The Budos Band

The Budos Band, “Ghost Walk”

The Budos Band are brilliant, always worth listening to, but they don’t always do cool. This song, though, is so smooth and cool, a standout from their brilliant first album.

Squarepusher, “Nux Vomica”

Burningn’n Tree is a collection of Squarepusher’s earliest EPs (one not even credited as Squarepusher), along with a few new tracks for the album. As a result of being a collection, as well as being from when Tom Jenkinson was still kind of sorting out what he wanted to sound like, it’s uneven. So it’s interesting stuff if you’re a Squarepusher sicko, but you have a lot of records to get through before you should get to this.

The Wedding Present, “Let’s Make Some Plans”

The Wedding Present decided to release a single every month for 1992, cranking out originals and covers during the series. They were collected into two records, Hit Parade 1 and Hit Parade 2, and both are great. The band was at their absolute best in the early 90s, and so getting this many tunes from them at that time is great. There’s no real reason to pick between them, both are outstanding.

Green Day, “Hitchin’ a Ride”

Nimrod is an uneven record, but I really like the high points of it, and this is one of them, I think. It’s nice to hear them expirimenting with their formula some, as Insomniac really did not at all.

The Budos Band, “Arcane Rambler”

Burnt Offering found the Budos Band referencing hard rock pretty explicitly in their music, and it was a really nice breath of fresh air. The following album returned to their numbering system, and V represents kind of the midpoint between III and Burnt Offering. There are still some of those same hard rock riffs here and there, but the Afrobeat is clearly back in the driver’s seat. It’s a great album from a band that have really taken it up a notch in their last few albums.

It’s Megan’s birthday! Happy birthday! I picked a keyword today, can you figure it out?

The Budos Band, “Old Engine Oil”

The opening track of V, which I like a lot. This track in particular has a lot of classic rock vibes going, which go well with that big, brassy horn part.

The Beautiful South, “Old Red Eyes Is Back”

I adored the first Beautiful South record (Welcome To The Beautiful South), and was kind of disappointed with the followup (Choke). There just weren’t as many transcendent moments, there weren’t as many of the really acid moments in the lyrics, and it felt kind of rushed out. When 0898 Beautiful South came out, I was happy to hear it was closer to the first album. It’s still not quite as good, but it’s close, and it’s my second favorite album from them.

Witchcraft, “The Outcast”

Doom metal can sometimes just be code for “wants to be Black Sabbath”, and while that’s not such a bad thing, bands definitely have differing levels of skill at it. Sweden’s Witchcraft have been at it for a long time, and as a result, they’re pretty good at it. By the time they hit this album (2016’s Nucleus), the truth is that they’re actually channeling a whole lot of 70s rock and not just Sabbath. There are distinct notes of, say, Jethro Tull going on here.

Whiskeytown, “16 Days”

Ryan Adams’ first foray into country, the first Whiskeytown record is alt-country only in the sense that it wasn’t made for pop-country radio. Other than that, it’s a country record in every sense. It’s a pretty good record, but I don’t find it as compelling as other alt-country acts, so it doesn’t get played very often.

The Du-Rites, “The Mean Machine”

Among the many reasons to love the Du-Rites is that they produce a steady stream of singles, which all consistently smoke. This is the a-side to one of those 7"s, and come on, that’s tasty.

The Police, “King Of Pain”

By the time Synchronicity came out, the Police were really out of gas. There are some fine pop songs on it, but lots of filler, and even the good songs are kind of tame compared to some of their previous songs. I really liked this album a lot back when it came out, but find myself listening to it only very rarely now.

Budos Band, “Old Engine Oil”

There are about three seconds at the beginning of this song when you think it’s going to be a classic rock vamp. But then the horns kick in, and it’s a regular Budos vamp. But with some classic rock touches here and there in the guitar, which is a lot of fun. It kicks off another classic record from the Budos Band, an album which dials back the psych stuff from Burnt Offering just a little bit. It ends up being right in the middle for their albums, behind Burnt Offering and I, but ahead of III and II. I haven’t placed Long in the Tooth yet, but I think it winds up probably right around III somewhere.

Pretty good one today!

Cop Shoot Cop, “All the Clocks are Broken”

One of the things that set Cop Shoot Cop apart from the other acts they were usually lumped with, often other industrial bands, was that Tod Ashley was never afraid to deploy some genuine emotion in his songs. It wasn’t all just pummelling, fury, noise, and aggression. Songs like this would presage the work that Ashley would later turn in with Firewater.

Superchunk was great! I can’t believe I didn’t see them until about 25 years after I first listened to them, but whatever, at least I got the chance. I’m really pleased that their second act has gone well. Today’s music!

Flop, “Sorry Henry Maartens”

Well, we’ve now gotten a song from all three of their albums. This one, Whenever You’re Ready, sort of is a classic demonstration of the “troubled second album” idea. It’s unfocused, and just doesn’t snap the way their debut album did. It’s not bad, exactly, but it just kind of feels diluted compared to the sugar rush of the debut.