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Though it works against most of my preconceptions about the nature of music snobbery—that is to say, it is in some respects my very definition of snobbery—there is very little in this great big musical world that I enjoy more than the classically acquired taste.

Here's the thing—for as narrow and critical my pop world view can be sometimes, I feel like I'm generally pretty open to appreciating new sounds and ideas in the music I consume. Because of this—and because for the past year or so I've been buried in mediocre CDs by bands that insist they sound like "If Brian Wilson had a one night stand in a cantina with Edward G. Robinson, and their gay love child then had a child with the corpse of Ennio Morricone's mother, [insert band name here] would be that child's mid-wife" or some bullshit—I am generally one to take records at face value. If I don't like something the first time, I don't force myself to like it, no matter how much it irritates my friends. Learning to like something seems in many ways antithetical to all that which makes pop music so joyful—if it takes a lot of work to have even the slightest inkling of appreciation, than I figure my time would be better spent just to listen to Louder Than Bombs again.

I say this, of course, acknowledging the fact that the vast majority of my favorite musics could have been at one point considered an acquired taste. The difference is that, over the years, I feel as if I've come to understand just which largely indefinable traits in a music that I will someday, if given time, warm up to tremendously. And after about five years of this sort of vague acknowledgment, I can happily say that the Moles are finally one of my favorite bands.

Formed in the late '80s in Australia, the Moles were one of the main proponents of the oft-revived but never really fully embraced Orch/Chamber-pop movement—a scene for which their fabulously bizarre Untune the Sky is one of the primary articles. After releasing a few singles in the very early '90s, the Moles up-rooted to New York as soon as they completed Untune in 1992. The record was a sort of awkward mix of Go-Betweens styled Aussie-rock and Spacemen 3 tripp-age, but do to the talents of head songsmith/law student Richard Davies (no relation) and the band's general fascination with sonic oddities, Untune often outshines both. The band released a couple of additional singles while in New York before uprooting for London. Following the tradition of most misunderstood pop bands of the era, the Moles drew a great deal of critical attention (read: no money) before breaking up in 1993. In 1994, Davies released Instinct—a solo album for which he maintained the Moles moniker. At nine songs in about 23 minutes, Instinct has been less critically heralded over the years than Untune the Sky—it's considerably more bizarre and disjointed than it's predecessor, and in my opinion a great deal more compelling. Heavy on the horns and strange atmospherics, Instinct was my Moles introduction—and though it took a great while, there's little else I'd rather be listening to these days.

Davies' next project was the mega-nerdily-acclaimed orch-pop project Cardinal, with then unknown (and later controversial) Portland instrumentalist Eric Matthews. People love the shit out of the single, self-titled record they mustered in 1994 before they bitterly split ties, but I've yet to really absorb the magic in it—it sort of just seems like Moles-lite. Davies has released three solo records post-Cardinal: two on Flydaddy—who released the Moles' stuff in the states, as well as Cardinal—and one on Kindercore. (The first solo album was apparently toured with the Flaming Lips as his backing band). Both labels are now defunct, and as most of the material is out of print, I've yet to hunt down Davies' proper solo albums. A label called Wishing Tree recently released a two-disc, Davies compiled compilation of band-era Moles material called Out on the Street, featuring a bunch of stuff from Untune and the early singles, as well as a bunch of "rare and weird" supplementary recordings. It's a good comp, but sort of an awkward introduction for a band with such excellent proper albums. Davies apparently now lives in Massachusetts, where he practices law. He was supposedly supposed to release his fourth solo album in 2004, but for whatever reason—perhaps Kindercore's folding—it's yet to come out. But that fine—'cuz the Moles will always be the Greatest Acquired Taste of All Time.

The major label debut is such a tough thing. If your sound changes at all the fans you have will say you have sold out. If you don't sound more commercial or polished the label will be dissapointed and most likely drop you. It's a catch 22. Having never read that book I don't really understand where that phrase comes from but I know what it means (so weird knowing what a phrase means and using that phrase but not understanding why it means that). Wait, I take it back, I think it is possible to make a major label debut that is successful enough to please fans and to at least placate the label for one or two more albums. Built to Spill seemed to do it with Perfect From Now On. But for every Built to Spill you seem to have two Liz Phair's (whose Liz Phair album was a complete abandoning of her credibility). Anywho, this whole major label debut topic is started to feel incredibly cliched.

Shudder to Think was a DC band, I mean, they were on Dischord (Ian Mackaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi's amazingly influential DC label) for Pete's sake. They were like totally weird hard rocking band with this guy who sang totally weird lyrics dramatically in and out of a falsetto. None of their Dischord albums were that interesting, with their last one for Dishord 1992's Get Your Goatbeing the most relevant with the band finding it's unique voice more than their previous albums. Shudder to Think started to become known for their powerful live shows after Get Your Goat when they added two new members Nathan Larson on guitar and Adam Wade on drums to the groups already existing members Craig Wedren, guitar player and songwriter, and Stuart Hill, on bass.

Based off of one moderately good album (Get Your Goat) and a strong live show (and the major labels insane desire to sign anything alternative or weird in 1993 and 1994) Shudder To Think signed with Sony and produced their finest moment, ponyexpressrecord. They really shined in the studio with a fancy producer (Ted Nicely) and a super fancy dude mixing the record (Andy Wallace, who mixed Nevermind and produced Run-DMC and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" and Jeff Buckley's Grace). Shudder to Think pushed their angular art rock learnings further with ponyexpressrecord pushing strange start and stop rhythms, weird chords, surreal lyrics, and a strong use of silence and space. Craig Wedren, the band's singer and primary songwriter, was aided by Nathan Larson, guitarist and new member of the band, who extended the band's songwriting abilities by writing five songs for the album, including an amazing interpolation of Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me." "X-French Tee Shirt" turns one chord and a chorus and makes it into one of the more powerful and triumphant songs to come from "alternative rock." The album does a beautiful job of juxtaposing loud brash guitars with this strange powerful voice that is at the same time representing vulnerability. The album ends appropriately after 50 minutes of disorienting weirdness with "Full Body Anchor," a short and soft number featuring the only use of acoustic guitar on the entire album.

Shortly after finishing their touring for ponyexpressrecord Craig Werdern was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease. After spending a couple years dealing with his illness Shudder to Think released 50,000 BC a much more straight ahead rock record that failed to garner the band much more attention. It was Shudder to Think's final proper release. Shudder to Think did work on the score and soundtrack for the film First Love, Last Rites but did it mostly without Craig Wedren, as hee was still dealing with illness, and so they had alt. rock heavyweights, like Billy Corgan, Liz Phair, and Jeff Buckley, do the vocals. Craig Wedren has since gone on to work on the score's for films like School of Rock and Wet Hot American Summer and produce stuff for Cake Like and Cex and also has a new band called Baby. Shudder to Think's ponyexpressrecord is the perfect way to make a major label debut. They used the greater resources to bolster what made them special. ponyexpressrecord is The Greatest Album Of All Time.