Matt Pike had a big 2018. In addition to Sleep emerging from a fifteen year, uh, slumber to produce the very good The Sciences, he also put out a High on Fire record, Electric Messiah. High on Fire is one of the more consistent bands around, and so it is with this record: you’re going to get a Lemmy-esque bark, you’re going to get those big stoner riffs, and you’re going to get some solos. Just a crunchy good time.
[Read More]Chaos A.D. is an Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher), releasing a miscellaneous pile of tracks from his early years. It doesn’t show the same kind of sophistication of his later recordings, and honestly, it’s an easy skip. This is probalby the worst track on the album, though, so don’t totally judge on this song.
One of my simultaneously dumbest and proudest moments in Rock Band was five starring this song on the drums and vocals and the same time…except I whistled the entirety of the vocal track. Not bad!
[Read More]The anarchic and sweet pop of the Avalanches is usually at its best when it’s barrelling along, swirling and shimmering. You know when it is not at its best? When Rivers Cuomo shows up for some reason.
I think Technique is the record when New Order really shook off the last vestiges of Joy Division. It’s fully a bouncy pop record, danceable and charming. Because of that, it’s probably my favorite record of those outside of Movement.
[Read More]What the hell is this? This is really good! I feel like past Josh sent me a present. I almost certainly picked this up from an appearance in a year-end roundup, and it got lost in the shuffle last year. I do that with a few albums every year. I’m excited!
Don’t drown dogs! That’s not nice! And not especially metal!
The artist who made Late Registration seems so distant from the Kanye West of today. This is a really beautiful beat, though.
[Read More]Seems like it’s been a long time since we’ve had any Stax stuff up in here. So, it’s a delight to get some Sam & Dave, which I just tried to write Save & Dam. Which is a solid name, and is officially my Sam & Dave cover band.
I remember buying this record, and I can remember repeatedly sorting it into the correct place in the old CD collection, and I can even recall pulling it out on multiple occasions and listening to it. And I have no recollection of what it sounds like. My stupid brain keeps thinking that it’s like The Hold Steady, and it’s not really.
[Read More]Back to those solid playlists.
More stoner rock from High On Fire, this time from Luminiferous, the most recent record from the outfit. Although, frankly, there’s not a ton of variation among their records. You pretty much know what you’re getting with them. I guess I’d point to Surrounded By Theives as the best, due mostly to a bitchin’ title and dude with an axe on the cover.
[Read More]I’ve always been a little fuzzy on the genre “emo”. I’m old enough that it’s come around multiple times as a genre label, being applied to bands ranging from Rites of Spring to Touché Amoré. And it seems like the only thing really tying all these various scenes is some kind of punk sensibility married to heartfelt lyrics. Benton Falls usually gets described as emo themselves, but to my ears, this is pretty much just post-punk. But it’s good post-punk! If this is emo, so is Jawbox, is what I’m saying. And I don’t think anybody has described Jawbox as emo. (OK, somebody certainly has.)
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