"8-Way Santa" by Seattle band Tad still sound heavy, weird, psychedelic, and the standard most independent rock bands should defer to for clarity of sound and persistence of vision. 'Jinx' and 'Jack' are album highlights.
Public Enemy's "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back". Unpredictable, to say the least! Avoiding well-worn cliches from hip hop, gangsta rap, as well as utilizing modern ideas and understandings. The group to watch for in 2018!
Incredible package. "Loutsflo3er" seems to be the more interesting of the two albums offered in this set, even though "MPLSound" does have a fine moments. Prince covers "Crimson and Clover" and "Wild Thing" in one unexpected medley.
Traffic's album "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" proves why the idea of a 'supergroup' works, when it works well! At times deep, well-done, yet, with a casual attitude that oftentimes serves some of the weightier songs, while not detracting from the albums's overall pre-glam rock strut.
...and the last from Scott Weiland. Solid work from a band just coming into it's own. For Guns 'N Roses fans, a reminder that a reunion wasn't necessary, for fans of Stone Temple Pilots, a reminder that Weiland's input into the 90s rock stalwarts was more crucial than many have speculated.
...An album for those that remember this band! Starting off as a quirky, oblique, and obscure "post-punk" act the Residents have successfully morphed into a professional-sounding, yet, still bizarre art-rock act that has managed to carve (sic) it's own niche in the fringe-music hall of fame. Remember the Theory of Obscurity?
One of the band's early releases (from SST years), which definitely showcased the band's style, at the time, while charting the creative direction for the future. Not quite the "Rosetta Stone" of Sonic Youth's catalogue, but, an early translator.
From Public Enemy, always reliable. First, underrated album worth a listen, if not, required! Not too long, not too deep, always good for just about any occasion!
The Residents give a new meaning to the word "cult band", by, not only, not revealing their identities, but, by utilizing their Theory of Obscurity as a form of "cult thinking" as performance art. "Eskimo" is a tough album absorb for even long-time fans, much less new entrants into their fascinating take on music!
...But a new stage in his career. Live "Billy the Mountain" is a classic, the rest of the record, a bit hodgepodge (and sexist, depending on your disposition), marked a new stage in Zappa's career.