ALBUM RECOMMENDATIONS |

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The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Local H

[#] As Good as Dead (1996)

Reviewed August 14, 2018

A fuckin' ugly highlight reel of 90s angst. I'm in love.

I come from a shitty, nowhere town. Shitty, nowhere towns are all over, but how weird is it that not long after I review Faith No More's Nowhereland opera Angel Dust, As Good as Dead, a record with the same themes, falls into my lap? Local H's approach to dead ends is a bit different, however: Where Angel Dust winds and keeps its distance, As Good as Dead goes for the fucking jugular. There's really only in two spots where the album slows its roll, the Beck-like "No Problem" and the backbeat sprawl of "O.K." It's crazy to think this rager was just two dudes. I'm sure people will casually toss out Nirvana comparisons (okay, so "High-Fiving MF" has an "In Bloom" complex and Scott kinda wails like Kurt), but at least Local H didn't need to be coaxed into doing overdubs.

See, the thing I miss about 90s angst-rock is the danger, the sense of what made average, mainstream listeners uncomfortable. Now that being counter-culture is the mainstream, who's there to rage? Shit, I know people who sound like this record too. I've sounded like this record! Who hasn't wished a pox on starry-eyed lovers or felt like they're wasting their potential in a hovel somewhere where no one will ever find them? In that sense, As Good as Dead really is the pinnacle of the strangled rage of 90s alternative. Only "Bound for the Floor" hints at commercial viability, and the rest continues to be criminally overlooked. What can I say, write about being forgotten, get forgotten.

Essential:	Quintessential:	Non-Essential:	Rating:
"High-Fiving MF", "No Problem", "Freeze-Dried (F)lies"	"Bound for the Floor"	"O.K."

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