Killdozer, “Pour Man”

Killdozer were not a joke band. But they were a band that was never really being serious, with Michael Gerald’s vocal delivery on this thing being a good example. Why is he singing like this? Because it’s silly. Does it make the song silly? Well, not really? Kinda?

Beck, “Guess I’m Doing Fine”

Beck, on the other hand, is clearly a joke act.

Smut Peddlers, “Stank MCs”

OK, I’ll let the listener decide if this is a joke act.

Yazz Ahmed, “Bloom”

Yazz Ahmed is a jazz trumpeter and I have two albums from her that I really like. Wish I could describe them, but you know, I don’t know shit about jazz.

Death Grips, “Birds”

This is a great example of the unpredictability of Death Grips. Nothing about this song really makes sense, but it’s all intentional and hits the effect they wanted to achieve. That is, disorientation.

Vertigo, “Sit Down and Shut Up”

Psychedelic noise rockers Vertigo had one final EP in 1993, Driver #43, which might have been their best single release. By this point, they were playing pretty tight, and everything was really hitting. It’s a shame that they never had the chance to build further on this record.

Bummer, “Reefer Sadness”

Noise rock today! Bummer hail from Kansas, and it’s very Midwestern in style. All burly growling guitars and shouting, descended from the Chicago tradition. This is a satisfying record if you like the style.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, “43% Burnt”

I dunno, I’m 100% burnt now!

Neutral Milk Hotel, “April 8th”

I learned about a podcast called Neutral Cider Hotel the other day, and I have to say, I was probably way more amused than I should have been.

Superchunk, “Break the Glass”

Despite being a huge fan of Superchunk from the release of No Pocky For Kitty, I never once managed to catch them in concert until the tour for this record, 26 years after I started listening to them. And you know what? It was a total delight. I was just entranced watching Mac do his thing up there. I wish I could have seen them more often, but at least I got there once.

Prince Paul, “Psycho Linguistics (Convergent Thought)”

Before his masterpiece, A Prince Among Thieves, Prince Paul released an uneven first solo record, Psychoanalysis: What Is It?. There are some good tunes on it, but a lot of kind of self-indulgent meandering, so it’s probably not worth pursuing too much unless you’re very curious.

Thantifaxath, “Eternally Falling”

Thantifaxath have only made one album, Sacred White Noise, but it’s a banger. It’s black metal, but it uses a ton of atmosphere to generate a consistently creepy tone without just relying on howling fury. The ability to dial it back manages to throw the chaotic moments into greater contrast. Mastery of dynamics is such an important thing for all bands, but especially extreme metal bands. Keeping everything on 11 all the time just results in fatigue.

Black Eyed Peas, “Bringing It Back”

I’ve already talked about how different pre-Fergie BEP are from the band people know, and I’m not sure I have a second thing to observe about this record. So read that. Or don’t! Doesn’t matter to me!

Jurassic 5, “What’s Golden”

Best tune off their second record, this is just a total banger. If I can recommend it, just listen to this twice and skip the BEP track. Why not?

Ohio Players, “It’s Your Night / Words of Love”

Daaaaaaaamn. The mid-70s Ohio Players albums were all ridiculously good.

Karl Hendricks Trio, “The Official Shape of Beauty”

I have a hard time picking my favorite album from the Karl Hendricks Trio. I often lean towards the first couple records from them because it felt special I was listening to them that early, and I saw them so often in those early days. But the later albums probably on-balance have better songs? I think the sweet spot might actually be this record, A Gesture of Kindness. Pre-Merge Records, but Karl’s songwriting had advanced from his earliest stuff.

The Wedding Present, “Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm”

The first Wedding Present album is a perfect gem, full of the best kind of frantic jangle pop. And, of course, David Gedge’s heart breaking about every two minutes.

Emperor, “A Fine Day To Die”

Looks like this is the first time we’ve had Emperor on here, so we get to go over the history of yet another important and deeply shitty bunch of Norwegians. The lineup that produced In The Nightside Eclipse featured Ihsahn and three dudes who wound up in prison, for burglary, arson (of a historic church), and murder respectively. The album reflects a lot of that ugliness, reveling in horrible sounds and dark lyrical themes. But, for all that, it’s maybe the most influential black metal album of all time. Maybe because of all that. Many following bands cribbed their style from this record, with its chilly darkness and bleak relentlessness.

PJ Harvey, “My Beautiful Leah”

Is This Desire? is the album that really completed PJ Harvey’s transition from kickass rock artist to just plain ol’ kickass artist. Yeah, broadly, this is still a rock record, but she started doing so much more. The arrangements incorporate so much more beyond just stardard rock instrumentation, the songs range much wider, and the whole thing is so much more sophisticated. That’s not to say that the first couple records aren’t brilliant, they are, but this is just a different beast.

Xzibit, “Just Maintain”

Before he was a tv host, before he was an ubiquitous (and now old) meme, before he was a famous rapper who appeared in video games, Xzibit was a promising young rapper who put out a couple albums that were pretty good. This is from the first of those records, from 1996, sounding every inch like it was from 1996.

Blue Meanies, “When We Were Queens”

I kind of poke fun at the Blue Meanies here quite a bit, because, well, they just doesn’t appeal to me much any more. But the horns sound pretty good here!