As long as I'm resurrecting various hobbies and activities, for anybody that is curious, I've got a game design that I've been working on that's pretty far along. I've been blogging about it on my other site, with the lastest entry being this one. I actually just made what I think is potentially a very cool rules change, and I can't wait to try it out. OK! Let's crank up the tunes!

Rocket From the Crypt, "Birdman"

For most of the summer, I've been listening to a lot of punk and various punk-inflected rock bands. It's kind of me circling back to one of my forever loves in music, driven by discovering see/saw. It's a genre that really just kind of thrives on execution, which is funny for a genre with a reputation for sloppiness. But execution doesn't mean precision, just that the band's songs, energy, and approach have to be aligned for things to really work.

Anyway, RFTC were basically always dialed in to the right energy, even if they sometimes let the precision go. All Systems Go 2 is a singles compilation, mostly covering the middle period of the band, and while it's a little shaggy in spots, that's entirely fine when the collection is so chock full of good stuff. And a little shagginess is honestly not such a bad thing for a punk band.

Whores., "Last Looks"

NOISE ROCK BABY. Hey, it's another of my forever loves. I suppose, at some point, I become enough of a music polygamist that declaring my eternal love becomes a bit pathetic. But I do love my loves. My pretties. My precious.

Petrol Girls, "Intro"

(track one!) It's a shame we only got an intro, because this album is full of absolutely searing hardcore punk, but you don't get to hear it. I did, because I went ahead and played the next couple tracks. Good stuff! Instead you just get this. Loser.

Isaiah Rashad, "4r Da Squaw"

Back during the first batch of Five Songs posts, Isaiah Rashad was an artist who came up several times as someone that I couldn't recall at all, despite having two records in my library. And so now, we can answer a question about Five Songs, which is: did it do a good job of re-introducing me to the artists in my own collection and help me get familiar with them? Reader, it did not.

The Marvelettes, "Strange I Know"

Aah, random Motown singles mixed in with everything else, how I've missed you.