Otis Redding

Otis Redding, “Love Have Mercy”

Man, Otis was really a force of nature.

The Presidents of the United States of America, “Froggie”

This insistent fever dream of a tune is an excellent example of why the Presidents were so much fun. It keeps barreling forward with on its rhythm section, and the lyrics don’t make any sense at all, but it takes those elements and transforms its nonsense into…not sense, but into something that rhymes with sense. It’s weird, but not for the sake of being weird. It’s weird because that’s how weird it needed to be to tell the story of a frog ruined by rock stardom. No weirdness is wasted.

Palmistry, “In The Mountains…”

A mystery here. This is from a release just labeled Demo, and it doesn’t appear to be from Bandcamp. It’s from 2017 according to the metadata (and Metal Archives), but I don’t know where else I would have gotten it other than Bandcamp. Well, whatever. Let’s listen! Pretty basic doom here, not unpleasant, but not lighting me on fire either.

Hüsker Dü, “Something I Learned Today”

This opens one of the most impressive and important albums in all of hardcore, Zen Arcade. Hüsker Dü proved that hardcore could still be recognizable and even thrive in an environment of trying unorthodox things. That they pulled this off with a double album that was recorded in as much of a rush as the music itself makes it doubly impressive. Pound for pound, it’s probably not their best record, but for the ambition and impact, you can’t argue with it as a holistic piece of work.

H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “If I Were A Deep One”

The arc popularity of Lovecraft’s writing has been kind of an interesting one to watch. When I was a kid, Lovecraft was largely unknown outside of only a handful of turbo nerds. Call of Cthulhu, the tabletop RPG, did exist, and it slowly brought awareness to Lovecraft’s writing, which was extremely niche in prior years. As the years ground on, and as nerd “culture” continued infiltrating the broader culture, referencing Lovecraft’s writing became just a general shorthand for cosmic horror, a way of gesturing at the ineffable horrors of the universe. Thus, it was invevitable that Lovecraft would slowly become more of a punchline, a cheap gimmick to gain some laughs of recognition from people who understand that this stuff is supposed to be horrible, but look! It’s being played for laughs! SO SUBVERSIVE!

Feels like this month is dragging for these entries. Usually I can bang these things out without too much trouble (and you can tell the effort I put into them!), but it seems like it’s just painful so far this year. Alas. Well, once more into the breach!

Czarface & MF DOOM, “Bomb Thrown”

Czarface is Inspectah Deck (from the Wu-Tang Clan) teaming up with 7L & Esoteric, and they’ve gotten together for album-length collabs with MF DOOM and Ghostface Killah, which are their best records. Anything with DOOM on it is worth listening to, and these records are no exception. It’s not peak DOOM, but that’s too high of a bar.

I never write checks, so this blog is the only thing that I write the wrong year on after the calendar filps over.

Marvin Gaye, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”

A stone-cold classic.

Polyrhythmics, “Cosimo”

A lovely EP from 2020, Fondue Party continues a string of winners from Polyrhythmics. That sax solo is delicious, I love that they gave it so much space.

Dr. Dre, “Still D.R.E.”

Damn, this album turned 20 today. I still think of it as the “new” Dre release. And there’s been a more recent Dre record!

Otis Redding, “Try a Little Tenderness”

One of Redding’s iconic hits, this is actually a much older song, more than thirty years old when he recorded what is by now the definitive version. The very slow build up throughout the song is such a delight, a masterclass in pacing.

Mastodon, “Steambreather”

After a couple albums of relatively accessible music in The Hunter and Once More ‘Round The Sun, where Mastodon kind of stepped away from their most elaborate tendencies, they made something of a return to the style with Emperor of Sand. Part of that is the return of the same producer who helped them make Crack the Skye, part of that is the desire to make a concept album again, but whatever it is, it’s my favorite of the latter-day Mastodon albums. Although I haven’t really fully digested the most recent one, so I don’t know about that record yet.

Eddie Purrell, “The Spoiler”

There’s that early Stax sound here. Dig those Memphis Horns!

Otis Redding, “Let Me Come On Home”

Hell yeah! Stax/Volt forever, y’all!

Ghost Funk Orchestra, “Fuzzy Logic”

Staying super cool today, I see. Ghost Funk Orchestra play around in that funk/soul space, with their spin being a fair bit of psychedelia and jazz folded into the mix. It’s not a totally unique formula, but they handle it well, and there are some real cinematic elements to their sound that is super appealing.

Tilt, “Annie Segall”

This is from the last Tilt album, in 1999, and I’ll be totally honest: I’m not entirely sure why I picked all of them up. It’s not bad, it’s just that it’s not really any different from the other three albums.

SWANS, “Amnesia”

What Is This? is a record of demos that Michael Gira assembled to test out songs prior to cleaning things up for a full release (what would become leaving meaning.). It’s an interesting record, but very much for completists only. Which is good, because it was released in a very limited edition as a crowdfunding project to raise money for the new record. I’m glad I have it, but that’s because I’m a huge SWANS fan.

Today’s play list!

Otis Redding, “She Put The Hurt On Me”

There’s so much to love about this song. The rubbery bass especially on the chorus, the interplay between the horns and the organ, and of course Redding’s always great vocal performance. It’s hard to pick Redding’s best record, but I think I’d take Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul as first among equals.

Your Old Droog, “Help”

One of my favorite discoveries from 2017 was Your Old Droog’s second album, Packs. Coming out of the East Coast, his vocals frequently are compared to Nas, which makes sense in terms of delivery, and the beats on his record have a sort of psychedelic feel to them. When I first heard it, it reminded me a lot of Edan, which turns out to be for good reason as he worked with Edan on a couple of tracks (including this one). The overall feel is just square in my wheelhouse.

Hell yes.

Black Star, “Definition”

We’ve had Mos Def, we’ve had Talib Kweli, but now it’s time for their collaboration. Black Star loomed large over the later careers of both men, and for good reason: this is easily one of the greatest hip-hop records ever made. Off the top of my head, there are only a very small handful of records I’d put ahead of it. The spare, precise, jazz-inflected beats married perfectly with the impossibly deft rhyming from Mos and Kweli. This album is basically perfect.