A thing I admire about Frank Black is that his songs always sound so distinctly like him. Whether with the Pixies, as a solo act, with the Catholics or whatever, he always sounds like Frank Black. It’s not just the voice, either, it’s his guitar, how he constructs songs, everything. His records might vary in quality and inspiration, but they always sound like they came from him.
[Read More]Unlike with OutKast, I have a lot of trouble picking my favorite Superchunk album. No Pocky For Kitty was the first album I bought, and it’s top notch, and it’s a sentimental pick. Here’s Where The String Come In has Superchunk at their best blend of their energy and more mature songwriting, and it’s a fantastic record. And then there’s On The Mouth, today’s album, which is just rock solid back-to-front. I think it’s probably my most frequent pick, but I really do swap around quite a bit.
[Read More]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.
I wonder if I could play this on the bass? I should try. (I cannot.)
[Read More]Title track of the first of their essential albums, and just a quick little gem. I wonder if I could learn this bass line?
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted is really a hybrid album, with the vintage Bomb Squad production married to Ice Cube’s flow. It’s a little bit of an awkward fit at times. Both artists are, of course, legends for a reason and some of the best ever at what they do. And it’s a great album, but I think Cube’s following couple albums bring things together a little bit better.
[Read More]I wasn’t following music during the Jam’s heyday, what with being too young, but they were pretty big shit. Specifically, according to Wikipedia, “That’s Enterainment” is still the best-selling single in the UK ever. Pretty impressive! Lovely song, too.
Here’s MTX doing what they do best, laying down a catchy pop-punk tune for three minutes and then getting out of here. I will honor them by doing the same.
[Read More]The middle album of the Jam’s peak trio, Setting Sons, is probably the slickest and most commercial sounding of the three. While the songs are of course fantastic, the overall approach makes it my least favorite of those three records. But just to be clear, it’s still a fantastic record, I just liste to the other two albums a little more often.
Powerrun is a *wave band, maybe a synthwave band? I can keep decent track of metal microgenres, but I get out of my depth pretty fast with electronic stuff, even though I listen to a fair bit of it. ANyway, this is just a little trifle, but it’s a fun record.
[Read More]After Fugazi went on hiatus (I refuse to say they’re broken up!), Ian MacKaye started a band with his wife, Amy Farina, on drums. They play as a duo, playing a stripped down indie rock that still has touches of Fugazi’s post-punk. It’s not as incendiary, but there are definitely pleasures to their records, so it’s worth checking out.
Flipping the same Al Hirt sample as De La Soul’s “Ego Trippin’”, this kind of call back to hip hop history is the sort of thing that the Roots did regularly, which was always a pleasure. And, of course, Black Thought kills it, providing one of the highlight tracks on The Tipping Point.
[Read More]There’s not a ton to say here, other than The Argument is a tremendous swan song for the band, and I really wish that there were more records after it.
One of the crowning achievements of mod, Sound Affects is chock full of great songs, and this one is one of the sweetest of the bunch. It’s straightforward, but it sounds fantastic, and certainly still sounds totally fresh.
[Read More]Gaza, out of Salt Lake City, played a brand of metal that crossed a bunch of arbitrary genre boundaries, usually a combination of sludge and doom. I recognize that these kinds of categorizations are deeply unhelpful for folks unfamiliar with metal, and yet I provide them anyway. It’s loud and angry! It sometimes slows down to a drag along ala doom, and is often centered around big riffs, like sludge. And has a lot of shouting.
[Read More]Back and forth between cerebral stuff and straightforward things. It’s the Five Songs way!
From Sound Affects, this is just a great song. I could listen to this stuff all day long.
Negativland’s 1997 album Dispepsi was all about advertising, with a focus on the “cola wars” between Coke and Pepsi. Constructed out of bits of found sound and with a fair number of things that might actually pass for songs, it’s one of the most accessible Negativland albums, along with Escape From Noise and Free. It’s still not normal, mind you, but I’m grading on a curve here. I doubt that this record would resonate with anybody who didn’t grow up surrounded by these ads.
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