Elvis Costello

Modest Mouse, “Tundra/Desert”

Before what I consider their breakthrough, The Lonesome Crowded West, Modest Mouse was making jagged, interesting music that sometimes was too much of a mess to really be great. But, I have to say, the older I get, the more I appreciate the early stuff. This is from Interstate 8, released in 1996, which is an “EP” because it’s just five new studio tracks. But, there are also six live tracks, so it’s also kind of a full album’s worth of music. Anyway, if you haven’t really listened to their pre-fame catalog, it’s worth your time.

Dis, “I’m Not Sagan”

The Historically Troubled Third Album is a really fantastic album name.

Aretha Franklin, “Save Me”

I’m often at a loss for words when we have some of the all-time greats come up on here, particularly folks like the great soul artists. There’s nothing I can really say that’s going to add anything here. Of course Aretha Franklin was great. We should all listen to more of her!

Japandroids, “The House That Heaven Built”

Everything about Celebration Rock is just unabashedly turned up to 11. It was impossible for me to not be absolutely charmed to death by it. It was deliberately written to be full of songs that would be massive played live, so the songs were kept simple and pumped just full of big moments. It’s not sophisticated, but it absolutely works.

Neurosis, “Grey”

Maybe the most incongruous record on Lookout Records, certainly the one I think of when I think of something standing out. After a pretty standard hardcore record on Alternative Tentacles, Neurosis put out this album that finds them really transitioning from that hardcore band into the progressive metal powerhouse that would help shape the metal world in the mid 90s. It’s something of a curiosity, but if you’re a big fan of the band and are wondering where you first see their potential, it’s on The Word As Law.

Calexico, “Fake Fur”

The Black Light is the album where Calexico became CALEXICO. The dusty desert aesthetic was in full flower on this album. The recording is soaked in reverb, there’s tons of space for the atmosphere, and it’s just a lovely experience. It’s not their best album, because they would marry this sound to better songwriting on later records, but this is still a fun album.

Elvis Costello, “Crawling to the USA”

This comes to us from the bonus second disc from the This Year’s Model reissue. The bonus material on a lot of these types of reissues can be pretty dodgy, but Costello’s songwriting in this period was so strong that even the leftovers are pretty darn good. I mean, this is an excellent tune!

Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Hell of a Hat”

Let’s Face It is the album that broke through for the Bosstones, but I think their previous record (Question the Answers) is easily their best. The songwriting is both sharper and rougher, which suits them well. Take this song, for instance. The “sharpest motherfucker” stuff leading into the chorus is great, they aren’t afraid of some huge guitars during the chorus, they have a noisy breakdown to conclude things, and this song that could have just been a smirk is actually much more interesting than it initially seemed.

Sorry about that, I kind of got out of the rhythm of doing this daily. I’ll get there!

Pigs, “Massive Operator Error”

I’ve been listening to a lot of noise rock recently. It’s a genre that really opened my ears up to a lot of possibilities, what with encountering Big Black pretty early, and then being huge into the Midwest scene in college. Weirdly, it’s kind of comforting to me to go back and lean kind of heavily on this genre again.

Zion I, “Radio”

Zion I always incorporates other styles of music into their hip-hop, and here, we’ve got something that kind of sounds kind of like conventional adult contemporary rock. Maybe there’s a reason other bands haven’t tried this sort of thing much?

Elvis Costello, “Party Girl”

From the extras on the deluxe reissue of Armed Forces, I sort of wish that the first bit here turned into the live version of “Surrender” from Cheap Trick. Or, uh, “Jimmy James”, which used the sample from the live version of “Surrender”.

Elvis Costello, “Just a Memory”

The deluxe reissues of Costello’s albums are mostly not worth it. There are some highlights from the bonus material, but you’re just better off listening to the actual album again.

Matthew Sweet, “Looking at the Sun”

This entire album is just so charming. It’s really hard to think about how it might possibly be improved, this is just power pop perfection.

Dead Kennedys, “Kill The Poor”

Now we’re talkin’! Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables is a singular achievement: deeply political, savagely sarcastic, fantastically well-written, and simultaneously both alien and incredibly familiar. It’s one of the albums that really kicked off hardcore, and judging by the kids walking around in Kennedys gear, it still resonates today.

Nice set today!

Baroness, “Desperation Burns”

I mentioned last time around that everybody would have called these guys grunge if they had been around in the mid-90s. Tell me I’m wrong after listening to this!

Elvis Costello, “Pay It Back”

A jaunty little tune from his debut album, I’m not even entirely sure how to describe this. That’s because I’m shitty at writing about music. Good thing I go ahead and fail at it every day!

Hell yes.

Black Star, “Definition”

We’ve had Mos Def, we’ve had Talib Kweli, but now it’s time for their collaboration. Black Star loomed large over the later careers of both men, and for good reason: this is easily one of the greatest hip-hop records ever made. Off the top of my head, there are only a very small handful of records I’d put ahead of it. The spare, precise, jazz-inflected beats married perfectly with the impossibly deft rhyming from Mos and Kweli. This album is basically perfect.