Hot damn, some great songs today.
Sleep, "Some Grass"
Sleep is one of the titans of doom metal, as we've talked about in the context of High on Fire. But, alas, this is just a little throwaway on Sleep's Holy Mountain, so we'll have to wait for another day to really bear witness to the majesty of their good stuff.
The Delgados, "Witness"
The Delgados came out of the same Glasgow scene that birthed Belle & Sebastian and Arab Strap. And, like Belle & Sebastian, their take on pop evolved from something more folk oriented to something much more orchestrated. This comes from The Great Eastern, the peak of their discography, although they were always good.
The Pharcyde, "The Hustle"
Still no sign of the first Pharcyde album. Instead we have a track from their followup, the criminally slept-on Labcabincalifornia. While it doesn't have quite the same carnival feel as the first album, and maybe the peaks aren't quite as high, but the sometimes sleepier and more contemplative songs show a new side of the band. Overall, it's an excellent and fun listen.
Isaiah Rashad, "Heavenly Father"
It's been a while since we've had a track from Rashad, and I'm still not sure what to make of him. I didn't really spend any time listening to my two mystery albums in the meantime, so I guess it shouldn't be too surprising.
The Roots, "Rolling With Heat"
I know that everybody lists Things Fall Apart as their favorite Roots record, and I get that, and that's a totally respectable opinion. It's clearly their breakthrough, the album where the Roots became THE ROOTS. But I'm not sure I'm there. It depends on how much I'm willing to ignore the shaggy tracks on the followup, Phrenology (as usual, I ignore the live album in between). My favorite tracks on it hit harder than my favorites on Things Fall Apart. This song is one of them - when Thought hits us with that verse that starts "I'm a threat like / Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms / Willy gank / spit the killer dank dialog", I just get fired up. And Talib Kweli! Could we get Kwali to just hang out with the Roots all the time? Anyway, this album rules.