The Emotions

It was wobbly a few times there, but another month in the books. As always, thanks for sticking with me here!

BIG|BRAVE, “Do.No.Harm.Do.No.Wrong.Do.No.Harm.Do.No.Wrong.Do.No.Harm.Do.No.Wrong”

If you were just given the data above, the name of this song and the name of this band, I wonder how close you’d get to guessing that it sounds like this kind of abrasive drone? I think I’d guess something pretty outré, at any rate, so I might get pretty close to “early Swans, I guess?” But that’s easy for me to say, I already knew what this sounded like.

The Emotions, “I Could Never Be Happy”

Late period Stax single here, which you can hear in that much more 70s funk sound. And of course, the production at this point is much richer than some of the earlier stuff.

The Slackers, “Feed My Girl Ska”

This comes from the 2007 album Boss Harmony Sessions, which is sort of a bit of an odd record from them. They have some originals, some arrangements of other people’s songs, and some songs written by other folks from the band than Vic Ruggiero. It’s tied together with an intro and outro by “Boss Harmony”, which I think is one of King Django’s (Skinnerbox) many aliases. At any rate, the Slackers are great, so this is a pleasant listen, but it’s not one of their top tier records.

The Emotions, “My Honey And Me”

This comes to us from early in the third phase of Stax Records’ life, after they reached an arrangement with CBS Records. This period still contains plenty of fantastic songs, but Stax was also on a slow decline. Luckily for them, they had plenty of space to decline in to.

The Jam, “Start!”

I wonder if I could play this on the bass? I should try. (I cannot.)

Funkadelic, “Into You”

The world is divided into two groups: those who think Mothership Connection is P-Funk’s finest moment, and those who think One Nation Under A Groove is. (I’m ignoring Maggot Brain perverts.) My opinion largely rests on whichever one I’ve listened to most recently.

No, but seriously, it’s Mothership Connection.

Front 242, “Television Station”

Official Version is the first good Front 242 album, the one where the menacing synths and icy vocals really came together. And I have to say, this stuff has largely aged better than a lot of their peers. There are elements of it that kind of presage the *wave bands of today.

Today!

Mono Men, “Don’t Know Yet”

Garage rock revivalists Mono Men, from Bellingham, WA, were dedicated to the proposition that back-to-basics rock was all anybody really needed. They were sufficiently dedicated to the idea that not only did they put out a ton of albums on their own, but they formed Estrus Records to put out records by like-minded bands (like The Mortals). In one of the bummers of indie rock, the building where they kept the masters for all of the Estrus records releases burned down, although I suppose that matters less in the digital age than it might have in previous eras.

Today’s music.

DJ Food, “Cookin'”

A collaboration between Coldcut (who we haven’t had yet) and a couple other guys, DJ Food sits between electronic music and abstract hip-hop. They’ve put out a bunch of records, and as befits the guys behind Coldcut, the ones I’ve listened to are good quality. I think I prefer the main act, but they’re still worth a go.

The Stingers, “Do The Cissy”

Kinda feel like this song name has aged oddly.