The Meters, “Funky Miracle”

Mostly, when we get a funk track on here, I just pull the textual equivalent of a stink face. “Goddamn,” I’ll say, or “holy shit” or some other incoherent blurt. It conveys nothing about the music other than my elemental appreciation for it. I’d like to apologize for my limitations as a writer here. I don’t really know what I’m doing, or even why I’m doing it. I just like being connected to my music a little bit more, and this blog is a way to do that. And, if I may add: godDAMN.

Irata, “Weightless”

I don’t really remember where I heard about this record, 2019’s Tower, but this rocks. But there’s some real Torche vibes going on here, and that’s a fine thing. This is good! I like this! Nice work, past Josh!

Don Caballero, “You Drink A Lot Of Coffee For A Teenager”

Hey, this past Memorial Day (I know this, because I’m writing this entry ON Memorial Day and I thought this today), I was thinking “huh, my oldest is at the age when I picked up a coffee habit”. So, yeah, I sure did drink a lot of coffee for a teenager. Mostly while playing cards in diners. An excellent pursuit that I heartily recommend.

Xasthur, “Purgatory Spiral”

Another track from Xasthur, the weird experimental metal act that I ended up with courtesy of a Hydra Head grab bag. It’s not really, uh, my bag.

Converge, “Sadness Comes Home”

All We Love We Leave Behind is my favorite Converge record, where their hardcore reached a pinnacle of bananas complexity that it ends up being compulsively listenable. It’s sometimes the case that hardcore bands lose their edge as they go, as increased polish starts exposing simple songs and reveals all the flaws. It’s a rare hardcore band that gets better as they go, but Converge managed that.

Japandroids, “The House That Heaven Built”

Everything about Celebration Rock is just unabashedly turned up to 11. It was impossible for me to not be absolutely charmed to death by it. It was deliberately written to be full of songs that would be massive played live, so the songs were kept simple and pumped just full of big moments. It’s not sophisticated, but it absolutely works.

Neurosis, “Grey”

Maybe the most incongruous record on Lookout Records, certainly the one I think of when I think of something standing out. After a pretty standard hardcore record on Alternative Tentacles, Neurosis put out this album that finds them really transitioning from that hardcore band into the progressive metal powerhouse that would help shape the metal world in the mid 90s. It’s something of a curiosity, but if you’re a big fan of the band and are wondering where you first see their potential, it’s on The Word As Law.

They Might Be Giants, “They’ll Need A Crane”

This song is a great example of how John Linnell is capable of writing a bouncy, charming song that nevertheless has a melancholy core to it. He usually bangs out at least one of those on each record, and there’s always some turn of phrase in them that really sticks with me. “There’s a restaurant we should check out / where the other nightmare people like to go / I mean nice people / Baby wait / I didn’t mean to say nightmare” just runs through my head all the time. Lincoln is real good, y’all.

It was wobbly a few times there, but another month in the books. As always, thanks for sticking with me here!

BIG|BRAVE, “Do.No.Harm.Do.No.Wrong.Do.No.Harm.Do.No.Wrong.Do.No.Harm.Do.No.Wrong”

If you were just given the data above, the name of this song and the name of this band, I wonder how close you’d get to guessing that it sounds like this kind of abrasive drone? I think I’d guess something pretty outré, at any rate, so I might get pretty close to “early Swans, I guess?” But that’s easy for me to say, I already knew what this sounded like.

Black Eyes, “Deformative”

Always enjoy songs that sounds like somebody set the wrong speed on the turntable.

Filibuster, “Fat Cat”

Well, here’s a real rarity for you. This album came out in 1995, pretty early in the third wave of ska, and I had totally forgotten about it until now. I can usually pull up some details about all these forgotten third wave acts, your Articles and Los Hooligans or whoever, but folks? I got absolutely nothing. Not bad, though!

Johnny Cash, “Cocaine Blues”

If you’ve got a blog, just a-read it to me.

Ivy Sole, “You Don’t Know My Name”

Ivy Sole is out of Philadelphia, and this song comes from her excellent debut Eden. I came across this record thanks to one of the Bandcamp spotlight emails, which are always a good source of learning about artists.

Ernie Hines, “Electrified Love”

Ernie Hines’s Electrified was a somewhat forgotten album released on Stax in 1972 until it was resurrected by hip-hop producers, which brought it to new audiences. It’s a fine album, and this lead track gives you an idea of what you’re in for.

Renegade Soundwave, “Murder Music”

I will always group Renegade Sounwave with Pop Will Eat Itself in my brain, and it’s almost impossible to separate them. But, if you’ve heard both bands, I think you can hear what I’m hearing. If you cannot, don’t tell me! I don’t care!

Silkworm, “Garden City Blues”

My library of bands I could compare people to back when I picked up this album in 1994 was fairly limited, and my big thought when I listened to this was “geez, Pavement much?” And, I suppose in my defense, this song still sounds pretty Pavement-y to my ears. That description sells Silkworm very short, of course, but when this was the first song on the record, I’m going to go ahead and let Young Josh off the hook.

Gorilla Biscuits, “High Hopes”

Gorilla Biscuits were one of the most influential hardcore bands, and their self-titled record set the stage for Start Today, which inspired tons of followers. This song, from that self-titled record, is a good example of how they were still pretty raw, but you could really hear the potential. Because this is still pretty straight-forward, it’s aged pretty well.

Prefuse 73, “Expressing Views is Obviously Illegal”

The third Prefuse 73 record, Surrounded by Silence, found Scott Herren starting to really branch out from the micro-samples and glitchy stuff that really made his name. He had a bunch of guest rappers on the record and generally tried to broaden his sonic palette. That said, there were still plenty of tracks that sounded like his classic sound, like this one.