The Vaselines

Vaselines, “Bitch”

Eh.

New Bomb Turks, “Professional Againster”

The New Bomb Turks arrived on Epitaph with Scared Straight, and immediately things got more professional. And that’s not a good thing when you’re dealing with this sort of thing. Listen to this - it’s certainly not bad, but there’s a certain theatrical edge here that really cuts against the proper energy of the band. I just don’t think we need the Jerry Lee Lewis thing going on. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy this record, it’s just not as much fun as the earlier stuff.

Wolves in the Throne Room, “Ahrimanic Trance”

Wolves in the Throne Room are one of the biggest bands in black metal, by showing a path that could take the aesthetics of the music but apply a different frame. They merge an ecological consciousness and an atmospheric approach at times that is not just pure fury. It’s hacky to say that their music evokes the distant, misty forests of the Pacific Northwest, so I definitely will not do that.

Today!

Thou, “Find the Cost of Freedom”

Metal has links to folk in a bunch of ways, ranging from the atavistic impulses of black metal, the explicit crossover of various folk metal acts, the lack of fear of being totally uncommercial, or even just the willingness of metal bands to strip things down to provide contrast, like Thou is doing here.

Louis Armstrong, “Ain’t Misbehaving”

We, of course, are well aware that I don’t know shit. About anything, really. But I have to do something to entertain myself while listening, so I read a little potted bio of Armstrong. Why not? And this bio declared that Armstrong is the most influential figure in jazz. Huh.

Today’s music.

La Luz, “I’ll Be True”

Seattle band that plays a combination of 60’s pop, surf, and a bit of garage rock. Everything is super reverbed out, is what I’m saying. It’s a lot of fun! I like the second album, Weirdo Shrine, the best of the two studio records.

Seaweed, “Turnout”

Another local band! Seaweed were out of Tacoma, WA, and were active on Sub Pop during the grunge explosion. Despite that, they were always more of a punk band than a grunge band, and consequently kind of got lost in the shuffle. The middle couple albums, Weak and Four, were excellent, and are worth digging up to try out.

A bit of a mixed bag today. Too bad we missed the Amon Tobin track that immediately followed these!

Arsonists, “Blaze”

Underground rap act out of Brooklyn, Arsonists are odd simply for the fact that they signed to legendary indie rock label Matador for their two records. The two turned out to be excellent, with the group itself doing all the production as well as the rhyming, which is always a pleasure. I can’t really think of any other rap artists who ended up on Matador off the top of my head, so this remains just a fascinating experiment for the label.