Looper

Couch Slut, “The Mouthwash Years”

That ascending chord progression in this track, on the heavily distorted guitar, is a perfect summation of noise rock. Just really nails it.

Mattiel, “Sent It On Over”

Mattiel’s first, self-titled, debut record made a lot of noise among music critics on its release. And it’s easy to see why, it’s a very confident record with a ton of style. It certainly sounds like its own thing, and I think a lot of critics (and me!) prize music which finds its own path. But, all that said, I don’t know that I really care for it. It doesn’t really stick with me, and I don’t find myself wanting to explore it that much.

Swans, “Better Than You”

The late 80s/early 90s vesion of the band is probably the one that is most different from the other iterations. The period began with Burning World, the first (and last) Swans major-label release, which was a commercial disaster and an artistic mess. The other albums of that period (White Light From The Mouth of Infinity, Love of Life, and Ten Songs For Another World which was technically from World of Skin but who cares) were better artistically, but this is kind of the “pretty” Swans period. The albums all went out of print, and stayed that way for a while.

And the beat goes on!

Terrace Martin Presents The Pollyseeds, “Wake Up”

From Sounds of Crenshaw, Vol. 1, this album is from producer Terrace Martin, who is best known for his work with Kendrick Lamar. On this album, he also has other folks in the Lamar orbit, such as Kamasi Washington (whose playing on the sax you’re listening to). A mix of R&B and jazz, it’s a very interesting album, and absolutely worthy of further exploration, although don’t expect anything as banging as, say, “LOYALTY.”