Anything On Your Mind?
11/11! Veterans day! I have nothing to say about that! I’m also sick! Let’s kick some tunes!
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.
Slanted & Enchanted, Pavement
Look, Pitchfork got me again. They put out a list of the 100 “best” indie rock albums and it’s calculated to drive me insane. But as I told a friend, I’m in my third decade of getting mad at Pitchfork, and I’m not going to stop now. Anyway. I don’t really have a lot of beef with the #1 on the list being Pavement. It’s not what I would have picked (I would have put #3, Daydream Nation, at #1 personally with Pavement at #2), but I also think they picked the wrong album. It appears they only took one record from each band, but if you’re going to pick one Pavement record, I think you have to take the debut. I’ve now listened to this album twice today, the day I encountered this list. Still rules. I know this is, like, The Most Obvious Record to Highlight in a blog like this. I don’t care! Somebody is wrong on the internet!
I’ll spare you all a Recitation of the Beef that I have with the list (Bon Iver one notch above Belle & Sebastian in particular feels personal), but I just want to say that if you’re going to put Liz Phair at #2, based at least in part around the gender politics of rock, it’s absolutely criminal to leave PJ Harvey off the list entirely.
Pablum, Claw Hammer
I listened to a ton of Claw Hammer back in the day and kind of forgot about them. Thanks to shuffling music from the mid-90s, I’ve been reminded of the band (along with discovering I still knew all the lyrics of this album despite not having heard it in decades). Claw Hammer is defined first and foremost by Jon Wahl’s distinctive yawp, a bizarre wail that can be hard to look past when you’re not ready for it. I would describe it as if you put John Fogerty into an RPG-style character builder and then slammed all the sliders one way or another. Behind him, the band plays a very blues-inflected punk rock that also doesn’t really sound like much else. It’s all a unique mix - nobody really has ever sounded like Claw Hammer. Blues influence, sure, there’s been plenty of that, but married to such a bizarre vocal style, no. Anyway, I think this is the record I’ve listened to the most across their discography. Either this, or the previous record (Ramwhale). I can’t say that they became more accessible as they moved to Interscope - no band with Wahl doing his thing was every going to be easy listening - but I do appreciate that this album is a little rawer than the later stuff.
Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men, Harvey Milk
Why aren’t these guys in Encyclopaedia Metallum? Never mind, I don’t want to know. Earth is in there! Never mind.
Anyway, to my ears, this is pretty clearly from a doom tradition, even if they’re willing to depart from the slow-as-hell tradition when they choose to. Anyway, with how many 6+ minute songs are in here, you might think you’re just in for glacial pounding, but there’s actually quite a bit of variety here at times, even if their ground state is pounding slowly and yelling. But pounding slowly and yelling also rules. It’s a unique record, it’s not really like anything else, give it a whirl.
Let’s Talk New Releases
Records come out every week, and there’s no way to stay on top of them. This isn’t a comprehensive look at everything, just a few things that have caught my ears out of recent releases. Any impressions here are very early!
Spell of Rain, Lucerne Hammer
I’ve written about Lucerne Hammer’s previous record a couple of times, including just a few weeks ago, but lo and behold, another record has emerged. This one is more of a full-length and it also rules. Raw black metal, beautiful stuff that hits me just right. This has emerged as maybe my favorite black metal project going right now.
Accosted, Invertebrates
What’s that? That’s right: the hardcore EPs will continue until morale improves!
It’s been a great year for hardcore this year, and this is basically a perfect record. A ripper from back to front, it’ll be showing up in the year-end roundup for sure.
“Liar” b/w “Stench of Calm”, Visual Learner
I don’t normally highlight singles here, but I love this one, I loved their last record, and I cannot wait to see what’s next. They were also in the 2025 roundup I linked to above, and I’m hoping a new album will be arriving soon. In the meantime, it’s delightful to have a couple new tunes to listen to.
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.
“Infernal Repeater”, Concrete Winds
Incredible stuff, listen to that shredding in the context of this bonkers thing. Love it.
“The Powerful Fully-Transistored Dick Tracy Two-Way Wrist Radio”, Man or Astro-Man?
Hell yeah. Did I mention I’m writing this while I have a fever? HELL YEAH.
(NB: the song in question starts at 6:05 in the linked video. Thank you “Shit Eaters” for posting the track.)
“Snake Eyes”, The Wedding Present
Saturnalia was the last Wedding Present record before David Gedge switched to Cinerama, although he would resume the project after nine years. It is, alas, my least favorite of the pre-hiatus records, although it’s still very good.
“Brother Woodrow/Closing Prayer”, The Afghan Whigs
You know, there’s no Afghan Whigs on that Pitchfork list! Yes, a lot of their work was on a major, but not Congregation! You decided that was “grunge”, Pitchfork? Fuck outta here.
“Neo”, Alien Nosejob
This blog is over!
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.