Nicole WIllis & the Soul Investigators

Spawn of Possession, “Bodiless Sleeper”

Every time Spawn of Possession has come up here I’ve mostly just complained about it. It’s all just from the same record, and you know what? Let’s move on.

Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators, “No One’s Gonna Love You”

A little harsh there, don’t you think? No one is going to love me? My dog thinks I’m pretty neat.

Jackintosh Plus, “Desert Rider”

Hey, it’s my buddy Jack Grimes! He did the logo for this joint, hire him for your graphics needs!

Bitch Magnet, “Navajo Ace”

I wanted them to keep going with that stuttering thing they had in the first thirty seconds, but the rest of the song is plenty fun as well.

They Might Be Giants, “You Probably Get That A Lot”

I think I’ve made this point before, but that was probably a long time ago. There’s a lot of Five Songs, and nobody is really paying much attention to it. That includes the staff of Five Songs. Anyway, just think of it like how when you know a friend long enough, you’re going to hear the same stories a lot and even start to take comfort in them.

Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators, “Light Years Ahead”

With the strings here, this is reading very “late Stax” to me, or perhaps Curtis Mayfield. Interestingly, it’s an era of soul that for the most part hasn’t seen as much of a revival as earlier Stax or Motown. I’m not sure why that is, exactly, although perhaps the lusher arrangements are just harder to put together for independent artists.

The Queers, “Drop The Attitude Fucker”

You first, the Queers!

De La Soul feat. Usher, “Greyhounds”

De La Soul launched a Kickstarter in 2015 to record their new album using a new method. Tired of chasing and clearing samples, they decided to bring musicians in to the studio to record them playing a bunch of different things, and then used those sessions as their library of music to sample and construct the tracks. The resulting album, …And The Anonymous Nobody, isn’t one of De La’s best albums, but how could it possibly be? It is very good, though, and clearly a different record from the ones that come before it. If you haven’t listened to anything from De La Soul from after the Prince Paul years, you should listen to…well, Stakes Is High. And then The Grind Date. And then probably this one!

Bullfrog, “Mark After Dark”

We’ve had Bullfrog here before, but as a reminder, this is one of Kid Koala’s many projects. Most of their album is pretty straight ahead funk, but they mix in some other stuff, such as the tune here which closes the album.

The Meters, “Running Fast”

Hell yeah, Meters! Fire On the Bayou is the last essential Meters record, as it was followed by a poor disco record and an OK funk record. While I tend to prefer their earlier, non-vocal stuff, this is still a great record.

Going to see Superchunk tonight, pretty excited about that! Here’s today’s music.

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, “A Perfect Kind Of Love”

Hey, I asked for more soul yesterday, and shuffle delivered! Nice. OK, uh, uh, how about…some mid 90s indie rock?

Marvin Gaye, “You Sure Love To Ball (Single Mix)”

Yeah, more soul, that’s what I said!

One of the things that you can really appeciate about old soul is how subtle it all was. Just sly innuendo and clever wordplay.

Can you tell the Voodoo Glow Skulls and Suicide Machine apart? Most people can’t.

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, “Blues Downtown”

Soul revivalist Willis leans more towards the Motown end of things than the Stax/Volt side, although obviously there’s still plenty of Stax influence here as well. And my god, those drums at the start of the song. Anyway, this album (Keep Reachin’ Up) is fantastic.

Voodoo Glow Skulls, “Thrift Shop Junkie”

Voodoo Glow Skulls are usually at their least interesting in their generic hardcore mode. This is, um, a pretty generic hardcore song.