Algiers

Cheetah Chrome, “Still Wanna Die”

It’s been a while since we’ve had a track from this record. This is from the Ork Records: New York, New York compilation from the Numero Group, which captures the early punk label Ork and the early New York punk scene. There’s a ton of really strong material here, and even the stuff that’s not great is at least energetic. Just a tremendous compilation.

Consolidated, “You Suck”

Proudly communist rap group Consolidated did everything they could do to try and piss off the troglodytes. In this case, pulling in the Yeastie Girls to guest on the track and rap about oral sex was a move that was pretty far out of the norm for 1992. Given how stiff they usually were on the mic, the guests make this one of the more memorable songs on this record.

Ghostface Killah, “Wildflower”

Ghostface’s first solo record, Ironman, is very good. A RZA produced record from 1996 couldn’t help but be good. But I think Ghostface’s unique personality hadn’t quite fully come through, and the production hadn’t quite yet differentiated totally from the Wu-Tang Clan. So it doesn’t reach the heights of many of Ghostface’s later records.

Algiers, “Blood”

The first Algiers record is a heady mix of gospel and murky post-punk, a combination that immediately stands out from basically anybody else out there. While there are moments when you can kind of see the seams, it’s a prety incredible record, especially for a debut.

Torche, “Admission”

When we had My Bloody Valentine the other day, I confessed that I didn’t really love Loveless. In turn, that means that I’m not really much on shoegaze, which is true. What I do often like is when bands take shoegaze-style wall of guitar and bring it in to other places. Like, Torche’s muscular riff-y rock has those washes of sound, and it’s great.

Jean Knight, “Mr. Big Stuff”

We’ve had “Mr. Big Stuff” on here, but it’s such an all-time jam, I’m not mad. But let’s do six today!

Today’s music.

Algiers, “untitled”

The last track from their self-titled debut album from a few years ago, Algiers combined furious post-punk with a whole host of other influences, fusing into a wholly original album. It was one of the very best albums of 2015, and proof that there were still surprises left in rock (of course, I’ve always thought that). They followed it up with another great album a couple years later, and are one of the bands that I really hope keeps going for a while. Hopefully we’ll hear plenty from them around here as well.