What do you do when your current band decides to take a break? Start another one! After meeting while their respective bands were touring together, Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses started talking about possible side projects. They would go on to recruit violinist Carrie Bradley and record a short demo tape. That tape got them signed to the Pixies' label, 4AD. With an $11,000 recording budget from the label Deal asked Steve Albini, who had worked on the Pixies' 1988 album Surfer Rosa, to record the album. The group recorded over two weeks in December 1989 in Edinburgh. In the end they had the songs that would become Pod. It's a record that is marked for its creativity and innovation, building on the angular melodies and howling dynamics of the musicians' main projects. Albini would go on to say that it was some of his best work, one of the rare occasions which he felt he got both the best sound for a band, and the best performance from a band. The Breeders also won over Nirvana's Kurt Cobain who cited it as one of the most influential albums of his life. Official 2018 4AD repress.

• black vinyl pressing
• includes printed insert
  
• original release year: 1990
  
• music label: 4AD 2018

reviewed by Hank Ohs 01/2015