Imarhan

9353, “East of Sudan”

This is really pretty avant-garde for the punk scene of 1984. I mean, sure, there were plenty of post-punk bands working in kind of adjacent spaces, but this is still pretty far out there.

Imarhan, “Ehad Wa Dagh”

We’ve had Imarhan on here before, but as always, I feel kind of inadequate writing about bands from other cultures that I’m not familiar with. Sure, I can write about, say, punk bands from the US plenty, but I guess I’m not really up to the task of writing about a rock band from Algeria, esepcially as they’re clearly blending their own influences with those of rock. It’s very cool stuff, though.

Much better than yesterday.

Clipse, “Chinese New Year”

Backed by the Neptunes (Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo) doing all the production, Pusha T and Malice made gangsta rap that always sounded vicious and lean. Their first two records, fueled by those fantastic beats, are pretty outstanding, even if the lyrical content is…let’s go with questionable.

Rites of Spring, “Persistent Vision”

You know, I think Guy Picciotto was more comprehensible with Rites of Spring than he was with Fugazi. I’m not entirely sure how that happens, it’s not like he wasn’t yelling with both bands.