Pegboy

Lando Chill, “The King Of Salem”

This album is apparently inspired by the book The Alchemist, which I have not read, so I learned that only from reading about the record. That probably means I’m not really cool enough to be listening to this album, honestly.

Killdozer, “Richard”

The sample here at the front, about the cash value of carcasses, really sums up the aesthetic of Killdozer quite succinctly. There’s that sort of working-class Midwestern thing, the reveling in the grim details of existence, the sort of incongruity of Killdozer’s sound and sense of humor, all of it.

Hey, let’s do another roundup! This time, it’s an aggregation of different metal lists. Useful! And, of course, some music for today.

Pegboy, “Spaghetti Western”

Yup, more or less hit the wall on things to say about Pegboy. It’s still the usual melodic punk sound that is perfectly pleasant to listen to. That’s more dismissive than I intend it to be.

Sebadoh, “Mean Distance”

This comes from Smash Your Head On The Punk Rock, the first album from Sebadoh to be released on Sub Pop, as they made the leap from the minor leagues to…well, the bigger minor leagues. But Sub Pop in the early 90s was a pretty big deal, and it was news that the slacker kings of low fi were making their way to the home of grunge. This album is itself a compilation of sorts, with bits and pieces of previous releases collected into an incoherent record. But all Sebadoh records were incoherent, mostly due to the three different song writers and how they approched things. This song is itself a bit of a microcosm of that, as it’s credited to all three and goes bananas with a minute left in the track.

Another year end roundup, this one from Allmusic. More will be coming! Today’s music.

Camper Van Beethoven, “Turquoise Jewelry”

You know, up until listening to this now, after listening to some Firewater earlier today, I’d never really made the connection between the bands. But I think there’s some similarity between them, especially with the last couple Firewater albums.

Wilco, “The Jolly Banker”

Back to Alpha Mike Foxtrot for a delightful little tune that basically sounds like an Uncle Tupelo number. That’s, of course, a good thing.

Sorry about six songs yesterday. I don’t know what I was thinking! I was intoxicated with power, I guess. It won’t happen again! At least, until next time. Y’all just missed “Cop” by Swans here, by the way. I’m sure they’ll be back soon, though. In the meantime, enjoy today’s selection.

They Might Be Giants, “Stuff is Way”

I divide They Might Be Giants into five eras: pre-Elektra, the Elektra years, post-Elektra, the kid album years, and the current era. Note that even during the kid album years, they put out a couple of non-kid albums (2004’s The Spine and 2007’s The Else), so things aren’t really that neatly divided here. But, personally, I saw something of a creative renaissance after those years of mostly kid records (which are mostly very good, by the way), starting with 2011’s Join Us and continuing to the album this song is from, 2013’s Nanobots. If you fell off the TMBG train a couple decades ago, those two records are something to look into.