It probably says something about me that I own a lot more Screeching Weasel than I do the Ramones. Specifically, it says how old I am.
One of Jay-Z’s strengths is how he has a bunch of different flows that he uses on different songs. Unlike some rappers, including plenty of famous ones, he always seems to change things up to really play along with the beat. And Pharrell Williams put together a great one here.
[Read More]This is how Stoner Witch opens. I put this on when it came out, and just thought “holy shit, this is going to crush my head”. And it did. My head remains crushed to this day.
And then my head became uncrushed. Thanks, Motown!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Deathspell Omega turn out to be Nazi shitheads, and you should not in any way patronize them. I’m leaving the original text here, but fuck these guys.
[Read More]More of this California punk band, I’m not sure there’s a lot to say about it.
Yeah, now we’re talkin’! Compare these two tracks. There’s just more energy, more interesting guitar work, just…more with this song. Gaunt could sure write a punk song.
Another live track from another deluxe reissue of a different Devo record. By virtue of having “Whip It” on it, Freedom Of Choice is the Devo album most people will have heard of. But the album is great even outside of that, with a full-on synth pop sound running through the whole thing. Devo’s control of their aesthetics are impressive across the board.
[Read More]A repeat! No regrets! Bring on the juice!
A member of the X-Ecutioners, Rob Swift is a turntablist from New York who has had a long solo career as well. Always rooted in the traditions of hip-hop, his records feature his pyrotechnic scratching, which is worth seeking out just on its own. The overall quality of his albums often tends to be driven by the quality of the guests he’s working with, with this being an example of one of his better tracks. If you like the sound of this, try out one of his early albums (this is from Sound Event).
[Read More]This was so close to being great today.
I was wondering when we’d get Sam & Dave, one of the top acts from Stax and reliable hitmakers for the label. The drought is over! This comes to us from 1968, an Isaac Hayes song, and goddamn, listen to that.
Hell yes, shuffle, keep it going!
For a long time, I’ve always thought that at some point, the rats in one of the Muppet movies sang a little bit of this song. Well, my memory was only a little right, the scene had just a little echo of this song.
[Read More]Still hanging in there on my streak. It’s been close for a few days!
I know nothing about Hattie Littles, but this song is such an exemplar of that early Motown sound, it’s hard not to smile. This comes from 1962, by the way.
After Jawbreaker imploded, at least partially due to the pressure of their major label contract, Blake Schwarzenbach thankfully didn’t hang up his guitar for good. His next band, Jets to Brazil, continues in the same vein. While I think Jets to Brazil is a little more polished (and therefore I’m not sure I love them quite as much), they’re a worthy successor, and all three of their albums are worth looking up.
[Read More]Still haven’t missed a day yet this year!
I think Ghost’s skits just kept becoming less comprehensible as time went on. They’re not even really skits any more. There appears to be no bottom to the gibberish. Anyway, this is from More Fish, which isn’t as good as Fishscale. But still a decent album. Good song once it actually gets going.
The Seattle grunge scene wasn’t really the only game in town at that time. While those acts became nationally famous, there were other robust rock scenes in town at the same time. Estrus Records was at the center of a garage and surf revival, including bands like the Mono Men, Gas Huffer, Man Or Astro-man?, and today’s act, the Mortals. This is pretty nuts-and-bolts rock, but played with plenty of energy, so that’s welcome. The second Mortals record, Bulletproof, is probably their best.
[Read More]Scarface is one of the elder statesmen of rap, having gotten his start with the Geto Boys, who terrified the hell out of mainstream white America back in the day. After leaving them and going solo, he’s had a long string of solid records, sometimes rising above that level and making something great. He’s also someone who has had the respect of everybody in hip-hop, bridging even the east coast/west coast beef when that was going on. This song comes from The Fix, one of my favorites of his.
[Read More]Peter Christopherson is one of the true innovators of underground music, performing as a member of industrial/noise pioneers Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle. He then went on to become part of Coil, a band dedicated to electronic music in all its forms. Coil worked with an impressive list of collaborators over the years, and their career is hard to describe. While usually lumped in with industrial acts, usually due to the company they kept, Coil was much more organic and human than most of industrial music. It usually made them all the more unsettling as a consequence. Coil tended to explore the underbelly of human existence, and their lyrics were usually pretty unflinching and often pretty out there.
[Read More]Shuffle’s kind of been killing it lately.
Marvin Gaye, here on a single from 1967. It’s impressive to listen to the difference between this and what he’d make a mere four years later with What’s Going On.
I went to go compare the hi-hat intro here to the bit in “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” (at 8:01), and then realized the bit I was thinking of wasn’t just on the hi-hat, and then I got caught up listening to that song. And then I kind of got lost for a bit.
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