Neurosis’ The Eye of Every Storm, showed a combination of folk, metal, ambience and naturalism in one vast experimental record. A band that came from a very American hardcore beginning, its astonishing what musical exploration Neurosis has achieved over the course of a few decades, all with some obscurity. Whether you’re a “heady” music listener or a knucklehead thrasher.

Visit Neurosis’ official website, and their label, Neurot Recordings.

When music blogging veteran Subverse tells me, “This is a band to watch, they will be famous,” I take notice. So I check this song from Coltrane Motion‘s “Hello Ambition!” album, and wow. From the opening line, “I never had a fight in my life” to the soft exhale ending, “I Forgot There Was A War On” is a potent meditation on life in these redonkulous times. The piece succeeds without any sort of conventional bass track, just an atmospheric sine wave pattern that moves under a staccato bleep in the top end, which pesters like an urgent busy signal. But it’s the ingenious guitar parts and lone vocal, weaving in between the electronic elements, that turn it all into magic. Like the other free mp3 I listened to on the band’s site, this manages to be innovative, smart, AND accessible. Subverse, I heard it from you first

Coltrane Motion
“I Forgot There Was A War On” (mp3)
from “Hello Ambition!”
(Datawaslost)

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Los Angeles art rockers Dios offer some convincing reasons for fans to buy their music directly from them so “some suit that doesn’t give a f!ck about music or art doesn’t get to take his cut.” And if not satisfied with their value-packed audio and artwork bundles, you can, for a mere $5,000, hire the whole band to hang out with you in Vegas, Disneyland, their local bars and sleep over at their mom’s house for a weekend! Now, I’d never bother to tell you any of this, except their record just happens to be seriously brilliant. The single they are generously sharing for free, “Stare At Wheel,” sounds like the Cramps had an acid trip with the Beatles and both Brians – Jones and Wilson! – at Wolfmother’s house and recorded the event. A gorgeous and mysterious song, expertly and lovingly realized. Check it out.

Dios
“Stare At Wheel” (mp3)
from “We Are Dios”
(Buddyhead Records)

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From the consistently brilliant Quannum Projects label, comes this magnificent exposition by Lateef & Lyrics Born – two of the tightest lyricists in hip-hop – collectively known on their collaborations as Latryx. Born of their work together in Solesides, Latyrx’ output is an inevitable dialog between two originals, evolving and exploring intellectual territories to weave tapestries of entertaining verse. This gem from 1997 was a game changer for those in the know, and it’s available for digital purchase now thru the IODAnets. Has my top rating for spring n’ summer fun-tellectual party bumpin’ mix! Enjoy.

Latyrx
“Say That” (mp3)
from “The Album”
(Quannum Projects)

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I discovered the Jive Turkeys last year and I am delighted to post another dose of their fine funky medicine here today. Pure instrumental 70’s funk worship from a band that can really cook. The Jive Turkeys outta Cincinnati O-Hi-Yo, ladeez and gents, doin’ “The Funky Turkey,” from their hot-off-the-griddle “Bread & Butter” platter. Gobble gobble it up.

The Jive Turkeys
“The Funky Turkey” (mp3)
from “Bread & Butter”
(Colemine Records)

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Since forming in 1998, San Diego’s Pinback has built their widespread indie cred and fan base on artfully composed, intelligent and highly original music. Entitled simply “B,” this track from their 2003 “Offcell” EP is a masterpiece of imagination – about as much of a journey as you can pack into a five minute piece. Hard to classify, yet readily accessible. Like a dream put to music.

Pinback
“B” (mp3)
from “Offcell”
(Absolutely Kosher)

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Oh praise be. Here is some perfect nonsense of the highest order. Andrew W.K. has a perverse sense of pop humor, and here I think he dumps every single party song cliché you can possibly stuff into two minutes and forty seconds of fun. This is ridiculous, pointless, reprehensible, and pure genius! Enjoy, I think, is the operative term.

Andrew W.K.
“We Party (You Shout)” (mp3)
from “Close Calls With Brick Walls / Mother of Mankind”
(STEEV MIKE)

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My mp3 sleuthing hero, Superfan, has been posting some lovely Northern Soul tracks lately from the Twirl Records compilations. Released digitally now for all to enjoy, these 45′s were long the domain of crate digging fanatics and collectors exclusively. From Volume 6 of this mother lode of gems, “Shangri-La” by The Parakeets has all the elements: rich, sugary string section parts, doo-wop style harmonys, a sincere and plaintive lead vocal, and even that abrupt fade at the end which so many record producers favored at the time. Pure uncut vintage pop.

The Parakeets
“Shangri-La” (mp3)
from “Twirl Records Story Volume 6″
(Twirl Records)

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Fool’s gold. If you’ve ever been to the Sierra Nevada, and gazed into a mountain stream, you’ve seen the shimmering stuff, beckoning as it did to prospectors who sought their fortunes there starting around 1848. Pretty, but worthless stuff. Then we wonder, why is gold valuable? Well, because we say it is. We agree it’s valuable and carry on having civilizations based on it being valuable. Pretty absurd if you toy with that notion. So let’s don’t. Don’t be fooled by the title, this beautiful song by The Abramson Singers is pure gold. Haunting twang-y guitars and delicate snare brushes set the stage for some magnificent, soft and sweet female vocal harmonies that could melt Fort Knox. From their, or more like her, eponymous album. Lovely work, check it out.

The Abramson Singers
“Fool’s Gold” (mp3)
from “The Abramson Singers”
(White Whale)

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Obituary is one of the first groups to truly innovate death metal with their, sometimes fast, and sometimes sludgy compositions in tandem w/John Tardy’s vocal style. Nearly two decades since their classic releases, “Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death,” a new Obituary record is out on Candlelight Records, and they’re STILL about as fuckin’ heavy as it gets. Download “Payback” NOW!

Obituary
“Payback” (mp3)
from “Darkest Day”
(Candlelight Records)

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