While I really like their later work, Rising Down is probably the last record I consider a truly great Roots record. It’s hard to say it’s their best, given how much I love Things Fall Apart and Game Theory (and Phrenology), but if it’s not quite there, it’s very, very close. It’s super focused and the band knows exactly what they’re doing. It feels like it didn’t get a ton of attention, but it should have, it’s awesome.
[Read More]A real rager here from the early Motown days from Mary Wells. It’s certainly easy to see how this did so well for them.
Here’s a track from the first drone record by Labradford, the record that found them with their most minimal lineup. Labradford was always most effective setting a mood, and I think that the mood comes through the most with fewer tools in the arsenal.
[Read More]Maxinquaye is one of the three pillars of trip-hop, along with Blue Lines and Dummy. What’s striking about all three records, besides them all being great, is kind of how dissimilar they all end up feeling. There’s a murky darkness at the core of them all, but they take different paths to get there. Tricky is probably the most hip-hop of the three, although the swirling noise is still pretty distinctly foreign to the hip-hop of the time.
[Read More]This sounds like it could have been from an early 90s band in the Squirrel Bait family. Like, some long-lost Bitch Magnet track or something. There’s nothing wrong with that, for the record!
(NB: this is a different take than the version shuffle pulled up.)
As is often true with songs from 2001, you’re best off just concentrating on the beat here.
[Read More]This set was going pretty well for a while! Oh well.
Meat Beat Manifesto had a bit of a strange start to their career. Their first album was destroyed in a studio fire prior to release, a story that the band has stuck to but their label denied happened. Their debut album then instead became Storm the Studio, which was really just four songs, but they put out multiple parts and variations of everything. That was then followed by Armed Audio Warfare, which was their attempt to re-create their actual debut record, so they kind of released their first couple albums out of order.
[Read More]Happy Halloween! This is coming to you late, because I forgot to put it together before now. Well, better late than never.
You know, up until this track came up, I had kind of forgotten that A Moon Shaped Pool existed. I pre-ordered it, and then forgot to listen to it when it arrived. Well, no time like the present! Dig those strings!
(NB: I pulled up a live version, because the studio version seems to be missing.)
[Read More]Gettin’ ska-tastic in here today.
Dan Vitale’s Steady Earnest, back with more straight ahead ska from Dr. Earnest’s Nerve Steadying Spirits. It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had some ska around here, which seems unusual.
This song was originally on the excellent 99%, but this version was on an interesting sampler, Tonal Evidence, put out by Mute Records. There was quite a range of stuff on that compilation, ranging from the dance of Meat Beat Manifesto and Renegade Soundwave, to tracks from industrial pioneers like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. It was a nice pickup at the time, and was my first exposure to several of these artists.
[Read More]Another repeat today, this time that same Dr. Octagon track. The more I do this, the more I think Amazon’s randomization thing is pretty wonky. Oh well. Today’s tunes!
Speak of the devil! Here’s the Housemartins taking on Luther Ingram’s “I’ll Be Your Shelter”. As with most of their covers, it’s thoroughly enjoyable (as is the original). Basically, soul music rules.
This song appears on both London 0, Hull 4 as well as the rarities/singles roundup Now That’s What I Call Quite Good, which are both outstanding.
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