Bergraven

Van Halen, “Jump”

Geez, I can remember being really intimidated by Van Halen back when this album came out. In my defense, I was 8 when this record released. But it’s pretty funny to listen to this today and think about that initial reaction. Of course, even back then, this wasn’t the most intimidating song from them.

Grotus, “Good Evening”

Experimental goofballs out of San Francisco, Grotus (sorry, not doing all the rock dots!) featured a lineup with two bassists, two drummers, and a guy on samples. The lyrics were a goof, the songs were out there, and the band just kind of projected this kind of ridiculous aura. In a lot of ways, they were kind of Cop Shoot Cop’s evil twin. Wait, other way around. They were the good twin.

Bergraven, “Ekot av bikt”

Black metal band out of Sweden that I otherwise know nothing about. I ended up with this from a blind sampler from Hydra Head Records. It’s got more melody than a lot of black metal going on here. I dunno, this is the first I’ve listened to this since I first got it, I think! Write your own review!

Bim Skala Bim, “Popcorn”

Bim Skala Bim checks in here with a little bit of an oddity from their final album, Krinkle. This is a cover, a version of synth pioneer Gershon Kingsley’s song. Bim Skala Bim didn’t often go for these sorts of covers, and didn’t record too many purely instrumental songs, so this is kind of a treat.

Here’s today’s tunes.

Action Bronson & Statik Selektah, “Cocoa Butter”

Action Bronson bubbled up from the underground after making the transition from chef to rapper. After breaking his leg, he decided to try making his hobby into his main career, putting together his debut Dr. Lecter, a fun album full of energy, food metaphors, and tons of rhyming. It’s an entertaining listen, but it remained to be seen if Bronson would move past the Ghostface worship. His next album, Well-Done, a collaboration with Statik Selektah, answered that question: no. No, he would not.

Here’s today.

Temprees, “Dedicated To The One I Love”

Old Stax track here, from the mid-point of their Atlantic years.

Atmosphere, “She Don’t Know Why She Love It”

This is a bonus track from the deluxe version of Southsiders, which is probably my second favorite Atmosphere album (after Seven’s Travels). There are some missteps in Atmosphere’s discography, with the records between those two being pretty uneven, but those are excellent.