The Adjusters were a ska/soul act out of Chicago, who managed a couple albums before the ska scene imploded, but hung around with a couple more albums with much more narrow distribution. They also wore their left politics on their sleeve, and brought a lot of genuine passion to things. This tune comes from their most effective album, Before The Revolution, where their eclectic influences came together well.
[Read More]I’m of the opinion that the Pietasters really fell off hard after Oolooloo, driven among other things by Stephen Jackson’s vocals getting much more gruff and the band really starting to emphasize rock more and more. That said, there are still some fun tunes on their later records, such as this one from Awesome Mix Tape #6.
The Downward Spiral was a leap forward in complexity for Nine Inch Nails, as Trent Reznor really made use of a much broader set of tools. But I don’t think it’s his best record. I think that goes to The Fragile, the eventual follow-up that emerged as a double record and again makes another leap ahead. If nothing else, there’s more of it, and when the quality is this high, that matters. He wouldn’t ever quite hit these heights again, although there are plenty of excellent albums in the future.
[Read More]Mostly, when we get a funk track on here, I just pull the textual equivalent of a stink face. “Goddamn,” I’ll say, or “holy shit” or some other incoherent blurt. It conveys nothing about the music other than my elemental appreciation for it. I’d like to apologize for my limitations as a writer here. I don’t really know what I’m doing, or even why I’m doing it. I just like being connected to my music a little bit more, and this blog is a way to do that. And, if I may add: godDAMN.
[Read More]I don’t really remember where I heard about this record, 2019’s Tower, but this rocks. But there’s some real Torche vibes going on here, and that’s a fine thing. This is good! I like this! Nice work, past Josh!
Hey, this past Memorial Day (I know this, because I’m writing this entry ON Memorial Day and I thought this today), I was thinking “huh, my oldest is at the age when I picked up a coffee habit”. So, yeah, I sure did drink a lot of coffee for a teenager. Mostly while playing cards in diners. An excellent pursuit that I heartily recommend.
[Read More]Another track from Xasthur, the weird experimental metal act that I ended up with courtesy of a Hydra Head grab bag. It’s not really, uh, my bag.
All We Love We Leave Behind is my favorite Converge record, where their hardcore reached a pinnacle of bananas complexity that it ends up being compulsively listenable. It’s sometimes the case that hardcore bands lose their edge as they go, as increased polish starts exposing simple songs and reveals all the flaws. It’s a rare hardcore band that gets better as they go, but Converge managed that.
[Read More]Everything about Celebration Rock is just unabashedly turned up to 11. It was impossible for me to not be absolutely charmed to death by it. It was deliberately written to be full of songs that would be massive played live, so the songs were kept simple and pumped just full of big moments. It’s not sophisticated, but it absolutely works.
Maybe the most incongruous record on Lookout Records, certainly the one I think of when I think of something standing out. After a pretty standard hardcore record on Alternative Tentacles, Neurosis put out this album that finds them really transitioning from that hardcore band into the progressive metal powerhouse that would help shape the metal world in the mid 90s. It’s something of a curiosity, but if you’re a big fan of the band and are wondering where you first see their potential, it’s on The Word As Law.
[Read More]This song is a great example of how John Linnell is capable of writing a bouncy, charming song that nevertheless has a melancholy core to it. He usually bangs out at least one of those on each record, and there’s always some turn of phrase in them that really sticks with me. “There’s a restaurant we should check out / where the other nightmare people like to go / I mean nice people / Baby wait / I didn’t mean to say nightmare” just runs through my head all the time. Lincoln is real good, y’all.
[Read More]It was wobbly a few times there, but another month in the books. As always, thanks for sticking with me here!
If you were just given the data above, the name of this song and the name of this band, I wonder how close you’d get to guessing that it sounds like this kind of abrasive drone? I think I’d guess something pretty outré, at any rate, so I might get pretty close to “early Swans, I guess?” But that’s easy for me to say, I already knew what this sounded like.
[Read More]Always enjoy songs that sounds like somebody set the wrong speed on the turntable.
Well, here’s a real rarity for you. This album came out in 1995, pretty early in the third wave of ska, and I had totally forgotten about it until now. I can usually pull up some details about all these forgotten third wave acts, your Articles and Los Hooligans or whoever, but folks? I got absolutely nothing. Not bad, though!
[Read More]If you’ve got a blog, just a-read it to me.
Ivy Sole is out of Philadelphia, and this song comes from her excellent debut Eden. I came across this record thanks to one of the Bandcamp spotlight emails, which are always a good source of learning about artists.
Ernie Hines’s Electrified was a somewhat forgotten album released on Stax in 1972 until it was resurrected by hip-hop producers, which brought it to new audiences. It’s a fine album, and this lead track gives you an idea of what you’re in for.
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