I don’t know shit about any of this, but I have to say: that song title looks like something from a prog-metal band’s record.
If I played the first ten seconds of this to you, I wonder how long it would take for you to guess that it’s a Built to Spill song? By a minute, of course, it’s obvious, but still.
[Read More]These pieces, which come up occasionally, really don’t make a lot of sense in isolation. Shuffle is good at some things - surprises, shaking up your routine, serendipity - but is bad at an album like this.
Rejuvenation is my favorite album from the second Meters phase of life. The grittier, mostly- or all-instrumental Meters of the first few albums had changed into a brighter sound, with vocals and more bounce. Still incredibly funky, of course, but a different feel. Generally, I lean towards the earlier sound, but this album is undeniable.
[Read More]I often feel inadequate on this blog. My words are woefully insufficient to describe so many of the beautiful songs we get on here. Writing about music is hard, even for somebody good at it. Writing about it for an idiot like me is basically impossible. I’m just banging rocks together here and ooking at the moon.
And then something like Coltrane comes up, and I really vanish. What can I possibly say that’s going to add to one of the true artistic triumphs any of us are likely to encounter? You either feel this in your heart, or you don’t, but it’s not like I’m going to be able to awaken your soul with my typing.
[Read More]Sloan are a rarity, a band who clearly should have been big in America, but instead settled for a long and celebrated career in Canada. This stuff, really smart power pop, absolutely could have broken through at basically any moment, and just kind of never did. If you like this sort of thing at all, this album and One Chord To Another are must-listens.
I feel too dumb to even type out that song title, much less listen to this.
[Read More]UK punk band Leatherface play it pretty much straight ahead, but they do a nice job with it. The thing that’s hard to adjust to is Frankie Stubbs’s voice, which is rough, to put it mildly. But, this entire album (Mush) is pretty good overall, and it’s worth giving it a try if you like this song.
Sure, why not. Apparently it’s Punk With Vocals You Really Have To Adjust To Day around here.
[Read More]We just had Zeal and Ardor in here recently. This is always a challenge: I have so little interesting to say about anything, that if we have a band show up twice too quickly, y’all will notice that I’m hopeless. Notice more that I’m hopeless.
I love the echoing guitar part that opens this track, this whole thing actually reads more industrial than black metal in a lot of ways, which kind of makes me nostalgic for 1990.
[Read More]Aesop Rock’s Def Jux debut, Labor Days, is widely considered to be his best record. It’s the one where the beats really started keeping up with his complex, wordy flow. Rock can be a little exhausting to listen to at times, but in the right mood, he’s a lot of fun.
This track, from How’s It Goin’?, is an example of Bim Skala Bim at its best. A warm, organ-driven groove, some fun trombone bits, a cheerful tune - it’s just super pleasant.
[Read More]I discovered this album via Bandcamp’s Album of the Day feature, which is always deadly. I like it, it’s always nice to pick up on random punk records now and again.
As before, still don’t know anything about this.
Long-running UK punks Leatherface made ten albums, which is probably about eight more than we actually needed. They play very back-to-basics punk that evokes all the first-wave punk bands from the UK. I’ve got two albums from them, and I’m not totally sure I could tell them apart.
[Read More]Sorry I’ve been flaky a bit recently! I have tunes for today, though!
Nope, still don’t know nothin’. Nice to listen to, though.
What is this? I like this a lot! I don’t remember getting this! I suspect it must have been in a year-end round up last year, and I spaced listening to it. This sounds like it’s from Chicago. (looks) Yes, it’s from Chicago. Hell yes. I know what I’m listening to when I’m done here.
[Read More]Shuffle is trying to make me look dumb today. It probably succeeded.
Channels is basically impossible to search YouTube for. Well, it was only a few days ago we first encountered them, so hopefully you all remember them well. This song is about as ballad-y as J. Robbins gets.
A side project of a bunch of folks in the New York third-wave ska scene, this is basically what it sounds like: a bunch of ska artists getting together to play a bunch of jazz standards. It’s a pretty enjoyable listen. This, of course, is the John Coltrane song. I’d say more, but, well, you know the score.
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