Posts

WIFE, “Salvage”

WIFE is the new band started by James Kelly, after the sublime black metal band Altar of Plagues disbanded. He clearly wanted to pursue a different direction, focusing on electronics to make his noise. It does share some of the same oppresive atmosphere of Altar of Plagues at times, and What’s Between (the only album so far) is a very interesting record.

Fountains of Wayne, “Michael and Heather At The Baggage Claim”

After three great records in a row, Fountains of Wayne put out Traffic and Weather, which on the surface seems similar, but it’s just not in the same league. The songs are shallower, they’re not as catchy, they’re not as sly. It’s just a big step down, which is a shame. The record is OK, and I do listen to it occasionally. But mostly, I do that just to check and see if my opinion has changed. It has not yet.

Tame Impala, “Desire Be Desire Go”

Innerspeaker seemed universally beloved, so I went ahead and picked it up. And I like it fine, but it doesn’t really blow me away. It doesn’t really stick with me particularly, so I like it while it’s on, and then totally forget about it later. Like, this song: it sounds good, but it also kind of sounds like a billion Elephant 6 bands.

Polyrhthmics, “Lord of the Fries”

Track from the most recent Polyrhythmics album, Caldera, which is excellent as always. The compositions are getting more ambitious as they go along, which you can really hear on this song.

The Magnetic Fields, “Two Kinds of People”

There are two kinds of people: those with the patience to pick through 69 Love Songs to find the good bits, and those who cannot be bothered.

The Skatalites, “Woman A Come”

The Skatalites didn’t often have a vocalist working with them, but pretty much every case I can think of, it’s delightful. This comes from the Foundation Ska collection, which is the best single spot to get on the Skatalites train. And everybody should be on that train.

Sam & Dave, “Said I Wasn’t Going To Tell Nobody”

Seems like it’s been a long time since we’ve had any Stax stuff up in here. So, it’s a delight to get some Sam & Dave, which I just tried to write Save & Dam. Which is a solid name, and is officially my Sam & Dave cover band.

The Reigning Sound, “Wait and See”

I remember buying this record, and I can remember repeatedly sorting it into the correct place in the old CD collection, and I can even recall pulling it out on multiple occasions and listening to it. And I have no recollection of what it sounds like. My stupid brain keeps thinking that it’s like The Hold Steady, and it’s not really.

Conor Oberst, “Get - Well - Cards”

Conor Oberst is known primarily as the guy fronting Bright Eyes, a band that I never got into. Like, I don’t even have one of their albums in the collections. No real reason, mind you. Hell, they might even be a band I’d like. So, how did I end up with one of his solo records? Excellent question! Uh, well, I’m VERY stupid, and incredibly impressionable. So, I’m sure at some point I read a positive review and thought to myself “maybe it’s time to try out some of this guy’s music”! What do I think? I honestly had forgotten I owned it.

Zeal and Ardor, “Fire Of Motion”

We just had Zeal and Ardor in here recently. This is always a challenge: I have so little interesting to say about anything, that if we have a band show up twice too quickly, y’all will notice that I’m hopeless. Notice more that I’m hopeless.

I love the echoing guitar part that opens this track, this whole thing actually reads more industrial than black metal in a lot of ways, which kind of makes me nostalgic for 1990.

Led Zeppelin, “Since I’ve Been Loving You”

I dunno, I’ve just got a feeling, I’m not sure this band is really gonna ever make it big.

James Brown, “There It Is”

Awwww hell yes, if we’re going back, let’s get the Godfather of Soul! I always wonder a little bit with Brown, if his music sounds so fresh because so much of it was refreshed by hip hop making use of it. I don’t think so, but it’s also impossible for me to listen to this stuff totally clean.

Polyrhythmics, “The Mendo Mulcher”

I sometimes wonder if I’m going to look back on all the instrumental funk and soul that I listen to these days and think how a lot of it has aged poorly, in the same way that so much of the third wave of ska has aged poorly. But then I remember, none of this shit got popular, so it’s all good! And it allows me to get my horn fix without feeling like a dope! (I still love ska, though.)

Soundgarden, “Outshined”

Badmotorfinger was the big leap forward for Soundgarden, where they married the murky hard rock homage of their early stuff to clean enough productions and songs to really appeal to a broader audience. And, carried forward by the contemporaneous releases of Nevermind and Ten, that broader audience found them. Soundgarden had always had potential to be a big band, as the core of that Sabbath/Zeppelin sound had a built-in appeal to a bunch of folks, and they would be one of the breakout acts of the grunge scene.

Stephen Malkmus, “Discretion Grove”

Do you detect a little echo of “Wounded Kite” there in the aborted first bit of song on this track? No? Just me?

The Suicide Machines, “Our Time”

No, we’re leaving the “Days Since Last Listless, Anonymous Third Wave Song” sign alone on this one. There’s nothing listless about this! The Suicide Machines are very much a chip off the Operation Ivy block, and the energy here carries them plenty far.