Amon Tobin

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.

Earl Sweatshirt, “Grief”

Odd Future was a whole thing that is one of the earliest pop culture things that I might have liked but that I feel totally missed me. I know some vague things about it, that Tyler, the Creator was kind of the center, and that Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt were involved. But, I dunno, I guess the rest of it all just sailed right past me. That said, I really like Earl Sweatshirt’s stuff, so I probably should go back and listen to Odd Future. I mean, if there are records with the collective on it. I dunno, man, I’m out of touch here.

Nitzer Ebb, “Control I’m Here”

That Total Age was more towards the industrial end of industrial dance, with more clanking machines in the sound, and Showtime found them pushing a little more melody in things and varying their arrangements more. This comes from the album in-between, Belief, where they kind of blended those two approaches, and arguably made their more interesting record. There’s a risk in industrial dance in ending up in parody, but this album is so direct in its intention that it feels pretty good.

Amon Tobin, “Back From Space”

The album opener to Out From Out Where, this record had the enviable task of following up the magnificent Supermodified. To Tobin’s credit, he didn’t really try and make Superdupermodified or whatever, he just continued evolving on his own path. This record moves a little bit away from the frantic excess of the previous, a little more towards orchestration, and just ends up full of cool textures.

The Beastie Boys, “Pass The Mic”

Probably the most Beastie Boys song on Check Your Head, this is the kind of thing that anybody who parodies the band is kind of gesturing towards. Given that it was deliberately constructed to be kind of an update of the sound from their first album, it does make sense.

Screeching Weasel, “Falling Apart”

Have I expressed the opinion that I think Anthem For A New Tomorrow is the best Screeching Weasel record? They had a couple albums to refine the pop-punk/Ramones-knockoff sound they were going for, and there are moments that almost sound sincere on this album that work pretty well. Past this point, they kind of got snottier and snottier and it wasn’t pleasant, and before this, the sloppiness can sometimes get in the way.

Murs, “I’m Innocent”

Murs found himself on Warner Bros for Murs For President, and he turned in a big album to celebrate. There are a lot of ideas, a lot of big beats, a lot of targets. It’s a good record, but it feels like it’s a little much.

Mayhem, “A Wise Birthgiver”

I went a little bit into Mayhem’s history the last time they came up, so I won’t repeat that here. I’ll just reiterate: these were bad people, and even this later version of the band contains folks like Hellhammer who have said terrible things and never really recanted past links to repugnant beliefs. I bought this album unaware of the band’s history outside of Vikernes and Euronymous. Knowing what I now know, I would have avoided it.

Screeching Weasel, “Leather Jacket”

Ben Weasel started letting some of the songs on Anthem For A New Tomorrow stretch out a little bit, and let the Ramones worship go just a tiny bit. The result is probably his best record - still very much punk, still very familiar, but tuneful and fun.

Aphex Twin, “Radiator”

The second Selected Ambient Works album from Aphex Twin doesn’t quite hit the same way the first one did. It’s very long (two discs of 70 minutes each), and it doesn’t seem like it was edited down enough. The first one is the most important ambient electronic album ever, and this one is more of a curiosity. Add in that I’m not a huge ambient guy, and this album hasn’t really gotten much play since I got it.

The Jam, “Private Hell”

The middle album of the Jam’s peak trio, Setting Sons, is probably the slickest and most commercial sounding of the three. While the songs are of course fantastic, the overall approach makes it my least favorite of those three records. But just to be clear, it’s still a fantastic record, I just liste to the other two albums a little more often.

Powerrun, “In A Dream”

Powerrun is a *wave band, maybe a synthwave band? I can keep decent track of metal microgenres, but I get out of my depth pretty fast with electronic stuff, even though I listen to a fair bit of it. ANyway, this is just a little trifle, but it’s a fun record.

Amon Tobin, “One Shy Morning”

Amon Tobin put out two albums in 2019, with this one (Long Stories) being the more ambient, quieter one of the pair. It’s well done, and it’s a good record, but honestly, I prefer Tobin when he’s more out there than this.

Fela Kuti, “Igbe”

The inventor of Afro-beat, Fela Kuti is one of the key musical figures of the 20th century. I’m not a Kuti scholar, truthfully, owning only a handful of albums, and if I roll out a bunch of biographical info here, I’d largely be cribbing from some other site. But just listen to this, and then try and imagine any of the Daptone bands sounding the same. Even beyond the influence, though, this just flat cooks. This is from Gentlemen, which seems to be considered his best album - that’s why I picked it up in the first place.

Pretty good one today.

Public Enemy, “Give It Up”

Pretty sure I’ve talked about how uneven Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age is, and it really is. It’s the album that marks the sharp decline of PE from the legendary band to the often baffling outfit that’s still out there still making stuff. But the album really has some peaks. This is one of them. The beat is dense and bouncy, Chuck kicks several different flows, and they basically capture their glory days. The verse that kicks off “I never did represent doin’ dumb shit” is one of my favorite verses from him ever.