Gridlink

Robustos, “My Little Suede Shoes”

The bands that got famous in the third wave of ska were those that took the second wave and went further towards punk. No Doubt, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, folks like Goldfinger, Save Ferris, a bunch of others, they all leaned heavily on rock to make the sound more appealing to a broader audience. But that left out a bunch of other bands who drew more on the first wave and the original sounds, and who didn’t get the attention. Those are the bands that I mostly continue listening to these days. The Robustos are one of those forgotten bands, who played just straight ska, without mixing stuff in, and this album (Introducing…The Robustos) is a good listen.

Claw Hammer, “The Day It Rained Pigeon Shit”

Have we had Claw Hammer before? I think we have. The tags say we have. Whatever. Anyway, Claw Hammer sort of had a blues-y take at punk, like if you took Mudhoney and dialed up the blues end by a bunch. And, of course, they had Jon Wahl’s idiosyncratic vocal style powering things. This tune comes from their final album, their second for a major label of all damn things. That Interscope thought something as offputting as this was worth signing is one of the clearest signs that the mid-90s saw some very stupid behavior from the labels.

Lots of new folks today.

Clem Snide, “Accident”

For some reason, “alt-country” as a label always kind of irritates me, even though the thought it’s expressing (country music that stands distinct from the popular variation) is directly analagous to alternative rock, which doesn’t bother me. The lesson, as always: I’m dumb. Anyway, Clem Snide (named after the character from Naked Lunch) is absolutely alt-country. Propelled by Eef Barzelay’s passionate singing and Jason Glasser’s multi-instrumental prowess, Clem Snide cranked out five outstanding albums in the late 90s and early 2000s, starting with this record (You Were A Diamond) up through 2005’s End of Love. They started to lose some steam after that, but at their peak, they were incredible. I mean, just listen to this!