Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Pinegrove, “Darkness (acoustic)”

After a very good and well-received second album (Cardinal), Pinegrove ran into some serious problems that derailed the band after accusations surfaced about Evan Hall. It was a messy situation that Hall and the band tried to handle head-on, eventually going through mediation with the accuser and leaving their label willingly when another band objected to their presence. Overall, they seemed sincere in their attempts to handle things, and it seems like the accuser was satisfied by their steps. Anyway, all of this delayed the release of their third album by a couple years, and it eventually came out self-released. For all that, Skylight is actually a good album, and it came accompanied with an acoustic interpretation (called Skylight II). That’s where this track came from, and it’s a nice little listen.

Pinkwash, “No Real Witness”

I feel like every time Pinkwash comes up, I say something equivalent to “hey, this is neat, I keep forgetting about this!” I wish I could say that I’d grown past that, but no, I do still keep forgetting about this. It’s a fun record! But, I can report some growth: I checked to see if they have another record. No, they do not. Still!

Firewater, “The Beat Goes On”

Across a discography that stretches across seven albums ranging from incredible to great, there’s one that stands out. Mostly by being kind of superfluous. This is from that record, 2003’s Songs We Should Have Written. It’s a covers record, and it’s not bad, but it just doesn’t rise to their original records.

Hepcat, “The Secret”

The first Hepcat record found the band hitting their first-wave ska sounds right out of the gate. They’d keep moving in this direction with later records, growing more assured as they went, and creating lusher arrangements. But all that said, every one of their records is a good one, even if I might go for them in reverse release order. I guess you can compare this to the version from Right On Time to see how they developed.

fIREHOSE, “Sometimes”

I know I bang on the drum every time fIREHOSE comes up, but I don’t care: it’s such a shame that people didn’t seem to give them a fair shake after the Minutemen. This is such a good tune! This album is really good (If’n)! fIREHOSE’s first three albums are all flat-out great.

Mogwai, “Heard About You Last Night”

Compare this to the Radiohead track from yesterday. Yeah, both contemplative, almost meditative. Plenty of space in both compositions. But this one feels like it has a point, like it’s going somewhere, not just an unfocused noodle.

I’m not entirely sold on this new version of Ghost Blog that I’ve installed. I feel like the editor is worse. Oh well. Music here!

Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans, “12th Street Rag”

My oldest daughter started learning the clarinet in school last year, so I wanted to get some music in the house to give her some examples of the possibilities with the instrument. Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans was suggested as a possibility, so I picked up this album.