Gob

Gob, “Beauville”

I have regrets when it comes to the tagging system I use around here. Yes, it’s nice to have all the bands tagged, that’s useful. But I wish I had also tagged genres, and subgenres, and some of the common threads in these posts. Like “Canadian Punk” would have been a fun tag. Why did I listen to so many Canadian punk bands in the 90s? I dunno. I have no way of knowing if my punk consumption was disproportionately Canadian or not. How would you measure that? Count up the number of punk albums I own that came out in the 90s, weigh by population, see if they match the expected distribution? I suppose that would work, would likely be possible with some data scraping using the Discogs API, and is absolutely not going to happen unless someone were to pay me. Or if I get super bored.

Gob, “Cleansing”

This song sounds weird in only one earbud.

Green Day, “Nice Guys Finish Last”

nimrod. is the Green Day album I listen to the least. It’s not because of the songs that break out of the pop punk mold, but because the punk songs on it just sound kind of worn out. This song, for instance, sounds like a third-generation xerox of a thing from Dookie. Even on their final record, American Idiot, they brought more energy to the tunes.

Ne’er-Do-Wells, “Skybolt X-66”

Rock ’n’ roll! Straight outta the 50s! Or 1993, whatever.

Don Caballero, “Room Temperature Lounge”

From Singles Breaking Up, Vol. 1, which is a singles comp, as you could probably guess. Kind of hard to believe that you can consider this song and the previous one (separated by a mere four years!) as both being products of the 90s rock underground.

They Might Be Giants, “All Time What”

2015-2018 was an extremely productive period for TMBG, with a flurry of albums driven in part by a revival of the Dial-a-Song project. Of that burst of records, the gem is I Like Fun, a record loaded with catchy tunes, but also some pretty fun song structures. This isn’t one of the killer tunes from it, but even as one of the lesser tracks, it still has that big horn arrangement and is a good time.

The Marvelettes, “Please Mr. Postman”

“Please Mr. Postman” was the first ever number one hit for Motown, setting the precedent that so many other songs would later follow. And it’s easy to see, especially with that lead vocal performance. This is still a serious jam.

NxWorries, “Best One”

NxWorries is a delightful collaboration between Anderson .Paak and underground hip-hop producer Knxwledge, and it smokes. Knxwledge has always excelled at these kinds of dense, funky, kind of abstract beats, but working with .Paak gives them a purpose that showcases them better than his solo work. I’d love to hear a follow-up record to this thing.

Willie Nelson, “Are You Sure”

We’ve had a couple tracks from this record, which is Crazy, The Demo Sessions. Every time it comes up, I’m reminded how much I like this, and then I go look at his discography, get intimidated, and kind of give up. Not very laudable of me, I suppose.

Let’s Go Bowling, “Rude 69”

See, the beginning to this song is the sort of thing that got people dismissive of the third wave. There’s no real point to adding the “rude 69!” bits to the song other than to just have the whole enterprise be all smirky. Other than that, it’s a totally reasonable instrumental. Well, whatever.

Invisibl Skratch Piklz, “Cocaine”

I need to go find some turntable artists operating today. I love this shit.

Gob, “I Hear You Calling”

The bit where the collapse the tune to just the main riff at :40 in, that’s such a pop punk cliche, and it works on me every time. Especially when the drummer leads out of it by opening up the high hat just a little? Some of these things are cliches for good reason.

King Crimson, “21st Century Schizoid Man Including Mirrors”

The early pinnacle of prog rock, In The Court of the Crimson King set a standard that a bunch of other bands would strive uselessly to surpass, including King Crimson themselves for a while. Now, prog is inherently ridiculous, but it’s also hard not to enjoy the unbounded artistic ambition here. I’m not a huge King Crimson guy, because I think a little of this can go a long way, but this is very easy to just sit back and listen to.

One of the things I’m doing with my restart of this project is really kind of taking the schedule as it comes. If I don’t feel like doing an entry some day, I’m not going to sweat it. Hopefully, that will make sure that I keep going for plenty of time. So, let’s see what we’ve got today!

NoFX, “The Cause”

I wonder if my kids will listen to this kind of punk when they get older. I wonder if any kids do? It is absolutely true that I haven’t got a clue what most kids listen to, so all I really know is that I still see kids wander around in Dead Kennedys gear and the like. So maybe?

Another year end roundup, this one from Allmusic. More will be coming! Today’s music.

Camper Van Beethoven, “Turquoise Jewelry”

You know, up until listening to this now, after listening to some Firewater earlier today, I’d never really made the connection between the bands. But I think there’s some similarity between them, especially with the last couple Firewater albums.

Wilco, “The Jolly Banker”

Back to Alpha Mike Foxtrot for a delightful little tune that basically sounds like an Uncle Tupelo number. That’s, of course, a good thing.

Will we get a repeat artist again? I’d figure out the odds, but seriously, nobody has time for that. Will we get five songs? PROBABLY!

Mr. Lif, “The Unorthodox”

Boston MC Mr. Lif was one of the highlights of the early 2000s rap underground, along with others like Edan, who collaborated on this release, Emergency Rations. Concentrating on political and social commentary at a time when that was pretty rare, Mr. Lif was a breath of fresh air. After a long hiatus, he returned last year with another strong album and EP, which was a welcome development. I’d start with I Phantom for a first record, but he’s been strong all throughout.