Ohio Players

Ohio Players, “It’s Your Night / Words of Love”

Daaaaaaaamn. The mid-70s Ohio Players albums were all ridiculously good.

Karl Hendricks Trio, “The Official Shape of Beauty”

I have a hard time picking my favorite album from the Karl Hendricks Trio. I often lean towards the first couple records from them because it felt special I was listening to them that early, and I saw them so often in those early days. But the later albums probably on-balance have better songs? I think the sweet spot might actually be this record, A Gesture of Kindness. Pre-Merge Records, but Karl’s songwriting had advanced from his earliest stuff.

Quite a mixed bag today, with a smattering of electronics, a weird-ass rock band, and one of the foundations of funk. Sounds pretty good, right?

Diamond Fist Werny, “Fountain Head”

A Seattle band that got going in the early 90s, but not playing what you think. In particular, one of the founders played the bass clarinet, which is not an especially grunge instrument, let’s be honest. As you can hear on this song, they also added electronics to their sound as time went on.