The 90’s are definitely a favorite era of mine when it comes to music. It was a drastic change in the way the 80’s delivered the goods. The back-to-basics approach was a warm welcome after having reeled from a decade of musical over-the-top excess. I could name a whole bunch of artists that have caught my attention during this time, and I probably will at some point.

But for now, I wanted to mention Matthew Sweet. The first time I heard Sick of Myself on KROQ, I thought, this is the kind of musicianship and songwriting I really want to imitate. The guitar tone, man! And the melodic hooks? Impressive! The vintage gear he’s using brings an old-fashioned warmth to a modern song. You can almost smell the burning-hot and glaring tubes in the back of a tweed amp. And the saturation and compression? Man, it’s like playing those old vinyl records.

Oh, and check out the stomp boxes, too, right here…

Actually, I loved the song so much that I took a stab at doing a cover of it, in my basement. Not as good as the original, but the jam was definitely… 100% fun!