#13engines — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

13 Engines – Perpetual Motion Machine (1993, Canada)

Our next spotlight is on number 815 on The List, submitted by pjohanneson.

I had initially incorrectly indexed this band as American but, if I hadn’t already caught that mistake prior to listening, I would’ve by song 2 of this album, given the Canadian spelling plus reference to CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, our version of PBS). That said, if they had been American, say from Seattle, I think these guys might’ve made it big and maybe wouldn’t have to be on a list such as this. I was all of 9 years old when this came out so I really have no context but, on first listen, this album – 13 Engines’ 4th – sounds to me like their response to what was going on south of the border – not a ‘here’s our version of grunge’ but rather ‘okay, sure, MTV and grunge and plaid shirts yadayada…but we’re just going to keep doing our Neil Young/Tragically Hip/Robyn Hitchcock-worshipping arty electric folk-rock thing that we’ve done for years, eh?’ sort of thing. I mean, I hear Beatles and Beach Boys more than Nirvana in this (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating…but check out the delightful “What If We Don’t Get What We Want?”)… Anyway, Rolling Stone apparently said this was “acid-burn rage & roll” but, seeing as there is (as yet) no viable design for a perpetual motion machine, don’t expect that rage to indefinitely roll.

#13Engines #1990s #altRock #Canada #folkRock #ListenToThis #music #musicDiscovery