Screaming Trees and music for the winter

I said I was gonna write another "Seattle post" and, as usual, didn't get on that when I should have.

So here's part two of this very loosely based on Seattle theme. In this case, it's the band Screaming Trees. I wrote about the Trees a few years ago when bassist Van Conner died.

I have been on a Screaming Trees jag recently after finding a cache of their CDs at my favorite local record shop, Flat Back & Circular. The CDs in question ar the 1985-1989 SST Records anthology, and the two Epic Records albums I didn't already have, Uncle Anesthesia and Dust. It reaffirms my opinion that the Trees were among the most under-appreciated, underrated bands of the '90s "grunge" era. I know "underrated" is thrown around too often, but it is wholly appropriate here. If Mudhoney were the most Stooges-inspired garage punk of the Seattle grunge bands, then Screaming Trees were the most '60s psychedelia-inspired (not that all of their songs can be described as such). To my ears, there is also a distinctly wintery, icey, snowbound feel to the Trees music that makes it perfect listening for this time of year.

And all this leads me to my favorite cold weather, winter music. There is simply some music that just sounds better when it's dark, cold, and snowy outside. The Beatles' Rubber Soul is my first example. Perhaps it's because the Fabs are pictured wearing jackets in a brownish autumnal setting (okay, I get it, autumn is NOT winter--but it's almost winter). It could also be because the album was released in December (of 1965). I don't know that there's any particular winter sound in the music, though "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" does conjur up visions of hanging out inside a hip flat and lighting fires. (And, no, I don't think John is burning up the "bird"'s home, though perhaps he's so desperate for kindling that he does toss a Norwegian wood chair in the fireplace).

Other wintery music: the Tragically Hip. The entire discography. Maybe to many Canadians, the Hip is music to listen to at the summer cottage, but to me, those Kingston, Ontario lads' music just sounds like ice storms, snow flurries, peeking out the slowly defrosting windshield, and cozy days in the warm house when temps are sub zero celsius outside. 

I have spent an inordinate amount of time on this post, so I'm gonna send it out there now, but this is a subject I may revisit later.