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Hole and Smashing Pumpkins icon Melissa Auf der Maur digs into archive to unveil first new music in 16 years
Melissa Auf der Maur, bassist for Hole and former touring member of The Smashing Pumpkins, is releasing her first new music in 16 years. The album, 'Bass Womb Room: My '90s 4-Track Demos x Field Recordings', collects previously unreleased living-room demos she recorded in the 1990s using a handycam propped on her amp, alongside eight new interludes, and marks a rare archival release from a prominent figure of the era's alt-rock scene.
The 15-track album arrives digitally and on cassette on 4 September, timed to coincide with a photography exhibition of the same name opening on 2 September at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, plus a 240-page photobook featuring 200 images published on 8 September. The book includes candid shots of Courtney Love, Frances Bean Cobain, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Beck and Drew Barrymore, alongside behind-the-scenes material from Hole's 'Celebrity Skin' video. It follows her 2010 album 'Out Of Our Minds' and an earlier 2026 memoir, 'Even The Good Girls Will Cry: A '90s Rock Memoir'.
In short
- Melissa Auf der Maur announces first new album in 16 years
- 'Bass Womb Room' features unreleased 1990s demos, out 4 September
- Album ties in with a Toronto photo exhibition and 240-page photobook
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Archival releases serve an important curatorial function, granting audiences access to creative work that would otherwise remain inaccessible whilst documenting an artist's creative process during a historically significant era. The multimedia presentation—photographs, exhibition, contextual narrative—transforms what could be mere demos into a comprehensive artistic statement honouring both the original recordings and Auf der Maur's enduring cultural significance. The inclusion of new interludes demonstrates ongoing artistic engagement, and this approach respects creative legacies rather than demanding artists continuously produce entirely original material.
The case against
Reframing primarily archival material as a substantive new release after a 16-year silence risks misleading audiences about the distinction between curated documentation and original artistic creation. This approach necessarily capitalises on broader cultural appetite for 1990s nostalgia, and after such significant time between projects, reasonable questions arise about artistic priorities and commitment. After a prolonged absence, audiences deserve clarity: archival projects, however artfully presented, should be framed distinctly from an artist's primary creative output rather than marketed as equivalent contributions to ongoing creative work.
Explained simply
Melissa Auf der Maur was the bassist for Hole, the influential 1990s rock band fronted by Courtney Love, and later toured with The Smashing Pumpkins. She remains a significant figure from the alternative rock scene of that era.
This release marks her first new music in sixteen years and comprises demos she recorded in her living room during the 1990s using a handycam and limited equipment. The album combines these archival recordings with eight newly created interludes.
The project extends beyond music to include a photography exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and an accompanying photobook with images from the 1990s rock scene. Releases like this reflect renewed interest in the creative work and documented history of key figures from the alternative rock era.
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