Happy MLK Day, kiddos. I don’t have any documentary-like records commemorating the great MLK, but if I did, I’d certainly display it proudly, and with fervent esteem. It certainly (at least, it should) goes without saying, but equality, in its simplest and rudimentary form, is to be extended to literally everyone… small-minded bigotry to be checked at the door.
Author Archives: The Prudent Groove
Man, That’s Hoss!
Man, I’ve got to say, with an honest heart, that Lagwagon was absolutely fuggin’ amazing last night, er, at least from what I can gather. Today was painful, if ya know what mean. Anyway, Hoss was the first Lagwagon album I owned, and remains a personal classic. Check it out, Hoss!
Saturday, January 17, 2015
I’m off to see the Wagon tonight. I’ve listened to these guys for nearly 18 years… I was only 16 when I’d first heard them, and until tonight, I’d never seen them. Let’s say I’m a little excited… have a good weekend, kids!
Joe
It’s big! It’s pink… it’s the 2012 vinyl release of Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros’ debut album, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style. Hot pink never looked so sexxy.
’82
1982 was a good year for several, obvious reasons. The Dukes of Hazzard saw a bit of a ruckus when Warner Bros. refused to pay actors Tom Wopat and John Schneider their due royalties. This resulted in the Duke brothers’ 17-episode hiatus / protest. Warner Bros. finally struck a deal which finally ended the Vance and Coy era (“cousins” filling the lead rolls left vacant by two smart actors speaking up when they weren’t being paid what was contractually theirs).
Let’s see, what else happened… Tron, E.T., Tootsie and Blade Runner were released… The stupid-ass St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers in game 7 of the World Series… Grace Kelly, John Belushi and Ingrid Bergman died… I moved from sunny Southern California to the frigid tundra of Wisconsin… OH! And the Beastie Boys released their first record, a hardcore EP titled Polly Wog Stew.
8 tracks released on both 7” and 12” formats, the Polly Wog Stew E.P. would be the first, last, and only official release from the band as a hardcore unit, next releasing Cookie Puss which saw the Boys Beastie bow more towards a new form of hip hop (well, at the time).
Yeah, ’82 was decent, and oh so long ago.
See You in Magic
Gearing up for my double date at the end of the month with San Diego’s finest, Rocket from the Crypt, tonight’s gem is 2008’s debut from The Night Marchers, See You in Magic. Arguably the most pop-oriented of anything offered by Mr. John Reis (save, maybe for Rocket from the Crypt’s 1998 major label killer, RFTC) SYiM is lover’s garage rock on two pots of coffee, with that sweet aroma of genius-Reis-guitar, perfect for wiping the worried sleep from your morning eyes, and great for that little get-me-the-hell-out-of-the-office-if-only-in-my-ears, afternoon pick-me-up.
SYiM is John Reis music for your significant other, if submersing them into the paradisiacal world of Mr. Reis is your number one music objective, and believe me… it damn well should be.
Radio Days
It’s time! No, not time to hate the Swiss*, but instead it’s time for that rich hour of both visual and audio stimulation with Remember the Golden Days of Radio (Volume 1). Jack Benny and Frank Knight present a glimpse into yesteryear’s prized idiot box (the original), with amazing snippets from comedians Fred Allen, Jack Pearl and Mel Blanc, as well as vintage commercial from the unforgettable and timeless products as Crisco, Lava and The Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company. It’s a great little comp with unexpected laughs and cheers around every groove. Check it out.
* Kids in the Hall – Sick of the Swiss (Season 1, Episode 4)
‘Round the World
Ska may suck… Ska revival may not be cool, says this stupid schmuck* (smuck**), but this comp, 1988’s Skankin’ ‘Round the World – The International Ska Compilation – Vol. 1, unveils itself under a dusty cloud of pleasure-toned, reggae-influenced, Caribbean-minded melodic good-time, happy-go-skankin’ Monday evening mood-music, that’s perfect parts nostalgia, groove, and global badassery. It’s a pleasurable head-bobbing, foot-tapping comp. Check it out.
* Propagandhi’s 1993 track, Ska Sucks off their debut album, How to Clean Everything.
** Ishtar, you know, the 1987 comedic masterpiece?! One of my personal favorites.
Just One Fix
Smash the control images… smash the control machine…
Cover Painting: “Last Chance Junction and Curse on Drug Hysterics” – William S. Burroughs
Nostradmus He Ain’t
There was a time when the only Hot Snakes I listened to was 2000’s Automatic Midnight. 2002’s Suicide Invoice came and went, and so did 2004’s Audit in Progress, their last “proper” studio album. Fast forward to 2014 when I got my grubby mitts on a few Hot Snakes tickets (Alex’s Bar, Long Beach, CA). And during my homework / listening prep, I absolutely fell in love with Audit in Progress, specifically the first four tracks, Brainstrust, Hi-Lites, Retrofit, and Kreative Kontrol. Rocket from the Crypt (another John Reis outfit) holds the candle to the best one-two opener for any album with 1995’s Scream, Dracula, Scream!, but Audit in Progress may be the crowned king of an album with the best one-two-three-four track opener. Automatic Midnight was outstanding, but Audit in Progress is downright spectacular. Seek it out if you haven’t already.
P.S. RFTC at Alex’s Bar (back to back nights) later this month…
Mr. Lif
Star Wars references in sub-indy hip hop back in the late 90s were kind of a fanboy treat, and are almost immediately featured on this record’s b-side, Settle the Score. The third in a four-part series titled, The Blow Up Factor, Mr. Lif offers 3x versions of Farmland, the a-side, the previously mentioned Settle the Score, and a track I don’t remember ever hearing, You Don’t Knowstrumental. Released in 1999 on Grand Royal Records, this little 4-track is worth more to the diehards than to avid collectors of the medium, but for only $1.49 on discogs, this pressing is a steal!
1×1
I’ve been listening to a lot of Freispiel lately. You know, the 2001 Faust remix album? No, well anyway, it’s a worthy listen, especially in 20+ minute increments commuting to and from work. It’s beat-y, repetitious, a little industrial-ly, and overall a surprisingly good listen. I don’t own Faust’s Freispiel, but I do own Motor’s 1×1 / King of USA remix 12”. About the only similarities between the two records, aside from the remix factor, is that they’re both pretty badass electro listens.
Hey! Let’s Party
This cover couldn’t be more immediately deceiving… a bunch of privileged white kids dancing to brown-eyed soul from the great Afro-Cuban genius, Mongo Santamaría. With 1967’s Hey! Let’s Party, Mr. Santamaría fashioned a thick-lined afterparty staple with his horn-heavy deviance into the wonderful world of (a blanket term) Latin Jazz.
Pryor dug him (in both his screenplay contribution to Blazing Saddles as well as his empowering standup), as so you shall too.
W E F U N K
Make my funk the P. Funk… and not just because the King Ad-Rock brags and boasts in 1989’s 3-Minute Rule, the following unforgettable slew of syllables:
Mothership connection, getting girls’ affection
If your life needs correction, don’t follow my direction
(I was listening to the Beasties today, so I had to tie that in somehow…) Parliament, and their 1975 masterpiece, Mothership Connection need no introduction. The 4th album for the band featured the mighty George Clinton as Producer, Writer, and frontman vocalist, but again, this is all but painfully obvious for lovers of the Funk.
Make your Tuesday evening an untamed mass of street-talkin’, booty-rockin’ Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication (track 1, side 2).
Orange Marbled (Guilty) Pleasures
Guilty pleasures are certainly fine… on occasion, and in moderation. Such is the case with Alkaline Trio’s 2000 comp, Alkaline Trio (read: soundtrack to my early 20’s). Pressed on a variety of colors, this version (orange marbled) was part of the first, vinyl pressing (back in 2008), and was limited to 500 copies. Last night got a little crazy, and this here guy was sitting on the platter when I woke up this morning. Moderation, kids.
Thanks
Thankful of my SO for dredging through my drunken-nonsensical-rants, manifesting themselves, beat-by-beat, through a personal, and obnoxious onslaught of amazing (as far as I’m concerned) tracklist.
Thanks, kiddo! Welcome!
Like a Lighthouse Overhead
With the incessant noise from the rotating blades of a nearby helicopter, passing, then again, dipping, diving, and vacationing overhead for the past hour and a half, one can’t help but dig through local news outlets in needed search for the informational cure. With no worthy news to be shared, the mystery still remains, but with decent, drowning-out, attempt-to-ignore-the-violent-disruption-overhead-music desperately needed, one turns to the Canadian psychedelic rock, jazz-infused outfit, Lighthouse, and their 1971 album, One Fine Morning. Here’s hoping the blades of mystery solve themselves sooner, rather than later (and that nobody nearby is seriously, or otherwise, in risk of danger).
Moondance
Van Morrison’s 3rd solo album, 1970’s Moondance, is, pardon my French, a fuggin’ masterpiece! As evidence by the unforgettable tracklist (from a previous post) here, Moondance is wonderful for just about everyone, and for seemingly just about every occasion. Long live the Van!
By Ruth White
What can be more magnificently majestic than the backside of Ruth White’s collection of “Electronic Realizations and Performances” of the following, incomplete, list of classical composers: Verdi, Chopin, Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakov… the answer… absolutely nothing.
Short Circuits by Ruth White.
Doh Nuts
A gorgeous Christmas gift from the SO, this 2x gift cert from Donut Friend (Mark Trombino’s Los Angeles-based sweet-house… the drummer of Drive Like Jehu, k’mon), will afford this here guy a delicious “Chocolate from the Crypt” and a “Drive Like Jelly.” A proper post to follow, post-donut-consumption, but all are happy campers here at the PG with this amazing, sugar-laced gift cert.
(Also, happy friggin’ new-friggin’ year!!!)
The Prudent Groove 