Category: Episodes

450. Spacemen 3

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(November 2022) Episode 450 is SPACEMEN 3. They’re labeled neo-psychedelic (perhaps for their ample drug use) but I hear them as noise rock — a transformative band, molding elements of MC5, the Stooges and Lou Reed and creating sounds you hear later in shoegazers (My Bloody Valentine) and sonic adventurers (Yo La Tengo). Few if anyone else was doing this in the 1980s, and I regret not knowing them then. But beyond the noise, Spacemen 3 offered surprisingly infectious low-structure songs, the kind of stuff you’ll hear with Spiritualized (not surprising, since Jason Pierce led both), Brian Jonestown Massacre and Beta Band.

Favourite album: Playing with Fire

Favourite song: Suicide

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: strongly recommend. Beautiful noise: Suicide, Revolution, Rollercoaster.  Low-structure songs: Come Down Easy, How Does it Feel?, Hypnotized, I Love You

449. Saint Vitus

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(11/11/22) Episode 449 is SAINT VITUS. Like other pioneers of doom metal, they set out to recreate the sound and ethos of Black Sabbath, cutting against trends of the mid-80s. With the instruments, Saint Vitus succeeds valiantly, led by the guitar in an Iommi-style low and slow grind.  But the vocal style puts me off a bit, too up front in the mix, too operatic at times.

Favorite album: Born Too Late

Favorite song: Dying Inside

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: kinda meh on results, although I give them an A for effort

448. Quicksilver Messenger Service

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Episode 448 is QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, one of the bands from the San Francisco scene alongside the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. They had a couple minor radio hits but offer less than those bands. In fact, as I listen to more of the Greatest Era of Music (1965-69), I’ve soured on the San Francisco Sound. Too much noodling and despite the label it’s not actually psychedelic. 

Favorite album: Quicksilver Messenger Service

Favorite song: Pride of Man

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: avoid, unless you’re interested in who was smoking grass with Airplane

447. John Lee Hooker

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(October 2022) Episode 447 is JOHN LEE HOOKER. A true blues superstar.  A next-generation Delta Blues artist, his early recordings were primitive and powerful, which is why his Detroit years (late 40s-early 50s) are my favorite. Hooker may be best known for developing the single-note boogie; when he gets in a distorted and crunchy groove it’s just awesome.  He touched almost all varieties of blues in his long recording career – electric, jazzy, pop, including many collaborations.

Favorite album: Plays and Sings the Blues

Favorite collaboration album: Hooker ‘n Heat (with Canned Heat)

Favorite soundtrack album: The Hot Spot (with Miles Davis)

Favorite song: Boogie Chillen’ No. 2

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: go for the early recordings and the boogie stuff, but if you’re like me you can only take so much blues in one sitting.

446. Earth

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(October 2022) Episode 446 is EARTH.  They are considered a pioneer in drone metal (called ‘ambient metal’ by its constant member Dylan Carlson). The first album (Earth 2) achieves precisely that, with a glacial flow of distorted guitar buzz.  Love it!  But their reinvented sound in the early 2000s is more like slowed down rock music (is this slowcore?), which bores me. Granted, there is a fine line between hypnotic drone and slow boring, but I know what I like. 

Favorite album: Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version

Favorite song: Like Gold and Faceted

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just the first album

444. Missy Mazzoli

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(October 2022) Episode 444 of the “opus project” is MISSY MAZZOLI. A contemporary, New York-based composer of chamber and orchestral works and, more recently, operas.  Her works are inventive, never settling on one style, with sounds that can be both jagged and liquid.  Mazzoli also brings in electronics and distorted guitar, giving a sort of indie rock vibe to some compositions.

Favorite piece: Violin Concerto (Procession)

Favorite album: Cathedral City

Favorite chamber piece: Magic With Everyday Objects

Favorite vocal piece: Song for Mick Kelly

Favorite solo instrumental piece: Dissolve, Oh My Heart

Favorite opera: Songs from the Uproar

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: spend some time with her music

443. The Vines

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(October 2022) Episode 443 is THE VINES.  I see them as the garage band version of the classic rock-stomping Jet, both emerging out of Australia 2002.  The garage hooks were good but too few. They developed a lush, overproduced sound that presaged that of fellow Aussies Pond and Tame Impala.

Favourite album: Highly Evolved

Favourite song: Get Free

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: a few of their songs do slay

442. Suicidal Tendencies

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(October 2022) Episode 442 is SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.  I normally dislike fusion in music, but the punk-thrash crossover of Suicidal Tendencies works for me. And it works very well, combining the technical proficiency of thrash metal and the audience-oriented voice of punk. I favored their first album as iconic, although I generally prefer the later metal sound. Despite, or maybe because of, several lineup changes their sound adapts well through nü and funk metal phases.

Favorite album: Suicidal Tendencies (also check out its semi-remake Still Cyco After All These Years for a more metal treatment)

Favorite song: Disco’s Out, Murder’s In

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: should be in both your punk and thrash playlists

440. The Association

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(September 2022) Episode 440 is THE ASSOCIATION.  Sunshine pop with harmonies like a summer breeze. “Windy, “Cherish,” “Never My Love,” were AM rather than FM hits, putting them on the lighter side of my tastes of that time. But there are bits of psychedelia and baroque pop and it’s all 100% groovy.  I’m happy to include them in my Shrine to the Greatest Era of Music (1965-69).

Favorite album: Insight Out

Favorite song: Never My Love

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: a greatest hits album will do