Vulfpeck, the funk band that met in Michigan and is now in LA, have just been moving their own way through the music industry from the beginning. They’ve self-released their stuff, they’ve produced a ton of releases not always neatly organized in albums, there are a bunch of related acts that they release music from, and it’s all frankly kind of inspiring that they’ve had success kind of creating their own cottage industry.
[Read More]Here’s a rarity: Dasher is led by Kylee Kimbrough, who sings and plays drums. Pretty neat! It’s sorta post-hardcore, sorta noise, and is a fun record.
So, this little song leads into the centerpiece of double-album The Seer, the 32-minute epic “The Seer”. Michael Gira manages to capture drama in a way very, very few people manage in music. He doesn’t sound cheesy or overwrought, because his music can carry the weight he places on it. This stuff is best experienced in album form, but it’s an amazing record.
[Read More]Nice drums on this tune! This is from the second Versus record, and it’s a more muscular tune than I remember them putting out. I’ll be honest, I haven’t listened to Versus in decades (outside of the tracks that show up here), and it’s kind of interesting reflecting how bands collapse down into stereotypes in our memory. Versus is a pop band in my brain, but this is pretty rockin'.
[Read More]NoMeansNo mostly played super dextrous, complicated hardcore, but they were capable of slowing down the tempo for pounding tunes like this one. It’s the doom metal equivalent of hardcore. Doomcore? A quick search suggests that doomcore is some EDM subgenre. Harddoom doesn’t work either? Eh, fuck it.
Sorry, couldn’t write an entry here, too busy nodding my head the entire time.
[Read More]This is from the split EP that Oneida made with Liars, Athiests, Reconsider, where both bands contributed two originals and a cover of the other band. Both bands are pretty restless in their styles, and true to form, the EP covers quite a bit of territory. It’s not a bad introduction to both bands, honestly, although it frankly won’t really tell you that much about how each band typically sounds. But it’ll give you a sense for if you like the general approach of both.
[Read More]My freshman year roommate couldn’t stand this track, and would insist on skipping it when we listened to this record. Which was often, it was an album we could agree on. I thought I lost that copy of Paul’s Boutique when it was in his car when the car got stolen. But! They found it, and he got the car back! The song that came on when he started it up? “Car Thief”.
[Read More]Victoria, BC’s Hot Hot Heat had a real moment in the 2000s, although I’ll confess, I don’t really remember how far they got penetrating the mainstream. I just remember that they were doing well there for a little while. That’s the kind of information you can’t get just anywhere! At any rate, this is from the beginning of their debut EP, so this is how they kicked it off. Not bad!
[Read More]Electronic artist Filastine draws widely from musical traditions from across the globe, pulling in bits and pieces from many cultures to assemble his songs. What could sound eclectic doesn’t come off that way, it instead is more like a kaleidoscope - assembling a fractured image into an interesting whole.
Is this one of the rare live albums that elevates past just being a worse-sounding collection of their studio hits? One of those shining gems that comes across just often enough for me to keep buying live albums like a big fuckin’ chump? Reader, it is not. It is fine.
[Read More]When the Aquabats got rolling, they always had this kind of corny, cracked Saturday morning cartoon vibe. Like they were making songs for a show-within-a-show on some arch adult animation cartoon. And, of course, given the world we’re in, the show eventually showed up. Now, I haven’t actually seen the show, but I have the soundtrack, and…well, just listen to this. This is Very Aquabats.
I’m kind of sitting here thinking about how great it would be to hear somebody rhyming over Kollaps-era Neubauten.
[Read More]When the Beastie Boys took the leap to playing their own instruments with Check Your Head, they also started expanding the reach of their label, Grand Royal. Lucious Jackson was one of the artists that they signed, putting out their first record, Natural Ingredients. It made a fair bit of sense, as the sensibilities of Lucious Jackson fit in well with the more funk/soul elements of the reinvented Beasties sound. Despite critical acclaim, the record never really seemed to catch on, but it still sounds pretty good.
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