Five Songs, 10/1/2018

You know, I didn’t think it could really get more third wave-y around here, but it seems like New Shuffle might be even more fond of the stuff. But, you know, here you go!

Death From Above 1979, “Never Swim Alone”

Pounding drums and bellowing through distortion is a time honored formula that almost always gets me going. Just big, pounding, and shameless. Delightful!

Less Than Jake, “Glumble”

Lots of Less Than Jake recently. This comes from Losers, Kings, And Things We Don’t Understand, a compilation of the various non-album cuts that they produced before and around the time of their first proper album, Pezcore. In these early years, Less Than Jake was really more of a punk band than anything else, but they did a good job with it. As always, it’s more down to the energy and hooks than anything else with pop punk.

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Five Songs, 10/1/2017

Happy October! It’s a little ska-ish in here today. Sorry about that.

Magic Hour, “Sally Free and Easy”

Magic Hour is Wayne Rogers (Crystalized Movements) and another guitarist along with the rhythm section from Galaxie 500. They lasted a couple of albums, sounding exactly like the combination of their two progenitor bands - alternately dreamy and psychedelic. I was mostly here for the psychedelic guitar, personally.

The Specials, “A Message To You Rudy”

This track kicks off the Specials’ self-titled debut album, which just to reiterate from last time, is probably the best ska album ever made.

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