Oh boy, get ready for a blast from the past! 🎸 Melissa Auf Der Maur, the iconic bassist of HOLE and THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, is releasing new music for the first time in over 15 years! I mean, who didn’t see this coming? 😒 The ’90s are back, baby, and they’re not leaving until we’ve all worn out our flannel shirts and Doc Martens. “Bass Womb Room: My ’90s 4-Track Demos X Field Recordings” is set to drop on September 4, and I’m sure it’ll be a totally not-at-all nostalgic trip down memory lane. The album features seven never-before-heard four-track tape recorder demos written and recorded by Auf Der Maur in the ’90s, as well as eight new “interludes” created for her upcoming museum exhibition “Melissa Auf Der Maur: My ’90s Rock Photographs” at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Yeah, because what the world really needed was more ’90s nostalgia. 🙄
So, what’s the story behind this album? Well, Auf Der Maur wrote these demos in her living room home studio in the 1990s, using her trusty Tascam four-track. The songwriting and instrumentation were often anchored by an acoustic guitar, layered with vocals, and occasionally featuring lo-fi four-track tricks like flipping the cassette backwards or pitch shifting. Because, you know, that’s not something you can do with modern technology or anything. 🙃 The lyrics were streams of consciousness or direct reads from her diary, reflecting on things like blistered fingers, desire, and the moon landing. Wow, I bet that’s going to be a wild ride.
Auf Der Maur’s Musical Journey
It’s worth noting that Auf Der Maur’s indie band TINKER had just opened for THE SMASHING PUMPKINS when Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love as the new bassist for HOLE’s “Live Through This” world tour. She went on to play on the group’s Grammy-nominated album “Celebrity Skin” and later joined THE SMASHING PUMPKINS as the bassist for their farewell tour from 1999 to 2000. After leaving HOLE, Auf Der Maur released a few solo albums and then co-founded the multi-disciplinary art center Basilica Hudson in Hudson, New York. Because, you know, being a rock star isn’t enough – you have to be a Renaissance woman too. 🙄
The album is being released digitally and on cassette (because, of course, it is) via Envision Records, and it’s accompanied by a 240-page photobook of the same name, arriving September 8 via DelMonico Books/D.A.P. and the AGO. The photobook is a collection of Auf Der Maur’s ’90s rock photographs, which will undoubtedly be a fascinating look back at the decade of grunge and alternative rock. I mean, who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashioned photo book of people with bad haircuts and worse fashion sense? 😂
The Music and Exhibition
The ’90s four-track demo songs are presented alongside interstitial sound pieces that score Auf Der Maur’s “Bass Womb Room” installation at the AGO museum, co-produced by Auf Der Maur and Alex Crow. The installation is a mirror pyramid surround of video, set to the music, and is meant to give visitors a taste of the transcendent experience of being on the road, performing on stage, before cell phones and digital recording. Yeah, because that’s exactly what I want to experience – the thrill of being in a crowded, sweaty venue with a bunch of strangers, without the comfort of my phone to distract me. 🙃
The sound pieces featured in the exhibition are mostly drawn from Auf Der Maur’s recordings of HOLE and THE SMASHING PUMPKINS shows, which she made by placing a video handycam on her bass amp during performances. The recordings have been sampled and connected by a recurring heartbeat that symbolizes both the bass and the womb. Because, you know, the bass is the “mother of all instruments” – who knew? 🤷♀️
“I wrote these songs in the context of rising pressure from the major label-driven music industry on myself and my peers to make glossy hit songs to dominate radio airwaves,” says Auf Der Maur. “These songs are the sound of my internal experimentation and a way of keeping the Montreal art girl alive inside. These sounds are the quiet and private side of the girl who joined the big American major label rock band.” Yeah, because we all know that the ’90s music industry was super supportive of artists and didn’t at all prioritize commercial success over creativity. 🙄
In conclusion, “Bass Womb Room: My ’90s 4-Track Demos X Field Recordings” is a nostalgic trip down memory lane that’s sure to delight fans of HOLE and THE SMASHING PUMPKINS. The album is a unique blend of lo-fi demos and interstitial sound pieces that score Auf Der Maur’s museum exhibition, and it’s a must-listen for anyone who loves ’90s alternative rock. Or, you know, it’s just a bunch of old demos and field recordings that you can listen to if you’re feeling nostalgic for the ’90s. Either way, it’s a thing that exists now, and you can’t undo it. 🤷♀️
Chord F. Discord, the Beethoven of Buffoonery, is a self-taught expert in music who once claimed he could “play the kazoo in four languages.”
Born in Crescendo, Indiana, Chord’s first brush with fame came when he accidentally entered a yodeling contest thinking it was a pie-eating competition—and won both categories.
Chord F. Discord: proving that laughter, much like a poorly tuned ukulele, is truly universal.
