XTRMNTR - Primal Screan (2000)

Ideated from: a favorite album that starts with “X”.

I’ll be honest: this is a stretch. There aren’t a lot of records that start with an X. There’s INXS, which I like just fine, but I’d be lying if I said I knew that particular album very well. Def Leppard and KMFDM apparently have “X” records, but I didn’t even know that til I found a list. So we’ll go with Primal Scream, a band and a record that are, at best, tangential to my interests but clear the low bar of a “favorite” X album.

I don’t know if there’s a quick encapsulation of Primal Scream. Every record of theirs seems like a different approach, usually hip and edgy in whatever way hip and edgy things sound right at that moment.

XTRMNTR is an angry, in-your-face record borne out of the disillusionment with what rave culture had become by the turn of the century.

It’s a bit front loaded with the most different and aggressive songs, with the second side being the same driving house-infused psych rock that most of their albums trade in at some point.

Tracks I Liked

Kill All Hippies - pretty much the statement of purpose

MBV Arkestra - scuzzed-up skronk-fest

Swastika Eyes - there are two different mixes on here, but the late-album one by 90s big beat techno gods Chemical Brothers is pretty wicked.