Blue Scholars

Been a while since I’ve done a special, so let’s do this. For those who haven’t seen them, I usually pick a word, search the library for that word, and then randomize among those songs. Today, I’m going with “school” in honor of the kids going back to school. Let’s see what we get!

The Nation of Ulysses, “Cool Senior High School (Fight Song)”

Oh fuck yeah, good start. This urgent tune comes to us from the first Nation of Ulysses album, 13-Point Program To Destroy America, which is probably my favorite of the two just by virtue of being first. But they both rule, the sort of post-hardcore that actually ends up shading just back into hardcore. The drive and energy of this album is palpable.

Blue Scholars, “Cornerstone”

The lead-in to the The Long March EP, this really tells you what to expect on this record. And, honestly, this is an extremely generous EP - 9 tracks, 35 minutes, that’s plenty of material for a full LP.

Blackalicious, “On Fire Tonight”

Aw, hell yeah, hip hop day! This comes to us from Imani, Vol. 1, released in 2015 after a 10 year break between records. Alas, there is no Vol. 2 (yet?). There’s actually some similarity in approach between Blackalicious and Blue Scholars, with both broadly approaching hip hop from a sort of modernized throwback stance, if that makes any sense. [reads what I wrote] It does not make sense.

Still haven’t missed a day yet this year!

Ghostface Killah, “Ghost Is Back”

I think Ghost’s skits just kept becoming less comprehensible as time went on. They’re not even really skits any more. There appears to be no bottom to the gibberish. Anyway, this is from More Fish, which isn’t as good as Fishscale. But still a decent album. Good song once it actually gets going.

The Mortals, “Hangin’ On”

The Seattle grunge scene wasn’t really the only game in town at that time. While those acts became nationally famous, there were other robust rock scenes in town at the same time. Estrus Records was at the center of a garage and surf revival, including bands like the Mono Men, Gas Huffer, Man Or Astro-man?, and today’s act, the Mortals. This is pretty nuts-and-bolts rock, but played with plenty of energy, so that’s welcome. The second Mortals record, Bulletproof, is probably their best.

Still on the road! Still posting music!

Smashing Orange, “All Girls Are Mine”

Part psychedelic pop, part shoegaze, Smashing Orange are a largely forgotten act which probably deserves better. If you’re looking for washes of fuzzy guitar and pop melodies, you can do a lot worse. Apparently few enough people have ever written about them that I actually got a random person writing to me a while back, referencing a review I wrote for a Usenet group ages ago, asking if I had any bootlegs or live performances or anything. Alas, I did not.

At some point, these things are just going to be wholly unrelated to the music. I wonder if I’ll have the good sense to stop? Who knows? MUSIC

Freeway & Jake One, “Money”

As we talked about last time, Freeway’s always had good taste in producers. For The Stimulus Package (great name!), he teamed up with Seattle’s Jake One, and the result was my favorite album of his.

Why yes, I am kind of a Seattle homer, why do you ask?