SOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-Metal Circus EP (1983).
After the insane hardcore mess of Land Speed Record, this EP is a bit of a change. It’s still pretty hardcore, but now you can tell that the noisiness of the guitar is deliberate. Bob Mould is playing around with multiple layers of feedback and distortion to create a wall of noise that sometimes hides, sometime accentuates the overall sound.
What strikes me as odd in retrospect is that I think of Bob Mould as one of alternative rock’s poppier songwriters. And yet when you listen to this disc the two poppiest (which is a relative term to be sure) tracks are by Grant Hart.
The first two tracks are fast and furious. But what separates them from 4 x 4 hardcore is, mostly Greg Norton’s bass. He’s all over the place. There’s also some diversity within the songs themselves (a little guitar squeal in “Deadly Skies”).
“It’s Not Funny Anymore” (Hart’s song) is surprisingly upbeat (with guitar harmonics) and is not quite as noisy (although it’s still pretty noisy, and is not going on the radio anytime soon).
The next two track are more of Mould’s screamy hardcore.
The longest song (4 and a half minutes) is also by Hart. “Diane” is a creepy song about abduction and murder (yet with something of a singalong chorus). I actually know the Therapy? version better because I had listened to that disc a lot when it came out. But the Hüsker’s version is even creepier. Wikipedia says it is about a real incident (which makes it less creepy than if Hart has made it up, I suppose).
It ends with Mould’s least hardcore song, although the guitar solo is pretty insane.
And then it’s over. 7 songs in twenty minutes. That’s nearly half as many as on Land Speed Record. You can see the songs changing already. Just wait till the next disc!
[READ: June 29, 2009] McSweeney’s #5
McSweeney’s #5 plays with cover ideas again. On this one, 
the cover idea is actual different covers and slipcovers. The book is hardcover, with three different cover designs. It also has 4 different slipcover designs. The colophon explains that if one wanted one could have requested for free) each of the cover designs because they did not intend to make people buy multiple issues. Click on the covers to see them enlarged on flickr (all images are copyright McSweeney’s).
This is the Koppel front cover.
I will quote from the McSweeney’s site their description of the covers:
As many of you know, the new issue of our print version is out, and by now is in most stores. This issue is a hardcover book, and features four different dust jackets. One dust jacket has on it a man who seems to be suffering from terrible skin lesions. The second cover looks very much like the cover of Issue No. 1, with the addition of a medical drawing of a severed arm. The third cover is blank, with all of its images hiding on the back. Hiding from the bad people. The last cover is just red. Or, if you will, simply red.
In addition, under each dust jacket is a different cover. One features pictures of Ted Koppel. One features new work by Susan Minot. And a third features a variation on the second cover, described above, though this version is legible only with aid of mirror. This inner cover also is featured under the red dust jacket.
I was quite surprised when I took the slipcover off mine, (more…)
This album seems to get overshadowed by the anti-George Bush track “Bu$hleaguer.” Evidently many people were turned off by this track, and that may have had an impact on sales. Of course, I’m sure many other people were introduced to the band by this song, too. Regardless, the rest of the album shouldn’t be judged by this track, as it is rather unusual.
SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-Yield (1998)
This Pearl Jam disc is something of a return to form after the experimentation of No Code. Part of me feels bad that they experimented less, because I do enjoy a band’s wild side, and yet these songs are uniformly fantastic, and they include some of my favorites by Pearl Jam.
SOUNDTRACK: THEE SILVER MT. ZION ORCHESTRA & TRA-LA-LA BAND-Thirteen Blues for Thirteen Moons [CST051] (2008).
I’ve enjoyed most of the output by (A/Thee) Silver Mt. Zion (Orchestra (& Tra-La-La Band)) over the years. So, I naturally picked up this one when it came out. And I’m torn by the record.
SOUNDTRACK: JUNO Soundtrack (2007).
Late on the bandwagon with this soundtrack. But then, I only really watch movies on TV these days, so I’m often late to the bandwagon.
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Race for the Prize (1999) & Waiting for a Superman’ (1999) singles.
When these singles were released, Zaireeka was out of print; these discs were the only way to get any of the tracks. So, each of these singles has two track from a Zaireeka disc as a B-side: “Riding to Work in the 
Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now)” & “Thirty Thousand Feet of Despair.” “Race for the Prize” (1 and 2) have the tracks from Zaireeka discs 1 and 2, and “Waitin’ for a Superman” (1 and 2) have the tracks from Zaireeka discs 3 and 4. The singles aren’t really worth hunting down at this point since Zaireeka is now available, but at the time, they were worth it.
SOUNDTRACK: FISHBONE-Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe (1993).
I had actually forgotten about this album, because it was so overshadowed by Truth and Soul and Reality….. When I put it on I wasn’t expecting much (Fishbone had something of a precipitous decline around this time). So, I was amazingly delighted with how much I remembered this album and how much I enjoyed it (which shows to me that I must have listened to it a lot back in college).
SOUNDTRACK: FISHBONE-In Your Face (1986).
Fishbone’s first full length starts out with two great songs. “When Problems Arise” has the great stop/start techniques that Fishbone uses so well, as well as a great riff and some fantastic funky bass playing. The second track “A Selection” has a great ska feel, and could easily be The Specials or Selecter; however, Fishbone throw in a bit of humor (“No toothpaste?”) to make the song their own.
I Just Read About That... 