I wonder where the bursts of creativity comes from for me. There are times that I can make progress on writing here, move a programming project along, contemplate starting a new project, and even get a game moving ahead. And there are times where I do none of that. It's unclear exactly what it is. Some of it is times of stress (or freedom from stress), of course. But work isn't noticeably different now than it was six months ago, say. So, who knows?
The Underdogs, "Mojo Hannah"
In about four seconds, you can tell that this is either a Motown song or someone trying very hard to make a song in the style of Motown. That is, of course, a great strength of Hitsville USA, but it still strikes me every time.
Baratro, "The Bad, the Bad and the Ugly"
This is a new band for Dave Curran, who played bass in noise rock legends Unsane. Which, if you're familiar with that band, will clue you in on what you're in for with this record. And, sure enough, it centers that thundering, distorted bass as the core of the sound. But this doesn't read as pure noise rock to me, there's more than a little sludge metal in this. Like, take this song - if I didn't know the heritage of the band making it, I'd probably identify this purely as sludge. But, as always, fussing too much about boundaries in heavy music is not super productive other than as just kind of pointing you towards possible things to try. It's heavy, it's loud, it's fun stuff.
Phoenix, "Rally"
This is also not noise rock.
Black Sabbath, "Sweet Leaf"
(track 1!) What a riff. I think that Sabbath is probably the greatest rock band ever, given that it's 55 years after their debut record and people are still trying to sound like them. Anyway, the utterly hypnotic riff in this song is imprinted into my brain, as it is in so many others. RIP, Ozzy.
Deerhoof, "Be Unbarred, O Ye Gates of Hell"
(track 1!) Deerhoof is a band I kind of wish I could keep better track of. I have five of their albums, which sounds like a lot until you realize that Discogs lists 31. Have I picked their best records to have? Who knows? I know where I was working when I first started listening to them, and it was five jobs ago (more, depending on how you count when the companies I worked for were acquired), so they've been a companion for decades. Anyway, they're delightful as always, charmingly chaotic noise pop that always puts a smile on my face.