Spotify Playlist "BRITPOP' (compilation)

Where Spotify fails miserably with their 'New Music' compilation, they pull off a huge win with their BritPop collection. I'm already a fan of quite a few songs on here from The Verve, Oasis, Stone Roses, Kaiser Chiefs, and now I can say that singles they've featured here make me want to further investigae Ash, Elbow, Suede and more. Though Blur continues to do nothing for me.

THE TRANSITIONS 'Dark Times' (2015)

My friend Mike D recommended this album to me just a day ago. Started out where I thought some loose muddy guitar sound was going to be a mediocre effort, but instead I hear some REALLY early Social Distortion vocal sounds and some most catchy and addicting songs. Mike hears Joy Division, and that may be, but I don't think I've ever listened to a full on Joy Division album so I can't say. The singer here sings without pretense and the playing borders incompetence, but still there's something about this album that had me play it in the office on repeat 4-5 times today. The track "The Call" is a bizarre, haunting gem of a song. Good stuff here. 

M 'POP MUZIK REMIXES (2009)

How DARE no one inform me that the single greatest new wave song ever was remixed by 13 different artists in 2009 for a 30th anniversary makeover? Yes. I like pretty much all of them and I listened to 6 in a row and then 7 in a row to decide which 13 were the best.  To be revisited with the results in a week.

GROOVE ARMADA 'Little Black Book' (2015)

UK duo who have done some solid remix and productions in the past. But if this is their new direction, I'm passing on it. Really surprising and disappointing. Only like 1 track here called 'Song4Nick' and even that one is somewhat below par for this band. A lot of minimalist electronica and the louder stuff is devoid of engaging emotion. Sorry.

JAZZ STANDARDS (Masters) (2016)

I'm lacking some jazz in my life and so to rectify that, this new collection has some artists that are familiar and this collection makes for very relaxed music in the office these days while I work on creating technical documents. A few rounds of listening and I immediately like the tracks from Coleman Hawkins 'Body and Soul', and the tracks from Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. I get annoyed easily from scat singing, so the Shirley Horn gets a skip. My mind still doesn't understand how these songs are actually written, but I'd gather a tremendous amount of skill and discipline since there was no Protools or sampling back then. Was there?
 So there are 30 songs on here and it will take another week of listening to digest the really important, stand out tracks.

SACCHARINE TRUST 'Worldbroken' (1985)

This album never made it to my tape deck in the 80's. This band always had a monster rhythm section, but was way too jazzy/experimental for me to understand back then. They have their moments on other albums, especially their great 1st EP. But Joe Baiza (guitar) I think plays too many random notes ala Greg Ginn which has done it better. I don't understand Brewer's poetry either.

FLAMING GROOVIES 'Groovies Greatest Grooves' (1989)

Another band I've seen mentioned a billion times but never listened to. Better late than never. This is some REALLY killer 60's rock and roll. Probably recorded on an 8 track tape machine. I've been playing this to and from work for the past 2 days and it really swings. I think I've heard Little Stevie play them on his Garage radio show a few times. This is their Greatest Hits album and all of it of pretty damn cool.