Pixies - Trompe le Monde

It’s hard looking back at an album from before I actually gained consciousness and trying to evaluate its place in history. Many who appreciated it at the time consider this album underrated and ahead of its time - from my backward-looking perspective, I can say it does sound more modern than a 33-year-old album, which supports the ahead of its time narrative. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that it doesn’t sound as dated as other alt rock from the period.

My conclusion is that this is the epitome of alt rock before it was cool - it’s both influential and underrated. This album must have been a bit overshadowed in the mainstream by Nirvana and REM’s releases at the time - how many alt rock albums would even fit on the charts in 1991?  With Nirvana, REM, Pearl Jam, Chili peppers, guns n roses, Metallica occupying so much pop culture space, not to mention the pop behemoths?

It’s interesting to compare this to the other great rock/indie/grunge/metal and adjacent albums that dominated pop culture at the time. Trompe le Monde is a bit less focused than Nevermind, which to me is great partly because of its consistency and single-minded sound. Pixies’ scream-tracks like “Planet of Sound” and “The Sad Punk” are less hard-hitting than Nirvana’s, their alt-rock tracks like “Alec Eiffel” and “Palace of the Brine” are like REM-lite, and the mixture of the two styles, while super entertaining, could explain why this album’s sales didn’t match its value. BUT I also think my opinions above are influenced by the fact I’ve heard so much of the music this album inspired, and it doesn’t fit into a nice timeline in my mind. There’s a chance I’m under-rating the influence Pixies had, which would be a shame.

And the variety of the album is a feature, not a bug - I love it, but I don’t think pop charts audiences enjoy anything that’s not 100% to-the-point all the time. I think to make a huge splash in terms of sales, consumers want something a bit more linear. They want one-flavor albums, straightforward and consistent concepts - it’s probably a little harder to present a slightly more scatter-brained album like Trompe le Monde and find millions of people who can relate to its every aspect. I think the 1991 charts support that - Metallica and Nirvana and REM were each certainly capable of variety, but their 1991 smash hit albums were linear and consistent examples of their work, while I feel like Pixies mashed a lot of concepts into a single album here. Simple tasting wine sells more bottles than something more complex and varied - that’s just the bell curve effect of pop society. But to the discerning drinker, it’s a different story. I’m not the most discerning person in the world, but I love the variety of this album.

Jams

• “Head On”

• “U-Mass”

Green Mind - Dinosaur Jr. 

Once, when I was like 8, I participated in an impromptu talent show on the playground. For my act I went in front of everybody (it felt like hundreds, but in reality it was probably like four third graders) and told them I could make the best weird faces in the world. I held my breath and stuck my tongue out and crossed my eyes and went “hngggghhh” until my face turned almost purple while my classmates laughed (or so I assume). Then I accidentally passed out and fell over on the grass and got made fun of for weeks. If I’d been able to speak while doing my “talent”, straining to turn my face purple, I think my voice would have sounded like J Mascis’ on this album.

OK, I’m just making that comparison for fun, don’t worry. Yes, Mascis’ vocals have a straining sound like he’s forcing them out through vocal chords the diameter of a cocktail straw. But the difference is he seems to be straining to express something deep inside, not fooling around on the playground like a moron. It gives the album a vulnerable and relatable sound, and it’s part of the unique character of what I think of as the punk-adjacent side of indie rock.

I also love that this album was largely performed by J Mascis himself. There’s no instrument that sounds like it’s not played by a specialist - many people praise his guitar work, but to be honest it’s the drums that really won me over on this album. The energy they create is massive and never lets up.

I missed out on lots of the formative music of the 90’s for the silly reason of not being a human being yet, but I feel like in this album I’ve discovered a common ancestor for many of the bands I did know once my brain was more fully developed. It feels like, as I trace through the music of the 90’s in more detail, many of the roots I follow will lead back to Dinosaur Jr. 

Jams

• “The Wagon”

• “Muck”

From the roundup Jamwise #38 - Best Albums of 1991, Pt. 2.