Codeine

Codeine's 1990 Sub Pop debut was a seminal document in Slowcore. Predictably, clever critics leapt to the blatantly obvious comparisons between the band's music and the effects of the drug referred to in the band's name -- both were slow, murky, soporific. These same critics neglected to mention, however, that there is nothing analgesic about Codeine's songs. Each is ballasted by a heavy load of leaden remorse and existential gloom. Guitar notes tend to linger like the peals of a funeral bell, while the drumming never achieves any more focus than the random, aimless pops and cracks of an old house on a windy night. Although at times they suffer from a monochromatic grayness, Codeine's songs impact like great tragedy when you're in the right mood for them. At such times, even the lyricist's most mundane observations bristle with a static charge of mystery, and every word leaves his lips pregnant with significance.