Mary Wells

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!

A repeat today, so you all know what that means. SIX SONGS BABY

De La Soul, “Pain (Radio Edit)”

Feels like we’ve had this song on here before. (looks) Yeah, we have. I have to fix all the tagging/index stuff around here.

Neutral Milk Hotel, “You’ve Passed”

The focus for Neutral Milk Hotel is on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, but On Avery Island is very good as well. It’s maybe a little more predictable, a little more just pure indie pop, but Jeff Magnum knows what he’s doing here.

I was at Shut Up & Sit Down Expo over the weekend, and it was fun, although I think that that was mostly because it was a getaway weekend for Megan and I. But, it was a good pretext to get out of town! Also, somebody asked me for my autograph. Super cool!

Today’s tunes.

Ministry, “I Prefer”

We’ve now gone back in Ministry’s catalog far enough to reach their first good album. The flaccid synth-pop of With Sympathy and stilted semi-aggro synths of Twitch had finally metastasized into the aggressive Land of Rape and Honey. This, arguably, is the most industrial of their albums, with less of the metallic riffing of their later stuff but all of the mechanical pounding you might want. I haven’t listend to this in ages, I should give it a spin.

Some authentically old music, and some music that wishes it was older than it is.

Craw, “Eidolons”

I really cannot emphasize how happy it makes me that there are folks that are going back into our past and bringing bands to our attention. Craw’s revival via Kickstarter is one great example, but also labels like Light in the Attic and Numero Group are doing great work. There are so many amazing bands who might have not gotten a fair shake the first time around, and finding them is fantastic. Anyway, Craw is really good!

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).