Been a while since I've done a special, so let's do this. For those who haven't seen them, I usually pick a word, search the library for that word, and then randomize among those songs. Today, I'm going with "school" in honor of the kids going back to school. Let's see what we get!
The Nation of Ulysses, "Cool Senior High School (Fight Song)"
Oh fuck yeah, good start. This urgent tune comes to us from the first Nation of Ulysses album, 13-Point Program To Destroy America, which is probably my favorite of the two just by virtue of being first. But they both rule, the sort of post-hardcore that actually ends up shading just back into hardcore. The drive and energy of this album is palpable.
Blue Scholars, "Blue School"
Hey, solid keyword so far! This is from the self-released debut record of Seattle hip-hop duo Blue Scholars, who harken back to the jazz-driven beats of the Native Tongues acts. Or maybe an even better reference point is Pete Rock & CL Smooth, who are solid matches stylistically for DJ Sabzi and MC Geologic respectively. It's a fun album, but one that I'm sort of unable to clearly hear because I'm such a homer. So maybe I'm wrong about that.
Steely Dan, "My Old School"
You have your opinions on Steely Dan, I'm sure. They seem like they're responsible for a good third of the Music Discourse on the internet these days. I'm not going to change anybody's mind here, so I'll just say: fun horns on this sucker.
Johnny Socko, "Old School Master"
Well. They can't all be winners, I suppose.
Nirvana, "School"
Hell yeah. Four out of five, pretty good! Anyway, there were long stretches of my life where I would have argued that Bleach is the best Nirvana album. I don't really think that's true, not really, but it's really very good and of a darker and sludgier character than the other two. I haven't listened to it in a while, and I'm going to fix that.
Anyway, back to school, motherfuckers!