BOXING DAY. I am not doing a special today.

Cosmic Analog Ensemble, “Camille 3000”

Cosmic Analaog Ensemble is the work of a single person, Charif Megarbane, who uses his band to explore different genres and styles. With Les Sourdes Oreilles he’s really going after what I’m going to call soundtrack funk - the sort of thing that seems like it should be in a gritty 70s movie. This entire record sounds like a lost David Axelrod record, and that’s a high compliment. If you like this track, you should pick up the whole album, it’s all of this quality.

CHRISTMAS DAY! TIME FOR A SPECIAL!

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “My Little Drum”

Oh yeah, Christmas music baby! This is from A Charlie Brown Christmas, a perennial favorite. What makes it such a lasting record is that it’s not insulting to its listeners. It doesn’t lean on treacle or anything to get the point across, and so you don’t get tired of hearing it.

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”

Even when it’s going super traditional, it just turns in a lovely rendition of the song and doesn’t drag it out or anything. It’s pleasant!

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Simmer Down”

Ska-Core, The Devil & More is an EP with mostly covers released in 1993, notably primarily for this nice cover of a Marley tune. Other than this, it’s far from an essential release.

Uncle Tupelo, “Sandusky”

March 16-20, 1992 might be the Uncle Tupelo album that has aged the best. I’m not sure it’s my favorite, I don’t think it’ll ever displace No Depression. But the stripped down, acoustic production suits the material so well, and the traditional songs they picked to go with their originals all mesh so well. I truly wish we could have gotten a few more of these before things fell apart.

Pink Floyd, “Is There Anybody Out There?”

In a different potential project of mine, I was looking at albums released in 1979, and it’s pretty amusing that the same year in rock produced London Calling and 154 and also The Wall. I know rock is pretty dead as a commercial prospect these days, but it’s just kind of fun to consider that those extremes were commercially viable in what was ostensibly the same genre once upon a time.

Sunless, “Spiraling Into the Unfathomable”

There’s a sort of genre of bands like Sunless who kind of approach metal from a similar direction, but don’t seem to have a consistent name for their subgenre. Bands like Gorguts, Portal, Pyrron, and others are extremely dissonant and technical, but there’s not so much of the wheedle-wheedle-whee solo pyrotechnics that characterize tech death. So, as a descriptor, I kind of go with dissonant death metal, and that seems to work OK. As an ill-defined subgenre, though, I quite like the stuff.

Belle and Sebastian, “The Stars of Track and Field”

The opening to my favorite Belle and Sebastian record, and therefore one of my favorite records period. We listen to a lot of really rancid shit around here, all grind this and noise that, and broadly engage deeply with the ugliness of music. The jagged edges and novel noises keep things fresh and surprising, and there’s an exhilaration in listening to that kind of stuff that is a consistent pleasure. But, at the same time, it’s also worth balancing all that savagery with something from the beautiful end of things, a reminder that music can lift spirits.

Crudbump, “Bite That Butt”

What can you say in the presence of true art?

Screeching Weasel, “Hey Suburbia”

I spend a fair bit of time kind of complaining about Screeching Weasel, and that’s probably a little unfair. This is from their second record, Boogadaboogadaboogada!, and it’s a lot of fun. Yes, very basic punk, but plenty of energy and it gets in and out.

The Isley Brothers, “Tell Me When You Need It Again, Parts 1 & 2”

An oddity of Go For Your Guns is that the first four tracks are all two-part songs. I’m not entirely sure why that was - formatting things for easier radio play, perhaps? We don’t have to worry about that, so we can just let the funk linger in our ears. Isn’t that nice?

Elvis Costello, “New Amsterdam”

This song is actually a demo that Costello recorded, and then included directly on the record instead of re-recording it. The result is one of the more distinctive songs on the album, a minimal arrangement that ends up letting the clarity of the melody shine through.

Girl Talk, “Still Here”

It’s always a little strange to hear one of the Girl Talk songs out of the context of the albums. It shouldn’t be, because they’re such chameleons, but the progression of songs is burned into my brain so it throws me off. In other news, I love the bit from The Band on this track.

Has-Lo, “Everything Is”

The minimal beat here really works well. Not every song can get by on something like this, but Has-Lo pulls it off.

Girls Against Boys, “(I) Don’t Got A Place”

A thing I sometimes wonder about is the extent to which I contradict myself in the archives here. After writing as many entries for songs and bands, I’m sure I’ve said stuff in the past that can’t be reconciled. And I thought to myself, “hey, this is from the Touch & Go records, the last good ones they made, but this isn’t their best record”. I checked the archive, six articles with them, and you know what? 100% consistent! I call the album before this one my favorite from them, twice, and mention that the last Touch & Go record is their last good record. From this sample of one, I can conclude that I’m totally consistent.

Samiam, “Blank Expression”

Samiam, the melodic punk band from Berkley, came out of the gate more or less fully formed. While I think their mid-career albums would be stronger and more refined, their first album still was solid work. I think Samiam was a little too early to catch on to the emo revival that would happen later, and so they’re kind of forgotten today.

Mustard Plug, “Away From Here”

I told my only real Mustard Plug story already, and I don’t want to tell it again. It’s sad! I think it’s understandable that I stopped listening after that, but I gotta say, this is a good little tune. It’s pretty Bosstones, but I like that sound. It’s not their fault they were part of the soundtrack to one of the worst nights of my life.