The Breeders "Fate to Fatal" (2009) (ep)

Fate to Fatal, ep
release date: Apr. 21, 2009
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,24]
producer: Ben Mumphrey, Steve Albini, Gareth Parton
label: Period Music* - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Fate to Fatal" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "The Last Time" (feat. Mark Lanegan) - 3. "Chances Are" - 4. "Pinnacle Hollow"

Ep release by The Breeders and their first not to be issued on 4AD. Although, only released one year after Mountain Battles, the ep demonstrates another style with more focus on more traditional rock, which may be seen on 3 of the 4 songs. Only the title track sounds like something that would have fitted nicely on the 2007 album, whereas the others are slower and much more pop / rock and folk rock-shaped. The track "The Last Time" sounds like something by The National - here with Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan on lead vocals. The Bob Marley cover "Chances Are" is fine with its lo-fi sound / minimal instrumentation performed as a doo wop ballad with clear focus on lyrical output, and the closing song "Pinnacle Hollow" is basically a folk rock song with more folk than rock sounding like a jam session in the early 70s with Buffalo Springfield and in that way is afar from any song on the 2007 album and any other songs by The Breeders making this ep a bit of a mixed bag.

The Breeders "Mountain Battles" (2007)

Mountain Battles
release date: Apr. 7, 2008
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,44]
producer: non-produced*
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Overglazed" - 2. "Bang On" - 4. "We're Gonna Rise" - 5. "German Studies" - 8. "Walk It Off" (live) - 12. "It's the Love" (live)

4th and so far final studio album by The Breeders is not attributed producer credits - much in their usual way paying little attention on after-processing. Engineers and recorder credits include Steve Albini, Erika Larsen, Ben Mumphrey and Manny Nieto. Although, Kim and Kelley recorded initial sessions for a new album as early as in 2002 after having just released Title TK, a reunion tour with Pixies and several new studio sessions in various locations delayed the process. In 2007 guitarist Richard Presley left the band and the final recording sessions for the album is therefore only with Kim and Kelley Deal on guitar.
The album may be seen as a fine and natural successor to Title TK with its likewise focus on proto-punk influences and close to garage rock-styled noise pop. Basically, I think this is the album by The Breeders that comes closest to the sound of Pixies when thinking of a combo of Surfer Rosa and Title TK. It doesn't stir up things or excel in high energy guitar distortion as the predecessor, but it balances a demo-sound and typical quirkiness of the Deal sisters nicely within a sonic sphere with equal amounts of rock tradition and artistic originality. Some songs may come close to what sounds like retakes on early Pixies compositions ["German Studies" and "Walk It Off"], but all in all, I think the album is more typical for what represents Kim Deal, and imho that can't be bad.
The Breeders hasn't stopped touring, although, no new albums so far has been released. In 2012 the band re-united in the original Last Splash line-up with the Deal sisters, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson, and the album was reissued in a comprehensive 3-disc edition titled LSXX. In 2016 rumours suggested that the band was doing studio rehearsals, which would imply that a new album is on its way.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo, Spin, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Breeders "Title TK" (2002)

Title TK
release date: May 20, 2002
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Steve Albini
label: 4Ad Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Little Fury" - 2. "London Song" - 3. "Off You" - 4. "The She" - 5. "Too Alive" - 6. "Son of Three" - 7. "Put on a Side" - 10. "Forced to Drive" - 12. "Huffer"

3rd studio album by The Breeders released 9 years [!] after the predecessor, the successful and acclaimed Last Splash. The title is a general expression for "title to come". A small decade without releasing noteworthy new material has its grounds, and the band is also a whole new set of people. The Breeders has always been a Kim Deal project-band - an outlet for her writing creativity. Pixies, which was her main band had been buried by frontman Black Francis in early '93, which should've given Deal room for playing with The Breeders, but Kelley Deal's drug abuse probably got in the way for the project. Anyhow, Kim founded the band The Amps (also with drummer Jim Macpherson), and The Breeders was a shelved project. Basically, what happened was that The Amps, who had been on tour since the release of the debut album Pacer in '95, had its name changed to The Breeders at some point in '96. The Amps consisted of Deal / Macpherson and with Luis Lerma on bass and Nate Farley on guitar. Deal had awaited Josephine Wiggs and Kelley's return but when Wiggs announced she was not in a position to rejoin The Breeders, Kim simply changed the band's name, which would hand them a broader repertoire, and with the addition of violinist Carrie Bradley the band now played as The Breeders. By late '98 Kelley rejoined while Macpherson left, and in 2000 both Lerma and Farley had left. Rumour has it that it wasn't just Kelley, who had a drug abuse - Kim had her problems and made regular studio work a challenging task, a point that was confirmed by Mark Freegard, who co-produced Last Splash when he found it impossible to work with Kim on sessions that should have been first takes on a follow-up album in '97. In '99 Kim had written new songs and to avoid conflicts with other musicians, she intended to make a solo album. She recorded several songs playing all instruments herself with Kelley in a supporting role but the idea of having to tour made her decide to find a group to play with. In 2000 the Breeders was a project consisting of the Deal sisters assisted by bassist Mando Lopez and guitarist Richard Presley from hardcore punk band Fear, and with Jose Medeles on drums.
Naturally, after 9 years and a lot of U-turns along the way this is not just the follow-up to the fine 93 album. How could it possibly be that? My reaction to the album was not a positive one. I had looked for news about the band and simply found it sheer stupidity not to release a follow-up within the first 5 years - they just didn't understand the importance of that 2nd album. And when it finally came, it was so far from the strengths of Last Splash. I had no idea of what the band had been through, but it's not really a bad album after all. It's biggest asset is that once you get the feel of it, it has a very uniform sound. I think, intentionally, it sounds more like session recordings - or even demo versions - without additional production editing or mixing to make it sound more vivid and alive, which in many ways link it more directly than almost any releases of the 90s to the proto-punk of the late 1960s and early 70s and with bands like Velvet Underground, The Stooges and Patti Smith.
It's not really a great album, but it certainly is a strong and individualised collection of songs, which in a most natural way bonds with Pixies, The Amps, all the 'noise rock' bands but also the whole grunge rock era of the 90s. And that's also a kind of a weakness 'cause by 2002 it does already sound dated - as something that should have been released in the mid-90s when proto-punk references were much more present. Regardless of being a Kim Deal project band, The Breeders has proven with Title TK that it's the most natural link between noise pop and alt. rock of the modern era and art rock and proto-punk some 30 years earlier, and in that respect this album is worth more than just a listen or two.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Breeders "Divine Hammer" (1993) (single)

Divine Hammer, single
release date: Oct. 25, 1993
format: digital (HD Tracks) (4 x File, FLAC)
[single rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Fred Maher
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Divine Hammer (single version)" (4 / 5) - 2. "Hoverin' " - 3. "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" - 4. "Do You Love Me Now Jr?"

Single release taken from the album Last Splash (Aug. '93). Along with the title song, also track #4 is from the album, however, both versions are different from the album versions. Track #4 here feature Dinosaur Jr. vocalist Joseph Mascis on additional vocals. These alternate versions are not better, not worse, only slightly different, which is nice. Track #2 is written by Kim Deal and former husband John Murphy and basically sound more like a demo to a track by Pixies. Track #3 is a cover of a country-song by Hank Williams.

The Breeders "Last Splash" (1993)

Last Splash
release date: Aug. 31, 1993
format: cd (CAD 3014 CD)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Kim Deal & Mark Freegard
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "New Year" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Cannonball" (5 / 5) - 3. "Invisible Man" - 5. "Roi" - 6. "Do You Love Me Now?" - 7. "Flipside" (live) - 8. "I Just Wanna Get Along" - 10. "Divine Hammer" - 11. "S.O.S." - 13. "Saints"

2nd studio album by The Breeders who at this point consist of Kim Deal on guitar and vocals, her twin sister Kelley Deal on guitar and vocals, Josephine Wiggs on bass, and with Jim MacPherson on drums.
Musically and stylistically, the band here sounds both more uniform but also more experimental than before. Pod was much more of a one-dimensional expression compared to this. Last Splash is like Pixies, Belly, and Breeders in one band. There are strong aggressive outbursts, which pars the strongest energetic outbursts by Pixies, and there are strangely sounding bits and pieces where you wonder what is going on - and then it all falls in to place in melodic harmonies and great chorus lines.
The album primarily harvested critical acclaim, and is so far the only album by The Breeders to sell Platinum (US), Gold (Australia & Canada) and Silver (UK). It reached number #5 on the album charts list in the UK (base of 4AD Records), and the single release of "Cannonball" went to number #2 on the US single charts list (Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks list). In time it has been lauded as one of the most defining albums of the alt. rock scene of the 1990s. A sample of "S.O.S." was used by The Prodigy in their hit single "Firestarter" (1996), and that electronic project also used a sample from "I Just Wanna Get Along" for the track "World's on Fire" released on the album Invaders Must Die (2009).

The album was released five months after Pixies' frontman Frank Black released his solo debut album to much attention. And Last Splash also spawned fine reviews and was greeted as an immediate success but The Breeders never was and never intended to lead a life in the spotlight, and the acclaim seems to have been more of a burden to a side-project with members who just wanted a playground for themselves. Anyway, the band members returned to other musical projects. Kelley Deal got occupied by drug 'related problems' and Kim formed the band The Amps (which included both Kelley Jim MacPherson), however, the band never split but was put on a hiatus.
In 2013, the album was issued as LSXX (Last Splash 20th Anniversary Edition) - a vinyl box set containing 3 full length records and 4 eps, as well as an optical version consisting of 3 discs.
Last Splash is probably one in three albums I played the most in the mid 1990s, and I'm sure my then-neighbours know "New Year" and "Cannonball" 'cause I kinda played them really L O U D.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Blender 4 / 5, Spin, Rolling Stone Album Guide 4,5 / 5 stars ]

1993 Favourite releases: 1. Tindersticks Tindersticks - 2. Björk Debut - 3. The Breeders Last Splash

The Breeders "Cannonball" (1993) (single)

Cannonball, maxi single
release date: Aug. 19, 1993
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,59]
producer: Kim Deal, Mark Freegard
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Cannonball" (5 / 5) (live - live) - 2. "Cro-Aloha" (3 / 5) - 3. "Lord of the Thighs" - 4. "900" (3 / 5)

Single release ny The Breeders taken from the forthcoming sophomore studio album Last Splash (May 1993). At this point, Tanya Donelly has left the band to concentrate on her new band, Belly and Kim Deal's twin sister Kelley has by now replaced Donelly on guitar and vocal. Also drummer Britt Walford has left to concentrate on his primary band, Slint. Instead, the band now includes drummer Jim MacPherson - and you may see it as Breeders Mark II.
The cd single comes in a 2-track version and this one, the 4-track maxi single. The first two compositions are credited Kim Deal - with the title track from the forthcoming album, and the second track, here a re-take on "No Aloha", also from the Last Splash album - track #3 is a cover by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and track #4 is written by Josephine Wiggs of the band.
The title track is truly a giant of a song, which basically is the band's best ever song and one I simply adore. The rest is more so-so with "Cro-Aloha" as a skewed near Pixies sort of song.

The Breeders "Safari" (1992) (ep)

Safari, ep
release date: Mar. 9, 1992
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,40]
producer: Paul Berry, Dante DeSole, Guy Fixsen
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Do You Love Me Now?" - 2. "Don't Call Home" - 3. "Safari" - 4. "So Sad About Us" (live)

Ep release by The Breeders following the debut album Pod (May 1990). The debut appears as a 'one-off' album, which basically was a made-up band to the occasion of realising Kim Deal's own songs, and after that the band members returned to their original bands, and Tanya Donelly was in the making of forming the Belly, while Kim would bring in her twin sister Kelley as a substitute to Tanya. Safari is the only album with both Tania and Kelley performing.
Stylistically, this appears both as the continued style from Pod; but moreover, looking at the composer and instrument credits it seems apparent that The Breeders is still more of a Kim Deal-project than the Deal / Donelly-project critics would like it to be, which also explains Donelly's wish to form a band of her own. Three tracks here are by Kim (either alone or with someone else than Tania), and the end-track is a cover by Pete Townshend. The first track also appears on Last Splash (1993) in a new recording and this is credited the two Deal sisters.
Safari appears as a step up in terms of solid material, and it showcases Kim Deal's capabilities as a songwriter.

The Breeders "Pod" (1990)

Pod (debut]
release date: May 28, 1990
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,44]
producer: Steve Albini
label: 4AD - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Glorious" - 3. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" - 4. "Oh!" - 5. "Hellbound" - 7. "Fortunately Gone" - 8. "Iris" - 9. "Opened" - 11. "Lime House"

Studio album debut by The Breeders, a project band created in the late 1980s as Pixies bassist Kim Deal and Throwing Muses vocalist and guitarist Tanya Donelly became friends and as Deal was unsatisfied with her part in Pixies as merely instrumentalist and was writing her own original material, the two decided give it a try making music together. A brief demo tape was sent to British 4AD-founder Ivo Watts-Russell, as both Pixies and Throwing Muses were signed to that label, he then made arrangements with Deal and Donelly to come to England to record some tracks. Deal made contact with Josephine Wiggs of the English band The Perfect Disaster (they had supported Pixies at a London concert in '88) to play bass on the recordings. Kim asked American producer Steve Albini to record the sessions and he got in touch with Slint drummer Britt Walford to stand-in - initially as studio musician only, which he subsequently agreed to if they would have him credited under another name. Thus, the band here consists of Kim Deal on lead vocals and guitar, Tanya Donelly on guitar and backing vocals, Josephine Wiggs on bass and backing vocals, and with Britt Walford (credited as Shannon Doughton) on drums and backing vocals. The majority of the tracks are credited Kim Deal (two songs co-written with demo bassist Ray Halliday, one composed with Donelly, and one track with Wiggs), which means Deal in a way here finds her outlet for her musical creativity.
Stylistically, it's typical indie rock of the early 1990s with strong and natural bonds to Pixies and Throwing Muses; also with producer Albini in the seat, the sound is far from over-produced and basically sound like it was recorded as is, playing live in the studio; however, there's also a distinct original sonic shape, which has to do with more simple and harmonic melodies pointing at The Beatles (the album contains the cover of the Lennon-McCartney song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun") and Velvet Underground as natural sources of inspiration AND an alt. rock sound, which can only be referred to as grunge rock, which makes it one of the earliest of that style and therefore a natural source of inspiration for many bands to follow in the early 1990s. Thinking of one of Pixies most beloved compositions from Surfer Rosa, the song "Gigantic" written and song by Kim Deal in a way comes closer to the music of Pod more than any other song by Pixies or by Throwing Muses for that matter.
Now, the album isn't famous for its innovative sound or great songs, but in time it has found its way to critical appraisal. Also, Kurt Cobain apparently has been sited to refer to the album as one of his top 3 favourite albums of all time.
I didn't come across the album until after having purchased The Breeders' Last Splash (1993), and that has probably influenced my verdict on the album, as I have never found it that appealing, but I must also confess that it's quite good as a template, although, it sounds quite dated from a contemporary perspective.
[ allmusic.com, Spin, NME 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]