Christmas Eve! This is all pre-recorded, so I hope you all are enjoying your holidays! Here's your decidedly non-Christmas playlist for today!
The Minus 5, "The Town That Lost Its Groove Supply"
Another song from Down With Wilco, a thoroughly charming album that I heartily recommend everybody pick up right now. Why right now? Scott McCaughey, one of my personal musical heroes and somebody I've been listening to for the last 27 years, suffered a stroke a few weeks ago. Given how much trying to recover from something like that costs, he'll need every cent he can get. So, buy a great album, and help a great musician. If you'd like to contribute directly, there's also a GoFundMe.
Bitch Magnet, "Big Pining"
Part of the Squirrel Bait family tree, they played post-hardcore that called to mind the noise rock of Chicago with lots of influence from Big Black (they took their name from the liner notes of Atomizer), but added in some more melodic elements. Sooyoung Park, the leader of the band, would later emphasize those melodic parts more with his following band, Seam. At any rate, across three albums, Bitch Magnet made some great music, with their swan song Ben Hur being their best work.
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, "The Blue Trees"
Long running folk act Gorky's Zygotic Mynci has put out a ton of albums, and I can't tell you much about them, as I only have this one, and it never really grabbed me much.
And then I clicked, and discovered I have two albums from them. Both from 2001, somehow? Apparently they made a real impression on me, huh?
Ocrilim, "Part 2"
A one-man experimental metal band by a guy named Mick Barr, this was part of a grab bag from Hydra Head records. You know you're in for a thing when the album (Annwn) doesn't even have song names, just parts. At any rate, this isn't really something you groove along to, but just something you kind of listen to and appreciate the outré nature of the whole thing.
Baring Teeth, "Mountain"
There are times I really wish bands would just go instrumental, you know? Although the vocals are buried so far in the mix that they're not really that important here.