The Beautiful South

Happy Pi Day! I do not celebrate Pi Day usually. I have occasionally done something for Pi Approximation Day, though. Let’s do a special!

The Pietasters, “Night Owl (Live)”

So, in case you haven’t guessed, our special word for today is “pie”. As with some previous specials, I searched my library for our magic word, and shuffled between those songs. There was a significant risk of a lot of Pietasters today. (UPDATE: indeed there was.) Anyway, the Pietasters were a third wave ska act who made one out-of-character tremendous album (Oolooloo) and an assortment of lesser albums. This is from a decent live album, Strapped Live!, where most of the best songs are from Oolooloo. So, you know, that album is really good!

Maybe the most dangerous of the year-end roundups is Bandcamp’s, which always results in a lot of stuff for me. As for today’s music, well, I really like two of today’s songs an awful lot. The other three are a little…slapdash, let’s say.

The Skatalites, “Wood and Water”

We get a lot of third-wave ska acts around here, and usually, we make fun of them. Or, at least, a good percentage of them. We get enough of them that maybe a quick refresher is worth our time? When we talk about waves of ska bands, we’re referring to:

Music!

The Beautiful South, “The River”

Another relatively toothless song from the later period of the band. I can’t wait for some early tracks to show up.

Melvins, “The Mechanical Bride”

Another tune from the “double duo” years, when they had an extra drummer to augment their usual trio. This comes from (A) Senile Animal, a great album. One of the many thing I love about the Melvins is their use of space. Yes, they can just crank out headbangers, but they’ll often leave plenty of space for menace to build up, for the drums to breathe, for the compositions to evoke a mood beyond “GRRRRR”. (That mood is “GRRRR…(pause)…GRRRRRRRR”.)

My first repeat song today. I decided I’m going to skip repeats, because they’d be boring. Here’s your minty fresh songs for today.

Kendrick Lamar, “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe (Remix)”

This remix was included as a bonus track at the end of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, at least on the version I bought. Complete with unnecessary Jay-Z verse! Anyway, this album is fantastic, and as I mentioned last time, is part of an unbroken winning streak. I think Lamar is the closest person we have to George Clinton working today.