Hi gang. This playlist thing is tougher to be consistent with than I thought. It’s all good though! Know why? ‘Cause it’s been busy with awesome things.
In May, I left my job for another opportunity that would be more suited to where I’m at in my life. But before that gig started, I went to China with my band of like 15 years to play 6 sold-out shows. When I got back, I started the new job. Just last weekend, I went to Indianapolis to play Post. festival with the band. It was one of the best shows in the states we’ve ever played.
There’s all sorts of other reasons I can say I’m busy, but I’m finally getting a chance to write some silly words about some music I’ve been digging. I had 4 hours of music picked out for this episode, and it took a while to narrow them down to 2 hours. Here it is, let’s go.
Here’s your links, starting with that dumb Spotify embedding I can’t figure out how to turn off:
Aaaaand Apple Music.
As promised, I’m slowly doing my homework on early country & bluegrass. “Walk On Boy” by Doc Watson is evidence. From here, the party really starts. “100% Pure Love” by Crystal Waters and “The Bomb!” by The Bucketheads were jammies from the 90’s that lie dormant in the back of my brain. I had completely forgotten about these, and they still hold up. Note the Chicago sample in the latter song.
My high school friend Patrick O’Leary accidentally showed me this great cover of the Stiff Little Fingers classic “Suspect Device.” Ted Leo and the Pharmacists did a fantastic rendition. Some classic rock, reggae, and hip-hop close out this block. Enter John Mellencamp, Oasis, Leroy Brown, and Dear Silas. You know I can’t do one of these without an Oasis (or adjacent) song. (Oops! That Leroy Brown song is not available on Spotify.)
“No Shelter” is one of RATM‘s best songs, and it was a soundtrack song, not an album cut. Remember “More Human Than Human” by White Zombie? I barely did, but I’m glad I heard it again the other day. “Turquoise” by Donovan tugs the heartstrings as he reminds an unnamed character how special she is, and exhorts her to be careful with who she lets see her beauty.
Story time. Paradise by Bob Sinclair is a front-to-back no-skipper of an electronic/disco album from the late 90’s, and I JUST discovered it. I urge you to check it out. The album art has a naked lady on the front. I took a screenshot of one of the songs I was listening to and posted it to my Instagram story. Right afterward, my account got a slap on the wrist for posting nudity (see: the album cover). But get this! When you search for any song from that record on IG, it will let you play the song on your story WITH the same album artwork! The audacity to slap MY account on the wrist when you are also a purveyor of the image! It’s alright. Life is a constant reckoning with your own double standards and biases, and we are all guilty of both. But still. Anyway, “Get Into The Music” is as good as the rest of the album.
I like the updated version of that one Childish Gambino album that just came out (I like the newer one too). “Atavista” is a song my Dad would like, I bet. But, back to the 90’s right quick: “The Colour And The Shape” was a killer bonus track from the Foo Fighters album The Colour And The Shape.
This next block is a bunch of music recommended to us by the crew we were traveling with in China.
Fayzz is a killer instrumental Post-Rock band, and the song “Tide” will give an idea of what they’re about. BrokenShaft is the now defunct band of one of our Tour-Managers-turned-friends, Anton. We were pretty impressed with how sick his band was. Our sound engineer, Cheng, reminded me to check out ANORAK!, a name I had heard but never tried. How foolish I was. Speaking of Cheng, he tested the sound system every night with “Stars Down” by mouse on the keys.
No Brotherless Radio is complete without some funk, new or old. An old co-worker I miss terribly, Reece, showed me “Nobody But You” by Brainstory. “Eldorado 1997” is one of the silliest songs off of Manu Chao’s legendary album Próxima Estación: Esperanza. While we’re traveling the world, Mdou Moctar is a guitar genius hailing from Niger. His new album Funeral For Justice is not to be missed.
Last year, Rick Froberg of many influential LA-area punk bands passed away at 55. I’ve been thinking of his work lately, and Hot Snakes has been in heavy rotation. “Six Wave Hold-Down” is a favorite of mine. Next, some Tom Waits and a silly song by Jimmy Dean. But wait! I’m not done with the Hot Snakes family tree! “All Hits” by The Night Marchers reminds me of the kind of song The Bronx would write.
I recently revisted the Empire Records Soundtrack and fell in love with “Nice Overalls” by Lustre. I’ll follow that track up with one that needs a warning: you will 100% be offended by “I’ll Say Anything” by Devin the Dude. The lyrics are absolute smut, but the beat bangs. “Drums” by Daniel Leseman is not offensive since it’s instrumental. I can get lots of work done to this kind of track.
I found this Tom Brock track “I Love You More and More” on a Barry White compilation called Unlimited. Turns out White produced this song! From here, let’s go home.
Jimmy from my band Athletics mentioned “Mailman” is one of his favorite Soundgarden songs. I take note of Jimmy’s appreciation for sludgy guitars and tempos. I also take note of the lyrics in this song. I feel helpless realizing that Chris Cornell was never able to shake the feeling he describes in this song.
D’Angelo‘s opus “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” is a beautiful 7 minute+ slow-burner. He ends this song in one of my favorite ways: just cut the track at a random spot during the climax. Given the nature of the lyrics of this song, there’s gotta be a better word I can use for the ending of this song, but alas, I don’t feel like finding it. The abrupt cut is a move that many of us first heard utilized in “She’s So Heavy” by The Beatles. I’d like to use this move in some of my own music one of these days.
That’s all I’ve got for you this time. There is so, so, so much music that I like, and I can’t seem to compile it all in 2-hour playlists quick enough. What a cool problem to have, yeah? Mucho amor. Talk to you next time.
Brotherless, underscore, yo. 