This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
With a title like The Hot Rock, you might expect this female Portland punk trio to come blazing out of the gates with an album as incendiary as 1997’s acclaimed Dig Me Out.
Well, you’d be in for a surprise. On this fourth outing, the two singer-guitarists and their drummer — who take their name from an intersection — actually cool things down. Most of the baker’s dozen tunes here smoulder and sizzle with moody, disturbed lyrics, restrained guitars and tense beats, never fully bursting into the full joyful flame of past hits like Little Babies. The Hot Rock is nothing short of a gem — but it’s more of a diamond in the rough.
