This is apparently a cover, which I hadn’t really realized before. Smile, the album that opens with this song, is on the more accessible end of Boris’s work. There are plenty of vocals on the record, plenty of things that are recognizable melodies, and generally not as much of the harsh noise. That’s not to say that it’s easy listening or anything, just that in the context of their career, it’s pretty approchable.
[Read More]One of the best songs from Take Fountain, the “comeback” album from the Wedding Present that was really them just renaming themselves. Gedge always sounds great in this kind of conversational/confession mode, and the extended outro is nice. This song could easily have been on Watusi, which is a high compliment.
Well, this song certainly takes its time getting going, doesn’t it? And then it sounds like a couple different songs playing at the same time. Honestly, the wall of sound here is sort of the musical equivalent of mumbling really loud. But, I still kind of like it.
[Read More]Three days, when will it stop? NOT TODAY! HIT IT, YOUTUBE!
There’s something almost shoegaze-y about this track from the Microphones, with the buried vocals and washes of noise. I love it when everything lays out about a minute in as well. It’s a short tune, but it packs a punch.
Kid Koala assembled the entirety of 12 Bit Blues out of layers and layers of samples of old blues, adding scratching over the top when everything was put together. It’s a fascinating experiment, as with just about everything he does, sounding ancient and dusty while simultaneously modern.
[Read More]I’m not entirely sold on this new version of Ghost Blog that I’ve installed. I feel like the editor is worse. Oh well. Music here!
My oldest daughter started learning the clarinet in school last year, so I wanted to get some music in the house to give her some examples of the possibilities with the instrument. Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans was suggested as a possibility, so I picked up this album.
[Read More]I kind of feel like I should give a Jim Anchower-style apology here for disappearing for a while, but the truth is, I was traveling and didn’t queue up any entries for while I was gone. Sorry about that! Back into the music mines with me, though!
That was not the triumphant, rockin’ return I was hoping for. Oh well. Live by the shuffle, die by the shuffle. Anyway, I like the breakdown at the end of this song.
[Read More]There are going to be a fair number of artists where I exhaust what I know about them or have to say about them fairly quickly. The Microphones are one of them. You can check out the previouslys down below for my previous tepid takes!
Overall, this is one of my concerns of this project - will I just run out of things to say about everything? Will it just devolve into random junk? Probably. I could critique the exact song in question, I suppose, but I’m not sure I really have the musical vocabulary to make that work consistently.
[Read More]Hooray, I made it the whole month without missing a day! Another meaningless milestone! Music!
This is a pretty jaunty piece that still manages to sound really otherworldly, thanks to the alien nature of the playing. In some ways, Nancarrow presaged electronic composition, of using a tool to create music that otherwise couldn’t exist if it had to be created by human hands.
This was from a blind grab bag from Hydra Head records, and I’ll be honest, I think this is the first time I’m hearing this. Well, snap impression: in some ways, it goes pretty well with the Nancarrow piece above. Maybe I’ll listen to the rest after these five songs are over.
[Read More]Sorry I get sloppy on the weekends sometimes. I need to figure out the automated post capability on this thing. Or, not. Nobody looking through the archive is ever going to notice! And nobody is going to look at the archive! Whatever, here’s some songs.
The attributes that made Superchunk one of the truly great bands were all present on the debut album. The catchiness, the energy, the tight songs, and the sheer fun were all there, and showed what the band would turn into. But it’s all just a little sloppier, and a little muddier, and just not quite firing on all cylinders yet. The next album would be the big step up, but the debut album is still a worthy listen.
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