Killdozer

Pussy Galore, “Handshake”

Somehow, Pussy Galore manages to sound greasy. Some of that is the trashy production - the clattering drums, the bullhorn vocals, the squalling guitars. But even beyond that, there’s a feel to things that kind of make you feel like you need a bath after listening to it. It’s great!

Killdozer, “Space: 1999”

There’s nothing more reliable in this world than Killdozer grimly pounding away. It’s always going to sound like power equipment being used improperly, and leave you feeling like perhaps you shouldn’t have listened to it.

Killdozer, “Pour Man”

Killdozer were not a joke band. But they were a band that was never really being serious, with Michael Gerald’s vocal delivery on this thing being a good example. Why is he singing like this? Because it’s silly. Does it make the song silly? Well, not really? Kinda?

Beck, “Guess I’m Doing Fine”

Beck, on the other hand, is clearly a joke act.

Smut Peddlers, “Stank MCs”

OK, I’ll let the listener decide if this is a joke act.

Lando Chill, “The King Of Salem”

This album is apparently inspired by the book The Alchemist, which I have not read, so I learned that only from reading about the record. That probably means I’m not really cool enough to be listening to this album, honestly.

Killdozer, “Richard”

The sample here at the front, about the cash value of carcasses, really sums up the aesthetic of Killdozer quite succinctly. There’s that sort of working-class Midwestern thing, the reveling in the grim details of existence, the sort of incongruity of Killdozer’s sound and sense of humor, all of it.

Rockabye Baby!, “I Shot The Sheriff”

Oh god.

Mary Wells, “Bye Bye Baby”

MUCH BETTER

The Frames, “Headlong”

This is the only record I have from The Frames, and I have zero recollection of this band ever existing. I sometimes think Plexasaurus Rex is gaslighting me. At any rate, this DOES sound like something I would have picked up, and a little bit of research suggests that Steve Albini recorded this, which is another reason. I can’t judge the entire album (because I don’t remember ever listening to it), but this has a little bit of a vibe similar to the Wedding Present’s slower tunes. Not bad!

Killdozer, “New Pants and Shirt”

This is the opener of Twelve Point Buck, a pounding exercise in downtempo noise that really is a statement of purpose for the band. It can be a bit much in extended doses, and my copy of this album is actually a double album with Little Baby Buntin’, which is a lot of Killdozer at once.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “Bellbottoms”

Extra Width was truly mind expanding for me, a record that I played over and over, and one of the sole things that kept me sane during one stretch of a summer job that involved pulling staples from telephone poles 40 hours a week for an entire month. And when I got Orange, slapped it on, and this thing melted my face? I couldn’t believe that they managed to top it. Thank YOU very much, JSBX!

Monorchid, “A Was For Anarchy”

Monorchid features two alumni from post-hardcore band Circus Lupus, which will be immediately obvious to anybody who listened to Circus Lupus. This comes from their second album, Who Put Out The Fire?, and it’s a solid chunk of DC post-hardcore. Post-harDCore? If I were to rank this against the Circus Lupus records, I’d probably put it behind Solid Brass and ahead of Super Genius.

Jan Jelinek, “Universal Band Silhouette”

Boy, some songs today that would have been really fast picks for me on “Name That Tune”. The glitchy warmth on the first part of this track is instantly recognizable as Jelinek, in the same way that Chris Thomson’s yelp is instantly recognizable.

Arab Strap, “The Clearing”

Arab Strap was a band from the same music scene that produced Mogwai and Belle & Sebastian, but unlike those two bands, they’ve never done that much for me. This comes from their first album, and it’s kind of unfocused, and there’s nothing that I find really memorable on it.

The Rolling Stones, “Love In Vain”

Huh, never heard of this band.

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, “Unificado”

Psychedelic rock out of Mexico, this is from the 2019 album De Facto which showed up on some best-of lists that year. I think this is good, but as with a lot of psychedelic rock, it doesn’t tend to stick with me. I’m kind of the same way with Tame Impala - I can tell it’s good and all, and can even see what people hear in it, but it just doesn’t hang with me. I guess it’s Not Memorable To Josh day?

A rare double clueless day!

Radiohead, “We Suck Young Blood”

1. A carefully placed comma makes this song title pretty funny.
2. Handclaps are bitchin'.
3. The recording on this is beautiful.

Summerlands, “Lost My Mind”

Power metal, as a genre, usually features lethal amounts of cheese. By and large, I don’t mind some cheese with my music every now and again, but it has to be a rare treat, and I usually don’t myself craving it. But beyond the inherent corniness of the genre, the songs usually don’t appeal to me that much, being kind of heavy on wailing (both from the singer and lead guitarist). As a result, I mostly tend to avoid power metal. So, I’m not sure how I ended up with this. I must have read a good review somewhere? Or sometimes, I like to sample records from genres that I don’t love just to see if maybe my tastes have changed.

I’m not sure anybody cares about milestones, but I’ve now been doing this thing for more than a month. And it’s still fun! According to analytics, I’ve had 91 different visitors for the past week, which is actually pretty cool. If anybody out there is reading, feel free to leave a comment! Here’s what you came for!

Foetus, “Take It Outside Godboy”

We last encountered J.G. Thirlwell in one of his side project guises, Wiseblood. Here, we encounter his main project. First, a quick note on band names. For a fair bit of his career, he actually changed the name of the band frequently, although it always had “Foetus” in the name somewhere (“Foetus Interruptus”, “Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel”, etc). At some point, around the release of Flow or so, he knocked it off, acknowledging that everybody just called the band Foetus anyway. Oh, and the “proper” Foetus albums are all four-letter words for the names.