Quick Note: I’m thinking about doing another one of those “Reader Mailbag” segments. This time, though, I want you to write in with song suggestions. All songs considered. Troll suggestions will be considered but not necessarily accepted. Email a song to jchiaverina at gmail and maybe I’ll write about it. Alright, here comes The Report…
“Hi my name is Sematary / And I like getting high / I like ridin’ hearse trucks / Speedin’ thru da night.” Sematary is the official soundtrack of the suburban parking lot after dark. His music is a faded Salem shirt come to life. It’s Chief Keef, picking up supplies at the 7-11, slamming Darkness on the Edge of Town in his earbuds.
Touch Girl Apple Blossom “Sidewalk”
Nobody told me that Austin legend Dustin Pilkington of Best Fwends and Total Abuse fame is now in a legit twee pop band. How legit? Check out that name. It’s one for the K Records heads, no doubt. “Sidewalk” is the type of groovy mid-tempo jangler that we like over here at John’s Music Blog. You can really hear it when a band actually owns a few 7 inches.
Nice storytelling rap over hard-ass electro drums, “3AM” is three hours before “6 in the Mornin” and about 20 BPM faster. Chopped up sirens? Check. Distorted kick drums? Check. Car chase narrative? Triple check. Would like to hear a Container remix.
DJ Hidden “The White Mountain”
Let’s fucking whip over to the Netherlands, where Dutch rave vet DJ Hidden has dropped a pummeling bit of technical jungle. Middle-aged men in straight-brim baseball caps are going to love it! Music to be played on a clean, powerful sound system inside of a club that may or may not have been the beneficiary of a robust government arts program.
Zany enough to not be boring, but punk enough to not be cloying, “Fishbowl” is a study in the game of inches that is contemporary guitar music. Not unlike that Touch Girl Apple Blossom track, it’s a record for record collectors. But you don’t have to have gone into debt buying hardcore test pressings to appreciate the idea of “living in a fishbowl.”
MIX OF THE WEEK: Jubilee “BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix 2/24/24”
An instantaneous celebration broke out at John’s Music Blog HQ when we heard that NYC-via-MIA lifer Jubilee was getting a go on the hallowed Essential Mix turntables. Of course, she doesn’t disappoint. Of course, DJ Icey gets played. Jubilee knows how to move through genres in an unforced way. Everything here unfolds naturally, from house to techno to her beloved breaks. It’s just two great hours of dance music!