Center Of The Universe #35: Good Music Surrounds You
Giant Sand, “Center Of The Universe”
Algiers, “Irreversible Damage (feat. Zack De La Rocha)”
Chromeo, “Call Me Up”
Hank Williams, “The Pale Horse And His Rider”
Welcome to the Center Of The Universe! After our theme song comes a number from the latest Algiers album that would fit perfectly on a playlist of grimy, distorted guest appearances Zack De La Rocha has made over the last twenty years. Then comes Chromeo, a Canadian electro-funk duo whose instrumental flair helped them transcend any whiff of ironic shtick. I really need to catch up on their later work, but 2007’s Fancy Footwork holds up. Also holding up nicely is the work of Hank Williams, here harmonizing with his wife Audrey in 1951.
Sparklehorse, “My Yoke Is Heavy”
Chavez, “New Room”
The Monkees, “Take A Giant Step”
Primal Scream, “Shoot Speed/Kill Light”
Sparklehorse covering/sampling Daniel Johnston’s “My Yoke Is Heavy” on 2000’s Distorted Ghost EP. Then we have a dramatic jam from the latest album from Chavez, 1996’s Ride The Fader. They made a 3-song EP a few years back, but we really need another album now that they’re a supergroup of Rick Rubin’s favorite session guitarist, two family movie directors, and a drummer from Live Skull. I had the Monkees’ Greatest Hits…Then And Now on cassette as a little kid, but I don’t remember “Take A Giant Step.” This makes no sense, as the track is between “Last Train To Clarksville” and “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone,” so I definitely heard it! Something I’ll never forget: the same riff appears at the end of New Order’s Primal Scream collaboration “Rock The Shack” and Primal Scream’s New Order collaboration “Shoot Speed/Kill Light.”
Dusty Springfield, “I Only Want To Be With You”
Beastie Boys, “Funky Donkey”
Floating Points/Pharaoh Sanders, “Movement 5”
The Thermals, “An Ear For Baby”
The massive debut solo single from Dusty Springfield, followed by a deep cut on the last Beastie Boys album. It’s a bummer they sold The Hot Sauce Committee, pt. 2 with star cameos instead of something that highlights the faux-sampling the band was getting off on when they made it. It’s a low key late period highlight, which was hard to appreciate when all the Hollywood mojo suggested bigger ambitions. The Floating Points/Pharaoh Sanders album still sounds gorgeous a whole…two and a half years later (hey, you never know when backlash might hit). The Thermals’ The Body, The Blood, The Machine still sounds righteous…seventeen years later. Yowsa. I’m old.
Braids, “Evolution”
The Replacements, “Fuck School”
Nine Inch Nails, “The Perfect Drug”
Blur, “Death Of A Party”
You know that thing where you think you’ve heard a new band, and then discover they’ve been around for the decade? Guess I gotta find out what this Braids combo was putting down in the ‘10s! I am, however, well versed in the discographies of The Replacements, Nine Inch Nails, and Blur. The verities.
Maxine Brown, “All In My Mind"
Matchbox 20, “Long Day”
Burning Spear, “Come”
Beat Happening, “What’s Important”
I need to hear more Maxine Brown, especially now that I’ve shared both of her 1961 Top 40 ballads where she sounds like she’s having a nervous breakdown over a dude who’s probably doing her dirty. For all I know she had some dance jams too! Maybe she promoted the Twist! I should at least know as many of her songs as I do Matchbox 20, whose pre-“Push” single is included here. I haven’t seen Barbie yet, but I’m glad to hear the world has been reminded of what a portrait of needy male vulnerability that band was. Highly recommended listening if you’re a guy with a cold and nobody cares. Burning Spear, a man with bigger things on his mind, comes next, then Beat Happening, with Heather Lewis asking for a little vulnerability. Of the more whimsical kind, though.
El Michaels Affair/Black Thought, “I Would Never”
Lighnin’ Hopkins, “Sugar On My Mind”
100 gecs, “Doritos & Fritos”
The Fall, “Strychnine”
I’ve never fully clicked with Black Thought on the Roots’ albums, something stiff and sedentary about him, but this collaboration with El Michaels Affair sounds solid. Then we've got Lightnin’ Hopkins pining for a thrice daily dose of sugar, and 100 gecs settling for Doritos & Fritos. Mark E Smith & The Fall, covering The Sonics for John Peel, celebrate something infinitely harsher on the system.
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth, “Our Lady Of The Desert”
Kacy Hill, “Cruel”
Van Morrison, “Linden Arlen Stole The Highlights”
Imperial Teen, “Walkaway”
William Tyler. Yet another artist with a deeper discography than I expected after checking out his new live album. Then a track from the 2017 debut album of Kacy Hill, the rare artist where I have explored the stuff before and after the random album I fell upon (though 2020’s Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again remains my favorite). “Linden Arlen Stole The Highlights” from Veedon Fleece might be the most obscure-sounding Van Morrison song/album pairing to date. 2019’s Now We Are Timeless remains Imperial Teen’s latest album to date, but I’ll pray those pals will get back together to make another eventually. And with that sweet segue, we once again depart from the Center Of The Universe. Thanks for your time!