Artist	Song
Melvins	Hooch
from Houdini (2008)
Don Caballero	Stupid Puma
from Don Caballero 2 (1995)
Slint	Ron
from Tweez (1993)
Polvo	Thermal Treasure
from Today's Active Lifestyles (1993)
Zeni Geva	Alienation
from Freedom Bondage (1995)
June of 44	Cut Your Face
from Four Great Points (1998)
Rodan	Shiner
from Rusty (1994)
Unwound	All Souls Day
from New Plastic Ideas (1994)
Cows	Heave Ho
from Cunning Stunts (2004)
Scratch Acid	Crazy Dan
from The Greatest Gift (1990)
Unsane	Straight
from Total Destruction (1994)
Breadwinner	Tourette's
from Burner (1994)
Melt-Banana	Plot In a Pot
from Scratch or Stitch (2007)
Laughing Hyenas	Here We Go Again
from Life of Crime (1990)
Dazzling Killmen	Agitator
from Face of Collapse (2007)
Uzeda	Higher Than Me
from 4 - EP (1995)
Battles	Atlas
from Mirrored (2007)

Comment:

[i]Rock loud. Rock hard. Rock new.[/i] While we body-slammed three semi-distinct subgenres (noise rock, math rock, and post-hardcore) together under this one big musical umbrella, they [i]all[/i] subscribe to noise rock’s basic mission statement. It sprang up everywhere, but blasting out of the fertile Chicago-Louisville circuit came Slint, who pack an entire audio demolition derby into the two-minute “Ron,” from their Steve Albini-produced [i]Tweez[/i]. If Frank Zappa and Dave Brubeck started jamming after a night of pounding Red Bulls, it might sound a little like Pittsburgh, PA, math rock grads Don Caballero’s “Stupid Puma” — as complex as Chinese algebraa progressive rock double album opus, as dissonant as a Russian-poet conventionprimal industrial clang. California boasted [i]two[/i] competing noise-rock scenes, with Drive Like Jehu leading the San Diego contingent and the mighty Melvins representing the Bay Area. The latter’s “Hooch” crunches with the sludgy heaviness of a Black Sabbath-Metallica merger and crackles with Flipper’s take-no-prisoners approach. And if you’re feeling adventurous, give a listen to the Oompa-Loompa vocal stylings and funhouse-mirror hypno-beats of today’s mathematicians Battles. From Chicago’s Jesus Lizard to Japan’s Melt-Banana, we’ve got all the tools to noise-up your iPod with the best, the brightest . . . and the [i]loudest[/i].

Feedback: