Dig Me Out: 90s & 00s Rock

Released during the protracted second Iraq war, Josh Ritter's fourth album The Animal Years layers a singer/songwriter album with somber lyrical depth softened by effective melodies and thoughtful instrumentation.

 

Songs In This Episode

Intro - Wolves

17:04 - Girl In The War

18:58 - Monster Ballads

25:29 - Thin Blue Flame

32:36 - Good Man

Outro - Here at the Right Time

 

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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.

Earnest without sliding into overwrought emo, Silkworm struck a balance between raw and refined on their fourth album, 1996's Firewater. Like most of their releases, the band turned to Steve Albini to engineer, capturing the live sound of the band crisp and clearly across the nearly hour running time. The band rarely overindulge, leaving those spare moments to the guitarist Andy Cohen, who channels the overdriven chaos of J. Mascis and Neil Young on tracks like "Wet Firecracker" and "Drag the River." The rhythm section, though never flashy, are tight and locked-in, with the bass taking melodic turns to support the sing-speak vocals that waver between understated and explosive. Though the band called Seattle home for the early part of the 1990s, the band eschews any grunge influence for post-punk and indie rock influences that helped separate the band from their homebase peers.

 

Songs In This Episode

Intro - Nerves

19:28 - Quicksand

21:28 - Drag the River

29:06 - Cannibal Cannibal

31:07 - The Lure of Beauty

Outro - Don't Make Plans This Friday

 

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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.

Self-produced after parting ways with their major label, 12 Rods released the genre-bending Lost Time in 2002, combining elements of power pop, indie rock, 70s art rock and more. Eclectic songwriting, dynamic shifts, and a mixture of organic and treated sounds balance an album full of catchy hooks with inventive and occasionally straight-up weird choices, like the loungy-groove of "Fake Magic 8-Ball," falling somewhere between Eels and Ben Folds Five, or the relentlessly melodic "Twenty Four Hours Ago." The lack of cohesion is offset by the versatility of the material, never overstaying its welcome, and quality of the songwriting that welcomes repeated listens.

 

Songs In This Episode

Intro - Terrible Hands

17:12 - Fake Magic 8-Ball

21:19 - Summertime Vertigo

26:05 - Boy in the Woods

30:16 - Twenty Four Hours Ago

41:31 - The Time Is Right (To Be Wrong)

Outro - Accidents Waiting to Happen

 

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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.

Is an industrial song ever really done? KMFDM’s 1993 release Naïve/Hell to Go asks that question, revisiting tracks from their 1990 release Naïve and offering new remixes and modified versions. Leaning heavily on sequenced aggression - pounding drum machines, serrated metal guitar loops, and chant-ready slogans that feel engineered as much for the dance floor as the mosh pit. Tracks like “Go to Hell” and “A Drug Against War” distill the band’s confrontational ethos into blunt, almost cartoonishly militant hooks that nonetheless hit with real force.

 

Songs In This Episode

Intro - Welcome/Naïve

19:10 - Got To Hell (Fuck MTV Mix)

24:57 - Godlike (Doglike Mix)

27:47 - Die Now Live Later (Born Again Mix)

Outro - Disgust (Live in Seattle)

 

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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.

You Forgot It in People captures Broken Social Scene at their most expansive, an indie rock communal experience balancing meticulous arrangements and unhinged joyfulness. Layers of guitars, synths, horns, and rotating vocalists creates a warm chaos that rewards repeated listens, as new details constantly surface. Songs like “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” and “Cause = Time” balance intimacy and grandeur, pairing fragile emotion with sweeping crescendos. Two decades on, it still sounds like the 2000s blueprint for how indie rock bands like Arcade Fire, Godspeed, You Black Emperor, and many more could be messy, emotional, and deeply human without losing their ambition.

 

Songs In This Episode

Intro - Stars and Sons

12:15 - KC Accidental

20:29 - Cause = Time

26:03 - Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl

Outro - Pacific Theme

 

Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.

Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.