This album review is brought to you by Spotify. Not because I have the kind of readership that would ever lead to any sort of sponsorship, but because when I get really desperate and can’t think of a new band or album to try, I resort to the Spotify ‘Discover’ section. Today, the discovery lead me to The Afghan Whigs and Up In It. I know nothing about this band, except that some of my online listening habits made a computer think I might like them. I hope it’s not the computer from Terminator 2 that turns against us. I could never trust that traitorous bastard for music recommendations. But I digress.
Loud, crunchy and loose, the opening track might have a pretty low rent name, but Retarded is a promising start. Which is the good thing about having a zero on the prior knowledge scale. It’s a neutral starting point which means ther’s a 50/50 chance that the album will rise above that line of neutrality. Pretty good odds, considering the massive chances of copping absolute shit when listening to the radio.
Kind of punk, but a little looser. Kind of metal, but not quite all the way. It’s amazing to think Up In It came before Nevermind. Because I know it’s a sound that would have been totally alien to my ears in 1990, but so normal just a couple of years later.
With its hint of funk with the washed guitars, restless, rolling bass, and psychedelic rock vocals, I’m only two songs in, and White Trash Party makes me think missing The Afghan Whigs train might be one of the biggest cock ups of my music listening career. It’s great now, but I think it would have been absolutely mind blowing to me as a 90s teenager.
With Hated, I get to find out what it would sound like if Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr. formed a super group. The answer, awesome. Southpaw is another eclectic combo of old sounds to make something new. Punk rock guitars and tempo, classic rock riffs, heavier rock vocals, bass that sounds like Flea took a break from the Chili Peppers to help out… It all works together for something so familiar, but also totally fresh.
Hey Cuz and Son of the South get a little more experimental rhythmically and tonally. I was loving the more straight up, in your face intense rock of the earlier tracks, but this different side is a great showcase of The Afghan Whigs spreading their creative wings a little.
Late in the album comes In My Town, possibly the biggest stand out in how anonymous it is. But that’s not a bad thing. It has a jangly, indie quality of some of the best 90s jangly, indie music. And it’s just another example of how wide ranging this bands talents are.
The first sign of me being likely to dig The Afghan Whigs and Up On it should have been that it was released by Sub Pop Records. In the late 80s and early 90s, the label was home to the most exciting bands of that period. Bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. I might not like one of those bands all that much, but I can recognise their importance. Now, with Up On It, I can ad The Afghan Whigs to this illustrious list of 90s Sub Pop ass kickers.
Bored and Dangerous 
It’s not funny anymore… just hurtful.