Hell yes.

Less Than Jake, “Scott Farcas Takes It On The Chin”

Less Than Jake, especially during their heyday, put out tons of singles and compilation appearances. They’ve collected those on various comps, which are usually worth looking into. This is an alternate take of “Scott Farcas Takes It On The Chin” (which originally appeared on Hello Rockview), this time showing up on the comp Goodbye Blue & White.

Son Volt, “Satellite”

I have an idea that Son Volt’s range is not as wide as Wilco. (Before you say anything: no, you’re not allowed to discuss Son Volt without a comparison to Wilco, it’s part of the Universal Music Critic And Adjacent Commentator Standard Contract and Practices that we all have to sign before we get our blogging license.) Anyway, that notion is probably horseshit, but it’s my horseshit. And now it’s yours?

Today!

The Rolling Stones, “Stray Cat Blues”

Because they hung around so long and turned into basically Rolling Stones Inc., a licensing corporation with a neglected music production arm that would occasionally squeeze out a desultory album, it’s easy for folks of my generation (old, but not super old) to lose track of the fact that for for a while there in the late 60s and early 70s, the Rolling Stones were pretty amazing. The run from Beggars Banquet through Exile on Main Street is one of the foundations of modern rock, and still sounds pretty great today.

Today!

Ice Cube, “No Vaseline”

One of the most famous diss tracks in hip-hop history, “No Vaseline”, the closer to Death Certificate, laid bare how rancorous the split between Ice Cube and N.W.A truly was. Those who were paying attention to the press knew, but after the release of this song, everybody knew. And the song was savage - calling N.W.A out in every possible way. While the homophobia makes me cringe now, Cube’s creativity in dragging his former bandmates is still super impressive. N.W.A never really responded to the track. MC Ren says that it’s because they broke up, but honestly, there was no coming back from this.

Today!

Queens of the Stone Age, “You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire”

This is one of those songs where that little opening background riff will just pop into my head and stay there for hours and hours, just looping. It’s not unpleasant! This album just smokes, front to back.

Gorilla Biscuits, “(Untitled Hidden)”

I think I’ve introduced this old-ass straight-edge hardcore band before, so instead, I’ll just mention that they contributed personnel to Quicksand, which we heard from yesterday. As for the track itself, on my copy of Start Today, there is a series of little sub-10 second “songs” which are indistinguishable and unnamed. And, because of stupid tech limitations, I can’t tell which one this is. So, I’ll do another song today.

Fantastic list today.

Melvins, “Holy Barbarian”

This all has gone on long enough that I can’t really be certain any more which albums and songs I’ve talked about, so I’m just going to assume y’all can’t remember either. This comes from the great Freak Puke album, where the Melvins (calling themselves “Melvins Lite”) made an album with Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) on bass. Upright bass. The texture that he provides with all the variety of sounds he cranks out makes for one of the most unique albums in the Melvins’ very long discography, and I highly, highly recommend it.

Lots of good stuff today!

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, “Niño Diamante”

Oh, hell yes. The piano! The swinging drums! Those horns! Goddamn, y’all.

The Police, “Tea In The Sahara”

I have a pretty simple opinion on the Police: first three albums yes, last two, no. It’s really kind of that simple. The energy of the punk-influenced early stuff had finally dissipated entirely by the final album, which was chock-a-block with Dad Rock. That’s not to say that I can’t enjoy bits of it, but I just don’t find myself wanting to listen to it either.

Today!

Run-D.M.C., “Dumb Girl”

This song is so stripped down that there aren’t even any keyboards on it. Unless you count them putting “dumb” into a sampler and using that. It’s proof that the alchemy of a drum machine and rapping really didn’t require anything else.

Black Tusk, “Bleed On Your Knees”

Sludge metal in the vein of Mastodon or Baroness, Black Tusk do a nice job on their second album of keeping up the energy and making sure the tunes are appropriately propulsive. While maybe not as memorable as the heights of those bands, it’s still fun stuff.

It’s not great today.

Ghostface Killah, “Woodrow the Base Head”

I like the way that the music keeps coming in and out of this interstitial. That’s about the best I can say.

Jean Grae, “Fade Out”

The last track from her debut record, Attack of the Attacking Things (which is an amazing name), this album established Grae as an excellent new artist in hip hop. Her rhymes were really interesting, often twisty things, and it made for a pretty different record from most of what you could hear at the time. The only problem with her is that she just hasn’t made very many records. And this song is kind of short.

Six songs today!

Belle & Sebastian, “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John”

From Write About Love, a mostly forgettable album, but this is one of the songs that sticks with me from it. There’s not a whole lot to it, musically, but it’s certainly pleasant.

Jr Walker And All Stars, “Cleo’s Mood”

You don’t find that many instrumental soul tracks like this in the Motown catalog, but here we are with a sweet little tune from 1965.

Today!

The Perceptionists, “Breathe In The Sun”

A side project of Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, and DJ Fakts One, the Perceptionists are a good band to check out if you’re a fan of any of the individual artists. Since I like Mr. Lif a lot, that’s what brought me here. I think the star of this album is really Fakts One, who does a great job on the beats. This is the closer to their first album.