Idles

Dance Hall Crashers, “All Mine”

Oops! All harmonies!

Holy Fuck, “The Pulse”

Holy Fuck play a sort of instrumental rock that, in its use of primitive electronics and hypnotic grooves, has more than a little in common with krautrock. It’s really delightful stuff, a recognition that some blips and a bitchin’ beat will take you a long ways.

Idles, “Mother”

I think the last couple times Idles has come up, I’ve mostly waxed on about how punk this record is. And, you know - it really is. There’s an immediacy and urgency to this that really calls back to the spirit of punk. This is one of those albums that just gets better the more you listen to it.

Big Boys, “We Got Soul”

An early hardcore band in Austin, the Big Boys inspired a bunch of bands that followed them, including folks like the Butthole Surfers. It’s also where Rey Washam (Scratch Acid, Rapeman) and Tim Kerr (Poison 13, The Monkeywrench) got their start. All of the Big Boys’ catalog was helpfully compiled into two discs, with The Skinny Elvis comprising the first half of their career and The Fat Elvis (which gave us today’s track) the second half. Among other things that made them great, they were totally unafraid to just straight up play some funk, which is delightful.

Claw Hammer, “Gut Feeling”

One of the things that we rail against around here are pointless covers. Especially in an age when so many of the originals are easily accessible, a cover really needs to add something. This is doubly true when it’s something truly beloved or original. However, it is possible to wrap around on the pointlessness scale of things and loop back around to cool. Claw Hammer turn that neat trick by covering the entirety of Devo’s landmark Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, playing it pretty straight. Jon Wahl’s oddball strangled wail is the primary distinguishing factor, but otherwise, it’s Devo’s record. Just listen to Devo! And yet…there’s a strange attraction. It’s pretty bizarre alchemy.