Episode 36 – Melvins is Cult, Part 1: Hostile Ambient Takeover

Melvins’ career -- a vast, still-expanding 36-year odyssey across the full spectrum of heavy and experimental sound -- is marked by goalposts, some triumphant, some deviant. On this episode of Radical Research, we train a critical eye on 2002’s bellwether, the curiously-named Hostile Ambient Takeover. The album takes stock of many of the band’s hallmarks: droning, hypnotic trance rock, mathematical hijinks, and Mountain/Cactus-inspired groove. But the band breaks with its tradition of conspicuous mash-up and manages these generic demarcations with remarkable seamlessness. To drop it into proper context, we also take a look at the band’s late '90s wilderness period and their mid-'00s absorption of the hefty Big Business. As always, we invite you to join us as we pick apart but a sliver of one of rock music’s most fascinating, and enduring, institutions.Note I: In the first half of 2003, Melvins and their label, Ipecac, released Hostile Ambient Takeover as a 7-inch series. The album tracks are a-sides, while the b-sides are mostly cover versions, Melvins-ized songs by Mott the Hoople, Ramones, The Gun Club, Alice Cooper, Warlock Pinchers and The Tubes. Note II: We spend little time on the influence of Melvins, but their music has inspired artists working in math rock, sludge, doom, left-field art rock, desert rock, and beyond. The most well known Melvins devotee was Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, who played an indispensable role in the career of Melvins, evangelizing their cause in the early '90s and producing a portion of their major label debut, Houdini. Other artists inspired and/or influenced by Melvins include -- but are certainly not limited to -- Brutal Truth, Boris, Mind Over Four, Crowbar, Baroness, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Helmet, Eyehategod, High on Fire, Soundgarden, Mastodon, Strapping Young Lad/Devin Townsend, Zeni Geva, and Sunn0))). Note III: As hinted by the title of this episode, we hope to occasionally dig in to some other facet of planet Melvins in future episodes. Honky, Stag, Hold it In, Egg Nog...who knows?! Note IV: Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: paypal.me/rrpodcast << Please paste in your browser window, link not working directly from RR site right now. Thanks!<