Hail mary

AUTOCLAVEAUTOCLAVE(1997)

A compilation of the 1990 and 1991 EPs released by the D.C. quartet featuring Christina Billote, later of riot grrrl legends Slant 6.

“Christina and I had tried to do a band in high school, but we couldn’t find a drummer,” Timony explains. “We attempted to play with one guy at my school, but he was like, ‘I’ll only do this if we play Rush covers.’ Christina was a genius songwriter with a real prog bent, and I was practicing guitar a lot and playing a PRS copy. I had a lot of leeway to just make my own parts and basically play leads over everything. We were just like every other D.C. band: You’d do one record and then you’d break up.”

KEY TRACKS: “I’ll Take You Down,” “Dr. Seuss”

HELIUMTHE DIRT OF LUCK (1995)

The debut from Timony’s legendary ’90s group.

“A big influence for the sound of this record was the cassette four-track I was using to track all the time. But I was also really into Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre and how the frequency range is just so massive on some of those hip-hop records. So I wanted to somehow, in my own fucked-up way, try to do that. I also remember feeling like I wanted to deconstruct everything I had learned and just play a solo with one finger or by bending the string, or just do weird artistic stuff instead of trying to shred.”

KEY TRACKS: “Pat’s Trick,” “Superball”

MARY TIMONY

Her first post-Helium solo album saw Timony playing all the instruments, apart from the drums.

“I was really depressed, so all the songs are about depression, and I was actively trying not to play the music-business game, intentionally just putting out a crazy record. Honestly, I think the rock music world and being in a band and going on tour was so stressful that I was just like, ‘Fuck it. I just want to be an artist.’ There are a lot of very roomy sounds on this record because Christina Files, who recorded it, had a massive loft in downtown Boston, so we’d set up three mics and record in there.”

KEY TRACKS: “Valley of One Thousand Perfumes,” “Poi