For a while when I was in college, Smart Studios was famous. It wasn’t as well known as Abbey Road or Electric Lady, but I don’t recall the names of any other recording studios from the era of the late eighties and early nineties. It was the one-two punch of Nirvana’s Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish that did it. Both records were produced by Butch Vig and recorded, at least in part, at Smart Studios, and the seismic thump that both releases had on college radio caused it to seem like there was a little bit of magic existing inside … Continue reading One for Friday: Young Fresh Fellows, “Sitting on a Pitchfork”

In some respects, the most difficult time I had keeping up with and discovering new music correlated with my occupational era working in commercial radio. This wasn’t because I was working at some oldies station or some other crypt on the dial devoted solely to the music of the past. Quite the contrary, in fact. While I did my time with a couple different stations simultaneously, most of my hours were claimed by a “new rock alternative” station, ostensibly focused on the cutting edge of music. This was in the aftermath of the shock success of Nirvana, and their Seattle … Continue reading One for Friday: Tanya Donelly, “Mysteries of the Unexplained”