Took a little break over the holiday. Why not! Anyway, I'm back, let's see what we get!
Tenement, "Crop Circle Nation"
Not bad! Tenement play melodic punk, I suppose you'd call it, although it's really stretching the work "punk" pretty far. I guess it's just kind of "rock" at this point. If you were to guess where they're from, you might guess the Midwest, given the long pedigree for this type of music in that area. And you'd be right! You're so smart, person who doesn't exist!
Zu Vs. Mats Gustafsson, "The Tiger Teaches The Lamb"
Zu, who we've had before, is an Italian trio featuring drums, bass, and baritone sax. Mats Gustafsson is also a baritone saxophonist, so this collaboration has a truly strange lineup. Equal parts free jazz, random bleating, and mutated rock, it's pretty out there. Maybe not something to listen to often, but it's fun and bracing to put on something like this occasionally.
Lamb, "Soft Mistake"
Elecronic group Lamb distinguished themselves by adding a vocalist to their albums, a relative rarity among groups like this. But, uh, not on this track, which is the intro of Fear of Fours.
The Monkeywrench, "Angelhead"
No, your ears are not deceiving you, that's Mark Arm, but this isn't Mudhoney. The Monkeywrench were a supergroup formed by Mark Arm and Steve Turner of Mudhoney along with Tim Kerr, mostly notably from the Big Boys. They recruited a couple more folks from other bands, and made their first album in 1991. Frankly, any band that wastes Steve Turner's grimy talents on bass instead of guitar is not putting their best foot forward. Arm is of course great, and it's kind of fun to hear him on the organ, harmonica, and piano. The loose, bluesy rock that the Monkeywrench put together is plenty solid, and you can certainly do worse, but this mostly comes off as a B-list Mudhoney album.
Atmosphere, "Smart Went Crazy"
There's always this brief moment when you get a track starting with some soul wondering if it's going to be a rap track or the original soul record. Anyway, rap! The followup to my favorite album of theirs (Seven's Travels), You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having just didn't quite land as well. It's very good, though, just not as good.