Antenna's sound, the epitome of "college music" in the pre-Nirvana days, seems to lack something innovative in the musical context of 1993, but it makes up for that in a sort of nostalgic way -- rather than taking the Boston sound in progressive directions like
Throwing Muses did,
Antenna's later work harkened back to its members days in
Blake Babies, albeit with more of a rock than indie feel. (It should be noted that this was the band's first album without Freda ---, which may explain the sudden rock tendency.) Some of the grittier songs on
Hideout fall flat in 1993's storm of radio-friendly grunge, but the lighter, dreamier, and more pop songs add to the wealth of great indie music to come out of Boston around the turn of the decade. File
Hideout with old
Blake Babies, early
Lemonheads albums, and
Juliana Hatfield. ~ Nitsuh Abebe