"Essential/It'll never get old," sings Cloud Nothings' Dylan Baldi. That's the Nineties- nostalgic gospel of this Cleveland band's second record; it’s not a new idea (cf. Yuck, Mr. Dream), but these guys might have the Clinton-era moves down better than anyone. On the murderously slow "No Future/No Past," The Bends and In Utero make out on a crusty futon, while songs like "Fall In" and the eight-minute "Wasted Days" imagine Green Day if they were thick-necked Midwestern noise heathens. Producer Steve Albini makes sure you feel every snare slap and guitar abrasion, and if Attack on Memory's eight songs only last about as long as an episode of Seinfeld, that's OK – it's as fun as one too.

Listen to "Fall In":

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• Free Download: Cloud Nothings' Lo-Fi Track 'Stay Useless'

“The Pretender”

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."