Auscultate (album)
{{Infobox album
| name = Auscultate
| type = studio
| artist = Salt
| cover = Auscultate (album).jpg
| alt =
| released = 1995
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Alternative rock
| length =
| label = MVG
Island
| producer =
| prev_title = Bluster EP
| prev_year = 1995
| next_title = Delay Me Down and Make Me Wah-Wah
| next_year = 1997
}}
Auscultate is the debut album by the Swedish band Salt.{{cite news |last1=Hampel |first1=Paul |title=Auscultate — Salt |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=18 Apr 1996 |department=Get Out |page=8}}{{cite news |last1=Considine |first1=J.D. |title=There's nothing sugary abut Swedish Salt |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=29 Feb 1996 |department=Features |page=8}} Island Records released the album in the United States in 1996.{{cite magazine |last1=Reighley |first1=Kurt B. |title=Stockholm Monsters: The Swedish Pop Explosion |magazine=CMJ New Music Monthly |date=Dec 1997 |issue=52 |page=20}}
The first single from the album was "Bluster", which was a modern rock radio hit.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/salt-mn0000298377/biography|title=Salt Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}{{cite news |last1=Capozzi |first1=Joe |title=Auscultate/Salt |work=The Palm Beach Post |date=22 Mar 1996 |department=TGIF |page=15}} The band supported the album by touring with Local H.{{cite news |last1=Niesel |first1=Jeff |title=Swedish pedigree provides Salt with a deadly weapon |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=February 15, 1996 |department=Entertainment |page=8}}
Production
Singer Nino Ramsby wrote and sang in English, as he felt it was a more tuneful and more cryptic language. He double tracked his vocals and guitar parts.{{cite news |last1=Triplett |first1=Gene |title=Auscultate Salt |work=The Daily Oklahoman |date=Mar 29, 1996 |department=Weekend |page=4}} All of the songs are about personal relationships.{{cite magazine |last1=Bambarger |first1=Bradley |title=The modern age |magazine=Billboard |date=Feb 24, 1996 |volume=108 |issue=8 |page=93}}
Critical reception
{{album ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev1score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/auscultate-mw0000181544|title=Auscultate|website=AllMusic}}
|rev2 = The Evening Post
|rev2score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite news |last1=Chilton |first1=Chris |title=Nordic salt of the earth stuff |work=The Evening Post |date=30 May 1996 |department=Features |page=24}}
|rev3 = The Guardian
|rev3score = {{rating|2|5}}{{cite news |title=Music: This week's pop cd releases |work=The Guardian |date=22 Mar 1996 |page=T12}}
|rev4 = Knoxville News Sentinel
|rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Chuck |title=Salt's 'Auscultate': Spicy, Sodium Free |work=Knoxville News Sentinel |date=1 Mar 1996 |page=T10}}
|rev5 = Los Angeles Times
|rev5score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite news |last1=Masuo |first1=Sandy |title=In Brief |work=Los Angeles Times |date=7 Apr 1996 |department=Calendar |page=67}}
|rev6 = Pitchfork
}}
Trouser Press wrote that Ramsby "is a controlled, forceful singer with no perceptible accent, a complicated persona (the sketchy lyrics say a lot) and emotion to burn."{{cite web |title=Salt |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/salt/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=25 November 2021}} Spin thought that, "on 'Bluster', metal riffing pile-drives into flowing-pop choruses, while on 'So', doleful acoustic guitars buffet broken rhythms."{{cite magazine |last1=Micallef |first1=Ken |title=Odd Spice |magazine=Spin |date=May 1996 |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=24}} The Los Angeles Times deemed the album "jagged, volatile songs with just enough of an arty edge to add intrigue." The Chicago Tribune opined that Salt "cobbles together skewed tunes with prickly, saw-toothed riffs, tuneful pop melodies and agitated power chords."{{cite news |last1=Reger |first1=Rick |title=Salt |work=Chicago Tribune |date=23 Feb 1996 |department=Friday |page=T}}
The Knoxville News Sentinel determined that Salt "embodies the vitriol typical of progressive music's more contentious woman-led bands... But Ramsby, backed by bassist Daniel Ewerman and drummer Jim Tegman, also reveals a subtlety not often heard from the likes of Hole." The Evening Post called the band a "trio of brutal power and uncommon melodic ability," writing: "Driven hard by a muscle-packed rhythm section, the band tempers tough cred with some deft off-centre flourishes, most of them courtesy of Ramsby's slacker-goddess vocals and her gender-bending stiff-arm guitar playing." The Guardian opined that "ringing choruses help a bit—the mantric repetition of 'You punish me as a boy' on 'Honour Me' is a beaut—but there's nothing here to distinguish them from the competition."
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing =
| title1 = Impro
| length1 =
| title2 = Honour Me
| length2 =
| title3 = Beauty
| length3 =
| title4 = God Damn Carneval
| length4 =
| title5 = Obsession
| length5 =
| title6 = Bluster
| length6 =
| title7 = Lids
| length7 =
| title8 = So
| length8 =
| title9 = Witty
| length9 =
| title10 = So I Ached
| length10 =
| title11 = Flutter
| length11 =
| title12 = Sense
| length12 =
| title13 = Undressed
| length13 =
}}