Quelle Chris & Chris Keys, "SUDDEN DEATH"
Quelle Chris has been on quite a tear. 2018's collaboration with Jean Grae, Everything's Fine, was one of the best rap records of that year. 2019? Guns was again one of the best. 2020 has seen him return to collaborating with Chris Keys, producing Innocent Country 2, another excellent record, this one featuring plenty of jazzy beats. This song will give you a taste of the beats on the record, but you'll have to wait until some future date to hear Quelle Chris.
Andrew Bird, "Manifest"
My Finest Work Yet, is, alas, not his finest work (yet). The notion that I could get to listen to an album better than The Mysterious Production of Eggs or Armchair Apocrypha gives me tingles. That said, it's probably my favorite record of his since Noble Beast, which is pretty darn good! Bird is in fine lyrical form, which is something that sometimes gets away from him a little bit on records. And of course, the songs are as beautiful as ever.
Godflesh, "Pulp"
Godflesh was a band that was beloved of the extreme metal underground, and one I encountered at a time I wasn't really ready for them. In 1991, I picked up this record after hearing that it was kind of industrial-adjacent. And, I suppose that's true, what with the drum machine and nihilistic outlook. But at the time, I liked my music fast - the hyperactive chug of Ministry, the frenetic pop of the Descendents - and this didn't really do it for me. I actually ended up selling the record back to the record store, one of the very rare cases of me getting rid of an album. Much later, with more of an appreciation of heavy and slow, I picked it back up. Still don't love it, though.
Wax Chattels, "It"
Can you make noise rock without guitar? Wax Chattels set out to answer that in the affirmative. Bass, keyboard, drums, and shouting work just fine. I will confess that I do kind of miss the guitar some here, but this is a fun variation on things.
They Might Be Giants, "I Am Invisible"
Geez, it's been a minute since we've had TMBG. This is one of the songs from Why?, one of the kids' albums, which would have seamlessly fit onto one of their regular records. It's not always clear why they route some songs onto these albums. I suppose the song was ready to go?