Prince

Dead Kennedys, “Soup Is Good Food”

This is the song that let me finally crack the Dead Kennedys. I think there’s an adjustment, for me at least, as music gets faster and more challenging to find something you can pick out that lets you understand it. This song, as a relatively slow one and one where it’s easy to understand what Jello is singing, is the one that let me kind of get what they were up to. And from there, now that I had a rosetta stone for the band, I was able to catch up to the rest of their catalog.

Prince, “Take Me With U”

Prince, yes please, take me with you.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “‘78 Style”

The first JSBX was really very much a transitional record between Pussy Galore and what the JSBX would become. There’s just enough of the spastic, unpredictable energy in the proceedings to retain that gutter punk feel. Spencer would continue to draw on those sounds and attitudes throughout the JSBX run, but it’s nowhere as overt as on the first record.

The Maytals, “Daddy”

The first Maytals album, 1965’s The Sensational Maytals, was later re-issued with a bunch of extras and alternate takes as Sensational Ska Explosion. The extra junk is unnecessary, but the album is a great view into the early career of one of ska and reggae’s great acts. As this was very early in the development of the style, there is a fair bit of R&B on the album, such as this track.

Prince, “All The Critics Love U In New York”

Somehow, 23 years before their first record, Prince laid a pretty savage burn on LCD Soundsystem.

Jawbox, “Meathook”

Jawbox put together a comp, My Scrapbook Of Fatal Accidents, which gathered together most of their non-album releases in one place. There’s some solid stuff on it, and I recommend it for Jawbox fans. What we have here is one of the real oddities, a cover of the Cure’s “Meathook”, which serves best as a companion piece to their cover of Tori Amos’s “Cornflake Girl”.

Pretty good one today.

John Coltrane, “Mr. P.C.”

I’ll have you know that I tried to insert a big ASCII barphic here saying “Josh is not qualified to talk about jazz”, but this stupid editor kept mangling it, and I’ll only go so far for a throwaway joke.

The Black Keys, “Sinister Kid”

Is this the first Black Keys we’ve had? Brothers is the last Black Keys album I’ll have anything to do with. It’s a little strange - I like it quite a bit, there’s a lot of fun stuff on it, and I nevertheless didn’t even glance at the follow up to it. I’m not really sure why, exactly, but from reading reviews, it doesn’t seem like I’m missing much.

Today!

Rocket From The Crypt, “Suit City”

I love the urgency in this song, it’s always driving forward hard. And it sticks around for just two and a half minutes. Get in, do what you want to do, get out. Nice.

Nine Inch Nails, “Let’s Hear It For Nine Inch Nails”

OK, you ready for what is probably the most obscure and dumbest thing we’ve had on here yet? Right. This is from the “Head Like A Hole” extended CD single. Four different mixes of “Head Like A Hole”, two of “Terrible Lie”, three of “Down In It”, a b-side, and then this. Four seconds of someone saying the title of the track to close out the CD single. And now, you’ve all listened to it. Somehow, it was already on YouTube.

Back in town, so hopefully I’ll be able to start posting these during the day again. Today’s tunes!

Melvins, “Your Blessened”

What gives a band longevity? How are some bands able to just keep going for forever, while most flame out after only a few albums (or even one)? It’s not just creativity, although the Melvins certainly have shown plenty of experimentation. They also have a certainly Melvins-y formula that they’ve applied plenty. Tt still manages to sound fresh and interesting. You listen to a song from Bullhead and a song from, I dunno, Hold It In, and you hear so many things that are similar. But I’m still happy to listen to them. What is the formula that King Buzzo and Dale Crover have discovered?