Baba Brooks & Tommy McCook, "River To The Bank"
The name A Tribute To The Ska-talites probably would get you (rightfully!) worried that it would just be a bunch of lame covers of the greatest ska band of all time. But no, instead, this is a bunch of artists from the actual first wave of ska doing Skatalites tunes. Including several, you know, actual Skatalites such as Tommy McCook here. So, what could have been a lame record instead turns out to be a super warm slab of the original stuff.
CROOKED BANGS, "No Future"
A Bandcamp discovery showing that punk isn't dead, and that there's still plenty of room in the genre. Out of Austin, CROOKED BANGS play punk that sits on the border of noise rock or post punk, this is high energy fury that never really gets old.
Nothing, "Nineteen Ninety Heaven"
When this song kicks off, with that "When The Levee Breaks"-ass drum break, I get all hype. But, you know, this is just kind of a shoegaze song after it gets going. And it's fine? But I kind of want to just listen to the path not taken with those drums. I guess I'm not really that much of a shoegaze guy.
Helen Money, "Rift"
Helen Money is the nom de metal of Alison Chesley, a classically trained cellist who plays this stuff as a side project. Recorded by Steve Albini, giving it that filthy distorted Chicago sound, this is about as doom as doom metal gets. It's always great when an artist like this pursues her passion, as this project sounds totally different from just about anything else out there.
Man or Astro-man?, "Um Espectro Sem Escala"
Let's follow that fierce instrumental with another one! And lo and behold, it was recorded by Albini again! Just take a listen to both of those tracks. You can hear the hand manipulating the microphone on both. Anyway, this is just smoking. Nice work, shuffle.