Acetone

Acetone chased indie rock during the mid-'90s alternative surge yet remained largely overlooked, drawing from Southern California predecessors the Beach Boys and Gram Parsons while folding in generous doses of the Velvet Underground. Their initial output, including the self-titled debut EP and the 1993 album Cindy, relied on straightforward song forms and layers of noisy guitars. With the arrival of 1996’s If You Only Knew the trio dialed back the volume in favor of a warmer, more unhurried atmosphere, and their last full-length, 2000’s York Blvd., allowed the raucous and reflective impulses to sit comfortably together, even inside individual tracks. Bassist Richie Lee’s death in 2001 brought the group to an end, yet the 2023 box set I’m Still Waiting gathered their entire recorded output as a devoted tribute to what they had achieved.

Guitarist Mark Lightcap, bassist Richie Lee, and drummer Steve Hadley made the band official in 1992, though the three musicians had already been performing together in Los Angeles since 1987. After cycling through several singers over the next few years they chose to continue as a trio. A short stretch of demo work led to a deal with Vernon Yard, the emerging Virgin Records imprint that also housed Low and the Verve; the label issued their debut album Cindy in 1993, a blend of forceful neo-psychedelia and gentle harmonies that recalled the Velvet Underground’s third record. While supporting the Verve on tour the album sank amid a wave of comparable releases. By 1995 the musicians had shifted toward roots rock and country, resulting in the seven-track mini-LP I Guess I Would, whose covers included the Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Juanita” and Kris Kristofferson’s “Border Lord.” Even as alternative rock began tracing the path of its country-rock forebears, the collection failed to find an audience.

The band next completed its second studio album, If You Only Knew, which steered between the earlier record’s intensity and the twang explored on I Guess I Would. After Vernon Yard dropped them in 1997, Acetone signed with the independent Vapor Records for a self-titled third album, and York Blvd. appeared three years afterward. Critics hailed the latter as the creative summit of their career, yet Lee’s passing on July 23, 2001, less than a year after its release, prompted the group’s immediate dissolution. Lightcap later joined Matmos. In 2017 Light in the Attic released 1992-2001, a retrospective anthology containing several previously unheard recordings. New West Records expanded the commemoration in 2023 with I’m Still Waiting, an 11-LP vinyl box that assembled the full catalog plus a bonus disc of unreleased material and a 60-page book featuring essays by Jason Pierce of Spiritualized and Drew Daniel of Matmos.