Is This Melissa Auf Der Maur, or Just a Wicked Acid Flashback?

June 1st, 2004

Melissa Auf Der Maur played bass in Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins during the late ’90s. And I’ll admit to having kind of a crush on her for about as long as it took to read a Spin magazine article in an airport lounge one afternoon. In the interview, she came off as being the sole cool person in Hole. Also, she has an extremely cool last name. So cool, in fact, that I think I briefly considered calling myself Joel Auf Der Meyer. For just a second.

M.A.D.M. has a solo debut in stores that may be the strangest thing I’ve ever heard, if only because she has captured the sound of yesteryear so effectively. Like, this is the most dated new release I think I’ve heard in a long time. Imagine if you took a brand new 1995 Geo Metro, locked it up in a garage for ten years, and then started driving it around. This album is like a Geo Metro with that new car smell. That’s the best way I can describe it.

At any rate, check out the chunky, reverb-less guitars at www.aufdermaur.com.

Some props: This is better than anything Courtney Love will ever scrape together, with or without the help of family social services.

A wince: The Auf poses with her bass guitar quite a bit. And, um, Rick James kind of ruined it for the rest of it. Like on this album cover. Or this album cover. Thanks to these underprosecuted crimes to humanity, bass posing will never look cool.