Posts

The Baseball Project, “¡Hola America!”

Baseball Project, yes, yes, very good, love ’em AS OF THIS WRITING THE MARINERS ARE IN THE LEAD IN THE AL WEST AND WOULD BE THE AL’s #2 SEED IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY WOOOOOO

Poster Children, “Evidence”

There was a very good scene in Champaign-Urbana in the late 80s/early 90s, with Hum being probably the best known these days, but at the time the Poster Children probably were a little more famous. It’s hard for me to tell for sure, of course, but I seem to remember more buzz around them. They ended up on Reprise before Hum was on a major label, got some MTV play, and generally were pretty prominent for a little while for an indie rock band. I hardly see any mention of them any more, though, and honestly had kind of forgotten them myself. Probably should remind myself about their records, I’m enjoying this track.

Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, “Whip the Blankets”

Fuck yeah, Neko Case doing a convincing June Carter impression here, great stuff.

One Eye Open, “Blue Gene Blues”

This is from a split LP with Janitors Against Apartheid, the final track, and it’s…look, it’s not good. I mean, even if you skip all the silence from the CD fuckery, this is still just fuckin’ around. This record also got Dill Records flattened in a lawsuit over the cover art, so it’s just a bad scene all around.

Stone Temple Pilots, “Big Empty”

I was going to say that this is the only STP track in my library, their contribution to The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack which I bought because it had a new track from Nine Inch Nails and Helmet. Anyway, I was wrong: they also contributed to a Led Zeppelin tribute album, a covers album notable mostly for David Yow getting together with Helmet for a fun “Custard Pie” and not a lot else. Anyway, STP are and always were boring, flannel wallpaper for people who thought that the only thing that the old hard rock hegemony on raido needed was more grunting.

Destroyer, “Painter in Your Pocket”

It’s too facile by half to just talk about Bowie when you talk about Destroyer, but for real: that’s the reference point here. Obviously, it’s not just replication or anything, but there’s really so much Bowie in Destroyer that it’s hard not to at least acknowledge it.

Badly Drawn Boy, “The Shining”

It is my curse that any time I see the phrase “The Shining”, this is the inescapable result in my brain.

The Slackers, “Sabina”

To start off on the right foot here, the Slackers don’t have any bad records. But they have ones I love more than others. The Great Rocksteady Swindle didn’t totally resonate with me initially, so I didn’t listen to it much. But I decided to rock it hard for a week or so, playing it every night, for reasons that are unclear to me. Great decision as it turns out. The record is a banger, an upper tier record from them, up next to Wasted Days and Redlight.

Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra, “When The Saints Go Marching In”

It’s been a while, so a quick reminder of one of our ground rules around here: I am not qualified to talk about jazz.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Purple Haze”

Geez, got some real warhorses here today!

Michel Anoia, “Nigredo”

We’ve got another Total Dissonance Worship record here, and another banger. This is black metal, but it’s unmistakably French. And not just from song titles or whatever, there’s something about the guitar tone here that strikes me as particularly French. I’m not entirely sure why, perhaps it reminds me of Deathspell Omega? Anyway, fun stuff. Can I call this fun?

Elvis Costello, “Alison”

One of the singles off of Costello’s debut album, this song is probably one of the more famous tunes simply because Linda Ronstadt covered it, a cover that really bares the soft-rock heart of the ballad. Anyway, it’s a great tune, one of the standouts in his catalog. I’m old enough to admit that soft rock is fine.

DJ Vadim, “Getting Friendly”

Hm, “Getting Friendly With Music” isn’t a bad name for a blog.

Black Taffy, “Corridors”

Do current generations still get excited by the pops and noise of old shitty vinyl? For me, it has an emotional connotation because it evokes the way I played music as a kid. It’s a nostalgic sound, and so I have an affection for it as a consequence. I’m not alone there, in my generation. And, of course, it evokes the classic sounds of hip-hop, which is also a tremendously positive association. With the resurgence of vinyl, is it now an attractive sound again? Just to certain folks? Or is it just annoying? I guess I could ask my kids. They’ll probably only make fun of me a little and then claim they don’t even understand the question.

fIREHOSE, “Blaze”

fIREHOSE’s swan song was Mr. Machinery Operator, their second major label release and one produced by J. Mascis. And I think you can really hear Mascis’s influence on the record, especially on this track. It’s still fIREHOSE, but it’s much rougher, much muscular in an obvious way. I have to suspect that the grunge movement had to have had some influence on the band as well. To my ears, it’s not an entirely comfortable pairing. fIREHOSE always sounded so agile, and the fuzzier, more rugged production seems to conceal a little of that agility. I don’t know if the band felt the same, but this was it for the band. Overall, to my mind, they have two great albums and three good ones, which is a good tear by anybody’s standards.

Kvadrat, “Αποκοπή”

This is from Ψυχική Αποσύνθεση, the EP released in 2021 from this Greek black metal band. Here’s what I know about them:

• They’re Greek.
• They released this on the magnificent Total Dissonance Worship label out of Portland, who have quickly become one of my favorite labels.
• That’s it.

This is the stuff, though - unpredictable and relentless black metal where I cannot understand anything that’s going on, but do not care at all. I cannot even verbally recommend this to anybody, I haven’t the foggiest how any of that would be pronounced. I suppose I can fake the band’s name. Anyway, I hope they release a full-length at some point!