Motown

Some serious immortals today! And, um, 17 seconds of silence.

Smokey Robinson, “Swept For You Baby”

We’re visiting 1967 with this song, with quintessential Motown artist and arguably the soul behind the soul, Smokey Robinson. It would be futile to list all the tremendous songs he’s been involved with, and I couldn’t really do him justice. Just enjoy this song.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Partynummer [Live]”

This track comes from Strategies Against Architecture II, a roundup of singles, live tracks, and various unreleased music primarily from the late 80s. In a lot of ways, this documents the end of the first phase of their career, as after this album came out, their music trended away from the power tools and more towards ambient pieces and electronics. It’s a great collection, though, and one of the better entry points to Neubauten’s catalog.

This is ostensibly a game blog still, so I’ll just mention that copies of Fox in the Forest are in people’s hands! We had a limited number available for sale at Origins, and people seem pleased so far. And by people, I mean my friends who have played it. Still, it’s a good start! Here’s today’s music. For the first time ever, every entry has a “previously” associated with it.

The Wedding Present, “Don’t Be So Hard”

The Wedding Present arrived as a more-or-less fully formed band, with all the frenetic pop and downbeat lyrics that would be their signature for years. This song is from their first album, George Best, which is fantastic. I first encountered it when a listener made a request on my radio show, and I picked a track randomly to play. I loved it instantly.

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).

Should I re-think the policy of putting in Bandcamp links instead of the Youtube videos? It occurs to me that maybe I should put in both? I dunno. Feel free to let me know down below or on Twitter. Or email, because frankly, anybody reading this probably has my email. Today’s tunes are here, by the way.

Mudhoney, “Inside Out Over You”

Mudhoney was grunge. Nirvana might have been the band that everybody knew, but it was Mudhoney that really laid down the template for the scene. Fuzzed out and beer soaked, they combined elements of punk, metal, and garage rock to form the sound that would come to define Seattle music in the early 90s, and indeed much of rock music. Not only that, but the extended Mudhoney family tree includes other huge Pacific Northwest bands - Mark Arm and Steve Turner were in Green River with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), and Matt Lukin was in the Melvins, to choose two examples.

Today’s entry is probably the most divided one we’ve ever had. Two songs of pure pop (separated by over 40 years), two disparate slabs of uncompromising noise, and one song of old, yet futuristic sounding hip hop. That’s the stuff.

Lily Allen, “Him”

Lily Allen’s first album, Alright, Still is thoroughly charming, pure pop delivered with wit and tons of catchy songs. One of those albums that’s hard not smile your way all the way through. Her followup album shares at least some of those same attributes, but I never found it as bouncy or memorable as the first record.

Yesterday, I actually briefly had six songs in the post. I only discovered it when I was going to put the entries in the index. I have one job! I only need one hand to count! Anywhere, here’s today’s random count of songs (hopefully five!).

Preston School of Industry, “History of the River”

When Pavement broke up, Stephen Malkmus went solo (later adding a backing band called The Jicks), and Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg founded Preston School of Industry. He put out two records under that name, neither reaching anywhere near the heights of Pavement (but, to be fair, neither has Malkmus). They’re both decent records, but they’re missing the spark that really elevated Pavement.