dry, computer wasteland, a single glass of water always just on the horizon of sight. You keep pushing forward, the surrounding scenery at least fascinating as you traverse this desert of tech-step paranoia.

The titular cut offers a smooth slice of acid jazz, and KJZ shows Parkes getting his ambient-techno/braindance/IDM wonk on. The latter’s apparently a tribute to Kirk Degiorgio, an individual I haven’t the slightest clue about, though anyone who uses Beetlejuice as an alias is ace in my books. Then Modus Operandi ends on a limp note with The Fifth Column, the B-side to Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu, and nowhere near as interesting as that cut.

Which sums up this album, sadly. Most of Photek’s seminal work is left off here, and despite sounding unlike anything else, Parkes goes through the motions of this style just a bit too often throughout. If anything, it’s typical of most drum ‘n bass LPs of the time, only with a fuck-ton more promotion than his brethren ever received.

Banco de Gaia - Maya (20th Anniversary Edition)

Disco Gecko: 1994/2014

Four months in, and I finally am reviewing something released in the year 2014. Unfortunately for those only interested in the latest and, um, latest (has a definitive classic been released yet?), it’s a 20th anniversary re-issue of an act I've undoubtedly talked way too much of over the years. Banco de Gaia certainly has his fans (oh hi, me!), but at two-decades plus into his career, the odds dwindle at Toby Marks capturing the interest of newer folks out there. Fact is, this style of music generated most of its significant PR during the '90s, when any fresh, new genre could earn big write-ups in music magazines read by several thousands. As electronic music and the scenes it cultivated grew ever more segmented and niche, the potential general market dwindled, sub-genres sustained by the dedicated and the hardcore. And while something from the past occasionally gets a fashionable make-over, its unlikely Banco de Gaia will benefit from such an opportunity any time soon.

Thus we’re left with a triple-pack CD that’s daunting to the uninitiated, and a little redundant for the dedicated (oh hi, me again). Mr. Marks had to know this going in, hence limiting the release to just 1,500 copies, a fair sum in this day and age – makes me wonder how many quantities the limited 3CD set of Last Train To Lhasa ran for. Included here is the original Maya, handy for those who may need a replacement of the twenty year old disc but never sprung for the 2002 re-issue (*cough*), and two alternate discs with different versions of the same tracks. A nifty gimmick with these extra CDs is how the songs are sequenced in the same order as Maya-prime.

CD3’s the redundant one for me, as it contains many remixes I already got on various other sources. New to this release, however, is a couple more live cuts (Shanti and Data Inadequate doing the business, though the latter’s not as fun as the Glastonbury version), plus a thumpin’ breaks remix of Mafich Arabi from Temple Hedz. Also, I’m surprised I never made the connection before, but the Blue Mix of Soufie has elements reused in the album version of Maya. Even us fanboys keeping discovering things with proper context!

CD2 has all new-old material, some of which is totally fans-only curiosities (an original demo of Mafich Arabi), and some that’s sublime catnip. The ultra-long Duck! Asteroid version of Kincajou wasn’t the first time Marks indulged himself with an ambient epic – here we get a twenty-plus minute ‘original master’ of the Red With White Spots version of Shanti. Oh my God, I ambientdubgasm! The Green Tractor Mix of Sheesha’s nice too, livelier than the normal version.

Still with me at the end here? If so, chances are you’re enough of a Banco de Gaia fan that you’ve already ordered your copy of Maya (20th Anniversary Edition). If you haven’t, better hurry – you may not be so lucky for a 40th Edition.

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2

Interscope Records: 2013

Remember when Eminem released Lose Yourself? Along with being his all-time best charting single, it also presented us a Mr. Mathers unlike anything we'd seen before, its anthem guitar licks and rousing chorus inspirational rather than confrontational. It won over even his most ardent detractors within the hip-hop community, placing him firmly at the top of his game. Earning such status within the rap world, the only place left he could go was down. So down he went, though no one expected it happening as suddenly as it did.

A bunch of crazy stuff followed in the ensuing decade, but imagine if it hadn't. Imagine if Eminem carried on from that peak undeterred from all the personal problems affecting him. The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is as close to hearing that possibility as we'll likely ever hear.

Throughout this album, Em' goes on about the trials he faced growing up, reflecting on his career, and simply showing off why he's long been regarded one of the best MCs to ever command a microphone. All topics he's covered before, true, but there's more fire in his spitting, more urgency in his delivery, and even humbleness for his success alongside his rapping bravado. This is the recovery everyone hoped he'd reached at some point, and if it took a call-back to his most successful album, so be it.

Like I said though, MMLP2 feels more like Lose Yourself-era Em', especially with big, catchy guitar licks galore (oh hi, Ricky Rubin). That said, the music's still very much of the here and now, even when purposefully trying to sound like 1986 – no one could wring that much mileage out of a TB-808 back in the day. There's not a duff cut in the lot, plenty of variety between the beats, and enough ear-worm tracks that you'll seldom reach for the skip button. I'm not so much a fan of the 'Rhianna-duet' clones (including hers), but they're few and far between.

So yes, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is as solid an album as folks have claimed. Of course, the million dollar question is whether it's better than the original Marshall Mathers LP. It's by a hair-width, but no, MMLP2 is not a better overall album.

Despite containing a superior selection of tracks, that's all they are: tracks. You could shuffle most of these, subtract a few, perhaps add some from the deluxe version, and it wouldn't affect the music's flow or even the final product much. MMLP1, on the other hand, feels like a cohesive whole, where the weaker parts (skits, repetitive topics in the back-half) accentuate the standout moments and roller-coaster of emotions you might experience. As a play-through, MMLP1 is more complete, even if I'm not nodding my head as often as MMLP2. Still, if having tune after tune of Eminem reminding us why he deserves his crown after all these years, then The Marshall Mathers LP 2 shouldn't be missed, even by ‘proper album experience’ twits like myself.

The Tragically Hip - Live Between Us

Universal: 1998

This is handy - a live album of The Tragically Hip. A decade’s worth of songs, all cribbed from what many declare were their best years. Every member in full swagger, their skills as musicians fine-tuned and honed to the best of their capabilities. Yet, why was this recorded at a show in Detroit – was the potential turnout in their native country not good enough? Then again, knowing Canadians, many of my country men and women braved the treacherous crossing of Detroit River from Windsor, invading the Motor City with Hip tix’ before any American knew what hit ‘em. Don’t laugh, we do it all the time for hockey games as far south as Phoenix and Miami.

I mention Live Between Us being handy because of my unfortunate bias against The Tragically Hip, one that's prevented me from getting into the band. Something about their studio work's always struck me as stiff for an alternative blues-rock band, like they don’t often play as a group during recording sessions. Obviously this is the case for many albums, but good producers hide those handicaps. Again, I blame my upbringing surrounded by rock musicians jamming while practicing in my father's basement for this bias, but it’s there, my 'rock-trained' ears demanding authenticity of band synergy in favor of clean overdubs.

Most folks I've talked to about The Hip claim the band's at their best live anyway, so digging into an album such as this is about as perfect a chance I'll have “getting it”, short of going to an actual concert. The inlay claims this CD is as authentic a recording as they could get, and I believe it. Most live albums tend to place the listener among the crowd, usually close the stage. Live Between Us sounds like you're on the stage (between the band members!), cheering fans oddly distant as though the darkness enveloping the Cobo Arena limits their volume as well. If you've ever desired the experience of joining a rock band on stage, this is as good a representation I've come across.

And The Hip themselves? About as good as I expected. Lead guitarist Rob Baker and rhythm guitarist Paul Langlois have great interplay between them, while bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay feed them more than enough energy during their extended jams (ooh, Fully Completely and WhereWithal doth kicketh my asseth!). Gord Downie, meanwhile, sounds huskier compared to earlier works, and I wonder if some vocal strain had set in when they did this concert. Many of the main hits up to that point are here - Grace, Too, Courage, Ahead By A Century, Gift Ship, New Orleans Is Sinking - though honestly, they were mostly only hits in Canada.

The question begs, then, whether you folks abroad should check this album out. Sure, if you fancy yourself some alternative blues rock. Live Between Us is easily the best Tragically Hip CD I’ve heard, though given my limited knowledge of their complete works, that’s not saying much.

The Offspring - Ixnay On The Hombre

Columbia: 1997

I'm going to lose a lot of punk credibility, but The Offspring's– wait a minute, what punk cred' do I have? Aside from electronic music's 'digital punks' The Prodigy and Gorillaz, I haven’t come within a hair of that scene – and no, I don't have any Alex Empire either. I did grow up around the stuff, many of my musically inclined associates learning to play Green Day riffs and such. Hanging out with Peter Punk and Oliver Oi’ provided enough exposure to the music, constant rotations of Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords filling whatever need I could have as a teen. Oh, and a pair of songs from The Offspring’s Smash made it onto a mixtape. What can I say, that album was freakin’ huge in 1994.

Right, so any real hardcore punks reading this (oh ho-ho-ho!) are biting their thumbs at what constituted a punk scene where I grew up. “Green Day? NOFX? Bunch’a fuckin’ mainstream pop shite, they are, mate,” says the street rat with liberty spikes. Fair enough sentiments from the hardcore, but even in the pop-punk side of things, lines were being drawn. Smash’s popularity quickly led to Offspring burn-out, such that when Ixnay On The Hombre came out, it didn’t sell as spectacularly as their breakout. Of course, by the time Americana was released, a new generation of high school kids were won over by the band’s pop-punk charms. Shame The Offspring couldn’t pull the same trick a third time, but by then emo was all the rock-kids rage.

Where was I again? Oh yeah, that punk credibility thing. The Offspring's Ixnay On The Hombre is a far better album of punk and rock than most would expect, with an opening salvo of The Meaning Of Life and Mota kicking all sorts of ass. I gotta play these whenever I need firing up to do anything. Hell, even doing the dishes sounds awesome while thrashing away to Mota!

The Offspring do show some musical diversity throughout, getting funkier with Me & My Old Lady and I Choose, slower with Gone Away (reminding me of Tears For Fears), and regular ol’ rocky with Amazed, which is nice for album pacing. Let’s be honest though, these guys are at their best when they tear out with the damned ear-wormiest hooks around. Despite many of the songs’ topics coming off immature (though I’m pretty sure Cool To Hate’s supposed to be ironic), you can’t help but get caught up in the energy of their music.

Speaking of which, holy shit, I had no idea All I Want was on this album! The tune’s hopelessly ingrained into my noggin’, as I’m sure anyone that’s played copious amounts of Crazy Taxi can attest to. Man, I was boss at that game.

I doubt anyone reading this on an electronic music blog cares to check out Ixnay On The Hombre on a whim. If you’re feeling daring though, it’s certainly not a bad place to get acquainted with the punk scene.

Anabolic Frolic - Happy 2b Hardcore: Chapter 2

Moonshine Music: 1997

This past weekend, I went to a ‘throwback rave’ party, including an honest-to-God chill-out room. Man, you just don’t see those anymore, hearing classics from The Orb, FSOL, and Hinterland’s Who’s Who (ask Boards Of Canada about it). More disappointing was the main room, where it seemed tech-house dominated, a style of music we hear more than enough of these days. Maybe I kept missing it, but isn’t the point of an old-school party the chance to hear genres that are no longer fashionable? Chemical breaks, German trance, tech-step jungle, big beat, gabber, uk hard house (donk!), speed garage, happy hardcore… uh, hmm, okay, maybe some music is best left to the past. I doubt anyone’s clamoring for a return of ‘toytown’, ironically or not.

That said, happy hardcore’s fun in small doses, its infectious, hare-brained energy seductive, giving into your most infantile tendencies. Then the novelty wears off (usually after half-a-dozen tracks for yours truly), and all you’re left with is unrelenting hard beats and sugar-coated sentiments that could rot your teeth through your ears. There definitely was an audience for it though, and all the power to the people who could go whole nights enjoying it.

Moonshine Music, with their impeccable micro-scene outreach, commissioned near-yearly DJ mix CDs spotlighting happy hardcore, helmed by Canadian DJ Anabolic Frolic. It lasted up until Moonshine’s demise, one of the label’s few long-running series from (near) beginning to end. The genre may have had plenty of detractors, but someone out there liked it enough to keep pumping these CDs out. Yet even happy hardcore couldn’t resist changing trends, the genre taking on UK hard-trance tendencies (freeform, was it? I can’t keep up with all these micro-genres), moving on from its old-school hardcore roots.

Make no mistake, I’m hardly an expert on happy hardcore. In fact, Happy 2b Hardcore: Chapter 2 is officially the only CD of the stuff I now have (attained unwillingly at that). Despite this handicap, I do recognize a number of names on here: Vinylgroover, Justin Time, Hixxy, Trixxy, and DJ Fade (when you live near an unapologetic hardcore-lovin’ city like Seattle, one can’t help but see their names pop up). As for the music, its happy f’n hardcore, what do you expect? I cannot deny this music plastering a silly grin on my face as it plays through, an unapologetic insistence at breaking down even the most dour, glum, jaded sort with joy and delight. Any track with rolling pianos is ace in books, no matter the ridiculous surroundings, and is that a touch of the ragga jungle I hear in Blitz & Blaze’s Big Up The Bass? Not the good kind, mind, but it’s there.

If you’re new to electronic music and need a primer on what happy hardcore's all about, Happy 2b Hardcore is as fine a starting point as you’ll likely find. Might as well recommend Chapter 2 while I’m at it, since it’s the only volume I’m inclined to hear ever again.

The Future Sound Of London - Environments 4

fsoldigital.com: 2012

It's surprising there's so little talk of Environments out there in interwebland. The Future Sound Of London was a big freakin' deal back in the '90s, why even a very important duo in the world of electronic music. I get that Dougans and Corbain are quite content in remaining independent with their output now, but the nice thing about being on a major like Virgin is the over-aggressive promotion such a label provides. Okay, such hype's annoying as Hell when the music's bunk; can you imagine FSOL putting out anything that wasn't at least average though? Thus here we are, three straight albums of class material, and barely a whisper about them within the usual rags. Sign of the times indeed.

As before, I must turn to the track list titles for an idea of what theme Environments 4 aims at creating, however tenuously. No Man's Land (dark ambient lifeforms), River Delta (psy dub by way of Ultimae!), Supercontinents (modern classicalism), Sediment (chilling on the shores of Goa), Vast Landscape (weirdness with closed frets plucks low on a guitar neck)... ah, geomorphology. Wait, that's what I've been studying for God knows how long now. I can't be mixing college and hobby here, it'll screw up my upcoming finals. Damn it, is this a nice rock, and is this a gneiss track?

No, wait, that’s not right. A chunk of the E4’s middle deals with fat ol’ Sol. Sunsets (slow jam prog rock), Photosynthesis (beach-view ambience), Stand A Little Less Between Me And The Sun (Robert Fripp’s in tha’ house), and maybe even Long Day (beatnik poetry in the park?) all could have links to that blazing white orb we see on the cover art. And if that’s the case, what of Architektur (noise rock jam in an Indian jungle!?), Murmurations (quick, let’s get this hippie music session on the rockin’ road?!), and Fibrillation (watch those proteins fibre-ize like mini-machinery!?!?) sounding all sciencey and egg-headed, having nothing else to do with the surrounding titles? Gads, is E4 every a confounding one.

Heh, no not really. What it does sound like is the ambient B-side to an album from FSOL’s psychedelic side-project, Amorphous Androgynous. Swell thing, if we were dealing with the ‘90s version of that alias, but most fans lost the plot with them following The Isness (which confounded fans further when Hypnotic released it under the FSOL banner in America). It wasn’t a bad album by any stretch (somehow earning a 6/5 from Muzik Magazine), but not the sort of music folks wanted from Dougans and Corbain at the time, if ever. Pft, as if they should cater to the wishes of a petulant fandom. The FSOL are followers of their oft-time weird muses, not pigeon-holed lackeys.

Environments 4 is yet another lovely collection of music, if you’ve a place for psychedelic jam-scapes along with your downtempo and chill. It’s understandable why those only familiar with their ‘90s output wouldn’t like it though. If only FSOL still had ace PR.

The Future Sound Of London - Environments 3

fsoldigital.com: 2010

So I skipped the first Environments. It wasn't because of the general shrug from fan-based opinions on it, oh no. Rather, it was its presentation, a mere two tracks averaging about twenty-five minutes, each plainly titled Environments. If that doesn't come off about as lazy as anything the Future Sound Of London's put out, I don't know what else could top it (no, From The Archives doesn't count). Lengthy ambient soundscapes are already a dubious proposition, and while I've no doubt the FSOL can capably craft such music, part of their appeal's long been the quirky titles they give their tracks. They're like a guiding suggestion in what imagery is created with their soundscapes. Compared to names like Spineless Jelly, Smoking Japanese Babe, and Antique Toy, Environments is vague and dull.

Dougans and Corbain must have realized this weakness in the first Environments, every piece of music since of digestible length and with an individual identity. While it's unfortunate they still aren't composing albums as distinct thematic wholes, this approach is far preferable to the formless method before. At least, that's how I like my FSOL, hence skipping on the first one.

Okay, I shouldn’t say Environments is totally without theme, as II, 3, and 4 do have self-contained premises, even if it’s only hinted through track titles (do you see why it’s important?). E3 features names like Sunken Ships, The Empty Land, The Oldest Lady, and End Of The World, so we’re in future-shock desolation territory again.

E3 may as well be Dead Cities: 100 Years After, a reasonable assumption considering The Empty Land sounds like a mash-up of My Kingdom and In A State Of Permanent Abyss (and boy, does that ever further beg the question whether all these Environments albums are repurposed old material or spankin’ new compositions). The cataclysm that caused the fall of civilization is an old memory, occasionally retold by aging elders but seldom reflected upon by the surviving generations. Those who remain are eking out a new life for themselves, building upon the structures of old, a somber struggle of a stubborn people. Summer’s Dream has quiet, clicking machinery minding its own business as ominous pads weave about; A Glitch In Cellular Memory is cheerful and jubilant, while Recollection following it invokes child innocence and whimsy. Beware those that will steal what’s yours through dark ambient techno in A Diversionary Tactic, or false complacency as tranquil pianos play in Hall Of Mirrors and gentle guitars strum in Sense Of Being. For, in this uncertain world, who know what electro horror lurks beneath Surface Waters, ready to undo all that was regained.

Yeah, as I’ve said, writing the finer details of FSOL’s music isn’t the easiest, especially when they allow themselves this much freeform expressionism. Environments 3 is another great body of work from the duo though, one that can take you to captivating surroundings, provided you have a foundation to start from.

The Future Sound Of London - Environments II

fsoldigital.com: 2008

Yes! A return to my normal backlog, however briefly. I'd been eyeing The Future Sound Of London's semi-return with some interest these past couple years, curious what the deal with all these releases were about. The From The Archives compilations seems self-explanatory, but my God they just keep coming out with them. Dougans and Cobain also released a few more Amorphous Androgynous albums, though as they're still exploring the roads of psychedelic music that was The Isness, I can't say an album titled The Peppermint Tree & The Seeds Of Superconsciousness looks promising. Then there's Environments, initially the mysterious album advertised in Lifeforms that never came to be, now up to its fourth volume. What's the deal, then?

Though details remain sketchy, Environments was hinted at being what ISDN was: a collection of live-broadcast material of generally free-form music making. You can imagine Virgin, already feeling leery about FSOL's new-found experimental tendencies, would balk at such an endeavour. So to the back-burner Environments went as Dougans and Corbain focused on Dead Cities instead. As the millennium turned, the FSOL were back in charge of their own distribution, and started making available all that originally archived material. Thus, Environments gets its long overdue release in 2007. The world of electronic music shrugged.

Fortunately, that album garnered enough interest to warrant follow-ups, where the narrative of FSOL’s output gets murkier. Far as anyone knew, there was only one Environments, so were these albums new material, or had it also sat fallow all these years? It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a mixture of both, but until we get concrete confirmation, we may as well sit back and enjoy what we do have.

While every Environments album is primarily about exploring sound-forms, Environments II has a loose winter theme running through it. Track titles like Ice Formed, North Arctic, Glacier, and Newfoundland are self-explanatory, while Small Town, Nearly Home, and A Corner may also work in you know your Canadiana (are we certain this isn’t a Boards Of Canada album?). Of course, Serengeti totally deep-sixes that theory, but that’s just one track, and it contains droning voice pads that could invoke glacial imagery just as easily.

As for the music itself... um, it’s FSOL? Describing their future sounds was difficult enough for albums with actual themes, and there’s little hope of proper detail here without bursting the self-imposed word count. Here’s a taster: electro crops up in Factories And Assembly; Glacier would go great with an opium den; Baco Manu comes off like Jan Hammer on acid; Colour-Blind cribs Vit Drowning’s beats; Journey To The Center and Viewed From Above features orchestral arrangements.

Stylistically, Environments II isn’t that far a leap forward from their ‘90s output, though hardly dated either, as the FSOL were already light-years ahead in musical craft back then. The fact they can still release music unlike anyone else in the experimental chill-out scene to this day is all the proof you need this album’s worth your attention.

Soundgarden - Down On The Upside

A & M Records: 1996

I could have skipped all these rock albums. I’m not required to review them, no overhead demanding I write about this or that. Plus, isn’t it self-defeating and counter-productive that a blog dedicated to electronic music deviates from its target field so wildly? Yes it is, but as my personal collection of music contains barely one-tenth rock, an occasional divergence into Neil Young or Yes wouldn’t hurt my overall scope. Doing so set a precedent though, and now I’m obligated to cover bands like Tool, The Offspring (soon), and Filter (way later), lest I turn hypocritical in providing preferential exposure to any music. Damn it, Ish’, why couldn’t you have discovered electronic music earlier in your life?

2014 Ishkur: You wanted the CD tower; you get my old CDs.

Right. Man, maybe I should get shelves next time. With this sort of luck, the next chap I get a tower off of will be a jazz enthusiast.

Anyhow, Soundgarden. They were a very important band coming out of the Seattle grunge scene. Many fans of the era place them on equal footing with the Big Two (Nirvana and Pearl Jam), despite not breaking through until 1994's Superunknown. Makes sense it took that long, as their first couple albums found them playing traditional forms of hard rock (punk, metal) as their Washington State peers were defining a genre and generation (however unintentional it was). That background led to a darker tone in Soundgarden’s music, Black Sabbath often getting name-dropped in comparisons. In all, it helped identify Soundgarden as a unique offering to grunge's legacy even as the scene was increasingly drowning in copycats.

The band also followed suit with other early grunge bands in quickly moving on from the genre before it grew too stale. Down On The Upside, their final album before taking a decade-plus hiatus, isn’t so heavy on angst and bleak Gen-X existence as their prior work, instead trying their hand at other forms of rock. They still allow for a couple ‘traditional’ grunge cuts like Blow Up The Outside World, but by ’96 the whole “quiet verse, loud chorus” arrangement was in serious parody mode, and I’ve no doubt Soundgarden were fully aware of it. No, ‘tis better to let inspiration and creativity flow rather than fall back on what fans undoubtedly expected of them.

And so they did. In tracks like Rhinosaur, Ty Cobb, No Attention, and Never The Machine Forever, they sound like the Led Zeppelin inspired band they were always likened to; other times they let their acoustic (Dusty, Zero Chance, Burden In My Hand) or blues (Boot Camp) interests dominate. They also experimented with odd time signatures and alternative tunings, because Wikipedia tells me so. Clearly, it’s nothing so overt that it detracts from the songcraft, unlike other hard rock bands of the time.

Down On The Upside’s a solid album, for sure. Can’t say I’ll ever listen to it again though. I’ve had my fill from alternative rock radio stations.