Southland Mission, Phil Cook

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about. 

Southland Mission, Phil Cook, 2015, :32

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

No idea who this guy is (he's played in some bands I've heard of or heard only snippets of) or why I picked this retro '60s album cover to play.  The spirit just struck me.  He plays what Wikipedia calls "freak-folk."  It's sort of a neo-folk, an acoustic folk-blues-rock, I guess, somewhat akin to a cheerier aSon Volt or a more bluesy Golden Smog.  On the album cover he looks like Jerry Garcia's spiritual nephew.  This album starts off strong with two catchy, uptempo songs, but then settles down to a more sleepy groove.  He's a fine musician, but I found myself not listening very carefully to most of the album, even at a brisk 32 minutes.  Favorite tracks: "Ain't It Sweet," "1922," "Gone."  

Hang, Foxygen

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about. 

Hang, Foxygen, 2017, :32 

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Grandiose baroque pop with '70s glam rock and Philly soul influences worn on its sleeve in giant glittery rhinestones. Luckily, although the songs themselves are chamber-pop epics full of pomp and theatrics, the album itself is not overlong. Too much of this would get old to me; in "Mrs Adams" and the chorus of "Rise Up," the singer is belting his best Mick Jagger.  And there's also some Bowie in there.  A blender of soul and Bowie and T.Rex is fun, sure, but a little goes a long way.  I prefer the Real Heroes for this kind of material, but they're long-gone.  Favorite tracks: "Upon a Hill," "Avalon."

City Sun Eater in the River of Light, Woods

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about.

City Sun Eater in the River of Light, Woods, 2016, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Odd album name, impenetrable band name, and primitivist drawing of a skull on the cover?  I'm in!  I'm not sure what to call this music.  Maybe psychedelic-folk-funk?  At times it approaches blue-eyed soul.  At times it's sort of druggy and spaced out.  At times it's even eerie, in a laid-back, hippie kind of way.  Some, like "Sun City Creeps," showcase reggae beats.  This array of styles is cohesive, though, with pop hooks and skilled instrumentation; it all sounds confident and assured, not like dabbling or dilettantism.  The falsetto singing lends the whole an unearthly quality, but I did find myself wishing there was another voice or two to give a vocal range to match the musical innovation.  A very pleasant discovery.  Favorite tracks: "Hollow Home," "Creature Comfort."

Safe At Home, International Submarine Band

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about. 

Safe At Home, International Submarine Band, 1968, :28

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This turns out to be Gram Parsons' first band, right before he quit to join the Byrds.  Once I found that out, I had a good idea of what I'd be hearing, but I didn't know that first, so it still counts as a WTHIT Wednesday.  This album is a lost gem of folk-tock-turned-straight country.  Smooth harmonies, toe-tapping melodies, pedal steel guitar, and originals (four out of the ten tracks) that rival the classic country weepers.  The longhairs add youthful energy and a new shine to covers of "I Still Miss Someone," "A Satisfied Man," and "Folsom Prison Blues," making them their own.  "Luxury Liner" sounds like classic Byrds, or maybe the Monkees.  Just a fun album throughout.  Favorite tracks: "Blue Eyes," "Luxury Liner," "Miller's Cave."

Key To the Kuffs, JJ DOOM

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about.

Key to the Kuffs, JJ DOOM, 2012, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

No idea what this was before I played it.  DOOM is apparently a British-American hip-hop artist working with a producer with the initials JJ, thus the name.  Cut and chopped soundbites from cartoons and noir films mix with cryptic, absurd, intelligent lyrics. There's the usual self-glorification, but with a tongue-in-cheek attitude and mumbled name-dropping of superheroes, Gundam robots, Thomas the Tank Engine, and lots of other pop culture touchstones. Not to mention Eyjafjallajökull, an Icelandic volcano, somehow. DOOM definitely touches on topics that, in my limited experience with rap, aren't typical; "Wash Your Hands" is a germaphobic rant that has some significance for today : "I'm just sayin', wash ya hands fam / Before ya put your nasty thumbs in the underpants, damn / You like the way she shake her back area / It's like a sex machine that make bacteria."  Plus an attack on Frankenfoods and a desire, born of being stuck in the UK, of seeing people with more melanin.  Also: "Watch DOOM's laser graze you / More worse than Occam's razor / Not to interrupt / But anybody else notice time speeding up?"  Favorite tracks: "Guv'nor," "Banished."

Honey Pig, Bosley

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about. 

Honey Pig, Bosley, 2011, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Never heard of this band before, and I was missing out! It's modern blue-eyed soul-funk. These guys have a lot more cojones than the unjustly more famous Meyer Hawthorne. The songs on this album range from Prince-style pop-funk jams to muscly Otis Redding-style shouters. There’s even a hint of raspy Tom Waits-style maudlin sob story, but with swinging horns and catchy choruses. From the first moments of the first track, you're strutting through the '70s; by the last track, you're swinging in a '40s club. Excellent, exciting, energetic stuff. I definitely will revisit this band. Favorite tracks: "Neon Magazine," "Coca Cola."

You Look a Lot Like Me, Mel Blum

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about.

You Look a Lot Like Me, Mel Blum, 2015, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I have never heard of this person, who is not famous enough to have their own Wikipedia page. They are apparently a nonbinary transgender individual. It’s very good stuff! I would call this folk punk, or maybe anti-folk. Catchy, introspective, emotive. Their voice and lyrical themes and tempo sounds like Kimya Dawson or that small brunette in Garfunkel and Oates, but deciding to play good music this time. "But I'm not much of a networker / Unless you like non-sequiturs / About mold or ghosts or chubby little dogs." This reference won't mean anything to anyone, but it reminds me of acoustic punk band Defiance, Ohio. Like them, Blum deserves to be more widely known. Favorite tracks: "Reality TV," "The Shrink Thinks," "Better Than I Was."