Shabazz Palaces

Foetus, “Red and Black and Gray and White”

Soak is the most recent Foetus album, from 2013. I sort of don’t believe it’s going to be the last Foetus album, but maybe I’m wrong. At any rate, it carries on in his late career form, a howling whirlwind of orchestration, noise, and barely constrained chaos. It’s like a big band possessed by a demon.

Shabazz Palaces, “When Cats Claw”

Shabazz Palaces went to record a few bonus tracks for their 2017 album Quazarz vs. the Jealous Machines, but the sessions ended up going so well that they turned it into an entire companion album, Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star. Given that both albums were recorded roughly at the same time, it’s hard to pick between them, so I’d recommend just listening to both.

A slow start today, but it picks up.

Aceyalone, “The Jabberwocky”

Yes, it’s a reading of the Lewis Carroll poem, complete with pitch shifting.

Shabazz Palaces, “MindGlitch Keytar TM Theme”

Another track from Lese Majesty, although this is kind of a throwaway. Not a great start to today.

Fugazi, “Dear Justice Letter”

Our second visit from my favorite band. Here we find a track from Steady Diet of Nothing, their second full album (13 Songs was originally released as two EPs). On Steady Diet, they took yet another big step away from the hardcore of Minor Threat, and a further step towards the angular art-rock that would define the post-hardcore sound. The songs on Steady Diet are slower and more deliberate than those on Repeater, and the album is just less direct overall. That makes this a little bit of a transitional album, with Fugazi learning some new tools, tools they’d master with In On The Kill Taker. That album would find them synthesizing the fury of Repeater with the more elliptical sound of Steady Diet.

Sorry I’ve been flaky a bit recently! I have tunes for today, though!

Yo-Yo Ma, “Suite for Solo Cello, 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: VI. Gigue”

Nope, still don’t know nothin’. Nice to listen to, though.

Fake Limbs, “Stugots II”

What is this? I like this a lot! I don’t remember getting this! I suspect it must have been in a year-end round up last year, and I spaced listening to it. This sounds like it’s from Chicago. (looks) Yes, it’s from Chicago. Hell yes. I know what I’m listening to when I’m done here.