Die Warzau mostly got lumped in with other industrial dance acts, mostly due to a name that looked like an industrial band and a vocal style that sounded like Nitzer Ebb after some vocal lessons. But in retrospect, there’s really very little that connects them to other industrial dance. There’s nowhere near enough noise, it’s not chilly enough, there’s no disaffection on display. This is just dance music that somebody has darkened ever so slightly.
[Read More]Alex Chilton, of Big Star, is one of the leading influences on a ton of later rock bands in the underground. Here, for instance, you can really hear the Replacements. This song was on his solo record Bach’s Bottom, but this actually comes from the excellent Ork Records: New York, New York compilation.
This is what ska-punk should sound like when it’s done well. Lots of speed, lots of energy, it gets in and out without hanging around too long. For your “Operation Ivy substitute”, you really can do so much worse.
[Read More]Today’s set is a real barn burner.
This song, from It’s a Bit Complicated, is a solid encapsulation of Art Brut’s unique brilliance. Art Brut only makes sense to someone that has consumed a ton of pop and rock, and internalized all the cliches from them. If you’re that person, Art Brut’s send ups of all that stuff will just hit squarely.
We’ve had Gift of Gab as a solo artist, but here he is on the breakthrough Blackalicious LP, Nia. From the lush, jazzy beats to the incredible rhymes, Blackalicious immediately became one of the highlights of hip-hop. This record still sounds fresh, 18 years later (OH GOD I’M OLD), and it and the follow-up Blazing Arrow are one of the strongest one-two punches of any rap act ever.
[Read More]It’s eclipse day! I hope everybody had a chance to check things out. I did here, and I thought it was pretty neat, but the boy didn’t seem to care very much. Ah well. In honor of the event, we have our first Five Songs Special! I searched for “moon” in my library, giving 261 tracks. I then used random.org to generate five numbers, picked those tracks, and got us this list! Enjoy it along with me, won’t you?
[Read More]When this posts, I’ll be at the charity gaming tournament The Gauntlet, probably losing at Caylus and Ponzi Scheme. Should be a good time! While it’s too late to donate to my team, it’s never too late to donate to the fine folks at Treehouse. Here’s today’s playlist.
Psychedelic noise band Crystalized Movements was mostly Wayne Rogers, seeing how far guitar noise could take him. By the time they hit their last album, Revelations From Pandemonium, they were at the top of their form. At the time, I remember thinking that that album was the best record of 1994, a year that included amazing albums from Drive Like Jehu, Portishead, Nas, Jawbox, Jawbreaker, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Green Day, among others. I wouldn’t hold that opinion today, probably taking the Nas record first, but it still says something. This track is from an earlier album, where you can hear that psych/pop/noise aesthetic really starting to coalesce.
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