Music For Robots

May 21, 2004 | Posted by j.p. at 11:02 AM

she says keep this benzene ring around your finger

put yourselves in the wayback machine:

Hum is an Illinois-based band that had a brief moment of airplay in the early 90's with their track Stars ("she thinks she missed the train to mars...") from the album You'd Prefer an Astronaut. I was one of the few people who bought the CD at the time, which ended up being my best sleeper hit CD of the decade. they brought me back in even more with their subsequent release Downward is Heavenward. the two above tracks are taken from the former, while this track (my favorite by them):

Hum - The Scientists

is taken from DIH. their sound ties many more crowded genres together, blending more aggressive rock guitars with lyrics that might have been almost called emo if emo had found tight sweaters and anorexia as early as this release. they also tweak their production to give their songs an echoed, spacious, solitary sound, which meshes well with all their charming (and nerdy) lyrics about outer space and rockets and saving the human race with science. it gives their music a distant, heartfelt and melancholic sound that makes you imagine what being hungover on the moon might feel like if you were the only one there.

I highly recommend their last two albums. they're full of huge, melodic waves of noise that are overwhelming without ever being too much, solid lyrics, and a sound that ranges from delicate and soothing to a driving, invigorating blast of good late 90's rock in its indie prime.

[buy these CDs here and here]

P.S. I'll be in New Orleans next week, so no updates from me till next thursday or so. more geeky outer space rock then.

Comments

ha! hum... i bought that first (major) album too, when i was on a new rock kick (a la weezer, nada serf, self, menthol, even helmet) in the mid-90s.
i still like hum, but i tried listening to that first nada serf album recently, and it didn't gel with me anymore. weezer does, but of these bands they're about the only one.

Posted by: robot blair at May 21, 2004 11:20 AM

You know, I can't find that damned second Hum album anywhere locally. Very odd, that. Great post.

Posted by: caley at May 21, 2004 2:06 PM

no one's mentioned that the album was produced or co-written by BILLY CORGAN of SMASHING PUMPKINGS under an alias.. if you like it that means you're gay.

Posted by: Hey at May 21, 2004 10:54 PM

well, then, there goes the last lingering threats of my heterosexuality

Posted by: caley at May 22, 2004 4:13 AM

Someone from Hum is in the National Skyline project, whose cds I highly recommend tracking down. There are two EPs and one full length. Incredible indie rock with electronic elements thrown in. One of them is on File 13 the Philly label.

Posted by: --s-tephen at May 22, 2004 5:29 AM

obviously gay as in lame. not gay like homosexual. duh.

Posted by: at May 23, 2004 4:33 AM

I've always considered You'd Prefer an Astronaut one of the most underrated albums of the 90's... sometimes I swear half the emo screamers sound just like Hum, yet you never hear them discussed as precursors. I saw Hum open for Bush in 95 and then left when Bush started.

Posted by: vavazee at May 24, 2004 2:15 PM

I randomly bought electra2000, thinking about hum... a friend of mine loving the fact that the drummer had his cymbals set up almost like fish scales surrounding his set when they performed on 120 minutes. It is also a rather good album. They just have a nice fuzz rock sound, no more no less, and sometimes that's good.

Posted by: r at June 3, 2004 3:01 PM