People Under the Stairs

They Might Be Giants, “Can’t Keep Jonny Down”

John Linnell is probably my favorite songwriter ever, and so it means a lot when I say that “Some dude / Hitting golf balls on the moon / Bathroom in his pants / And he thinks he’s better than me” might be my favorite lyric he’s ever written.

johnboy, “Chair”

I miss the heyday of noise rock. There were so many bands doing cool shit in the early 90s, and you could just find new stuff all the time. I suppose it might still be happening somewhere still, and I’m just not plugged in enough to find out about it. Is anybody doing a noise rock blog?

People Under the Stairs, “Same Beat (The Wesley Rap)”

Fun DMC is such a good album name.

Clem Snide, “Some Ghost”

After a ten year break between releasing any music under the name Clem Snide, Eef Barzelay released Forever Just Beyond in 2020, and it’s a delight. Probably my favorite of his releases since Soft Spot. The songs are sweet, the production is intimate, and it’s all melancholy and warm and cozy. It’s a lazy nap in a sunbeam, with maybe a wistful dream drifting through your head.

Advertisement, “Pretty Money”

I’m a huge Seattle homer, so when I mention that this is a Seattle act, just deflate your ratings appropriately. But after a charming EP (on cassette!), they put out their first LP in 2020, and it’s quite good. Their lineup is pretty extensive (six people), resulting in some nice, full arrangements for their tunes. I don’t know that it’s surprising, but I just enjoy having some rock sometimes, especially from the Pacific Northwest. Listen local!

DZ Deathrays, “Reflective Skull”

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating - make some friends in Australia and hit ’em up for music recommendations. You can’t miss! This is from a different friend than the last time I mentioned this particular life hack, that’s how I know that it just works generally.

Circus Lupus, “Cyclone Billy”

Delightful post-hardcore here from the first Circus Lupus record. They would only get better on their second album, but both are excellent if you’re into the sound.

Polvo, “Bridesmaid Blues”

I just looked and realized that Cor-Crane Secret, the first Polvo album, is missing fromy my library. I’m not sure where it went, I absolutely had the CD back in the day. Lost? Never got ripped? Dropped on the floor during one of the library’s migrations from place to place? Who knows? But thanks to the magic of Bandcamp, I can replace it. And Shapes, which was also missing. It’s Polvo day here!

Lard, “Forkboy”

Lard, the collaboration between Jello Biafra (as you can clearly hear) and Ministry, usually sounded just like what you might expect that collab to sound like. But Ministry were having fun with it, and were just in full-on raging hardcore mode, and Jello was in fine form, so this album winds up being probably my favorite post-Kennedys Jello record.

People Under the Stairs, “Reflections”

People Under the Stairs hit their fifth album, and at this point, had really reached maturity as artists. They were now confident enough to not just crank out their old-school loop-based beats, but to add in some more compositions like this one. And to be able to write rhymes that can work together with this new style. It’s a nice addition to their toolbox, and as a result, this is probably my second-favorite album from them.

Serpent Column, “Pantheoclasm”

The other day, Plague Rages Podcast was complaining that there’s no great term for this sort of band, which isn’t really death metal, not tech death, just really out there, chaotic, and dissonant. I proposed “omnicore”, and honestly, that’s not such a bad term.

Queens of the Stone Age, “Tangled Up In Plaid”

Lullabies to Paralyze is a record that kind of ties together the strands of their previous albums. It kind of picks up the psych of Rated R, the musculature of Songs for the Deaf, the stoner vibes of the self-titled, and pulls it all together into a single record. It’s a consolidation of their skills that allowed them to kind of tie a bow on period of their career, allowing them to really go nuts with their next record.

μ‐Ziq, “Iesope”

I can remember bozos complaining about electronic music back in the early 90s, claiming that it wasn’t “real music” and that it doesn’t take any skill to play the instruments. And, of course, that doesn’t really deserve any refutation, but I think about it sometimes when I listen to stuff like this, and consider how careful the composition is. And that some knucklehead might dismiss it just because nobody chugged through any power chords on a guitar.

The Beastie Boys, “Hold It Now, Hit It”

I’ve mentioned before here the ability of certain songs to transport me to very specific places and times. The Proustian recollection for this song is rolling through a lovely Spokane fall evening, crammed in the back seat of a shitty Toyota, on the way to a party at a friend of a friend’s house, a high school debate connection. We had this cranked up as far as it would go, plastic interior panels rattling along with the bass, as we headed to this party hopeful of making a connection. Being a hopeless debate dork, I mostly just held up a wall and tried to figure out how to make conversation, ultimately failing, but nevertheless enjoying the novel experience of a house party that was recognizable as an actual party. As opposed the usual gathering for me, which was mostly nerds playing cards.

Obits, “Spun Out”

Who is making music with this kind of reverbed out surf guitar these days? Honest question, I have no idea, and I like it a lot. Comment down below! Or don’t! I’m not the boss of you.

People Under The Stairs, “Montego Slay”

This song is actually assembled out of a bunch of micro samples of music from commercials for Jamaican tourism, which is pretty impressive given how coherent it all sounds. This sort of careful, detailed assembling is something that always impresses the hell out of me.