The Rolling Stones, “Happy”

It’s time for True Stupid Facts About Josh’s Musical History (yes, I know nobody cares). Despite Exile on Main St. being part of the rock ’n’ roll canon, regarded by many as the Stones’ best album, I actually heard the Pussy Galore full-album cover of this record first. The Pussy Galore interpretation is chaotic and deliberately ramshackle, a total mess released only on cassette in small numbers out of fear of getting sued into dust. WRCT had a copy of this record, legendary among the underground, and I checked it out after reading about it on Usenet. It was ridiculous, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it, and didn’t get around to listening to the actual Stones record for probably another ten years. The list of people who listened to the record in this order might be limited to just your very stupid correspondant.

Throbbing Gristle, “Beachy Head”

Industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle’s third album, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, is their best and most influential album. Ranging widely around the musical map, the restlessness is part of what makes it great. This song, for instance, is just a bit of atmospheric disquiet named for Beachy Head, a notorious suicide location that the band is actually pictured standing on for the cover. It’s easy to forget that this is from 1979.

Claw Hammer, “The Day It Rained Pigeon Shit”

Have we had Claw Hammer before? I think we have. The tags say we have. Whatever. Anyway, Claw Hammer sort of had a blues-y take at punk, like if you took Mudhoney and dialed up the blues end by a bunch. And, of course, they had Jon Wahl’s idiosyncratic vocal style powering things. This tune comes from their final album, their second for a major label of all damn things. That Interscope thought something as offputting as this was worth signing is one of the clearest signs that the mid-90s saw some very stupid behavior from the labels.

Yo La Tengo, “Raw Power”

Yo La Tengo Is Murdering The Classics is a compilation of Yo La Tengo’s fundraising appearances for WFMU where the band plays whatever songs are requested. You can usually tell when it’s a song they’re more familiar with than others, because they can usually muster more energy in the performance, although they’re game for whatever. Here, they put in a nice run on the Stooges classic.

The Queers, “From Your Boy”

We’ve been over this, but it’s been a while: yes, this is shameless Ramones worship. Yes, it’s incredibly sophomoric. Yes, you can do much better.

The Decemberists, “Rox in the Box”

After The Hazards of Love, the Decemberists stepped back from the increasingly elaborate prog-folk thing they had going on and made a much more straightforward folk-rock album with The King is Dead. As a fan over that super ornamented stuff, I found the record a bit of a disappointment. It’s pleasant enough, and I’m not sorry to listen to it, but it’s not one I seek out often.

Look, this is every day-ish.

A Forest of Stars, “A Blaze of Hammers”

This is A Blog of Gummi Worms.

Kings Destroy, “W2”

I want to say this was from a Humble Bundle? It’s kind of plodding, and sort of sounds like something that should only be played in the background by some kids playing D&D.

The Channels, “To The New Mandarins”

After the end of Jawbox, J. Robbins primarily focused on being an engineer and producer. This did not stop him from leading a whole string of bands, including Burning Airlines, Office of Future Plans, and today’s band, The Channels. Surprising nobody, this sounds a lot like a J. Robbins record. To my ears, it sounds the most like the final Jawbox record. The Channels only put out this one album, but it’s a good one, and it should go on your list if you like his stuff.

Bergraven, “Ekot av bikt”

Black metal band out of Sweden that I otherwise know nothing about. I ended up with this from a blind sampler from Hydra Head Records. It’s got more melody than a lot of black metal going on here. I dunno, this is the first I’ve listened to this since I first got it, I think! Write your own review!

Bim Skala Bim, “Popcorn”

Bim Skala Bim checks in here with a little bit of an oddity from their final album, Krinkle. This is a cover, a version of synth pioneer Gershon Kingsley’s song. Bim Skala Bim didn’t often go for these sorts of covers, and didn’t record too many purely instrumental songs, so this is kind of a treat.

Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Midnight Ravers”

By and large, I tend to prefer the early material from Marley, where there’s some more ska rhythms as opposed to reggae. Of course, that doesn’t mean that his later material isn’t brilliant. At any rate, Catch a Fire is pretty early, his first album for Island Records, and it’s the one that really put him on the map for most folks. It’s a tremendous record, and probably where I’d recommend folks start with to move beyond Legend.

Hepcat, “Marcus Garvey”

Y’all, it’s ska weather right now in Seattle. It’s still sunny, but not oppressive, and some breezy tunes to go with it is just perfect. I’ve had Hepcat on while making dinner a few times recently, and it’s going down niiiice. Right On Time is my favorite record from them, but Scientific (which provides this song) is excellent as well.

Mudhoney, “Twenty Four”

Mudhoney’s singles were pretty great, kind of across the board. They’d pretty consistently turn in either bruising performances, excellent covers, or fun larks. As a result, March to Fuzz, a collection of those singles, is a very good time. The guitar tone is just all-time on this song.

See! Two days in a row! Nice job team, let’s take the rest of the month off.

Hattie Littles, “Conscience I’m Guilty”

Shuffle in a Motown mood! We’re in 1965, and you can really hear how much Motown has upped their game. This song isn’t that far from the previous one in terms of composition, but the arrangement and especially the production are so much more sophisticated. Of course, by 1965, Hitsville U.S.A. was really rolling, so it’s not really a surprise. It’s still fun to hear these back-to-back and hear the leap forward.