The Dillinger Escape Plan

Lollipop, “7 and 7 Is”

There’s a real danger in over-intellectualizing a lot of rock. Something like this, pure garage punk, run on attitude, energy, and racket. That’s not to suggest it’s poorly constructed, or that Lollipop didn’t know what they were doing, or anything like that. They knew what kind of music they wanted to make, and they were very good at it. It’s just that deconstructing this further is a waste of time. Can you feel the energy? Does it get you amped up? Does it make you want to throw a chair through a window? Mission accomplished!

Atmosphere, “Lovelife”

A thing that strikes me about listening to early Atmosphere (this is from their second album, 2002’s God Loves Ugly) is how young Slug sounds on these tracks. He still sounds like the same person later, but there’s less weariness in his tone here as opposed to his latest work.

Mastodon, “A Commotion”

Medium Rarities is a compilation that Mastodon put out in 2020 to gather all the miscellany from their career. This track is a good example: it’s from a split with Feist where they each covered each others’ songs. Mastodon are a strong enough band that a comp of their random crap is still worth listening to.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, “43% Burnt”

I dunno, I’m 100% burnt now!

Neutral Milk Hotel, “April 8th”

I learned about a podcast called Neutral Cider Hotel the other day, and I have to say, I was probably way more amused than I should have been.

Superchunk, “Break the Glass”

Despite being a huge fan of Superchunk from the release of No Pocky For Kitty, I never once managed to catch them in concert until the tour for this record, 26 years after I started listening to them. And you know what? It was a total delight. I was just entranced watching Mac do his thing up there. I wish I could have seen them more often, but at least I got there once.

Mudhoney, “In My Finest Suit”

Ever the self-sabotaging band, Mudhoney found themselves on a major label during the grunge gold rush and released Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, one of the least grunge-y records they ever released. Sales were not great, and by 1995, Kurt Cobain was dead and the grunge bubble was collapsing. So, of course, they headed back and released one of their MOST grunge-y records, My Brother The Cow. This song, for instance, would have sat comfortably on their self-titled record without anybody really noticing stylistic problems.

Rage Against the Machine, “Calm Like A Bomb”

The last proper Rage album, The Battle of Los Angeles is also my favorite of their records. It shows the most focus, and they refined their attack to the point of total relentlessness on this one.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, “Jim Fear”

Meanwhile, about a month before Rage released that record, the Dillinger Escape Plan put out Calculating Infinity which…uh, kind of puts “total relentlessness” into perspective.

The Grifters, “Spaced Out”

By the time the Grifters arrived at this record, album number five, they were recording for a mid-major (Sub Pop), in a real studio, and they were sounding like a real full-on band instead of the ramshackle act they used to sound like. There are some bands that get exposed as boring when you shine them up, but happily the Grifters are not one of them. This is their slickest album by a lot, but their country/blues/rock songs sound great, and it’s a shame that their ride ended here.

The Pietasters, “Without You”

You know, for a dude who claims to not like live albums, I sure have a lot of live albums. The Pietasters only have one good studio album, Oolooloo, but it’s tremendous. I bought this album because it was the next thing they put out, and I wanted more. This live album captured them at about the same time as their studio masterpiece, and it finds the band in roughly the same form. As a result, it’s probalby their second best album, which doesn’t say a ton about the rest of their career.

Nots, “Cold Line”

Another surprise record! Feels like we’ve had a lot of those recently. I wonder what the actual count of surprise records is in the ol’ collection. I’m not sure I want to know.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, “The Running Board”

I know what this is!

The parts of songs where the Dillinger Escape Plan drops into something like the post-hardcore in the middle of this song were always effective. It can be easy for that kind of thing to just sound like a lame gimmick, but they always pull it off with aplomb.

Arsonists, “Session”

My favorite song on As The World Burns, powered by that savage bass line. I’m basically a sucker for any upright bass. And, of course, it’s fun to hear them trading verses back and forth.

Prefuse 73, “Last Night”

One of the less glitchy or fractured tracks on Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, that also makes it one of my least favorite songs on the record.

Dance Hall Crashers, “Street Sweeper”

An old song from Dance Hall Crashers, this was when their style could best be described as “straightforward” (or “boring”, if you’re not inclined to be nice). As they would go on, they would get more interesting, with songs that were less reliant on paint-by-numbers third-wave ska.

Crackerbash, “Bad Karma”

I know we’ve had Crackerbash on here before, but by way of reminder, they’re a forgotten punk/power pop band out of Portland who were active for just a little while in the early 90s, producing a very good album and outstanding EP, along with a few singles. Then, right as the music scene in the Pacific Northwest blew up, they disappeared. Like fellow Portland band Pond, their stuff stands out by having more of a melodic sense than some of the more dour bands of that time and place.