The Black Light, the second Calexico album, is really where Calexico became Calexico. The dusty southwestern aesthetic reached full flower, with the rhythms and arrangements being incredibly evocative. I mean, I suppose this track explains it more than I could. They would eventually branch out more and more from this core sound, but never abandon it. But if this is why you love Calexico, this record and The Hot Rail should be at the top of your list.
[Read More]I think we’ve had a couple tracks from The Horror by now, which is kind of a companion EP/remix project to go along with Deadringer. Unlike a lot of these kinds of revists/companion pieces, it’s very much a worthy release in its own right and not just riding the coattails of another album.
Why, it seems like just the other day that I got really fired up about Vaz and Hammerhead. And here they are, back for another tune. “Tune”? Blast. Whatever! Love this stuff.
[Read More]So, uh, sometimes the sexual politics of Brown’s music wasn’t great. You know, it happens. I’ll just observe that Brown had a co-writer for this song, Betty Jean Newsome, which is kind of interesting.
(NB: on Star Time, this track has the above name, not “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”))
I don’t want to take too much away from the majesty of this pure slab of punk, so just enjoy.
[Read More]From their first, most primitive record, the White Stripes nevertheless still sounded like themselves right from the beginning. Some of that is Jack White’s distinctive yelp, some of that is the spare blues, some of it is the plodding drums. But they’re instantly recognizable.
It takes somebody pretty sharp to write something this aggressively dumb.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m crediting everything to Bob Marley even when it’s credited to him and the Wailers. I’m erasing the Wailers just to make my categorization easier. That makes me shitty. Always nice to listen to Marley, Wailers or no.
[Read More]A Motown artist! A fake Motown artist! Big Business playing with two bands!
We’ve heard from Mayer Hawthorne before with Tuxedo, but here he is with his solo act. Hawthorne, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michegan, not far from the home of Motown, didn’t really intend to be a soul revivalist. He made some songs mostly as a goof, but attracted attention from them, with legendary hip-hop label Stones Throw initially thinking that they were authentic, lost 60s singles. A full-length album followed, with Hawthorne following through on the promise of authentic sounding soul. Only, you know, with swearing. As his career has moved forward, he’s moved away some from the pure Motown revival, but my favorite of his albums is the one this song came from, How Do You Do, which is very much a revival record.
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