Posts

Nitzer Ebb, “Control I’m Here (live)”

I mentioned the other day that I kept up with the proliferation of Nitzer Ebb releases for a while, and this is a good example of what a pain in the ass that was. When they started picking up some momentum after Nine Inch Nails brought a lot of attention to the genre, the label decided to try and pick up some buzz for Ebbhead by releasing a live EP. But did they just release a live EP? Oh my, no. They released it in two separate discs you had to buy, with the first one including a slip case that would fit the second one. Did they release both halves at once to make it easier to pick up? Of course not! I did find both halves, and frankly, it’s just a live EP and totally not worth tracking down.

Gift of Gab, “Rat Race”

You know a song is banging when I’m nodding this hard along with it, even just listening to it on one shitty earbud.

Wilco, “Either Way”

The opener of Sky Blue Sky, and it’s one of my very favorite Wilco songs. There’s that breezy organ in the background, the little chord change going into the chorus, there’s kind of a fakeout after the second chorus where he drags it out and it seems like it’s going to crescendo to a huge bit but turns into just a pleasant solo. It’s a bright, optimistic sounding song, but there’s so much subtlety to it, it rewards a close listen.

BOXING DAY. I am not doing a special today.

Cosmic Analog Ensemble, “Camille 3000”

Cosmic Analaog Ensemble is the work of a single person, Charif Megarbane, who uses his band to explore different genres and styles. With Les Sourdes Oreilles he’s really going after what I’m going to call soundtrack funk - the sort of thing that seems like it should be in a gritty 70s movie. This entire record sounds like a lost David Axelrod record, and that’s a high compliment. If you like this track, you should pick up the whole album, it’s all of this quality.

CHRISTMAS DAY! TIME FOR A SPECIAL!

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “My Little Drum”

Oh yeah, Christmas music baby! This is from A Charlie Brown Christmas, a perennial favorite. What makes it such a lasting record is that it’s not insulting to its listeners. It doesn’t lean on treacle or anything to get the point across, and so you don’t get tired of hearing it.

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”

Even when it’s going super traditional, it just turns in a lovely rendition of the song and doesn’t drag it out or anything. It’s pleasant!

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Simmer Down”

Ska-Core, The Devil & More is an EP with mostly covers released in 1993, notably primarily for this nice cover of a Marley tune. Other than this, it’s far from an essential release.

Uncle Tupelo, “Sandusky”

March 16-20, 1992 might be the Uncle Tupelo album that has aged the best. I’m not sure it’s my favorite, I don’t think it’ll ever displace No Depression. But the stripped down, acoustic production suits the material so well, and the traditional songs they picked to go with their originals all mesh so well. I truly wish we could have gotten a few more of these before things fell apart.

Pink Floyd, “Is There Anybody Out There?”

In a different potential project of mine, I was looking at albums released in 1979, and it’s pretty amusing that the same year in rock produced London Calling and 154 and also The Wall. I know rock is pretty dead as a commercial prospect these days, but it’s just kind of fun to consider that those extremes were commercially viable in what was ostensibly the same genre once upon a time.

Sunless, “Spiraling Into the Unfathomable”

There’s a sort of genre of bands like Sunless who kind of approach metal from a similar direction, but don’t seem to have a consistent name for their subgenre. Bands like Gorguts, Portal, Pyrron, and others are extremely dissonant and technical, but there’s not so much of the wheedle-wheedle-whee solo pyrotechnics that characterize tech death. So, as a descriptor, I kind of go with dissonant death metal, and that seems to work OK. As an ill-defined subgenre, though, I quite like the stuff.

Belle and Sebastian, “The Stars of Track and Field”

The opening to my favorite Belle and Sebastian record, and therefore one of my favorite records period. We listen to a lot of really rancid shit around here, all grind this and noise that, and broadly engage deeply with the ugliness of music. The jagged edges and novel noises keep things fresh and surprising, and there’s an exhilaration in listening to that kind of stuff that is a consistent pleasure. But, at the same time, it’s also worth balancing all that savagery with something from the beautiful end of things, a reminder that music can lift spirits.

Crudbump, “Bite That Butt”

What can you say in the presence of true art?

Screeching Weasel, “Hey Suburbia”

I spend a fair bit of time kind of complaining about Screeching Weasel, and that’s probably a little unfair. This is from their second record, Boogadaboogadaboogada!, and it’s a lot of fun. Yes, very basic punk, but plenty of energy and it gets in and out.

The Isley Brothers, “Tell Me When You Need It Again, Parts 1 & 2”

An oddity of Go For Your Guns is that the first four tracks are all two-part songs. I’m not entirely sure why that was - formatting things for easier radio play, perhaps? We don’t have to worry about that, so we can just let the funk linger in our ears. Isn’t that nice?

Elvis Costello, “New Amsterdam”

This song is actually a demo that Costello recorded, and then included directly on the record instead of re-recording it. The result is one of the more distinctive songs on the album, a minimal arrangement that ends up letting the clarity of the melody shine through.

Girl Talk, “Still Here”

It’s always a little strange to hear one of the Girl Talk songs out of the context of the albums. It shouldn’t be, because they’re such chameleons, but the progression of songs is burned into my brain so it throws me off. In other news, I love the bit from The Band on this track.