ON REPEAT: Honeyglaze, Mannequin Pussy, Omni, Valgur, A.G., They / Live, Mexican Institute of Sound & Gaby Moreno, Pusha T, Non Plus Temps, bar italia
OBEY
I’ve had a rough week or two and it shows in the text! Read ahead and enjoy the ramblings from my withered brain! I think I go off on Shepard Fairey for three paragraphs for some reason. Whatever, you can just listen to the songs if it gets weird down there.
Oh yeah, I’ll plug the show with Google Earth at Permanent Records Roadhouse this week again!
Here’s the playlist I keep updating and linking in this part of the thing.
GML “A.G.”
I like this because it sounds like music from a future nightclub in a sci-fi movie. Those Star Wars shows get a little loosey goosey with their “space is the 70’s, but also the 40’s” rule—maybe this will be what a droid DJ plays when we find out a little more about Bossk’s backstory.
Mannequin Pussy “I Got Heaven”
I was around Philly a little when they first got started. I never really new them but I’m sure we were at the same parties. I always liked the band and they were always in my awareness bubble, so their growing fame kinda snuck up on me. Having a punk band for 14 years is hard, I’m genuinely happy for them and this song kicks ass.
They / Live “Circles”
I caught They / Live’s set at Club Tee Gee a few months ago. I was eager to see if it was good to report to my friend Pat who also has (had?) a band called They Live. I reported back that this band is, unfortunately for Pat and fortunately for my evening, very good. There’s new stuff coming in August that I’m excited to hear after getting a taste of it in the live set. I’m sorry Pat!!
(They Live, as we all know, is a dumb movie starring “Rowdy” Roderick Piper about magic sunglasses that turn the everyday signage into broad social commentary. It’s not a good movie but it has a very long fight scene that is fun to watch.
Isn’t it weird Shepard Fairey took the OBEY thing from this movie—but then made it an Andre the Giant thing instead? He already had an Andre thing. I think my brother put up one of those stickers at my bus stop in 1992, I looked at it every morning growing up. Shep could have used a Roddy Piper image since that’s the pro wrestler in the movie you’re taking the “obey” thing from.
Shep just DJ’d a Pulp Fiction screening I went to in a graveyard. It was a tribute to Johnny Ramone, who, I guess, liked Pulp Fiction. Billy Idol played Ramones covers with Tim Armstrong from Rancid before the movie. John Travolta intro’d it and did the twist thing and I made an audible “ugh” that annoyed the people next to me, who proceeded to recite the entire first scene along with the movie like it was a song.)
Omni “To Be Rude”
Omni from Atlanta! Named after the arena in Atlanta! This popped up on my Release Radar (sorry, whatever it’s helpful) and I went “ooh new Omni good” out loud to myself.
Honeyglaze “Don’t”
This song is like the good version of this.
Mexican Institute of Sound & Gaby Moreno “Yemayá”
This is a sweet love song with a cool sound from Mexico City-based DJ and producer Camilo Lara and a very famous Guatemalan singer, Gaby Moreno from 2020. I have nothing to add, I just like it!
Valgur “Máscara de Niña”
“Valgur is a Pop project in which they propose stories transformed into songs focused mainly on magical realism and science fiction, which the duo calls a questioning of the hegemonic structures of thought—”
haha let me stop you there. you see, I’m dumb
bar italia “the only conscious being in the universe”
New bar italia! Should I commit to the lowercase thing? idk not looking into the lyrics of this one because I’m afraid I’m going to read more about magical realism and the hegemonic structures of thought.
Non Plus Temps “Continuous Hinge”
Continuous Hinge? YeahthatsoundslikemyDATINGLIFE!!!
THE GOLD STANDARD:
Pusha T - “Numbers on the Boards”
We don’t talk about King Push enough as a society. Did you know Clipse started in 1992? That is wild. There’s about 5 Clipse songs I could play at a party that would make people go “ohhh” like the sample throughout this song.
Also this freestyle, come on. [explosion sound effect] [explosion sound effect] [David Letterman sound effect] [explosion sound effect]
Also did you know that the T in his name stands for Terrence? Pusha Terrence. If I wrote for Chappelle’s Show in 2003, I would write a classroom sketch where a teacher is doing roll call and it’s Pusha Terrence, Ladies Love Cool James…and uh then someone in the room would suggest a funny third name.
Look, it’s been a long week.