Dām-Funk, "Floating On Air"
One-man band Dām-Funk does a nice job of collaborating with a wide range of interesting folks, often to fine results. This cut is the first peak on Floating on Air, featuring Flea and somebody called Computer Jay. It wanders around a little bit, but I'm totally fine with that in my electro-funk.
Calexico, "Victor Jara's Hands"
2008's Carried To Dust was a return back to the sounds of their best album, Feast of Wire. (As an aside, it was super gratifying when the band themselves agreed with my opinion, proving that Five Songs is never wrong.) It's actually super admirable that Calexico will try out different styles on their records, but I'm also not sorry to get a second helping of that super lush, dusty beauty either. As always, Calexico kind of sounds like they're making a soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist.
Pond, "Rebury Me"
One of the oddities on Rock Collection, Pond's majestic swan song, the sound manipulation and found sounds here are at odds with the usual angular, emotional rock of the rest of the album. It suggests perhaps a future direction for their music that went unfulfilled, thanks to a bad contract with Sony Records.
Seaweed, "Antilyrical"
Punk band out of Tacoma, Seaweed were on Sub Pop at the time of the grunge explosion, putting out four albums ranging from solid to very good. This, of course, resulted in a record contract. And, like Pond directly above, it didn't go very well. Their one major label record wasn't great, was lost in the flood of releases from similar bands, and didn't go anywhere. However, unlike Pond, that wasn't the end of the story for the band. Four years after that ill-fated major label record, the band actually returned to an indie and released one final album on Merge, which gave us this song.
Now, I wish I could say it was an inspired swan song, but it wasn't, not really. It was pretty much in line with their Sub Pop releases, not bad, but probably below those albums in quality. Still, it means that Hollywood Records didn't manage to kill their career, and that is worth celebrating.
The Body, "Partly Alive"
Expiremental noise/metal act The Body are ridiculously productive, releasing one or two albums every year since getting under way in 2010. They're more or less metal on various releases, but are always challenging. On 2018's I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer., they're actually coming across as more industrial than they are anything else, along the lines of Skinny Puppy's most challenging releases. Tons of distorted electronics, tons of noise manipulation, tons of screaming, but plenty of chilling moments to balance it out, it's all extremely heavy.