Prompted by it coming up during an off-blog shuffle, at some point The Beatles are going to come up here. I have all their albums, after all. Can you even find them on YouTube? I don’t know, I guess I’ll find out. Today is not that day, though.

Agalloch, “…And The Great Cold Death of the Earth”

At some point, black metal experiments with enough other instrumentation and flirts with folk enough that it really stops being metal, doesn’t it? Agalloch sort of sets out to answer that question, with this track being a good example. There’s really not a whole lot that ties it to black metal, but the band is still considered to be at least adjacent to that community. Part of it is the themes that Agalloch writes about, which are similar to some of the things explored by black metal bands. But if you played this for just somebody random who is knowledgable about music, it would be a while before they came up with black metal as a descriptor.

Fun set of songs today, with some obscure but worthy music popping up. Listen in, won’t you?

Gob, “Censorshit”

More pop-punk out of Vancouver from the 90s! Yes, this is basically the same stuff you’ve heard before, even several times during this column. I don’t care, I like it! As with most punk bands that are trading mostly on energy, the first Gob record is the best (Too Late, No Friends in this case).

Will I figure out how to schedule posts for this, a Saturday post written ahead of time? Probably not! At least music doesn’t really expire.

Ice Cube, “Record Company Pimpin'”

At his peak, Ice Cube was the best. Lyrical content aside, his rhymes were amazing, and his first three solo albums (and the Kill At Will EP) are all essentials. Things fell off pretty fast for Cube, though, with essentially everything from Lethal Injection on being skippable. This is a late-period track, with an interesting message, but is otherwise a pedestrian song.

I’m considering doing the occasional “Five Songs Special”, where I choose an artist I love and pick five songs from them that best tell that artist’s story. Good idea? Bad? Totally fail to let me know! Today’s music is over here.

Another note: when we have an artist that has appeared before, I’m going to skip basic background stuff. I think that makes sense, because I provide the “previously” links if anybody jumps into the middle and wants to know more about an artist.

If I’m counting this right, this is number 50 for these articles. Not bad! Now then, let’s do some math, that means…250 songs? Except, of course, there are two extra tracks in there due to the Dillinger Four being unpostable on Youtube. So, 252 tracks! NICE ROUND NUMBER. Here’s today’s tunes.

Black Tusk, “Walk Among The Sky”

Out of Savannah, Georgia, Black Tusk play a murky take on stoner metal which isn’t dissimilar from fellow Georgians Baroness. As always with all of this sort of music, it’s all about the riffs, and this record has them in spades.

Time to check in on analytics. It says here I’m consistently above 10 people a day. Not bad! If you’re one of those 10 people, feel free to let me know down below. Or not, it’s cool, I love talking about music to myself. Speaking of music…

Built to Spill, “The Weather”

The closer for Ancient Melodies of the Future, this almost sounds more like a Belle and Sebastian song at times instead of a Built to Spill song. Compared to monumental closers like “Broken Chairs” or “Untrustable Pt. 2”, this song comes off as limp. In fact, the lack of epics like those two songs are one of the reasons Ancient Melodies is not as great as the preceding albums.

It’s D-Day! Let’s listen to music!

Samiam, “You Looking At Me”

Bay Area pop-punk that was part of that lively scene, best known for producing Green Day. At their best, during the Billy/Clumsy/You Are Freaking Me Out peak, they wrote great anthem-like songs that were just flat out fun to listen to. This is a song from their first album, before they were really fully polished, but you can hear their later potential.

Sorry I get sloppy on the weekends sometimes. I need to figure out the automated post capability on this thing. Or, not. Nobody looking through the archive is ever going to notice! And nobody is going to look at the archive! Whatever, here’s some songs.

Superchunk, “Not Tomorrow”

The attributes that made Superchunk one of the truly great bands were all present on the debut album. The catchiness, the energy, the tight songs, and the sheer fun were all there, and showed what the band would turn into. But it’s all just a little sloppier, and a little muddier, and just not quite firing on all cylinders yet. The next album would be the big step up, but the debut album is still a worthy listen.

I recognize that saying you listen to everything is kind of a lame move. It’s a refusal to put a stake in the ground and express your preferences, and mostly seems to be used by people who aren’t really that into music. What this project really brings home, though, is I really am kind of into everything. I feel good about that. Today’s tunes!

Kool and the Gang, “Jungle Boogie”

If you’re my age, there’s a good chance the first thing you think of when somebody says “Kool and the Gang” is “Celebration”. And that’s a damn shame, because for years, Kool and the Gang were an amazing funk band. Records like Live at PJ’s, Spirit of the Boogie, and this one, Wild and Peaceful, were just filled with incredible tunes. This song is actually the one that really brought Kool and the Gang to my attention, as it was used in Pulp Fiction, and I had to figure out what it is. It took some time before I could find some of their albums, but it was worth the wait.

As certain part of me wonders what I’m doing with these descriptions. Should I ramble about whatever? Talk about the artists? Historical context? Recommendations? I have no idea. Well, here’s some more dancing about architecture.

We just dodged a super long rap skit, by the way.

R.L. Burnside, “Alice Mae”

Longtime blues guitarist Burnside didn’t really start getting much attention until the early 90s, when his albums first started appearing on Fat Possum Records, despite playing since the 60s. I first noticed him when he worked with Jon Spencer for A Ass Pocket O’ Whiskey, which is where this track comes from. If you like Jon Spencer, then this is an easy buy.