Julieta Venegas

Gift of Gab, “Rat Race”

You know a song is banging when I’m nodding this hard along with it, even just listening to it on one shitty earbud.

Wilco, “Either Way”

The opener of Sky Blue Sky, and it’s one of my very favorite Wilco songs. There’s that breezy organ in the background, the little chord change going into the chorus, there’s kind of a fakeout after the second chorus where he drags it out and it seems like it’s going to crescendo to a huge bit but turns into just a pleasant solo. It’s a bright, optimistic sounding song, but there’s so much subtlety to it, it rewards a close listen.

Today!

Thou, “Find the Cost of Freedom”

Metal has links to folk in a bunch of ways, ranging from the atavistic impulses of black metal, the explicit crossover of various folk metal acts, the lack of fear of being totally uncommercial, or even just the willingness of metal bands to strip things down to provide contrast, like Thou is doing here.

Louis Armstrong, “Ain’t Misbehaving”

We, of course, are well aware that I don’t know shit. About anything, really. But I have to do something to entertain myself while listening, so I read a little potted bio of Armstrong. Why not? And this bio declared that Armstrong is the most influential figure in jazz. Huh.

Fun set of songs today, with some obscure but worthy music popping up. Listen in, won’t you?

Gob, “Censorshit”

More pop-punk out of Vancouver from the 90s! Yes, this is basically the same stuff you’ve heard before, even several times during this column. I don’t care, I like it! As with most punk bands that are trading mostly on energy, the first Gob record is the best (Too Late, No Friends in this case).