Steve Stebbing

Songs OF A Fortnight #17

stevestebbing

September 9, 2024

With a handful of days delay, I present to you another eclectic list of songs that made up a two-week period of my life and there is some interesting stuff to behold on it. I start by leaning into some classic hip hop with the Beasties and also the current leader of the genre in my opinion, Kendrick Lamar later on the list. I include some all time favorites like the math metal of Mudvayne, possibly my top blink singles ever released and one of the tracks that put Thrice on my radar. I have this, some classic rock tracks from Zepplin and Golden Earring and I even end it all with something absurdly fun.

Track #1: Beastie Boys – Sure Shot – Ill Communication (1994)

It was only a matter of time before the most iconic three MCs and a DJ hit the playlist and, I’ll admit, I had it set up to post in an almost cocky way. Truth be told, I was ready to post this after I passed my driver’s test but, embarrassingly, I failed, making this an ironic post. That aside, this song is still incredible until this very day and it brightens my spirits every time I hear it. Especially after a failure day, this kick-off to one of the greatest rap albums of all time hits just right.

“I’ve got the brand new doo-doo, guaranteed like Yoo-hoo
I’m on like Dr. John, yeah, Mr. Zu Zu
I’m a newlywed, not a divorcee (yeah)
And everything I do is funky like Lee Dorsey
Well it’s the taking of the Pelham 1, 2, 3
If you want a doo-doo rhyme, then come see me
I’ve got the savoir faire with the unique rhymin’
I keep it on and on, it’s never quitting time, and
Strictly handheld is the style I go
Never rock the mic with the pantyhose
I strap on my ear goggles, and I’m ready to go
‘Cause at the boards is the man they call the Mario
You pull up at the function, and you know I Kojak
To all the party people that are on my Bozac
I’ve got more action than my man, John Woo
And I’ve got mad hits like I was Rod Carew (yeah)”

Track #2: Silverstein featuring Aaron Gillespie – Infinite – A Beautiful Place To Drown (2020)

It’s about time that one of my favorite Canadian metal bands makes their first appearance on the playlist as I listen to them daily at this point. Formed in Burlington, Ontario, this five-piece has been kicking ass since their first album, over twenty years ago, and has been melting faces ever since. This record in particular is one of my favorite pandemic-era releases and this song is the second single released from it, making its debut right in the first week of that fateful year. Aaron Gillespie has also been a regular follow for me, with his band Underoath, and even more now that they denounced their religious affiliation. This song rules so click on it and turn it up LOUD!

“I gotta find some way to relate
I drew a line just so I could see straight
Erase every lie and half truth
Anything I have to”

Track #3: Hannah Georgas – Enemies – Hannah Georgas (2012)

Let’s get some more Canadian content going here and this is not just CanCon but British Columbia local and one of the most gifted singers and songwriters in the last fifteen years in my opinion. Coming from Vancouver, Hannah’s music first hooked me when I heard it playing regularly on our local indie rock radio station, The Peak, and it led me to pick up the album. Once I did, I fell in love with this other track on the album, the fourth song, and it still sticks in my brain as my favorite. It feels like an easy single that never got the chance to shine and I’m happy to share it here.

“We’re in a sea full of sharks
Just swimming around and around
If we get caught, they’re gonna taste our blood
You leave a trail and the word will get out
That we’re all lost and ready to kill
That we’re all lost and ready to kill”

Track #4: Glass Animals – Heat Waves – Dreamland (2020)

This is one of those artists that I was really late to and now, I really look forward to their music as well as the remixes that they do. If you haven’t heard their work on Florence + The Machine’s My Love, you need to fix that immediately. It’s so good! This song was floating into my ears for a while before I figured out who it was and added it to my favorites and it is all down to that main groove. It’s a “chilling on the beach” song in so many ways and it’s crazy that a pop band from Oxford, England were the ones to bring it out. Despite having a sort of sad drive of the main music, the song is about remaining strong through vulnerable moments in your life and embracing your vulnerability, which is a message I can definitely get behind.

“Sometimes, all I think about is you
Late nights in the middle of June
Heat waves been fakin’ me out
Can’t make you happier now
Sometimes, all I think about is you
Late nights in the middle of June
Heat waves been fakin’ me out
Can’t make you happier now”

Track #5: Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy – Physical Graffiti (1975)

The second song from the legendary Tolkien fans, Led Zeppelin, makes its appearance this time around and it is a song that is always rooted deep in my brain for weeks after I hear it. The song’s history is a little confusing as the title was also used for an album released two years prior and this track doesn’t appear on it. There was a time when the song was going to be included but it was decided that the tone of it didn’t really fit with the record. The song was recorded at the same time as The Rover, and refers to the auditoriums and arenas in which Zeppelin performed, as if there was a sort of holy feel to the air at those venues for Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham.

“Let me take you to the movie
Can I take you to the show?
Let me be yours ever truly
Can I make your garden grow?”

Track #6: Kendrick Lamar – DNA. – DAMN. (2017)

Now that it seems the dust has settled on the war between Nobel Prize-winning artist Kendrick Lamar and Canadian whiner Drake with, I think, Kenny coming out as the clear winner, I’m adding another one of his tracks to the playlist and one with a little bit of a movie connection. The song was part of one of the greatest records in 2017, an album with track after track that you want to play at the loudest decibel but this song being used in the trailer for the Rocky franchise boxing sequel, Creed II, does what was intended and that’s to hype the audience up. The track’s title is what is at the heart of it, as Lamar celebrates, critiques, and explores his black heritage and culture, doing it from multiple viewpoints and the music video, featuring Don Cheadle, debuts his slightly comedic alter ego, Kung Fu Kenny. It’s really worth checking out, as is the whole DAMN. album.

“You ain’t shit without a body on your belt
You ain’t shit without a ticket on your plate
You ain’t sick enough to pull it on yourself
You ain’t rich enough to hit the lot and skate”

Track #7: Golden Earring – Twilight Zone – Cut (1982)

I’m going really classic for this song, an early eighties rock track that I loved when I first heard it as a kid. I’m honestly surprised I did because the song clocks in at almost eight minutes and I know I was nowhere near my later-found patience with music in the longest form as Tool wouldn’t be formed nor hit my eardrums for years. A Dutch band formed in The Hauge, Netherlands as The Tornados in 1961 and finally disbanded in 2021, Golden Earring is mostly known for Radar Love but this song always rose above that, for me. Interestingly enough the song wasn’t inspired by the legendary TV series but by a sort of throwaway line in the Robert Ludlum-written novel, The Bourne Identity.

“Help, I’m steppin’ into the Twilight Zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I’ve gone too far?”

Track #8: Thrice – Deadbolt – The Illusion Of Safety (2002)

Thrice makes another appearance on the playlist, one of my favorite bands of all time and have an album that means a lot to me in their discography. I go back to their second album for this choice, a single that was released during their heavier and more punk-influenced beginnings. This track is considered the song that established the band on the scene and is a heavily metaphorical examination of addiction, adultery and the regret that follows, you know, if you’re not a sociopath. It’s a killer song and it definitely led to my love of this band.

“I just close my eyes and I’m already here
It’s already too late
I know it’s nothing but lies
But they sound so sincere
I find them too hard to hate”

Track #9: blink-182 – I Miss You – blink-182 (2003)

I have to acknowledge at the top here, the legendary status of this trio, one that I’ve been enjoying since the Dude Ranch days and the first time I saw them, on the Warped Tour in Vancouver at a time when Travis Barker wasn’t the drummer. Usually known for kind of sophomoric little punk ditties, this song took me by surprise, a song just brimming with emotion. Like Adam’s Song, this track feels like it has an emotional depth that we usually don’t expect out of Mark, Tom and Travis but it always manages to hit me in the feels and maybe my favorite song they’ve ever done. At its heart, the song is a meditation on the effect depression can have on a relationship and its subsequent fallout, which feels like something that is vastly relatable. No matter who you are and how much money you have, depression will always lurk.

“Where are you? And I’m so sorry
I cannot sleep, I cannot dream tonight
I need somebody and always
This sick, strange darkness
Comes creeping on, so haunting every time
And as I stare, I counted
The webs from all the spiders
Catching things and eating their insides
Like indecision to call you
And hear your voice of treason
Will you come home and stop this pain tonight?
Stop this pain tonight”

Track #10: Metric – All Comes Crashing – Formentera (2022)

It’s once again time for the Canadian rock goddess known as Emily Haines to bless this playlist with another absolute banger and this time I’m pulling something from the first of album of a double whammy they gave us back in 2022. Their eighth record in a long and fantastic career dates back to their formation in Toronto in 1998, both of these records have the group really leaning into their iconic sound, including the kick-off to the record, an almost eight-minute track called Doomscroller. This is the next on the record and has a great hook along with those flighty Emily vocals we know and love. I love Metric and that just grows daily.

“Starting over when the story’s got an astounding twist
You better turn that page
When push it comes to shove we do not fall out of love
We double down, we do not fade”

Track #11: Mudvayne – Nothing To Gein – L.D. 50 (2000)

This is a record that changed how I looked at metal as a genre, a landmark piece in what formed me as a fan of this type of music. The first time I heard Dig, I felt like my mind was blown apart and rewritten in thundering guitar, almost mathematical drumming, wicked slap bass and roaring vocals, When I finally got the album, I fell in love with the whole thing, even the weird and haunting interludes but this track would constantly get the replay once I heard it. As implied by the title, yes, the song is about serial killer Ed Gein, the inspiration for film characters Norman Bates (Psycho), Jame Gumb (The Silence of the Lambs) and Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

“Cold and silent, soiled face I will wash it all away
With my love, that’s all she’s ever needed from me
It’s my time, to mother
One of my own, in my life
I am so alone, left with no one
In my life, I’m so alone”

Track #12: White Lies – Getting Even – Big TV (2013)

If it weren’t for my listening to Arcade Fire Rado on Spotify at work one day, I never would have come across this band, classified as post-punk revival, a movement of indie rock that emerged in the early 2000s which is more stripped down and low-fi than the rock that dominated the previous decade. Formed in Ealing, London, England in 2007, their sound is the perfect one to break through my tastes as it is dark and broody with synth tones and a deep and almost Morissey-like vocal lilt. This track comes from their third record and was the teaser song released just over three months before the album release but was never considered one of the singles attributed to it so I consider it an underrated b-side that should have been bigger in my opinion.

“So listen to some reason, there’s nothing in your dreams!
But if you’re getting even, you’re getting even
Trying to get even? Better start believing
I can forgive, and we can forget
Even after all this love and other nonsense we’ve made”

Track #13: Big Sugar – Diggin’ A Hole – Hemi-Vision (1996)

Adding some more Canadian content to join Hannah Georgas and Metric, this is a band that commanded radio play in the second half of the nineties with an album filled with hit singles and catchy songs to rock out to. They were also a band that commanded a really loud sound when you saw them play live. Formed in the rock mecca of Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1988, Gordie Johnson, Kelly Hoppe, Gary Lowe and Paul Brennan really landed with the Hemi-Vision record, their third record and first platinum seller. This comes after a record that Jack White has since called the best record to come out of Canada. This was the first of the four Hemi-Vision singles and it got the ball rolling big time. Plus, Gordie’s guitar? Canadian iconic stuff in my opinion.

“Got my head in a haze
Feel like a cat in a cage
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Digging a hole in my heart
Give me the lies on page
I’m feelin’ twice my age
I’ve been crying for days and I’m falling apart
Digging a hole in my heart”

Track #14: Andrew WK – Party Hard – I Get Wet (2001)

Way to end the playlist with something absurd, right? Ruins the whole esthetic of the jumble I was going for! AAAAAAARGH!!! Oh, well, the reality is I’m a late comer to the musical art of Andrew W.K., out of Ann Arbor, Michigan by way of Stanford, California, and when he debuted, I’ll be honest, I thought it was a joke. What I didn’t see was his inclusivity, his kind nature, his drive to unite an audience and this all rises above the dirty white clothes and bloody noses. The guy was an avant garde artist and I didn’t notice that until I matured more myself. As for the song? It just rules.

“When it’s time to party, we will party hard”

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Sep 6

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September 6, 2024

This week’s episode has some thrillers for your eyes as Zoe Kravitz lands as a writer/director and puts her beau, Channing Tatum, in the position to deliver the performance of his career and Chloe and I examine Brandy’s new A24 chiller The Front Room from the Eggers brothers to varying results. Lee Daniels has some exorcism to do on Netflix and has Glenn Close uttering some complete madness, Jeremy Saulnier also returns to the platform with some slow-burn action and my Greek Mythology love gets tickled by the new series Kaos. All of this plus I started a rewatch of the Ocean’s trilogy for my latest Movie Journey.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Aug 30

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August 30, 2024

It’s a mixed bag this week to kick it all off, as the long gestated reboot of The Crow completely offended this uber fan of the original 1994 film! We correct course as both Chloe and I have nothing but big love and amazement for the new horror thriller, Strange Darling, a film Chloe says is the best of 2024! Only Murders In The Building and Solar Opposites have new seasons on Disney+, some bullriding American arrives on blu-ray from Well Go USA and I watched a quartet of film legends fall in love throughout Paris. All this and more on an all new episode!

Songs Of A Fortnight #16

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August 26, 2024

I feel almost apologetic every time I release these as, at first, I feel like I’m setting up a vibe but as the weeks progress, my feeling at the time changes and my days evolve to the point that I ruin the whole soul of what I was going for by including Catch Your Breath. You can argue the scale was starting to tip with Chevelle but I feel that song in my very soul so I can’t really be faulted on it. This time, I got some favorites with Childish Gambino and CKY, a movie-related track from Kavinsky and two artists making their threepeat on the list. Dig in and enjoy the ride with a good rap kickoff then a solid thriple threat of rock.

Track #1: Childish Gambino – I.Crawl – Because The Internet (2013)

Going back to the Gambino discography to kick off this playlist and I’m picking a track from one of the landmark records of hip hop in the 2010s. There is a lot going on in a song written by Donald Glover and this, the kick-off to the record, is a complex odyssey that we have come to expect from the gifted musician. A great beat with some fast and furious lyrics, trying to keep up with the flow of it makes you almost dizzy. For obvious reasons as a white guy, I don’t even try to rap along with Gambino, I just appreciate it.

“(Who am I?)
Rec League, I ain’t paying to ball
Y’all B-string like a broke guitar
And I still put it down like the family dog
Yeah, I murder some, murder one
Explain it all, Ferguson
We ain’t gotta sing the same old love song
Cut a white girl with the same black gloves on
Yeah, what you saying to it?
Old money look, no money don’t do it
Make ’em turn around in their lane like a U-ie
And I’m only looking back if I’m looking at her booty
(At her booty) What’s the rationale?
They wanna smoke **** when they Black and mild
So we act it out—okay, cool“

Track #2: Jane’s Addiction – True Nature – Strays (2003)

It’s easy for me to say that I didn’t appreciate Perry Farrell and his legendary Los Angeles, California band mates, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins and Chris Chaney, during their heyday but now, in my mature retrospect, I find myself listening to them a lot. This song, the kick-off to Strays, is so hard not to rock out to. As soon as Perry sings “Here we go!” you really just want to cruise along with Navarro’s crunchy guitar rift. This is also the kick-off of a reunion sparked by Farrell’s side project Porno For Pyros contribution to the Dark Blue soundtrack that brought him and drummer Perkins back together. So, we can thank Kurt Russell for this record in a way.

“Please believe, we live and breathe
Through native tongue and poetry
All these years, man, we believed, yeah”

Track #3: Our Lady Peace – Starseed – Naveed (1994)

This is a cool one for a few reasons. First, I’m adding some Canadian content and, secondly, it is a band that means a lot to us Canucks, one responsible for hit after hit after hit. This song is one of those first hits, leading me to the third reason this pick rocks as it is off an album that was one of the first CDs I ever bought for myself. Naveed as an album is one of the pivotal records in my music appreciating life but it was seeing the music video for this track that put me on the path. A tight group out of Toronto, Ontario, many of their songs are on my liked songs list, so many will appear right here on a later playlist. Also, Jeremy Taggert is one of Canada’s greatest drummers ever. No question.

“When I find out what went on
I’ll bring it back, but it won’t be easy
They won’t believe how a man, he could drown
In a starseed, starseed
Oh-oh, oh-oh”

Track #4: Chevelle – So Long, Mother Earth – NIRATIAS (2021)

If there was an album that was responsible for bringing me back to life in a music-based emotion, it would be Taylor Swift’s Folklore and this record, one that I spun every day since it came out for at least one track. That one song would usually be this one, the first one after the intro, Verruckt. The guitar along with Pete’s incredible vocals keep this song as a beautiful earworm in my head probably for the rest of my life and I have zero problems with that. And his scream on the “so long” at the end of the song? One of my favorite ends to a song ever and that’s not hyperbole.

“So with miles and miles to go
You never left or found your purpose
Get up, you can and you will
Time is so vast and risky as hell”

Track #5: Kavinsky – Nightcall – Nightcall (2010)

My love for movies and music blends right here because I wouldn’t have known about this killer synth track by this Seine-Saint-Denis, France-born DJ if it wasn’t for this song’s use in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. Without this being the soundtrack to RyanGosling’s cruise around Los Angeles, I wouldn’t have been immersed in his discography and those like him and I am grateful for all the suggestions that have come from it. I also love that Childish Gambino uses it for “R.I.P” with Bun B and it was beautifully covered by London Grammer who makes it their own. Thanks to my friend Leanne for the recommendation on the cover song.

“I’m giving you a night call to tell you how I feel
(We’ll go all, all, all night long)
I want to drive you through the night, down the hills
(We’ll go all, all, all night long)
I’m gonna tell you something you don’t want to hear
(We’ll go all, all, all night long)
I’m gonna show you where it’s dark, but have no fear
(We’ll go all, all, all night long)”

Track #6: Fozzy – Nowhere To Run – Boombox (2022)

It’s really funny to follow Kavinsky with this because there is a movie-related reason for this song being on the list too. The reason is band founder and lead singer Chris Jericho is the producer on a new film called The Death Tour and I am trying to secure an interview with the wrestling god, a huge figure in my pro wrestling fandom. As a result, I have been playing Fozzy tracks all day and his song simply stood out as my favorite of the day. It was the first track released off of the Boombox record, which, right now, is the last album they put out.

“Where do I go, go from here?
Hold my ground or disappear
Nowhere to run, nowhere to run, oh
Now that I’m all out of time
One last stand to make it right
Nowhere to run, nowhere to run
Nowhere to run
Staring at the barrel of a gun
Nowhere to run, nowhere to run
I can feel it burning in my lungs
Nowhere to run, nowhere to run
Nowhere to run”

Track #7: Catch Your Breath – Deadly – Shame On Me (2023)

I really have to thank Spotify for putting me on the path of this metalcore band out of Austin, Texas. I know it totally dispels the vibe of this playlist so far with some metal crunch and dreams but, you know me, I can’t resist. There’s a well-roundedness to the sound of this band, including full synth, that really gets me going and when it comes on my stereo, I really blast it. This song is one that I go to all the time, a track that might be my favorite off of this album, their debut arrival on the scene. I can’t wait to hear what’s next.

“Oh, let me die in your arms tonight
Crashing down ’til we both collide
Under the knife, barely alive
I had a vision of how I would die
From a kiss so deadly”

Track #8: Dead Sara – Weatherman – Dead Sara (2012)

The first time I heard this track on Vancouver radio I was absolutely blown away by it. A good opening riff and some great sultry singing from lead singer Emily Armstrong drew me in and then she unleashed a roar in that chorus and I knew this Los Angeles band would stick in my ear for a while. A really kicking three-piece band, it’s crazy to think that they’ve only released three records including this debut from 2012 and that none of the songs have reached the success of Weatherman but it’s a solid start for anyone that needs a good rock band with some crunch to them.

“I sing for the melody and I sing for reason
And I’ll sing as the neglect for all that un-American”

Track #9: Kasabian – Club Foot – Kasabian (2004)

This one is really cool as it is a classic Brit rock song that is going to be hitting the milestone of twenty years on my birthday this year at the beginning of September. Hailing from Leicester, England, Kasabian arrived with energy and originality and never seemed to make the same song or record twice. This track in particular is a great pump-up song and has been used by European football clubs regularly to get them psyched for their upcoming battles. It feels like the perfect song to use over a video of action-packed highlights in my opinion.

“One, take control of me?
You’re messing with the enemy
Said it’s two, it’s another trick
Messing with my mind, I wake up
Chase down an empty street
Blindly snap the broken beats
Said it’s gone, with the dirty trick
It’s taken all these days to find ya”

Track #10: Atreyu – Bleeding Mascara – The Curse (2004)

Clearly, I have a deep love for Atreyu as this is the third time they have appeared on a playlist and they are the first artist to do so thus far. This was the first song I ever heard by Atreyu and it’s the lead track off of this record, a roar of a beginning that follows the intro, Blood Children. It was the tipping point to a fandom that exists today and an introduction to an album that I still listen to regularly. If you don’t want to hear more from this band after listening to this track, you won’t be into them at all.

“Look how pretty she is
When she falls down
Now, there’s no beauty in
Bleeding mascara
Lips are quivering
Like a withering rose
She’s back again”

Track #11: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion – Show Your Bones (2006)

The goddess Karen O graces the list for her second time with a song off of the second album so it looks like I’m going in succession with their discography. The difference between this song and the last one is that this song was the first single released off the record, just the day before the album was. It is also the song that kicks off the record, a noticeable next step in the evolution of sound that this incredible New York three-piece is capable of. I also love the high-pitched Karen O choruses and Gold Lion has a great one.

“Now, tell me what you saw
Tell me what you saw
There was a crowd of seeds
Inside, outside
I must have done a dozen each
It was the height I grew
The weight, the shell was crushing you
I’ve been around a few”

Track #12: CKY – 96 Quite Bitter Beings – Camp Kill Yourself, Vol. 1 (1999)

Just like my inclusion of H.I.M. on a playlist a while back, I have to credit Bam Margera’s skate and Jackass predecessor CKY or Camp Kill Yourself videos from the early 2000s for me bringing his brother Jess’s alt-metal band. He plays the drums for those who don’t know. This song in particular is the lone single released from it but exits, for me, in a vacuum of fantastic songs off this debut record. It’s also the first part in the “Hellview trilogy” which tells of a deranged town and its inhabitants, the second and third piece being “Escape from Hellview” and “Hellions on Parade.” I may be biased, but the simplicity of these songs and the catchiness of the tunes always have me revisiting it, right up until now.

“At the fork turn left, a store, but on the right stay free from sight
Cause 96 quite bitter beings like to stack the bodies high
The only way to ever leave is overflooded by the storm
And entanglement in Hellview brings you fear in fifty forms
They’ve deleted all the tourists at the bottom of the lake
And not one supports the cause to leave the blood stay in the veins”

Track #13: Nicki Minaj – Last Time I Saw You – Pink Friday 2 (2023)

Starting out my thoughts on this track, I will say that as a human being, fom what I know, it’s hard to be supportive of Nicki Minaj. Her husband is beyond problematic and some of her own documented actions have been just as suspect, including a recent public feud with Megan Thee Stallion which got embarrassing and left the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago rapper and singer in the dust. Professionally, she is an incredible talent that is included at the top of her genre and has an argument for being included in the best of all time and this song is another jewel in that crown in my opinion. The song itself has Nicki reflecting on a past relationship and what she could have done better during it. It’s this kind of inner soul searching that might help her personally, rather than just for music hits.

“Listen
So close, but we were so distant
Wish I’da known in that instant
Ignored the hints or I missed it
I killed it
You’d always be in attendance
No flights, but always attendant
Handwritten letter, you penned it
Them nights we wish never ended
Those rules that we wish we bended
Heartbreak that we never mended
Those messages we unsended
Best friends we somehow unfriended
Ain’t care ’bout who we offended
Parties they wish we attended
Got drunk and laughed, it was splendid”

Track #14: Tegan And Sara – Walking With A Ghost – So Jealous (2004)

There’s something special and unique towards the end of this playlist as the final song is another threepeat artist with Canadian twins Tegan and Sara Quin bringing this grouping of songs to a close with the first single off of their fourth record and a song that was also covered by The White Stripes. I just found out about Stripes cover and it has such a different edge to it, I recommend checking it out after the original. I think it just showcases how great they are as songwriters that it translates so well between signature sounds. It’s also a solid song to go out on, I think. I love that hook.

“I was walking with a ghost
I said please, please don’t insist
I was walking with a ghost
I said please, please don’t insist”

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Aug 23

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August 23, 2024

Another anticipated film of 2024 and the last big movie of 2024, I have my thoughts on the new installment in the Alien universe, Alien: Romulus and, to balance it out, I head into a review of the sweetheart animal film, My Penguin Friend. Jason Swartzman and Carol Kane bring all of the chemistry for a great comedy in Between The Temples, Mark Wahlberg has something new and mediocre on Netflix and John Cena and Awkwafina team up to stay alive. All this and more on an all new episode.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Aug 16

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August 16, 2024

Are we being punished by the movies? It looks that way as I took in Eli Roth’s attempt to bring Borderlands to the big screen. I even it out with a fantastic and quiet little indie film and also got to check out the new collaboration between Matt Damon and the other Affleck, Casey. Lots of new television to talk about with Ted Lasso’s main man Bill Lawrence teaming up with Vince Vaughn in Bad Monkey and the return of an HBO dark horse, Industry, for its third season. All this and more on this new episode!

Songs Of A Fortnight #15

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August 12, 2024

I had a really great thing going on here, great vibes and nothing to displace the mood. Sure, we got a little rocky occasionally, but it was all heading in the right direction. That is until I had a hell of a day and the mood got dark. Really dark. So dark that Lamb Of God had to come out and dispel that aura with its pure driven metal from Virginia. Yes, I put a big cleaver in the who nice times feeling but I still have some great off-the-path acts like The KVB and Editors, legends in their own respects, like Pink Floyd and Robyn and proven hit makers in Rise Against and Cage The Elephant. So, come on, kick off your shoes and enjoy that chillness until the guillotine.

Track #1: The KVB – Always Then – Always Then (2012)

Do you know those goth kids on South Park who have those dance breaks where they just kind of sway back and forth with their bangs hanging in their faces? Well, that’s kind of what I’m starting the playlist off with this time but in the best possible way. An audio-visual driven post-punk duo originally formed in London, England, their lean into the electro sound with this song really nabbed me and it really has to stem from my love for She Wants Revenge, an American goth rock band that I think really sounds British, kind of like how The Bravery does too. I’m still new to their discography but I now really want to see them live if their music is more based around a visual story as well. Sadly, I can’t see that they’ve ever toured North America before.

“Well you ran against the grain
And there’s only you to blame
And this life takes its toll
When you’re a face that no one knows”

Track #2: Rise Against – Satellite – Endgame (2011)

Rise Against has been a favorite of mine for a really long time and will always have a place in my heart for being the first concert I brought my oldest daughter Chloe to. Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, this punk rock band has always given themes of fighting back against oppression and championing what’s right and that comes down to the conviction of lead singer and guitarist Tim McIlrath’s always poignant and powerful lyrics. This song raises the album’s message high, released as the third single, and is all about inspiring the next generation to stand up and take action against an oppressive and unjust government. Given their political views, I would say this song works as an anthem against the MAGA movement as well.

“You can’t feel the heat until you hold your hand over the flame
You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays
You won’t know your worth now, son, until you take a hit
And you won’t find the beat until you lose yourself in it”

Track #3: Robyn – Show Me Love – Robyn Is Here (1995)

Sadly, Robyn is an artist that I arrived to fandom woefully late on but my catch-up with her entire incredible discography was a quick read. Given the time of the release of this single, one of the four released off of her debut record, I definitely wasn’t listening to international pop music but thanks to my wife giving me more of an appreciation of the genre in retrospect, I have found her to be a favorite. By way of Stockholm, Sweden, Robyn is an artist who will continually show up on his list and the fact that this record was produced by mega music god Max Martin makes this connection even more fascinating.

“Show me love (Yeah, yeah), show me life (Alright)
Baby, show me what it’s all about (Me what it’s all about)
You’re the one that I ever needed (Show me love)
Show me love and what it’s all about, alright (Hey, hey, oh)
Show me love, show me life (Alright)
Baby, show me what it’s all about
You’re the one that I ever needed
Show me love and what it’s all about, alright”

Track #4: Billie Eilish – my strange addiction – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? (2019)

You have to have a love for a song that starts out with a classic quote from The Office and this is how we knew that Billie was a mega fan of the long-running series. It’s been so endearing to see her use her stardom to have moments with each of the cast members and even guest on the Office Ladies podcast with Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer. I’ve allowed that to derail this entire section about this being a great song on the playlist but the track is pretty self-explanatory in how fantastic it is. Billie’s voice is incredible and the beats that Finneas lay underneath it is impeccable as always. There’s a real palpable reason why they left with an armload of Grammys for this record.

“Deadly fever, please don’t ever break
Be my reliever ’cause I don’t self medicate
And it burns like a gin and I like it
Put your lips on my skin and you might ignite it
Hurts, but I know how to hide it, kinda like it (Teh)”

Track #5: Editors – Papillon – In This Light And On This Evening (2009)

I feel like this song would’ve fit better on the last playlist with the inclusion of the classic Bigmouth by The Smiths but with The KVB kicking off this one, this Moseley, Birmingham, England indie rock band still very much fits the mould. The leading single off of their third record, the track feels like the definition of the term “darkwave music” as it has that “bangs swinging in your face” feel that I was talking about with Always Then but with a bigger more well-rounded sound of the four-piece band. Editors were a late development with me but they are definitely here to stay now. Expect more of their tracks to appear here.

“Darling
Just don’t put down your guns yet
If there really was a God here
He’d have raised a hand by now
Now darling
You’re born, get old and die here
Well that’s quite enough for me
We’ll find our own way home somehow”

Track #6: Tate McRae – grave – THINK LATER (2023)

Calgary’s own brand new pop star, I got hooked on this album really quickly due to Spotify suggesting it and have it playing pretty regularly now. Since the release of the record, there is definitely some Tate hate on the net that I can’t get behind, people hating on her live show. I haven’t seen it personally but she had some great performances on Jimmy Kimmel as well as an appearance at this year’s NHL All-Star game. Anyways, to go on about this banger off the record, the song is about trying to change a person to salvage a relationship and then coming to terms with the ending of it. Tate’s vocals are beautiful in it as always.

“I could never make you want me like I wanted to be wanted
I could never really change you like I thought that I could
I was tryna make us somethin’ out of nothin’, we were nothin’ at all
You can only dig the grave so deep
You can only try to save somethin’ that’s not already gone”

Track #7: Weezer – Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Weezer (Teal Album) (2019)

I don’t bring the cover songs all that often but some squeak through that are undeniable and Rivers and the gang covering a track from one of the greatest new wave acts to come out of the eighties is kind of perfect. The Teal Album is a fantastic collection of all cover songs that really show the legendary alt-rockers’ sources of inspiration and the coolest thing is they all sound really close to the original songs which shows how chameleon-like Weezer could be without us even really thinking about it. Tears For Fears is a favorite of mine so expect them to show up on the list eventually but this is a really neat conduit to present them I think.

“Welcome to your life
There’s no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you”

Track #8: Pink Floyd – Have A Cigar – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Time to get classic and by classic I mean a real classic with this track off of one of the greatest records of all time, made by one of the greatest bands of all time. Floyd is a band that has meant something to me since a really young age, with this record, Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall being on the record player often as I was growing up, so I had a deep love for each track for a long time. This one, in particular, is one I absolutely love because it is essentially about selling out to the record companies, ones who only see you as dollar signs and don’t even really know your name. It is a self-proclaimed assault on the greasy side of music production and I love its swanky guitar sound. Roger Waters was really cooking with this one.

“Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar
You’re gonna go far
You’re gonna fly high
You’re never gonna die
You’re gonna make it if you try
They’re gonna love you
Well, I’ve always had a deep respect and I mean that most sincerely
The band is just fantastic
That is really what I think
Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?”

Track #9: The Offspring – Gone Away – Ixnay On The Hombre (1997)

I find it really interesting that the first two Offspring songs on the playlist are songs that mean the most to me out of their large discography. Gotta Get Away is special for the energy and time when it came out and this track was the defining piece of this landmark release of theirs, the fourth album from the legendary Garden Grove, California punk rock band. Dexter Holland wrote the song after a near-death experience in which he was in a diner and got shot up during a gang fight. I never would have guessed that by listening to the track.

“And it feels, and it feels like
Heaven is so far away
And it feels, yeah, it feels like
The world has grown cold
Now that you’ve gone away”

Track #10: Lamb Of God – Again We Rise – Sacrament (2006)

I know, I know, I’m killing the vibe of this playlist just after midway through with some screaming thrash metal but you have to understand that I was having a bad day and really needed a pick me up. There is no better way to do that than to have Randy Blythe growl “RISE” after that singular guitar riff intro. Believe me, it is so deliciously soothing to a group of raw nerves and it brings me back to the many times I have seen them live. What a metal assault this song is, another awesome track in an arsenal of many, plus, this is another of their pointed political songs, from the era of the second Bush administration, a time that feels so long ago now.

“Blood and fire used to fill the night
Burned and drowned by our very lives
You missed a sinking boat by years
Dollar signs, crocodile tears
It’s over now and long has been
Those days are gone, won’t come again
Another name crossed off the list
The real thing would kill you quick”

Track #11: Temple Of The Dog – Say Hello 2 Heaven – Temple Of The Dog (1990)

The emotions hit very hard just moments into this song with those first chords in this tribute song to Mother Love Bone’s Andrew Wood. Now, we live in a world without the singer of this track, Chris Cornell, a hole left in rock music that is felt every day. The second single off the supergroup’s self-titled record after the massive success of Hunger Strike, this is my favorite song off the album and if the moment hits me right, I can feel the tears building which I think shows how special this song is. Music is timeless and sometimes, just for a special space in imaginative time, it can resurrect legends.

“New like a baby, and lost like a prayer
The sky was your playground, but the cold ground was your bed
Ooh, I said, poor Stargazer, she’s got no tears in her eyes
But fool like a whisper, she knows that love heals all wounds with time
Now it seem like too much love is never enough
Yeah, you better seek out another road, ’cause this one has ended abrupt, oh!”

Track #12: Marshmello and Khalid – Numb – Numb (2022)

Sometimes you just need a boppy single to get back on track mentally and Numb is one that I generally wouldn’t gravitate to but it really is so damn catchy. The second collaboration between the producer and R&B singer, it marks nearly a five-year stretch since their first hit together, “Silence”, a track that leads into Khalid’s sensibilities more, I think Numb’s style made it more destined to be a chart-topper. I also contend that any song with a whistle in its main chorus will always catch on with a mainstream audience. It’s almost scientific at this point to increase your serotonin when hearing it.

“I, I wanna get numb
And forget where I’m from
‘Cause lookin’ in your eyes
Like lookin’ at the sun
I feel like you’re the moon
I feel like I’m the one
I wanna get numb, numb, numb, numb
I, I wanna get numb
And forget where I’m from
‘Cause lookin’ in your eyes
Like lookin’ at the sun
I feel like you’re the moon
I feel like I’m the one
I wanna get numb, numb, numb, numb”

Track #13: The Black Keys – Shine A Little Light – “Let’s Rock” (2019)

When you’re looking for an old-school sounding rock band in the modern age, you really can’t go wrong with the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, together known as Akron, Ohio’s own The Black Keys. Taking the first track off of their ninth studio album, this song sets a tone for the rest of the record and with that crunchy opening, it is the perfect sound for getting shit done, rolling on a road trip or just playing some serious air guitar. The song is about reaching out to the spirits of those who have left us to ease our times for the living. All this is done in the style that the Keys have really made their own.

“No one really knows
Where it goes from here
But we all decompose
And slowly disappear”

Track #14: Cage The Elephant – Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked – Cage The Elephant (2008)

There’s something about an outlaw-sounding storytelling song that really ropes me in and this Bowling Green, Kentucky alt-rock band has a sound that they’ve cultivated beautifully for themselves. I was shocked to discover that this was the third single released off of the record, which surprises me as this and Back Against The Wall, the fourth single released, are my favorite tracks off the album. This song was also used in the opening cutscene to the video game Borderlands which is relevant with the terrible film adaptation now playing in theaters.

“Not even fifteen minutes later I’m still walking down the street
When I saw the shadow of a man creep out out of sight
And then he swept up from behind, he put a gun up to my head
He made it clear he wasn’t looking for a fight
He said, “Give me all you’ve got, I want your money, not your life
But if you try to make a move, I won’t think twice”
I told him, “You can have my cash, but first you know I gotta ask
What made you want to live this kind of life?””

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Aug 9

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August 9, 2024

We’re getting horror thriller heavy this week but is it all good? I took in M. Night Shyamalan’s new vision with Josh Hartnett, Trap, both Chloe and I give our thoughts on the strange new thriller Cuckoo with Hunter Schaffer and the always welcome Dan Stevens and I finally got my eyes on Ti West’s MaXXXine. The Umbrella Academy draws to a close on Netflix, Faye Dunaway gets a career spanning documentary and Natalie Portman is bringing the artfully driven mystery in a new series. All this and more on this new episode!

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Aug 2nd

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August 2, 2024

We are Kevin-less this week (he’s actually in the background, TRY AND SPOT HIM!!) but I’ve got my Deadpool & Wolverine thoughts and, don’t worry! I’ve kept them spoiler-free for those who haven’t seen it yet! Kneecap, a fantastic Irish hip-hop biopic hits theatres in limited release, I’m a big fan of the Lowe’s show Unstable, which gets its second season this week and I watched Purple Rain for the first time, one 4K, on the fortieth anniversary. Morris and Jerome forever.

Songs Of A Fortnight #14

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July 29, 2024

Being a beginner to the real cohesion of playlists, doing them as a “day-by-day add to” list has sometimes worked out perfectly but other times, it has seemed like a mish-mash of crazy styles, tone shifts and jarring transitions. Well, this is probably a grouping of songs that belongs with the latter as I have shifts like Ladytron to Eyes Set To Kill, The Smiths to Stabbing Westward and The National to Taproot. I did try and sneak in my own music therapy to start getting myself over a total tragedy that has happened to one of my all time favorite duos.

Track #1: Shinedown – Cut The Cord – Threat To Survival (2015)

Starting this playlist off with a proven hit generator in this Jacksonville, Florida rock band who have been putting out solid records since 2003 and I really only just got into them fully in the last decade. I definitely should have been into them earlier, as they did the theme song for WWE Monday Night RAW years ago, using their song Enemies, but their album Attention Attention really got my, well, attention. From there, I started backtracking and came across this track, the first single released from the 2015 album. That record was largely panned by critics but this song was celebrated and it still makes me bop whenever it comes on.

“Let me tell you: I’m vicious
Not passive-aggressive
I’ve got my finger on the pulse
Starin’ straight into a hole, and I get it
And I’m a savage; it’s automatic
I got a way of makin’ noise
The power to destroy with no static”

Track #2: Toadies – Tyler – Rubberneck (1994)

When it comes to this Fort Worth, Texas rock band that formed at the inception of the grunge era, Possum Kingdom is the song I feel like we know and love. It wasn’t until I dug into the album that track came off of that I realized it is such a treasure trove of great rock songs and this one is definitely my favorite. The song is named after a small town an hour and a half outside of Dallas, a place without much going on and the focus is on a sexual assault that happened in town. The point of view of the song is from the attacker and gets really dark but, damn, why did the Toadies have to make it all with a catchy sound around it? It makes me feel weird and now I pass that feeling on to you.

“We can drive
To any place
Day and night
To cross this state”

Track #3: Thirty Seconds To Mars – The Story – A Beautiful Lie (2005)

No matter how weird Jared Leto comes across in real life and whether he really runs a cult or whatever rumors swirl around him, I still feel very drawn to his music and have since the release of their first album. With A Beautiful Lie, I feel they made a real landmark record and it was this song of it that I feel myself constantly drawn to. It has an echoey drive to it that resonates to my very musical core every time and it has a bridge in it that I belt out along with Jared and can’t get it out of my head for hours afterwards. This is a warning here, you haven’t seen the last of Jared, Shannon and company on these lists as I make them.

“I’m in the middle of nothing
And it’s where I want to be
I’m at the bottom of everything
And I finally start to leave”

Track #4: Ladytron – Destroy Everything You Touch – Witching Hour (2005)

It’s really starting to feel like 2005 is the story of this playlist this time around as now we have two records in a row from the mid-aughts time. This electro-pop trio out of Liverpool, England made their first impression on me with this song off of their third album, and like most of my discoveries in that genre, I was hooked big time. The rising intensity of this song gets me grooving almost immediately and I saw it referred to as a “scorched earth banger” and I can’t think of a better way to describe it. The second single released off of Witching Hour, I really have to recommend the music video as well, an artful piece directed by Adam Bartley in his only time behind the camera.

“Everything you touch, you don’t feel
Do not know what you steal
Shakes your hand
Takes your gun
Walks you out of the sun
What you touch, you don’t feel
Do not know what you steal
Destroy everything you touch today
Please destroy me this way”

Track #5: Eyes Set To Kill – Drift Away – Eyes Set To Kill (2018)

The Rodriguez sisters out of Tempe, Arizona make their second appearance on one of my playlists and this is kind of a big one as they kicked off this whole project as song one on playlist one and it was a song of this album too. I dig this track a lot, one that serves as the first of the last four songs on the record, and the emo drive of it really gets going as an earworm every time I hear it. The song feels like it speaks to themes of promises broken and extreme abandonment so, as far as an emo song goes, it kind of checks all the boxes. The difference is it has some good metal crunch to it. Seriously, if this band’s name is new to you, fix it with this album ASAP.

“All of the blood and all the shame
Was it all for nothing?
I swallowed my pride to be a slave
Yeah, I took the beating
There is no hope to hold onto
No point in believing
These letters to home
Aren’t getting through”

Track #6: My Chemical Romance – I’m Not Okay (I Promise) – Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (2004)

Speaking of emo songs, it’s time to bring one of the all-time heavyweights in that genre to the playlists and, with how much I enjoy this group, I’m surprised it’s taken this long. Founded by brothers Gerard and Mikey Way in 2001 out of Newark, New Jersey, the lyrics automatically gripped my the first time I heard them and it was this song that started the ball rolling, which also happened to be the first single off their second record. The song is basically a plea for help from a girl being mentally abused by a partner using her own personal pictures against her. The song plays both angles through the central narrator, Gerard, to claim some sort of understanding. Emo songs can sometimes have ridiculous depth to them and these guys are the kings of that.

“Forget about the dirty looks
The photographs your boyfriend took
You said you read me like a book
But the pages all are torn and frayed now”

Track #7: Dead Poet Society – .CoDA. – -!- (2021)

I love bringing a band that isn’t widely known to this list and this rock band out of Boston, Massachusetts really deserves to have ears on them. Formed in 2013, it’s crazy to think that the band didn’t get their first full record released until after the beginning of the pandemic after the release of four EPs but here we are. A bunch of Berklee College of Music graduates, they wouldn’t have had musical exposure if it wasn’t for the love they experienced with Mexican fans through a music blog called Pepe Problemas. This is the first track I heard by them and it put me on the path of this full debut album as well as the follow-up Fission which was released at the very beginning of the year. These guys deserve to blow up big time and I hope the rock charts begin to realize that.

“Talk shit, bitch
Say it like you wanna leave
You love me like cocaine, yeah
Don’t lie, get it right
Need me every night
You love me like, you love me like
You love me like cocaine, yeah
You love me like, I love you like”

Track #8: The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again – The Queen Is Dead (1986)

Let’s get this opinion out of the way. Morrissey has made a career out of being a complete asshole, saying inflammatory things and giving his shitty thoughts on everything and cancelling shows over his own bloated ego. That said, Johnny Marr is a rock god without question and The Smiths hold an undeniable place in music history and were the inspiration for so many. This is a song I really felt like I needed on a bad Monday and it’s kind of cool that this was the first Smiths song to land on the playlist as I really thought it would be the more common How Soon Is Now that was first selected. This was the leading single off of this record and it is iconic, to say the least.

“And now I know how Joan of Arc felt
Now I know how Joan of Arc felt
As the flames rose to her Roman nose
And her Walkman started to melt (Ah)”

Track #9: Stabbing Westward – Save Yourself – Darkest Days (1998)

It looks like this is the part of the playlist where we get even more classic and this band fits right in with bands like Nine Inch Nails and, what came from that band, Filter. An industrial rock quintet out of Macomb, Illinois, this was the record where I really started paying attention to them, even though the hit song “What Do I Have To Do?” lives in an industrial emo hall of fame in my opinion. I remember buying this album just based on that one track alone and was treated to a concept album of sorts too. This song is part of the second act which is about lust, hope, and longing in the aftermath of a breakup. If you were heartbroken in the late 90s, this should’ve been your go-to. It still could be.

“I know that you’ve been damaged
Your soul has suffered such abuse
But I am not your savior
I am just as fucked as you
(I am just as fucked as you)”

Track #10: R.E.M. – What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? – Monster (1994)

Yes, we’re getting back to that Smiths-ish style of a classic with a rock band that lives in a legend status, and that is Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and the rest of R.E.M. I’m definitely not over the moon about their entire discography but some songs poke through and this one is reminiscent of the music video era when it was really at it’s height in the mid-nineties. Furthermore, this track popping up made me re-examine this album as an adult and it improved immensely with my music maturity now. I can see why this record was so loved and I wish I wasn’t so jaded at the time and had the broader understanding of music that I do today. This song was also the tipping point into a rockier sound from R.E.M., a landmark track if you will.

“I’d studied your cartoons, radio, music, TV, movies, magazines
Richard said, “Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy”
A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth”

Track # 11: The Weeknd – Gasoline – Dawn FM (2022)

The second appearance of the closest voice we have to Michael Jackson at present date, The Weeknd also doubles as Canadian content on this playlist, the only one so far. This song is one that got caught in my head as it was used as the official theme song for Wrestlemania this year and as a regular viewer of their programming, I heard it over and over again. The basis of the song is Abel speaking about himself as a selfish lover whose only self-worth is derived from his partner. It fits in as the first real track on the, largely, concept record Dawn FM, as of now, the last one he’s put out. I think he said he was done too, so this weirdo record and The Idol will be the last “Weeknd” releases.

“It’s 5 AM my time again
I’ve soaken up the moon, can’t sleep
It’s 5 AM my time again
I’m calling and you know it’s me
I’m pushin’ myself further
I’m just tryin’ to feel my heartbeat beat (Beat)
I wrap my hands around your neck
You love it when I always squeeze
It’s 5 AM, I’m high again
And you can see that I’m in pain (Ooh, ooh)
I’ve fallen into emptiness
I want you ’cause we’re both insane
I’m staring into the abyss
I’m lookin’ at myself again
I’m dozing off to R.E.M.
I’m trying not to lose my faith”

Track #12: Tenacious D – Tribute – Tenacious D (2001)

Given all the recent events surrounding The D and their apparent break up over a Donald Trump assassination attempt joke, when this song popped on I felt an initial sadness wash over me. The current filter of the year 2024 has a tainted taste on it but the original love I have for this album, all twenty-three years of it, won’t let me completely tarnish my comfort album, a record I know lyrically from front to back. I can’t let JB’s heinous decision-making skills rob me of the glory of this record and the memories I have attached to it! So, I offer a Tribute, if you will, to honor my deep feelings of love to a collection of songs that I’ve carried with me ever since they first hit my ears as well as a rock legend duo that called it quits for th stupidest of reasons.

“Ah-rah, dee
Soo-guh-goo-gee-goo-gee
Goo-guh fli-goo gee-goo
Guh fli-goo, ga-goo-buh-dee
Ooh, guh-goo-bee
Ooh-guh-guh-bee-guh-guh-bee
Fli-goo gee-goo
A-fliguh woo-wa mama Lucifer!”

Track #13: The National – All The Wine – Alligator (2005)

I guess I’ll come right out of the gate and address that I’m using the verion of this song from the second releasing of it rather than the one off of their third studio album and not the previously released EP from 2004. This band is one I found through the radio, on a great station called The Peak which showcased a different side of rock music but it was from their current album at the time, High Violent from 2010. Through that and the influence of my wife, I started to look through their earlier work, via the Blaylock playlists, and really fixated on this record a lot. I also really have love for a song that would contain the lyric “I’m a perfect piece of ass”. That’s so damn poetic, thank you Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner.

“I’m put together beautifully
Big wet bottle in my fist
Big wet rose in my teeth
I’m a perfect piece of ass
Like every Californian
So tall I take over the street
With high-beams shining up my back
A wingspan unbelievable
I’m a festival
I’m a parade”

Track #14: Taproot – Myself – Welcome (2002)

Wrapping this playlist up with a returning band and one of my favorites of all time, Ann Arbor, Michigan’s own Taproot, for have three immaculate records in a row, starting with their landmark debut, Gift. The second record clearly had a big effect on me as I have now brought a second track off of that album but this song in particular has a direct connection to the debut as it features a sample directly from the band’s first single, “Again & Again”. The bridge to the song also has such a good deep groove to it that /i have to crank the volume on it everytime. In a selfish move, I’m choosing to close this pretty all over the place playlist with a forever favorite of mine.

“Caressing gateways of the mind
Over, enter through spaces time
Heals wounds inspiring gifts of light
Inside myself just need some time
(Just need some time to myself)
To figure it out cause I’ve got no doubt
That when my dreams come true
It’s because of you
And the fact that I let you”