Anything On Your Mind?
And now we reach 2001. The Year Everything Changed. I’m not going to go into 9/11 memories or anything here, because it’s not that type of blog. I’ll stick to the safe, mundane details of what was going on with me. I was working for the place that would lay me off in 2002, where it was a pretty big difference from the dozen person company I had previously worked. While this place was only around 500-ish people, it was still a far more corporate office than I was used to. I did have a little prep for it, as I worked for EDS (the huge consulting company started by Ross Perot) for a summer as an intern, where I had to wear a tie and help office dwellers figure out how to unlock their machine after they forgot their password to the Symantec screen lock program. My 2001 job did have some perks, such as a very nice solo office and pretty relaxed working conditions, alongside some negatives, such as a truly soul-sapping commute. It was 30 to 40 minutes in the morning most of the time, which wasn’t so bad, but it was 45 minutes at best in the evenings and would sometimes go up to an hour and a half, and that was brutal.
A thing you don’t really notice about a long commute like that is how much it colors the rest of your day and life. When you finally get home after sitting in traffic for more than an hour, you’re just always in a bad mood. And it’s not one that goes away quickly. Considering that Megan and I were still figuring out how to live with each other, this unseen damper on my mood was really kind of a problem. It was just a problem I only noticed once it stopped. At the time, I would have said something like “oh, my commute isn’t that bad, I get to listen to music, it’s OK” and I was just wrong. After this job ended, I vowed to not take a job that required a long car commute, and thus far, I’ve held to that. I did have some car commutes, but they were short (20 minutes at the most) and mostly commutes involving biking and buses. So much better!
As for the music side, the thing that sticks out the most for me for 2001 music is the albums that were supposed to be released on 9/11, which is Mink Car from They Might Be Giants and Party Music from The Coup. The latter of which had original artwork of Boots Riley blowing up the World Trade Center. So, uh, it was released later with different art. Perusing the list, I have 11 of these in the collection, and I’m pretty sure I used to have the Daft Punk record and I know I had the Neurosis album, but both seem to be missing from my Plex. There’s some breakage along the line over the years. Pretty good showing overall.
What Are You Still Listening To From 2001, Josh?
A sampling of albums that I’m playing regularly, whether older ones or newer ones. Just the things that I think are worth highlighting, and maybe you’d enjoy.
The Argument, Fugazi
I know, I know, I talk about Fugazi all the time. And I did just mention that The Argument is my second-favorite Fugazi album not so long ago. But I wanted to expand on that, uh, argument a little bit here. I really do think that every Fugazi album is a worthy listen and none of them are really the same, so to a certain extent, this is a braindead exercise. This isn’t a situation like the Rolling Stones or whatever where there are a zillion albums and a ranking can help separate those worth listening to and those worth skipping. Furthermore, there are different Fugazi records I’d recommend to different people, depending on their preferences. But if I let writing stupid stuff stop me, this blog wouldn’t exist! We will proceed!
I’d roughly divide their career into two parts. The first part encompasses the first two EPs, Repeater, Steady Diet of Nothing, and In On The Kill Taker. Those represent the albums that retain the most hardcore DNA (despite the music being “post-hardcore”). The more punk side of their personality. The second part is Red Medicine, End Hits, and The Argument. (For these purposes, I ignore Instrument, but it would fit into this half). This is the most “post-”" part of their career, the artier and more experimental side of them. As a broad simplification, the albums in the first part all resemble each other more than they do the albums in the second half, and vice versa. And so, I’d just argue that we really only need to consider the best album from each part if we’re trying to figure out the best record of their career. Or, we can even rank the records from each half separately and then merge the rankings.
Without question, the best record of the first half is In On The Kill Taker. It has their most furious songs, it has the ones where they best make use of their noisy side, it’s where they mastered that mode. I think it explains why their next record moved to the more contemplative style. For completeness, I’d go Repeater, 13 songs, and then Steady Diet in the ranking of the first part. I know that the 13 Songs ranking will make some people mad (sorry, Megan), but honestly, Fugazi is great and Margin Walker less so, so judged as a full album, the second half lets it down. “Waiting Room” and “Suggestion” are still all-timers, of course.
For the second part, the records are all pretty different, but I usually rank them The Argument, End Hits, and then Red Medicine. Forced to add Instrument, it clearly goes last. I think they showed an increasing mastery of this style and the songs and cohesion of the records just increases over time. With the easier sub jobs done, then you just have to merge them and you really only have to ask yourself “is this record better than that record” at each stage.
Is Kill Taker better than The Argument? Yes. Is The Argument better than Repeater? Yes. Is End Hits better than Repeater? Yes. Is Red Medicine better than Repeater? No. Is Red Medicine better than 13 Songs? No. Is Red Medicine better than Steady Diet? Yes. And so:
- In On The Kill Taker
- The Argument
- End Hits
- Repeater
- 13 Songs
- Red Medicine
- Steady Diet of Nothing
I always look at that list and think “Steady Diet is the worst Fugazi record, that can’t be right!” As a consequence, I’ve done this exercise a lot, but the answer doesn’t usually change.
The Ends Against the Middle, Antipop Consortium
There have been plenty of hip-hop acts over the years that have decided to draw upon electronic music as inspiration for their beats instead of the usual funk, soul, and rock that fuels most of the songs of other bands. It’s not the most common path, but it’s definitely one people have tackled with varying success. Among that group, few have managed the merger as well as Antipop Consortium. And especially for this time, their records were a startling change of pace from just about anything else out there. This record is more of an EP length, but that means it’s less of an investment to try out, so if you’re interested in a group that is explicitly drawing from electronica (this record came out on Warp!) but still rocks the mic, this is a great place to start.
Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, Prefuse 73
And now, let’s look at the other side of the coin. Antipop Consortium approached electronic music from hip-hop, and Prefuse 73 (one of Scott Herren’s aliases) approached hip-hop from elecctronic music. And so each band is interpreting a different source through the idioms of their home style. This is unquestionably an electronic record, but there’s a lot of raw material that he derives from hip-hop records, using tiny snatches and bits and pieces to assemble his songs. It’s a bracing, fresh look at electronic music that sounded amazing at the time and continues to be a favorite.
Let’s Talk 2001 Some More
Why not?
Acre Thrills, US Maple
While I think it’s reasonable to look at Fugazi’s discography and rank them, through whatever method or using whatever lens you like, trying to rank US Maple’s records makes zero sense. I mean, the records themselves don’t really make any sense, it would be like choosing your favorite bit of lorem ipsum. And since I didn’t bring up Purple On Time for the 2003 blog, let’s fix that by looking at Acre Thrills, their 2001 release. Is it good? Better than their other records? Again: that question doesn’t make sense. Is it interesting? Sure is! It’s kind of…do you remember the old “shreds” videos? It’s like if those were sincere but also didn’t suck? I don’t know. US Maple set out to try and make rock as disorienting as possible, breaking every rule they could get away with and still produce something that was a rock record. They knew what they were doing and were good at it. Anti-rock? I guess. Anyway, there’s nobody really like them.
Leaves Turn Inside You, Unwound
Olympia, WA’s post-hardcore heroes Unwound culminated their recording career with this, a double record that capped off an impeccable run from them. While Fugazi is always going to be the greatest post-hardcore band (as well as the first one anybody ever thinks about), Unwound belong in the first rank alongside them. As with Fugazi, their discography is excellent across the board, but this album really does stand out. For a final statement, they could hardly do any better. It took them three years to put this album together, and the time was well used. There’s a ton of variation in the songs, showing that Unwound could do dreamy tunes, elaborate indie rock, knotty and complex post-hardcore, and really anything else they decided to tackle. As with any double album, it can be a lot to take in at once, but it’s a masterpiece.
Because We Hate You/Let The War Against Music Begin, The Young Fresh Fellows/The Minus 5
Hell, let’s have another double album. But this one is a strange one, as it’s two complete LPs from two different bands. Well, mostly different. Scott McCaughey is the center of both bands, and he decided to go ahead and release the next records from both of his bands together. I enjoy both halves of this record quite a bit, and as a whole, it’s just a fun thing to have. The YFF record is a classic YFF album, all fun, upbeat, playful rock. It was the first proper Fellows record in nine years, with McCaughey spending time with REM and the Minus 5, and the Fellows found their old form. Is it as good as The Men Who Loved Music or This One’s For The Ladies? No, it is not. But it can for sure hang with Electric Bird Digest and The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest.
So, if you already have a good YFF album, adding in a solid Minus 5 record is just gravy. The Minus 5 is really not that far from YFF, of course, what with being fronted by the same guy and being a rock band. I guess I’d summarize the difference as being that there’s a little more of an indie feeling to the Minus 5 than the straight-ahead rock of the Fellows. I don’t know if that makes sense. Anyway, quantity matters sometimes, and it definitely matters here.
Five Random Songs
Yes, it’s the “classic” five random songs format. It’s been told before on this blog many times, but basically, on an old forum, people would post the last five songs their shuffle pulled up. I liked it, so I made it into a blog. And now, here we are.
“Ur Mum”, Wet Leg
This record was a big deal when it came out, and I enjoyed spinning it at the time, but I haven’t found that it has much in the way of legs. So to speak. I found my attention really wandering just during this one song, for example.
“Get You Back”, Mayer Hawthorne
At his best, Mayer Hawthorne made immaculately constructed classic soul, stuff that really understood the pleasures of Motown and delivered them. I think Where Does This Door Go went a little too far forward in time, and it just didn’t quite hit for me in the same way. This album, 2016’s Man About Town, goes back to the well. And I’m certainly glad he did, there’s a reason people still listen to those Motown hits today. I suppose it does beg the question of why we need an imitator, since we can just listen to Motown. I suppose I have two answers to that question. First, it’s just nice having new material in this style to listen to. Second, shut up! Enjoy the music, nerd.
“No Mas”, The Obsessed
Well, I did find a receipt for buying this, so I can’t say I don’t know where it came from. I just don’t remember why I bought it. Looking at some biographical stuff, there are connections to bands I like (the Melvins, Kyuss), so, you know, probably something like that. Somebody probably wrote about this album and I picked it up. But I don’t remember actually listening to it. It’s extremely hard rock.
“Heart On”, Eagles of Death Metal
Queens of the Stone Age operate in several different modes. You can hear them operating in Big Riff Mode, Groove Mode, Gallop Mode, Weird Mode, and others. One of those modes is Sexy Mode. Josh Homme busts out his falsetto, the band does some vamping, and they lay it on thick. It’s all clearly tongue-in-cheek, but this is actually one of my least favorite ways that QotSA plays. Eagles of Death Metal, a Josh Homme side project, is basically just Sexy Mode, but doubled, with a side of extra cheese. I find it to be too much.
“Carcosa”, High On Fire
Fuck yeah.
Josh, What Are You Doing Here?
I’m just writing about music. A structure like this blog helps me get my thoughts out, and it’s a way for me to explore my own music collection through various lenses. My sincere hope is that some folks out there find some new music they love. That’s all I’m up to. Sincere thanks to everybody who sends me feedback, with news that they’ve found a new favorite especially fun for me. There’s no monetization, no metrics, no ads, no promos, no nothing. Just some static web pages, some links, and my scribbling. If you want to support it, just shoot me a note! Thanks for reading.
Some Better Places To Learn About Music
Check these folks out, you’ll learn more for sure. In no particular order: To The Teeth, Wolf’s Week/Plague Rages, The Devil’s Mouth, Burning Ambulance, Lamniformes Cuneiform, Hex Records, See/Saw, Starkweather, Treble Magazine, The Quietus, Stereogum.