Grant Hart

Vertigo, “Sit Down and Shut Up”

Psychedelic noise rockers Vertigo had one final EP in 1993, Driver #43, which might have been their best single release. By this point, they were playing pretty tight, and everything was really hitting. It’s a shame that they never had the chance to build further on this record.

Bummer, “Reefer Sadness”

Noise rock today! Bummer hail from Kansas, and it’s very Midwestern in style. All burly growling guitars and shouting, descended from the Chicago tradition. This is a satisfying record if you like the style.

The Decemberists, “Summersong”

I’ve talked a little about the Four Album theory, which is that some great metal bands (Metallica, Krallice, Mastodon) will push things as far as they can with their sound over four albums, before taking off in a different direction. It’s half-baked, yes, but it’s a theory anyway.

But in thinking about it, these aren’t the only Four Album bands. The Decemberists, for instance, pushed their increasingly elaborate folk-rock storytelling thing further and further over the course of their first four albums, culminating in The Crane Wife, which is really kind of a concept record that stands as the final record of that approach. While The Hazards of Love is maybe more ambitious, it kind of seeks a more prog direction without as much of the folk stuff, so to my ears, represents the same kind of stylistic break as those metal bands.