#it's not even the greatest recording it is amateur and you hear wind noise!

[clove-pinks]

@victoriansecret has been assisting me in my quest to find traditional fife and drum field music with only ONE fife and ONE drum. I am in love with this recording he found of The Duke of York's March (Short Troop), by the Old Fort Niagara Fifes and Drums [Facebook link]. There is something deeply poignant and stirring in the sound of this minimalist arrangement.

If I heard something like this 200-250 years ago I would IMMEDIATELY take the King’s shilling, they wouldn't even need to tempt me with free ribbons and alcohol! You had me at fife and drum.

[edibleflowerseu]

SOUNDS

American Football / American Football (1999) [Polyvinyl]

“American Football’s greatest innovation was successfully removing any trace of punk rock while still functioning within the genre. This was a bold maneuver, since the genre’s hardcore roots were about the only thing that gave its practicioners even the slightest bit of credibility. American Football weren’t the only ones headed in new directions (see: the Appleseed Cast), but whatever you think “punk rock” means, they got rid of it on American Football—there’s no confrontation, almost no distortion, no power chords, and none of the verse/chorus structure that was maintained even when emo became virtually synonymous with alt-rock.”

“American Football operates from a mindset where everything is about to happen, and that inability to stay present is a feeling that’s neither teenage nor see-through nor false.” (—)

American Football’s first (and for a long while only) album has reached the same level of “seminal work” as In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. From obscurely beloved to listening parties to sold-out three-weekend comeback gigs.

I remember coming across the name when googling “emo bands” in sophomore year of high school, and listening in earnest to downloaded tracks from Limewire my junior year. Snowing was a huge deal, and emo revival was just about to roar to life. I remember name-dropping Cap'n Jazz at a Newbury Comics in Providence, initiating conversations that would blossom into some of the most meaningful relationships in my life.

American Football is several things, most of which I don’t feel like naming. But most strongly its nostalgic. Its nostalgia for a real time and experience I had, but its in many ways nostalgia in essence. The record oozes it. But it’s nostalgia for things I never had, and sometimes in my head wish I had. Nostalgia for a particular kind of suburban teenhood, where friends weren’t a twenty minute drive away, and shows were not a novelty. Grass is always greener but I am always nostalgic for a suburban upbringing I’ll never have. I drive around Connecticut towns and play the guitar riffs in my head, imagine the amateur trumpet bits. An open window on a summer’s day. Friends biking across town and shouting your name. Stoned out trips to the diner. A future of nothing but potential.

But summer ends, and you can never get that shit back.

Junglepussy / Pregnant with Success (2015) [no label]

“The New York rapper Junglepussy works within a lineage of comedic rappers, from Biz Markie to Ghostface Killah to Cam'ron and Action Bronson, rappers who elevate the muck and mundanity of life with zany non-sequiturs, ad libs, and references. On Pregnant With Success, Junglepussy talks shit and pulls apart the patriarchy as she experiences it.” (—)

Tbh I’m a stan for any female rapper out there, good or bad. So long as they are not super racist, I throw my support behind them. There are so few women rappers, and each one has to contend with a mountain’s worth of sexist bullshit, chief among them the fact that they are probs not gonna find mainstream success no matter how good they are, cause listeners don’t wanna hear a woman rap. It’s “annoying” or “cute” or “sucks”. So when I get wind of a woman rapper making waves, I’m in. I don’t care if its not the best shit I ever heard. A woman rapping is still a novelty these days, and even the shittiest female rapper has more interesting things to say than your average hyped up dude rapper.

But that being said Junglepussy is actually fire. Like she ain’t a rap goddess, but what kind of dumb standard is that to hold to someone? Girl is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and has an amazingly strong sense of her own thing to the point that it feels 100% organic. Which in itself is a rarity in rap. Sincerity tends to feel contrived in a lot of hip hop, likeability forced. Junglepussy has the chops to be more than a “pretty good woman rapper”, but an undeniably good listen.

Anderson .Paak / Malibu (2016) [Empire]

“This is a sincere, soulful project, brimming with honesty and humble perseverance.” (—)

I have hushed conversations in dark, unlit rooms where no one can hear or find us about how I don’t think Chance the Rapper is very good. For fear of persecution, its not a topic one can bring up with just anyone. There’s just something about him that turns me off, and I’m not that engaged to make a big deal of it. Still, its always met with surprise when I say that Chance just doesn’t do it for me.

Tho granted haven’t really listened to all his shit, and if I sat down and listened to it I doubt it would be possibly to not get annoyed, since that’s how it’s gonna be framed by my brain no matter how I go at it: “some overrated shit you don’t like”.

But whatever, don’t really wanna trash Chance. He’s aight and does his thing and does probably a lot of good shit for the community or whatever and that’s nice and respectable and he’s probs a good dude so ain’t no thang. But when I think of what Chance does, I feel like Anderson .Paak does better. Granted, I’m not amazingly wild into what .Paak does either. Shit runs too poppy for my tastes, too posi. I need something with teeth, ya feel? Yet it’s a good ass listen, it’s a fun ass time. I def recommend.

If u wanna feel good and alive and empowered to face a challenging ass world, I think Malibu is def worth a spin.

Wilco / Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001) [Nonesuch]

“A band from Chicago with an annoying sound that’s chalk full of elevator Jazz, alarm clocks, random noise & pretentious lyrics. Wilco is fronted by a fat asshole named Jeff Tweedy who is formerly of the late great Alternative Country heroes Uncle Tupelo.” (—)

I always like to describe Wilco as “dad rock for the whole family”. My high school psych professor used to talk about how she would listen to Wilco and Bright Eyes with her teenage sons, as something they both liked. Its a band somewhere on the spectrum of NPRcore and Scubs-core. From just before indie folk blew the fuck up and became insufferable.

Yet here I am, going through a Wilco phase. I still can’t see what the big deal is. Not a single song blows me away the way it’s supposedly supposed to do. But the songs get stuck in my head, and I want to listen to them. This isn’t dismissive. I legitimately enjoy Wilco these days, but its on my own terms. I accept them as better-than-average milquetoast indie rock, and don’t think its necessarily a bad thing. I like the band for what they are to me, in spite of it. Pleasant music for pleasant times, if u ask me.

I have no feelings on Jeff Tweedy.

Other shit:

Moor Mother / Fetish Bones

Raspberry Bulbs / Deformed Worship

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony / E. 1999 Eternal

Pile / You’re Better Than This

Neil Young / Tonight’s The Night

My Bloody Valentine / Loveless

Alex G / DSU

DJ Earl / Open Your Eyes

Mount Eerie / No Flashlight

Mount Eerie / Clear Moon

Mount Eerie / Live in Bloomington