Arsonists

Pond, “Filler”

As always: not the Australian band, but the grunge-adjacent band from Portland. And also, as always, I’ll recommend all three Pond records as being some of the finest from the grunge scene, peripheral as they were. This tune is off their worst album, but it’s still a solid slab of rock.

P.D.Q. Bach, “The Preachers of Crimetheus: Ballet in One Selfless Act, S. 988: I. Prologue (Bottomless Sorrow; Topless Gaiety)”

There’s a referential thing going on in most P.D.Q. Bach albums, where he’ll call back to figures and bits from prior in the album, and listening to single tracks kind of blunts what he’s up to. So I’ll just recommend sitting down with an album (this one, 1712 Overture & Other Musical Atrocities is a fine choice) and sitting with it.

Wilco, “Bright Leaves”

Wilco returned from hiatus for 2019’s Ode to Joy, although their hiatus only lasted three years, which is like a normal inter-album pause for many bands. Anyway, the album kind of feels like it’s looped back to The Whole Love in terms of the song construction - setting aside the (relative) noise of Star Wars and the sort of confessional feel of Schmilco (this track notwithstanding). Is it good? Well, I think it’s good, but maybe not great. It’s not an essential Wilco record, but I like it just fine.

Helium, “XXX”

Amazingly, despite having Mary Timony show up here with Ex Hex, Wild Flag, Autoclave, and even as a solo artist, we’ve never actually had her show up with the band she’s most famous with, Helium. That ends today! If you couldn’t tell with my following her career across five different acts (maybe the most of any artist in my library!), I’m a huge fan. And I really do love her later work, but Helium is my favorite of her bands. It’s indie rock, yes, but the songs are really interesting and just so well done. I think this song speaks for itself, though.

Arsonists, “Language Arts”

The Arsonists did their own production, which makes things like flipping these strings here so well all the more impressive. They never really got much attention at the time, but this kind of throwback stuff still sounds pretty fresh.

The Skoidats, “Last Night”

Ska punk, leaning heavily on the punk end of things, out of Missoula. They put out a couple records in the late 90s and then disappeared with most of the rest of the scene. It’s ok enough, as these things go, but can probably be skipped.

The Arsonists, “Underground Vandal”

The Arsonists’ debut album, released in 1999, was very much a throwback record. Not just in sound, but in the way it was created. By 1999, hip-hop had moved into an era of producers being stars separate from rappers. But the Arsonists did everything as a group, including the production, which was unusual for the time.

Times New Viking, “My Head”

There’s something so abrasive and unhinged about Times New Viking’s particular racket that listening to them really kind of scrambles your brains. Strip away the fuzz, the overdriven amps, the squalls and washes of feedback, and what you get is pretty simple pop songs at the center. Personally, I don’t find the artiface all that convincing, so this is the only album I ever picked up from them.

Gnarls Barkley, “Gone Daddy Gone”

It takes a lot of guts to cover anything from the sui generis Violent Femmes. It’s such a beloved album, and such an iconic set of performances, that you’re very much always going to be compared against perfection. I think the only way to go would be to really re-imagine the songs, but Gnarls Barkley doesn’t do that. So, uh, I’d rather just be listening to the Violet Femmes.

Arsonists, “Session”

My favorite song on As The World Burns, powered by that savage bass line. I’m basically a sucker for any upright bass. And, of course, it’s fun to hear them trading verses back and forth.

Prefuse 73, “Last Night”

One of the less glitchy or fractured tracks on Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, that also makes it one of my least favorite songs on the record.

Dance Hall Crashers, “Street Sweeper”

An old song from Dance Hall Crashers, this was when their style could best be described as “straightforward” (or “boring”, if you’re not inclined to be nice). As they would go on, they would get more interesting, with songs that were less reliant on paint-by-numbers third-wave ska.

Six songs today!

Amon Tobin, “Precursor”

One of the big trends of rap beats was taking old soul music and speeding it up so that it sounds like the Chipmunks. Here, Amon Tobin sounds like he’s doing kind of the same thing, only with cartoon sound effects. Why not?

Arsonists, “Underground Vandal”

Beautiful drum loop on this song.

Negativland, “Fruitcakes, Suka-Brand Coffee, Power Failure, Citizens Band Parakeet etc.”

Negativland hosted a show called Over The Edge on Berkley’s KPFA, providing an outlet for surreal radio strangeness. I actually caught the show once while going to camp in Berkeley, and it was a mess but also entertaining. They also put out a set of (lightly) edited shows on CD, and I have a bunch of those. This is from Volume 6, the Wilsaphone Stupid Show, which was pieced together out of old found audio and family recordings from David “The Weatherman” Wills. What you hear on this, um, song is pretty representative of Over the Edge in general.

Happy birthday to my oldest! 10 years! Mind blowing. Let’s see what shuffle pulls up to celebrate!

Arsonists, “Backdraft”

One of the things to like about the Arsonists is the way MCs are coming into and out of this song, weaving their verses. I love that kind of thing.

The Adjusters, “It’s Like That”

A soul/ska act out of Chicago, the Adjusters were lumped in with the rest of the third-wave, which was a little bit of a mischaracterization. They were probably more reggae than ska, for starters. For second, the soul side of the band was substantial, and probably more of their songs would be soul songs than ska or reggae. When they were on, they were amazing, particularly when Joan Axthelm and Jessica Basta were doing the lead vocals. They also stood out for having an explicit political view for their music, as avowed socialists. This song comes from their third album, Otis Redding Will Save America, but I think their second album (Before the Revolution) is their best.

A bit of a mixed bag today. Too bad we missed the Amon Tobin track that immediately followed these!

Arsonists, “Blaze”

Underground rap act out of Brooklyn, Arsonists are odd simply for the fact that they signed to legendary indie rock label Matador for their two records. The two turned out to be excellent, with the group itself doing all the production as well as the rhyming, which is always a pleasure. I can’t really think of any other rap artists who ended up on Matador off the top of my head, so this remains just a fascinating experiment for the label.