Future of the Left

The Clash, “I Fought The Law”

The US release of The Clash had a different track listing than the original release, swapping in some songs from UK singles onto the album in place of some of the weaker tunes. Overall, it’s probably a better version of the record, with “I Fought The Law” being one of the additions to the record.

Gas Huffer, “The Rest of Us”

Gas Huffer spent three albums in the majors…well, the high minors, with albums out on Epitaph. But then they went back to their roots: Estrus Records, Jack Endino on the boards, and back to wall-to-wall garage rock. The return to their basics suited them well, it’s a strong record, although I suppose nobody really listened to it. I guess it’s relative: their last Epitaph record has 25 ratings on Rate Your Music, compared to 7 for this album. So, nobody really listened to either of them. It’s a shame, Gas Huffer was good!

Fifteen, “The End of the Summer”

Fifteen is one of the descendent bands of the legendary Crimpshrine, one of those bands that helped spawn an entire scene. Fifteen is where Jeff Ott ended up, and they kept going in the same vein, playing the melodic pop-punk that the Bay Area would soon become internationally famous for. If you love the style, you should check them out as one of the early bands in the scene.

Hayaino Daisuki, “Haiiro Ikotsu Gakidou”

A side project of Discordance Axis’s Jon Chang (that’s him howling), Hayaino Daisuki translates to “I like speed”. And, you know, fair enough. Personally, I enjoy the thrash rhythms and the flaming guitar solos. It’s not meant to be anything other than a lark, but it’s an excellent lark.

Bear vs. Shark, “What A Horrible Night For a Curse”

I’ll spare you all my questioning if this band really exists again, and just listen to it along with you all.

Nirvana, “About A Girl”

“About A Girl” might be the song on Bleach that would best fit in on Nevermind, which makes it a little surprising that it didn’t get a single release at the time. It did eventually make it out as a single, but from the Unplugged album.

Modest Mouse, “Fire It Up”

This is one of the standout songs on We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, inasmuch as it’s one of the few songs on that record that my brain will occasionally just call up out of nowhere. That’s the real mark of quality, after all.

Future of the Left, “the male gaze”

This is a pretty straightforward song from Future of the Left, perhaps to kind of match the subject of the song.

The Delgados, “Accused of Stealing”

There’s another band that this is really reminding me of, and I’m totally unable to put my finger on it. That sensation, of a band or song remaining just outside of your grasp, is one of the most frustrating things for my brain. Super painful, and I don’t know how I can clear this one out.

clipping., “Nothing Is Safe”

There was probably a time in my life when I would have regarded clipping. askance. I’ve long been OK with noise in my music, having picked up an affection for industrial as a teenager that continued forward with noise rock, various gnarly forms of punk, etc. And, of course, hip hop has been a staple of my listening for even longer. But for a long time, I thought I didn’t like pretension in music. It led me to avoiding things like prog rock, various forms of art rock, all kind of ambitious music for a long time. Or, at least, things that were ambitious in particular ways that set me off.

Future Of The Left, “Chin Music”

The bass tone for Future of the Left always sounds like a million bucks. And they wisely make sure that it stays up front plenty so we can all enjoy the hell out of it.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, “Bells of Creation”

This album, The Century of Self, marked the point where I kind of lost track of Trail of Dead. Not because I stopped liking the music - they’re still their normal bombastic selves here, making huge, emotional tunes - but just because sometimes we just fall off of bands. I think that maybe I wasn’t hearing a lot of evolution in the band, and I kind of had heard what they had to say. That’s maybe unfair, but there’s not a lot separating this from the previous three records.

Here’s today!

Bruce Springsteen, “Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?”

Have I talked about Springsteen before? I’m not gonna look. And nobody is going to tell me!

Uh, I don’t listen to a lot of his stuff. I only own this album. I dunno, you can’t keep up with everything! Don’t tell me about him!

Hell yes, look at that insight.

The Skatalites, “Black Sunday”

After the second wave of ska fired up, led by Two-Tone Records, interest in the first wave bands increased. The Skatalites, the greatest of those first wave bands, got back together in 1983 and recorded an amazing live set, featuring their entire original lineup, minus the sadly deceased Don Drummond. While I think the outstanding compiliation Foundation Ska is probably slightly better on balance due to its historical value, the release of that live set (Stretching Out) is more coherent and is their best album that was recorded as an album.

Just missed a Vince Staples song that I’m enjoying very much as I type this intro. But, sorry, rules are rules. Today is solid, though.

The Isley Brothers, “This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) (Alternate Mix)”

Sort of low-key wondering exactly what the longest parenthetical is in a Motown song title. At any rate, we find ourselves in 1966 with this Isley Brothers track. At this point, the Isleys were already veterans, four albums in. And it turns out that their career was really just getting going, with many stylistic changes and lineup changes to come, not to mention just a bunch of great records.

Pretty good one today!

Cop Shoot Cop, “All the Clocks are Broken”

One of the things that set Cop Shoot Cop apart from the other acts they were usually lumped with, often other industrial bands, was that Tod Ashley was never afraid to deploy some genuine emotion in his songs. It wasn’t all just pummelling, fury, noise, and aggression. Songs like this would presage the work that Ashley would later turn in with Firewater.