Thelonious Monk

Black Flag, “Loose Nut”

We’ve had this song before, and I told the store about how I bought it at random after deciding I should probably hear some Black Flag. That was the sort of thing we did in those days, when the Usenet wasn’t really searchable in any useful way, and you had to rely on either word-of-mouth, college radio, or magazines to learn about stuff. I would just take a flyer on records, because that was what you did. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes you ended up with a so-so Black Flag record.

Thou, “Prayer to God”

Thou released two covers collections in 2020, with Blessings of the Highest Order being all Nirvana covers, and A Primer of Holy Words being miscellaneous tracks from other artists. This, of course, is the Shellac tune, a feel-good ditty from 1000 Hurts. Pretty much everything Thou does is worthwhile, so I recommend this album.

Big Ass Truck, “Lil Tico”

Is frat-boy funk a genre? Seems like it should be.

Jonwayne, “Afraid of Us”

A tasty drum loop here, and a nice lightweight structure up on top of it. Appropriate for a contemplative track like this one, this is just a solid song all around.

Delerium, “Sorrow”

A project from a couple of guys from Front Line Assembly, the industrial act out of Vancouver, Delerium goes in an ambient direction, as I suppose you can hear. This sort of thing doesn’t make my wheels squeak, so I only have this one EP from them. Maybe their other stuff is banging? Probably not.

Good one today!

Mr. Lif, “Mo’ Mega”

Mo’ Mega features a bunch of tracks produced by El-P, so you know I’m down with this record. This, of course, is one of them, which you could probably guess by listening to it. It has all of the sci-fi feel you expect from his beats. As Mr. Lif is also always good, this album is worth checking out.

(NB: this song starts at 28:19)

Excellent one today.

Alex Chilton, “All of the Time”

Alex Chilton, of Big Star, is one of the leading influences on a ton of later rock bands in the underground. Here, for instance, you can really hear the Replacements. This song was on his solo record Bach’s Bottom, but this actually comes from the excellent Ork Records: New York, New York compilation.

Slapstick, “The Geek”

This is what ska-punk should sound like when it’s done well. Lots of speed, lots of energy, it gets in and out without hanging around too long. For your “Operation Ivy substitute”, you really can do so much worse.

Welcome to Five Songs, where we have six songs for you!

Kid Koala, “Cardboard Stars, Sea Shells (Page 100)”

A repeat! Since there’s not much to say about it exactly, I’ll instead mention that Kid Koala did the score for the video game Floor Kids, which I haven’t tried yet, but will.

Dillinger Escape Plan, “Weekend Sex Change”

Listen to the space on those drums. They sound so live! Awesome.

Ihsahn, “After”

Leading force behind Norwegian black metal legends Emperor, whose In The Nightside Eclipse is one of the touchstones of the genre, Ihsahn has continued forward as a vital force in metal over the decades since. His solo work has tended more towards the progressive and symphonic end of things rather than the black metal grime of his earlier career, but he’s shown a pretty wide range in general.

Here’s today’s music.

The Apples In Stereo, “I. Her Room Is A Rainy Garden (Wallpaper Reverie Theme)”

The throwaway intro to Her Wallpaper Reverie.

The Wedding Present, “Cattle and Cane”

In 1992, the Wedding Present decided to release a single every month for the entire year. Normally, this kind of gimmick would indicate a band that was just trying to attract attention, but the Wedding Present in 1992 were at the peak of their powers, so these singles are all pretty great. They’re collected in Hit Parade 1 and Hit Parade 2, and both compilations are worth seeking out as companion pieces to their other albums from the early 90s.

This was so close to being great today.

Sam & Dave, “I Thank You”

I was wondering when we’d get Sam & Dave, one of the top acts from Stax and reliable hitmakers for the label. The drought is over! This comes to us from 1968, an Isaac Hayes song, and goddamn, listen to that.

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, “Heat Wave”

Hell yes, shuffle, keep it going!

For a long time, I’ve always thought that at some point, the rats in one of the Muppet movies sang a little bit of this song. Well, my memory was only a little right, the scene had just a little echo of this song.

Starts slow, but some interesting stuff today.

Coldplay, “Swallowed In The Sea”

Like I said last time, I’ll defend the first couple albums, but this album (X&Y), NOOOOPE. Too boring.

The Flaming Lips, “Okay, I’ll Admit That I Really Don’t Understand”

Well, I’m not sure what to do with this album. This is from Zaireeka, the transitional album between *Clouds Taste Metallic and The Soft Bulletin. So, what’s the problem? Well, at the time, the Flaming Lips were doing a lot of experimenting with how music is played back. They were doing “car stereo orchestras”, where they got a ton of cars together and gave each of them a specific tape, to be played in unison to produce a single piece. They decided, hey, that’s cool, and went for an at-home version of that with Zaireeka.

I’ve made the decision to try and just embed Bandcamp stuff directly here, in cases where the track isn’t easily available on YouTube. I could upload it, but since Bandcamp embeds well, I think this will work fine. Let me know if that’s too big a hassle! Your playlist today (but note, Kröwnn is down below!)

Kröwnn, “For the Throne of Fire”

Any metal track that begins with a quote from the Conan movie is really leaning into the camp. And this track sounds exactly like you’d expect a metal track starting with a Conan quote to sound. It’s pretty much just overt Black Sabbath worship. I mean, come on, the band is called “Kröwnn”. The proper place to be writing about this band is on the side of a van. I mean, look at that album cover! There’s a wizard on it!