Ashley O - On A Roll

Danette and I are late in watching Black Mirror, and we just recently watched the 2019 episode "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too", which featured Miley Cyrus playing a fictional version of herself (in a dystopian, sci-fi Black Mirror idiom, of course).  In the course of the episode, the "Ashley O" character performed a cleverly rewritten, up-beat synth pop version of Nine Inch Nail's "Head Like A Hole", retitled "On A Roll".  At the end of the episode, once her character has been freed and rebranded as "Ashley Fuckin O", she performs an actual cover of "Head Like a Hole".  

The full story of how this song and episode came to be, as well as Trent Reznor's reaction. are detailed in a 2019 GQ article.  I particularly enjoyed this episode because I remember when "Pretty Hate Machine" came out in 1990 and the impact it had on popular music. Sure, there had been bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, etc., but NiN was the first to have genuinely catchy songs and find a cross-over audience.  They had popular impact, and when they were played on the radio/MTV, they sounded nothing like anyone that had been played before. Listening to "Pretty Hate Machine" now, it sounds relatively tame -- but that's not a not a knock against NiN, but rather a testament to Reznor's impact: the reason why "Pretty Hate Machine" sounds conventional now is because for the last 23 years, artists have strived to replicate, incorporate, and in some cases just straight rip-off their sound.  That's real impact.  That fact that "Head Like A Hole" was 1) chosen and 2) works so well for this "Hannah Montana-in-an-alternate-universe" episode is just further illustrates this point.  Also, the song just simply rawks.

Ashley O - "On A Roll"

Ashley Fuckin O - "Head Like A Hole"

Nine Inch Nails - "Head Like A Hole" (studio, live 2013)

Thou - Live 2019-05-06 (concert)

Scott just turned me onto Thou, a doom metal / sludge metal band from Louisiana.  I did not know about them before his note, despite their extensive discography.  The LP he sent me was their just-released "Primer for Holy Words", a LP of covers, including songs from Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and, of course, Black Sabbath. 

I liked that LP enough that I did some poking around to learn more about them, and in the course of my research I uncovered this NPR Tiny Desk Concert they did just over a year ago.  They did three songs from their 2018 acoustic EP "Inconsolable".  Apparently part of their discography is dedicated to exploring different sub-genres that connect to primary sound.  I certainly don't have a full command of their canon, but this particular concert (and the EP from which it draws) invites comparisons to slow-core bands like Codeine and Low. 



Bonus link: "Inconsolable" EP
Second bonus link: a live set from 2019-03-29, with some of the same songs as above but done in their usual (i.e., much heavier) idiom. 

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Live KEXP 2019-08-18 (concert)

Terry recently turned me on to Australia's King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.  In their 10 years they've amassed an extensive discography, far more than with which I'm currently familiar. What I have gathered is that their sound has explored various genres and sub-genres.  But based on Terry's recommendation, the first link I listened to was a KEXP concert from last summer while they were promoting their most recent LP, "Infest the Rat's Nest", which is apparently their foray into thrash metal, while retaining their space rock / psychedelic origins.

The best way I can explain their sound is to imagine if "In Search of Space"-era Hawkwind were cryogenically frozen, and after reanimation they asked "what did we miss in the last 48 years?", whereupon they quickly consumed the back catalogs of Iron Maiden and other NWOBHM luminaries, as well as the discographies of Metallica and friends, and then recorded "Infest the Rat's Nest".

It's certainly fun to listen to, and I'm about 99.99% sure it's not a well-executed parody.

DJ Shadow - "Rocket Fuel" (spotlight)

I recently received two promotional e-mails from DJ Shadow, the first alerting me that a new LP will come out in 2019, and the second providing a link to an advance single, "Rocket Fuel", featuring De La Soul.

It sounds great -- and exactly like what you'd expect a 2019 collaboration between DJ Shadow and De La Soul to sound like.  My only complaint would be "why did it take them this long to work together?"   My primary complaint about "The Outsider" is that many of his guests were beneath him, but that's obviously not the case here. 

DJ Shadow and De La Soul - "Rocket Fuel"

2019-08-08 update: I received another email with the backstory of how DJ Shadow came to discover the cover of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by The Belmonts that provided the sample for "Rocket Fuel".  

The Belmonts - "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"

The Comet is Coming - Live 2019-03-18

This entry is courtesy of Mat Kelly, who sent me a link to the London-based trio The Comet is Coming.  I had not heard of them before, but I really liked what I was able to hear via YouTube clips.  This is a live, in-studio recording presumably captured before their NYC show later that day.  This clip features songs from their (then upcoming) 2019 LP "Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery":

1. "Blood of the Past"
2. "Birth of Creation" 
3. "Summon the Fire" (official video for the studio version)

The sound is engaging and evokes the sci-fi, space-jazz sound of artists like Sun Ra, as well as the irreverence of bands like Art of Noise.   It also reminds me, in aesthetic if not exactly sound, of the the band Algiers that Herbert recently turned me onto. I'll cover Algiers later, but in the mean time I wanted to draw your attention to this tip from Mat.