In which we ask BYT writers to tell us what they’re listening to in order to get mentally prepped for the weekend. This is what they came up with this week.
P.S. Only dudes responded to our weekly email call. SO-ALL DUDE JAMS. WITH FEELING.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MQzc6SQk_E
Jeb Gavin
Mark Ronson – Feel Right ft. Mystikal
I know the hit is “Uptown Funk” and I don’t care. I’ve always enjoyed Mark Ronson’s albums- never loved or fawned over them, but he makes good, solid music aping sources I recognize and like. When “Uptown Funk” came out my first thought was, “FINALLY, Morris Day got the Time back together.” Turns out it was Bruno Mars Bruno Marsing it up (I don’t dislike the guy, in fact I like most of his music, but nothing sounds authentic. It’s Bruno Mars imitates Stevie, or young MJ, or in this case the bad guy from Purple Rain. I’ve yet to hear who Bruno Mars is.) Anyhow, “Feel Alright” precedes “Uptown Funk” on the album (and was technically the first single,) and for good reason. It’s about damn time Mystikal came back, and Mystikal doing a James Brown/Cassius Clay: I Am the Greatest impression is a hell of a lot more fascinating than Bruno Mars doing a Morris Day impression.
Phil Runco
I do like to talk shit.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra: “Multi-Love”
Ruban Nielson went full Supertramp. Always go full Supertramp.
Fred Thomas: “Bad Blood”
Fred Thomas autopost.
Alex Tebeleff:
Lower Dens – To Die In LA
Makthaverskan – “Antabus”
Cale
Rush – Animate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89VoXz4_uMM
Rush recently announced a 40th anniversary tour. That’s a lot of music to cull a setlist from. I hope they choose this one.
Back in the late 80s they were getting a lot of flak from fans for getting too synth heavy and pop friendly, so they put out a series of more guitar driven back to basic rock albums, but uh oh spaghetti-o, they still sounded super wussy. They even had a rapping skeleton on one song, which sucked major Canadian maple dick.
Enough was enough and they released Counterparts in 1993. Supposedly guitarist Lifeson banned synths from even coming into the studio. The album starts off with Animate, a seriously heavy 6 min alternative rock monster. Probably for the first time in their career, Rush actually sounded hip. They landed at #2 on the charts after Pearl Jam’s Vs. Even the album art was classy. Rush had cool album art in the 90s!
Then they followed up with an album that has a song about modems. Sigh.
The only song on Interpol’s latest that fully captures the funky slink of their early work, everything is right with three minutes and 33 seconds of (typically) obtuse lyrics and as many hooks as a tangled fisherman’s tackle-box. That bass line is so sharp it could cut up cocaine, and don’t look now but here comes the guitars that always agree on where to go, but not how to get there. “I think I know why, I say what I say / Inverse achievements, I rule the daze” Sure, fine.
