Anything On Your Mind?
We’ve reached 1998 in The World’s Slowest Time Machine, a year when I was in the same so-so apartment all year. On the upside, it shared a block with a 7-Eleven and a Domino’s Pizza, which are pretty solid things to have nearby when you’re a 23yo Mountain Dew junkie. On the downside, there was a lot of yelling from the apartment across the hall. And my car was broken into twice while I was there.
As I mentioned last blog, I was trying to learn to cook, but I was mostly living alone, so it didn’t always make a lot of sense. When I ate in, it was mostly sandwiches, and other than that, I mostly ate garbage. When I cooked, it was mostly using this book, which I still have to this day. I found the book by going to a Barnes & Noble and thumbing through books until I found one that seemed like it would be tractable. Stews can’t be that hard, right? The only other thing I really knew how to cook was pot roast, which I mostly did using cream of mushroom soup, Lipton onion soup mix, and some potatoes and carrots. It worked fine, truthfully, and was pretty foolproof, but I wanted to do better.
I did learn some things from that book, mostly by making mistakes. For example, I discovered that when a recipe calls for four cloves, you shouldn’t look at those tiny things and conclude “there’s no way that’s enough” and throw a bunch of cloves in there. Your stew will end up tasting like the parking lot outside a goth show. Or, I discovered that when you cut up habaneros, your hands will be carriers for capsaicin and you will certainly have a bad time as a result. I also learned about the various cuts of meat and how you can screw them all up. It was all pretty trial-and-error (mostly error), and one of the challenges of learning like this is that I didn’t really have any way to troubleshoot things if it was a more complicated error. Nevertheless, just learning some knife skills, some prep skills, how to follow a recipe, and some basic stuff like that was valuable. It’s a cliche, but the truth is that my learning in the kitchen really would take off in a year or so when Good Eats started airing (which I’m pretty sure I found from the long-gone blog Suck). “Gen-X dude learns cooking from Alton Brown” is such a basic-ass story, but whatever, it’s true in my case.
Aside from the adventures in cooking, I said I was “mostly” alone as I did have a couple of roommates for short periods - my sister for a bit and a friend for a little while. But aside from that, it was a bit of a lonely existence. Megan and I were in a long-distance relationship, but I’m not great on the phone, so while I enjoyed our talks, they weren’t that frequent. I filled my spare time with video games, mostly, primarily old-school roguelikes like Nethack and Angband. I’ll be honest - a lot of it is pretty blurry. Not because I was drinking or anything, it was just a lot of inconsequential time spent doing nothing much. I did have friends who were similarly in that post-college period and we got together frequently for tabletop gaming, so that’s really what I remember the most. Endless games of Warhammer Quest, wadded up dead characters piling up in the corner of the room (the “graveyard”), and the jokes and soda flowing like water.
Musically, I again expect to be reasonably plugged in, as I had the time to spend just hanging out in record stores to try and learn about music. 11 from the chart, not bad, although it’s about now that I discover that I seem to be missing all of Death’s records on my Plex. Apparently I wasn’t taking good care of my metal CDs back then? I wonder what happened - between them and the Neurosis records, I think I must have had a pile that went missing. Also, apparently I don’t think “I should listen to Death” very often or I would have noticed before now.
What Are You Listening To, 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.
Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, Black Star
I generally try not to write up too many really obvious records on this blog. Some of that is because, well, I don’t listen to a ton of stuff in the mainstream. That’s not snobbery or anything, it’s just where my taste leads me. That said, obviously, I do listen to plenty of well-known records. Heck, right up there, I noted that I have 11 of the top 40 releases from this year (as measured by the people who rated stuff on RYM) in my library. I don’t really know why people read this thing (I know why I write it!), but I suspect it’s mostly as a source of some new music to check out. And so, it feels a little foolish to write up a release that has had a lot of attention.
But then I thought, you know what? Maybe it’s not really that well-known? This is from 28 years ago. If somebody reading this hasn’t really listened or paid attention to this record, it’s worth it to write it up. So I’ll say this: this is one of a very small handful of records that I think has a legitimate claim to being the best hip-hop record of all time. (Another one that I think is on that list was also released in 1998, OutKast’s Aquemini.) That places it in the company of records (in no particular order) like A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory, Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Nas’s Illmatic, and a handful of other truly elite records. I’m not going to spend a lot of time trying to rank these records, that seems like a fruitless endeavor, but this record is really up in that league. Both MCs are absolutely incredible, the rhymes are amazing, Hi-Tek’s beats are perfect, there’s nothing to complain about. And the transition from “Definition” to “RE:DEFinition” is one of my favorite moments in music.
Road Rage, Fluf
All right, back to more obscure stuff. There were some really fun bands from San Diego in the 90s. Lots of people know about the various bands with John Reis, your Drive Like Jehus and Rockets from the Crypt. But there were others. Buck-o-Nine played fun ska-punk, Unsteady made one of my favorite ska records ever, Chune made a couple of very fun records, and then we have the band for today. Otis “O” Barthoulameu was in Olivelawn before that band fell apart (the second Olivelawn record, Sophomore Jinx!, is very good), and then he started Fluf. To my ears, Fluf is pretty clearly a grunge band, even though I’m not sure anybody really referred to them that way at the time. But just listen to this record and tell me I’m wrong. Right time, right big guitars, this is a grunge record.
And a good one! Fluf made four records, they’re all solid releases, and they’re largely forgotten today. I know I’ve said that before about this band, but whatever. The third record was actually released on a major label, as part of the grunge gold rush, but they were quickly dropped and they returned to an indie label for this album. Give it a spin and be prepared to re-live the mid-90s.
(OK, I clearly fucked up. This is apparently the only Fluf record that’s not on Bandcamp. Well, whatever, you can check out the other releases here. And apparently they had a record in 2013? Hot damn!)
More Like This Than That, One Groovy Coconut
“Josh, stop writing about ska records!” NEVER! I’m sure I’m just shadowboxing with a straw argument, but dammit, I’m going to rehabilitate the third wave. I know, nobody cares any more.
Anyway, One Groovy Coconut were a one-and-done group that just released this record. As far as I know, there’s a couple guys from the Scofflaws in it, and I don’t really know who else is involved. This was from fairly late in Moon Ska’s run, so not a lot of copies kicking around, and it basically sank without a trace. But, I think it’s actually a really fun record. There’s a lot of New Wave in this album to my ears, to the point where this sounds more like a little-known second wave record than it does their peers at the time. It also, oddly, reminds me of Imperial Bedroom-era Elvis Costello. The combination isn’t that strange, as Costello was actually relevant to the second wave of ska (between “Watching the Detectives” being an inspiring song for bands as well as producing the first Specials record). Anyway, there’s nothing really like this album in the third wave, and more bands should take their cues from the English Beat as far as I’m concerned.
Let’s Talk About Some More 1998 Records
Yes, I rewrite this section every time. New releases will return soon!
Different Section Wires, Uzeda
As we wander back towards noise rock’s 90s peak, we’re going to hear about plenty of noise rock bands here. I’m going to have an awful lot to say about the Cows, for instance. But it seems like it’s been a bit since I’ve put a noise rock record on the blog, so let’s have Uzeda. They’re an Italian band who wound up on Touch & Go after Steve Albini championed them, and after an EP (4, which is very good), this was the first full album on Touch & Go. I haven’t heard the pre-T&G stuff, but this album bangs. Of course Albini knows exactly what he’s doing recording noise rock, so it sounds like a million bucks, but there’s a willingness to go a little artier here that I really appreciate. They also make great use of Giovanna Cacciola’s voice, which is another thing that stands out from other noise rock bands. It’s a great record.
(Oh, nice there’s a 2019 release from them that I don’t have! I’m learning about all kinds of new releases today.)
Perennial Favorites, Squirrel Nut Zippers
As long as I’m defending various 90s music things that were goofed on, let’s talk about the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Most people just consider them part of a regrettable and baffling swing revival and just chuck them in the bin. And I guess the Zippers showed up at a time when older styles of music were trendy and people were willing to give this kind of thing a whirl. But they always drew inspiration from older music than swing. A lot of it is inspired by New Orleans jazz, but they also wandered through various other styles as well. Their big single, “Hell”, is a dang calypso! And a strange one! “Put A Lid On It”, probably their second biggest song, was also a pretty odd song.
Anyway, they were never a novelty band, despite what people thought at the time (and afterwards). They were always sincerely inspired by this older music and were making records out of that inspiration. If you engage with it from the perspective that these are talented musicians writing sly songs in an old style, they’re an awful lot of fun. This is my favorite record of theirs, their third album, as I think it’s the most consistent of their records. By the time it came out, it got some attention, but the odd willingness of the public to countenance this kind of thing was receding, so it didn’t make too much of a splash. But I think it rewards attention and an evaluation in something of a vacuum.
Steal This Album, The Coup
This is my favorite of The Coup’s records. It’s really Boots Riley’s show at this point, and the album is just his storytelling backed by rubbery funk. The tracks tend to the minimal, but that’s fine as it’s Riley’s verses that are the focus. “Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ‘79 Granada Last Night” is a hell of a ride, and one I won’t spoil. “Cars & Shoes” is a great entry in the microgenre of “rap songs about shitty cars” (shout out to J-Zone’s “5-$tar Hooptie”, Devin the Dude’s “Lacville ‘79”, Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “My Hooptie”, and others I’m forgetting), “The Repo Man Sings For You” has a great guest spot from Del tha Funkee Homosapien, it’s a record that can be funny and heartfelt in equal measure.
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.
“No Gold Teeth”, Danger Mouse & Black Thought
Listen to that track Danger Mouse laid down for Thought. What a banger. Just ridiculous
“Debut”, Deerhoof
Dig that rhythm! Now, I want to hear this track with Black Thought rhyming on it.
“Kohokia”, Russian Circles
Huh, I don’t know that I’ve written about Russian Circles before. checks Yeah, all right, five times, whatever. We’ve even had this song before. Oh man, that’s a good joke from last time, I’m not topping that. Anyway, Russian Circles are good.
“Punch Drunk”, Uncle Tupelo
Like every other good little punk, I would say that No Depression is my favorite Uncle Tupelo record. But in the dark night, when the uncomfortable truths start bubbling up in your brain, probably because you’ve listened to too much Uncle Tupelo, I’d be forced to admit that actually, Still Feel Gone is a better record.
“Easy Skanking”, Bob Marley & the Wailers
I guess Plex is really into Kaya right now. Excellent list today!
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.