Consolidated

Pavement, “Texas Never Whispers”

Time for a deranged opinion! Specifically: Watery, Domestic, the 1992 EP that Pavement released between Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is, pound for pound, the best Pavement release. Four songs, all killer, and from their peak period. These tracks would end up on various collections, re-issued, re-packaged, re-packaged, but I think it dulls the impact a little bit when they’re just mixed into a compilation or are bonus tracks to an anniversary re-release or whatever. You don’t necessarily realize that these were all in one place originally. Anyway, it’s fantastic, make a playlist of the four songs and have a go or pull it up specifically on Spotify or whatever.

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, “[Part 2]”

Oh shit! Enjoy! This is the second half of Product Placement, the breakbeat extravaganza collaboration between two break experts. Incredible stuff, and honestly, I could probably just end today after this. This project ties together the songs that provide the key breakbeats that hip-hop was built out of, but provides more context for them, and it rules.

TWRP, “Need Each Other”

Gleeful electro-funk outfit TWRP are entirely about cranking up a good time with the fattest grooves they can conjure. Is it pointlessly retro or not? I don’t think it matters, frankly. If they can bring it, does it matter that they’re conjuring the sounds of the 80s?

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.

Consolidated, “This Is A Collective”

You know, if Consolidated had gotten rolling now instead of back in the early 90s, there would have been some Serious Discourse about them. Not just engaging with the politics of the band, but also probably a bunch of stuff around if what they are doing is cultural appropriation. I’m making up this whole thing and still making myself mad!

Ryan Porter, “The Psalmist”

Given how much I like ska and the horns in soul music, it should surprise nobody that this kind of thing is absolutely my jam.

Jan Jelinek, “John Cage, I’ve Been Told To Ask You The Following Question: Where Are You Going?”

Jan Jelinek, expiremental sampling wizard, is best known for creating glitchy, minimal electronic work. Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records is a masterpiece, one of my favorite electronic albums. This, however, comes from a much later album, Zwischen, distinguished by being more avant garde, with more vocal samples. Also, the song names are something else. This is not remotely the longest song title.

Takes a bit to get going, but we close with a couple outstanding songs.

The Might Be Giants, “Can You Find It?”

This song, from Here Come the ABC’s, really doesn’t make any sense without the accompanying video. I mean, to the extent it makes sense. Or that anybody cares.

Johnny Socko, “Next Big Thing”

I think this is some kind of meta-commentary on trend hopping in music? From…a third-wave ska band? OK, Johnny Socko.