They Might Be Giants

Clinic, “Voodoo Wop”

Imagine having the confidence to open an album this way. A distant, chilly vibe, acutal ocean noises, a complete change a minute in in both mood and sound, no vocals until the last five seconds. Just bonkers. It was a true declaration of intent, though, as the whole album basically fulfilled the promise of this opening track.

Cursive, “Driftwood: A Fairy Tale”

One of the fun things about The Ugly Organ, if “fun” is the right word, is that they made great use of the cello in order to really fill out the sounds on the record. Tim Kasher’s songs are very good, as always, and the album is one of my favorites of theirs.

They Might Be Giants, “Let Me Tell You About My Operation”

I always enjoy the manic stuff when they really roll it out. A nice performance from Marty Beller on the drums here.

DJ Muggs & Roc Marciano, “White Dirt”

DJ Muggs was always the best part of Cypress Hill, and it’s nice to hear him working with Roc Marciano on Kaos, which is a solid pairing. Marciano does good work, and Muggs rolls out a bunch of his signature claustrophobic sounds on the album.

Soundgarden, “Outshined”

Badmotorfinger was the big leap forward for Soundgarden, where they married the murky hard rock homage of their early stuff to clean enough productions and songs to really appeal to a broader audience. And, carried forward by the contemporaneous releases of Nevermind and Ten, that broader audience found them. Soundgarden had always had potential to be a big band, as the core of that Sabbath/Zeppelin sound had a built-in appeal to a bunch of folks, and they would be one of the breakout acts of the grunge scene.

De La Soul, “Church”

After the lackluster Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump and the uneven AOI: Bionix, I was wondering if De La Soul were done. The answer was answered definitively by the next album, The Grind Date: no, they were not done. At least part of that was the production they got on the record, with good work from folks like J Dilla, Mad Lib, and 9th Wonder (who is on this track). It’s not groundbreaking in the way their early work was, but it’s a just a solid record all the way through.

Aden, “New Fast”

During the early 90s, parallel to grunge, there was a growing movement of indie pop bands that didn’t make a lot of headway, but were a recognizable subculture. As the 90s went on, a billion of these pillowy soft indie bands popped up. The pressure from all these bands ensured that, eventually, one or more of them would break through (it was Death Cab for Cutie, mostly).

Here’s today, but check out the bonus song I link down below.

The Goats, “Rumblefish”

The second Goats album seemed like it was chasing the trends of early 90s rap, with plenty of stabs towards rock, jazz, and other types of hybrid styles. It doesn’t hang together particularly well, and it’s mostly forgettable. There are some fun moments on the album, but overall, it’s a miss.

They Might Be Giants, “Someone Keeps Moving My Chair”

The opener to the second side of Flood, the album that really put the group on the map. And while it has some truly great tunes on that first half, my HOT TAKE here is that the second half is only so-so. It’s that second half that puts this album nowhere near the top of my favorite albums from TMBG.

Y’all, I screwed up. 4/14 is this project’s birthday, and I just flat missed it. I didn’t forget, I just didn’t get around to posting, and that’s a shame. I don’t want to neglect this! 471 entries over the first two years, right around two-thirds of days. Not bad! But, you know, I haven’t been carving out as much time recently. But nevermind that, I’m going to try and pick up the pace again! HIT IT, PLEXASAURUS REX!

Today!

Girl Talk, “Ffun Haave To”

Before he became the best mashup artist around with Night Ripper, Greg Gillis was much more into noise. Yeah, you still have bits and pieces of recognizable songs floating in and out, but this stuff has much more in common with experimental artists like Negativland than it does with the kaleidoscope of party music that he would later create. In other words, don’t go back further than Night Ripper and expect to find more stuff like that.

Tidy list today!

christian fitness, “love letters in the age of steam”

I really enjoy tom-heavy drum beats like this. Yeah, I wouldn’t want it for every song, but for the occasional tune, bring it on. Also, this song gets in and out in two minutes. Nice work!

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, “Third Finger, Left Hand”

I gotta say, you can count your fingers differently and really change the intent of this title by quite a bit! This isn’t the best song from Martha Reeves, when it comes down to it. It’s pretty predictable and a little too syrupy. Not unpleasant, but not great.

Today!

They Might Be Giants, “Last Wave”

They Might Be Giants released their 20th studio album, I Like Fun, this year, and it’s a solid entry into their discography. While not their best, it’s still a very good record, and I’m always happy for more music from them. They. Whatever.

Guided By Voices, “Cigarette Tricks”

Remember, Alien Lanes is the album where most people agreed that Guided by Voices seemed to be getting their shit together (graded on a curve, of course).