Songs!

Nothing much going on. Actually, way too much going on. I’m busier than a goddamn one-armed paper-hanging beaver. So, of course, I’ve been playing the music to help distract my mind from the relentless tasks that fill my days and, sadly, my nights. Here’s what been playing lately ‘round these parts:

“Anaconda” and “Eye Flys (live)” – The Melvins

Part of the fun of the Melvins is trying to figure out what the fuck Buzzo is talking about. “Anaconda” still confounds me. I can’t make out of the words but I love what I think they are, especially: “Little pigs lick a little hotly.” Anyway, this one’s pretty goddamn heavy, like a lot of early Melvins. Also on the list is the live version of “Eye Flys” from the Colossus of Destiny record, a truly underrated work. Their version of this song is brutal. I love it. Seriously, I don’t know if I can name a heavier, more punishing song. Legend has it that audience members were rolling on the ground with their hands over their ears while the Melvins played. That’s rock, motherfucker.

“M.E.T.H.O.D. Man” – Wu-Tang Clan

OBD (RIP) is my favorite MC from this outfit, but Mef takes an easy 2nd. Listening to this track (as I have over and over for the last week), it’s easy to understand why. Seriously, this is a damn near perfect hip-hop single with a bite on Hall & Oates. Wonderful.

“Ley de Gravidad” – Ojos de Brujo

Always overlooked whenever I used to pop in Bari, this mellower contribution from the Spanish multi-member-multi-genre collective has risen to the top of my list. It flows, goddamn, it flows.

“No Sleep” – Brutal Truth

It’s just so heavy.

“Ego Trippin’” De La Soul

Still my favorite hip-hop (or is it rap?) song. I’m behind on what the kids are listening to, considering all my hip-hop tastes stem from roughly the same points in time (The 80s-early 90s) and all that Lil’ Wayne shit seems rotten, so I’ll stick with gems like this one and remember the 90s, which is ironic as I was slow to catch up on the urban youth oriented musics back then. I don’t know, I wasn’t there…

“Eric B. is President” – Eric B. and Rakim

Again, I’m showing some age here.

“Police and Thieves” – The Clash

I can’t hear this now without thinking of The Royal Tenenbaums when Owen Wilson and that blonde stick who married the singer from the worst band in the world were driving in a convertible listening to this song as Owen was going to score dope.

“Lonesome Town” – The Cramps

Ricky Nelson made it famous. Lux Interior made it perfect.

“Fallen Angel” – King Crimson

This takes me back to Peyton and his painting (phonetic figure!) and how he used to blast this song while working on the watercolors. I now link the sound of Fripp’s staccato guitar to stabs at creativity. So, naturally, Red has been in heavy rotation as I bang away at the goddamn thesis.

“Pink” – Boris

God ol’ fashion distorted rock from Japan.

“Hey” (Live) – Butthole Surfers

From the PCPPEP, this is the Buttholes at their eerie best. It has been pointed out by the band that in this song, one of their earliest, they rhyme the word “dove” with “love”, proof that they’re not just a scatological bunch of pranksters given to locker room grossness. Then again, the name of the record (and the name of the band) tend to make one think differently.

“Cachaito in Laboratory” – Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez

I heard this song the other day in a Barcardi commercial and decided to pull out the CD (my favorite from the Buena Vista Social Club) and, lo and behold, this is still the shit. Cuban rhythms and upright jazz bass lines (even a direct tribute to Mingus’s “Haitian Fight Song”) mix with guitars and turntables. Go check it out. Hell, this cut even has the same sample as Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis.” Fun!