The Afghan Whigs

The Afghan Whigs, “Matamoros”

The Afghan Whigs wrapped up their first incarnation with 1998’s 1965, and Greg Dulli moved on to other projects - primarily the Twilight Singers, but other things like the Gutter Twins album with Mark Lanegan. It wasn’t that the band blew up, but they just decided to stop making albums. A reunion gained momentum in the early 2010s, and a new album eventually emerged from the band in 2014. Obviously, Dulli is the most important member, but John Curley rejoined him, meaning half of the original lineup was back. Good enough!

The Afghan Whigs, “The Spell”

After a sixteen year hiatus, the Afghan Whigs got back together, meaning Greg Dulli decided to start recording music under that moniker. I think there are some shared folks with 1965 besides him, hard to tell from Discogs. Anyway, the music post-hiatus seems like it continues on a straight line from where they left off, but as if they kept making albums in the meantime. If that makes sense? That is, if there were four albums missing in-between and they kept evolving in the same direction, you’d end up where they are now.

The Afghan Whigs, “Neglekted”

I always wonder a bit about song titles like this one. What does the spelling here represent? It’s not a common alternate spelling or anything, so what was it that they were choosing to capture here? A mystery that might be solved with some simple searching, but I choose to just let it remain a question instead.

Dag Nasty, “Circles”

Founded by Brian Baker of Minor Threat, Dag Nasty took the hardcore of that band in a more melodic direction, folding in some of sound of the Descendents, with whom they toured. In fact, if you took the midpoint of those two bands, you get pretty close to Dag Nasty.

Afghan Whigs, “Retarded”

Uh, yikes.

“Television’s gone / I’m alone with Lucifer / what a drag” is such an outstanding summary of Greg Dulli’s lyrical work with the Whigs. Shame about the slurs, though.

The Temptations, “I Wish It Would Rain”

A thing that gets a little lost about Motown is that a lot of it is reduced to just the same handful of the biggest hits these days. And those songs are great, sure, but there’s so much awesome stuff just a tiny bit deeper in their catalog. This was a decent hit back in the day, but has largely disappeared from people’s memory, and it’s a great tune.

Oneida, “Every Day is a Child With Teeth”

This is from the split EP that Oneida made with Liars, Athiests, Reconsider, where both bands contributed two originals and a cover of the other band. Both bands are pretty restless in their styles, and true to form, the EP covers quite a bit of territory. It’s not a bad introduction to both bands, honestly, although it frankly won’t really tell you that much about how each band typically sounds. But it’ll give you a sense for if you like the general approach of both.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Sand”

Every now and again, Neubauten will make a song that’s relatively conventional. And you still end up with a creepy torch song like this one, complete with strangled half-falsetto and tribal drumming.

Built to Spill, “Revolution”

Before going on their tear with their last three albums in the 90s, Built to Spill released Ultimate Alternative Wavers. It forms the missing link between the Dinosaur Jr. tribute of the Treepeople to the extended twisted pop of their next few records. There are plenty of things to like on this record, and it’s easy to see how Martsch evolved from here, but it’s not their best work.

Rapeman, “Monobrow”

The disconnected guitar skronk at the front of this song is weirdly something that kind of sticks with me. I think because it kind of lays bare what noise rock kind of sounds like when its stripped of all the layers. And, of course, when the rest of the band joins in, it’s thunderous magic.

Claw Hammer, “Three Fifteen”

I guess we’re going to open all the songs today with a lil’ guitar wank. OK by me!