μ‐Ziq, “Iesope”

I can remember bozos complaining about electronic music back in the early 90s, claiming that it wasn’t “real music” and that it doesn’t take any skill to play the instruments. And, of course, that doesn’t really deserve any refutation, but I think about it sometimes when I listen to stuff like this, and consider how careful the composition is. And that some knucklehead might dismiss it just because nobody chugged through any power chords on a guitar.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American reader/listeners! I don’t think I have any non-American reader/listeners! I barely have any American ones. Hmm, let’s do “dinner” for a special word. For those of you who haven’t seen me explain these before, when I do a special, I search for a word or phrase in the library and pick the random songs from that.

The Evens, “Dinner With The President”

The Evens (Amy Farina and Ian MacKaye) put out their second album, Get Evens, pretty quickly after the first one. And I think it’s a step forward, they seemed to be more comfortable with how to write songs to suit such a stripped down lineup. Is folk-punk a thing? I guess it is.

Godflesh, “Pulp”

When Streetcleaner was released, people would lump it in with grindcore, because Justin Broadrick cut his teeth in grindcore progenitors Napalm Death. But this isn’t grindcore, not the way we understand the genre today. Listen to yesterday’s Piss Vortex track again (it’s only thirty seconds!) to remind yourselves of what we think of grindcore. Instead, this really is either slowed down industrial metal (given the drum machine driving the proceedings) or more like doom. Either way, this is a touchstone for numerous heavy bands, who look to the plodding, punishing rhythems of this record for inspiration on how to make something really heavy.

Front 242, “Quite Unusual”

I’ve mentioned before on here, but I think Front 242 might have aged the best of the various industrial dance acts that I listened to in the late 80s/early 90s. I guess Nine Inch Nails aged better, but Reznor only really made one record of industrial dance before moving on. But this sounds pretty good! The synths here are very *wave, but that’s a good thing. And the vocal delivery avoids the histrionics that others used that sounds a little silly today.

Run The Jewels, “Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1”

El-P and Killer Mike first got together on the latter’s R.A.P. Music, which is an amazing album. When they announced a full collab, the first Run the Jewels record, I was pumped. And it was excellent, some of El-P’s best production ever (to that point), and it was just a great time all around. And they stuck with it, and somehow Run the Jewels 2 found another level. It’s pissed off, righteously so, and funnels all that rage into focused, punishing tracks. One of the best hip hop records ever.

Albert King, “Crosscut Saw”

A repeat! I think we’ve actually had it at least twice before. Still smokes, though.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Good Morning Everybody”

God, the opening of this song is so menacing. This is from Grundstück, the second supporter-only album that they released in 2005, back when crowdfunding was still something pretty far out of the mainstream. They successfully funded and released a series of albums, relying primarily on word of mouth to find folks and doing payments directly. The resulting albums were no compromise, they’re full-on Neubauten records and this one in particular is excellent.

SOB X RBE, “Paramedic!”

Kendrick Lamar assembled the soundtrack to Black Panther, which ended up being a set of songs that are more inspired by the movie than necessarily being a traditional soundtrack. Kendrick is involved with everything, taking different roles depending on the song. As a result, even though there are a lot of different artists, it still feels like a coherent album. It’s not quite as magnificent as his recent proper albums, but really, what could be?

SNFU, “Costume Trunk”

I think I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of this record, and I think maybe part of it is the way the record is mixed. The vocals are too forward, and it throws the balance of things off.

Tuxedo, “Dreaming in the Daytime”

Just filthy, y’all. Listen to how fat those synths are! And come on, a guest verse from MF DOOM (R.I.P.)? Come on.

The Young Fresh Fellows, “Another Ten Reasons”

Tad Hutchison is really smokin’ on the drums on this tune, friends! I was going to say that this is from the last Young Fresh Fellows album, Tiempo De Lujo, but no! Turns out there was one last year, exciting!

Unsteady, “Darkie Love Affair”

I was going to say that Unsteady is one of the lost gems of the third wave, having put out two outstanding, unique albums that combine a sort of carnival atmosphere with a jazzy take on ska. But, uh, that song title is not great. Listening carefully, I think it’s an attempt to be clever, there’s no malice here, but yeah.

Mule, “Lucky”

Every now and again, bands will fuse redneck aesthetics with various rock genres, to greater or lesser effect. In this case, Mule bolts that stuff onto noise rock, bolstered by the usual good engineering job by Steve Albini. I don’t think that it’s really inventive enough to make the three-piece lineup shine, and I’m not super attracted to the hillbilly stuff, so, uh, I guess this isn’t great.