Spent

Dr. Dre, “Mix Tape 2 Track 1”

My understanding is that this is from a mix tape that Dre used to sell at the Compton Swap Meet, which eventually made its way onto the internet. I’ve got three of these things, and it’s a delight to just hear this stuff in its raw form. Enjoy!

Farside, “Search for Ourselves”

Farside is one of the reasons I stopped making playlists on YouTube. I used to find tracks on the service, and if they were missing, I’d upload it to an unlisted video and add it to my playlist. It was kind of useful to have them there, but a problem that would happen is that the content ID system there would flag stuff. Fine, whatever, other people should get any (non-existant) royalties. But sometimes, labels or artists would have songs as prohibited uploads, so I just couldn’t host some songs there. Pain in the ass! Oh, also YouTube is a cesspool.

Hot Snakes, “Plenty For All”

Hot Snakes! Hot Snakes! Hot Snakes!

The Wedding Present, “Flying Saucer”

Compare this tune with the Cinerama song from yesterday. It’s a simpler arrangement, but fundamentally the same type of song. But this feels so much better because the focus is where it belongs, on Gedge’s voice and guitar. This comes from Hit Parade 2, which documented the second half of the Wedding Present’s 1992. They put out a single every month, collecting all the tunes on two records. While a bit uneven compared to the albums from that time (as you might expect), they still have a bunch of great material on them and are both worth your time.

Folks, they can’t all be winners.

Scissorfight, “Victory Over Horseshit”

Can we just admire the naming going on here? Scissorfight? “Victory Over Horseshit”? That’s good stuff. I mean, the album isn’t that great or anything, but whatever.

DJ Food, “Dark Blood (Mlo Nu Blud 2 Mix)”

Yeah, there’s no way this is going to be on YouTube, is it?

(looks)

Hooray! I’m very lazy, so that’s great news.

OK, Plexasaurus Rex, let’s get some meat on the bone here, not much to talk about so far.

Should I mention when I buy albums here? I probably should. Maybe I’ll do that on future Fridays. Today’s music.

Andrew Bird, “Pathetique”

The first couple of Andrew Bird albums (officially credited to Andrew Bird and His Bowl of Fire) were more affected and more self-consciously arty than his later work. In a lot of ways, you can hear a lot of Squirrel Nut Zippers in this stuff. You can also hear some of the hallmarks of his later work, especially in the way he uses his violin to provide several different types of sounds, but the early stuff is definitely the sound of an artist finding his way.