Been on a bit of a music buying spree lately. Here's what been rotating oh so heavily:
20 Years of Dischord: Fantastic 3xCD compilation covering the first 20 years of Dischord Records. A song from every band, and a 3rd CD of unreleased/live stuff. And a, like, 130 page book with pix and history of each band. Some I knew about, others I didn't. In particular, this led me to....
Polymer and Post Mortem Anthem, both by Bluetip. Not sure how I missed this before, but I did. Diamond-saw guitars and lyrics to match. "I'm told my house is haunted, but I don't recall inviting you."
The Evens, S/T: Great, mellow-but-intense angsty stuff from Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina. Nice boy/girl harmonies and a baritone guitar, which I confess I'd never heard of before. Great stuff, very different and at the same time oddly similar to other Dischord/MacKaye Weltschmerz. Even the Fork likes it.
Take London, by The Herbaliser: The usual dope-ass hip-hop/soundtrack stuff. What else can you say?
Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum...
Man...So good. Old faves updated and played live (or at least, in front of an audience). Lots of the songs are now kind of house-y, but they're low and funky. Wish I could see them someday.
The Cherry Valance: TCV3 Grunchy (yep, new word..so?), sweaty, AC/DC-ish, double-drumkit cock rock. Everybody say "yeah."
Some of these things are not like the others. But hey....
"Got most of the big shit, there's still boxes inside. Tell me if you mind this is all I can take."