Duke Ellington

They Might Be Giants, “I Love You For Psychological Reasons”

Another tune from the big Dial-a-Song year of 2015, when they revived the old service and kept it going every week. Most of those songs got retooled a bit and re-recorded for a later record, with this one later appearing on Phone Power. It’s a classic bouncy Linnell tune, the sort of song that I’ll never get tired of.

Duke Ellington, “Sophisticated Lady”

As I wrote down the title of this song here, I had a memory of someone with a deep voice singing “soooooo-phisticated” that I couldn’t immediately place. Took me a bit to figure out it was Mike Watt, and then a little bit after that to recall that it’s from fIREHOSE’s cover of Public Enemy’s “Sophisticated Bitch” from their Live Totem Pole EP. So, you know, that’s what Duke Ellington brings to mind for me.

Steakdaddy Six, “Sweaty Betty”

Indie rock out of Champaign-Urbana, Steakdaddy Six released two solid albums in the early 90s before ending their run. This is from the second of those records, Houstonia, but they’re pretty comparable. The most notable thing about the band is that they featured an extra drummer in the lineup, which distinguished them from most of their contemporaries. Not very many bands roll with two drummers, but more should.

Man Or Astro-Man?, “Organ Smash”

The debut record for Man Or Astro-Man? (Is It Man…Or Astro-Man?) set the template for the rest of their career. All reverbed out and surf-y, with a thick layer of retro science fiction. And they would cheerfully mine the same vein for their entire career, while still somehow basically managing to sound fresh. It’s a neat trick!

Melvins, “see how pretty, see how smart”

The Maggot was the first of a trio of albums that the Melvins recorded for Ipecac after getting bounced off their major label, following a brief tour with Amphetamine Reptile. All the albums were recorded at the same time, but with a different focus. The Maggot is the most Melvins-y of the three, being pretty much wall-to-wall sludge. It’s also tracked super annoyingly, with each song being divided in half (this, technically, is only the first half of this song).

Well, I hope people find the brief essay down below interesting. Probably not. You can listen to something while you read, though.

Duke Ellington, “Braggin’ In Brass”

A monolith appears on primitive Earth. Agitated apes cluster around it, screeching, trying to ascertain its meaning, its message. Curiosity overcoming their fear, they eventually touch the monolith as the music swells. The music is “Yakety Sax”. Flickering neon words appear on the monolith: “JOSH IS NOT QUALIFIED TO TALK ABOUT JAZZ”.

Reminder! Go to Bandcamp today and buy some tunes to support artists and transgender rights! You can listen to these while you do it!

Shellac, “Steady As She Goes”

Let’s do a quick ranking of Shellac’s albums:

• At Action Park
• Excellent Italian Greyhound
• 1000 Hurts
• Dude Incredible
• Terraform

But really, they’re all good albums. I look forward to another Shellac album in another three years or so.

Duke Ellington, “The Tattooed Bride [Album Version]”

Wow, my rip of this song is hopelessly goofed up. Ugh. I should really re-rip it, but that would require digging it out of the boxes, and ugh, I’m not going to do that either. This is from the collection The Duke: The Columbia Years (1927-1962). Also, as always, I’m not qualified to write about jazz.