Phil's Phriday Picks

Doom metal is a pretty interesting microcosm of the overall metal genre. At a time when most bands were trying to play faster and more technical, there were a few people who decided to go the other direction. In fact, one of the early singers of grindcore band Napalm Death left the group in 1990 to form the band Cathedral. Cathedral took the heavy metal template that bands like Black Sabbath pioneered and slowed the tempo way down and brought the heavy tones way up.

Since then there have been tons of bands taking that original concept and adding their own unique twists on them. Some of them actually became popular! Some examples you may have heard of include Melvins, Kyuss, Crowbar, Down, Sleep and Pentagram.

Of course, there are also plenty of more underground bands that appeal to people like me that dig deep into the scenes and genres. One such band is Cobranoid from Denver, Colorado. Last year, they released their self-titled debut album which is today’s pick!

Cobranoid self-describes their music as “Speed Doom” and that is pretty apt. They claim to be too slow to be a thrash band and too fast to be a doom band. By that rationale, “Speed Doom” accurately describes their overall aesthetic. The description is fun, which is also a trait of their music that is rare in doom metal circles.

The band was formed by guitarist and singer Kyle Gaso. He started writing the songs while he was getting sober in a clinic in the middle of nowhere in 2021. The mixture of isolation, recovery and the state of the world inspired the heavy, progressive music that was eventually fleshed out with the trio of bassist Logan O’Connor and drummer Kevin Wylie. There is a great interview with the group from last summer that provides a lot of interesting details about how the band came to be. Worth checking out.

The album flies out of the gate with “Flesh and Bone”. It’s one of the faster tunes on the record and draws you in with its unrelenting heaviness and catchiness. Not an easy feat! Here they are playing the song live before recording the album:

Cobranoid also has a more playful, fun side to them. One of the songs on the album is called “N.E.S.” which actually stands for Neverending Story. Yes, the song is inspired by the movie. There is even some clean guitar tones creeping into this one, adding some diversity to the sound:

Perhaps my favorite song on the album is “Doom Shark”. It raises the stakes with lots of twists and turns like a progressive rock epic condensed down into a tidy five minute package:

The band made a music video for “Hyena”, which has a thrash metal gallop to it. It includes some tasty drum fills and clever double-bass work from Kevin Wylie, then slows down into a half-time shuffle with a small bass solo(!) before returning to an even faster gallop to end the song. Cobranoid definitely knows how to pack a lot into a small space! The video features a lot of tight closeups of the band playing the song and makes you feel like you’re in a small club watching them blow the roof off of the place:

Cobranoid clocks in at just under a half hour, but is packed with killer riffs. Because of its short length and the fact it’s so good and so catchy, I find myself rapidly hitting play again once it finishes. The sign of a great record that will likely become a classic!

Drummer Chad Smith is most well-known for his long time membership in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He was not the original drummer of the band (that would be Jack Irons) but joined the group at the beginning of their widespread popularity. His first recording with the Chili Peppers was on 1989’s Mother’s Milk. This was also the first album with on and off again guitarist John Frusciante. Unlike Frusciante, Chad Smith has appeared on every single Red Hot Chili Peppers record since that time.

The first single off of Mother’s Milk was their absolutely ripping cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground”. Talk about an amazing debut performance!

I don’t need to list the many highlights and accomplishments of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s career. They are one of the most popular alternative rock bands of all time. Part of their lengthy success was due to the high level of musicianship from all the members, including Chad Smith. As an example, here is a cool drum solo from the Stadium Arcadium tour in 2007:

Apparently, even that level of success was not enough for Chad Smith. In 2003 he played on the song “Get You Stoned” on bassist / singer Glen Hughes solo record Songs in the Key of Rock. Glen Hughes was once a member of Deep Purple (from 1974-1976 appearing on Burn, Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band) so it seems like Chad Smith would be an odd pairing. But it actually works really well:

This actually turned into an ongoing collaboration. Chad Smith appeared on four more Glen Hughes solo records since then. Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro also joined Chad in Glen Hughes’ band occasionally. One example is “Soul Mover” which was the title track of Glen Hughes’ 2005 album:

While recording material with Glen Hughes in 2007, Chad Smith joined other members of the band at the time in lengthy jam sessions that were heavily influenced by jazz fusion. Guitarist Jeff Kollman and keyboardist Ed Roth was the initial trio. They loved performing together so much that they started writing their own songs and also enlisted bassist Kevin Chown. This band came to be known as Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats.

As an aside, Kevin Chown might be familiar to you as he was a part of Uncle Kracker’s band and performed on their rendition of “Drift Away”:

In 2008 Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats had enough material to record their own full length album. This album is called Meet The Meatbats and is today’s pick!

The band had serious chops, but they did not take themselves very seriously (as if you couldn’t guess from the band name). The instrumental songs often had goofy titles like “Oops, I Spilled My Beer”. Here they are performing that ditty in 2011:

Great stuff!

Meet The Meatbats comes out of the gates swinging with a high energy song called “Need Strange”. It sounds like something that might be on a Jeff Beck record from the 1980s and features some great drum breaks and fills from Chad Smith. Killer stuff:

Another blazing song is “The Battle For Ventura Blvd” which has some crazed keyboard parts throughout:

One of the highlights of the record for me is “Into The Floyd”. As the name implies, it is a tribute to Pink Floyd specifically the Meddle / Dark Side of the Moon / Animals era of the group. This song could definitely fit right in on one of those classic records:

They also cover the Billy Cobham song “Stratus” (originally off of one of my favorite albums of all time: Spectrum). This definitely gives the original a run for its money. Old school jazz fusion fans take note!

Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats only put out one other album (More Meat in 2010). Apparently, being in the Red Hot Chili Peppers (not to mention Chickenfoot the supergroup that includes Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani and Michael Anthony) probably takes up a lot of Chad Smith’s time and energy. Hopefully he finds an opportunity in the future to revive the Bombastic Meatbats. I would certainly welcome some new music from this incredible group!

There are many times that a Phil’s Phriday Pick revolves around the tragic death of a musician. This week I’m flipping the script on that trend.

Today, I’m going to celebrate the life of Marshall Allen, who turned 100 years old last year! Marshall Allen is best known as being a (very) longtime member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra.

Regular Phil’s Phriday Pick readers have come to realize that I am a gigantic Sun Ra fanatic. This is illustrated by my large (yet very incomplete) collection of Sun Ra vinyl records. You could say, I dive pretty deep into the Sun Ra catalog.

Marshall Allen first joined Sun Ra’s band back in the late 1950s. Along with fellow saxophonist John Gilmore he was practically there from the beginning. One of his earliest recordings with Sun Ra was on Jazz In Silhouette, which came out in 1959. The record was more straighahead jazz than the wild avant-garde excursions that lay ahead, but it still contained some pretty outsider music. A good example is “Ancient Aiethopia”:

It’s easy to fall down a giant rabbit hole of classic Sun Ra live footage featuring Marshall Allen on the internet. I’ll save you the trouble for now by just highlighting this incredible performance recorded for French TV in 1969:

Fast-forward to the 1990s. When Sun Ra passed away in 1993, the band, billed as the Sun Ra Arkestra, continued under the direction of John Gilmore with Marshall Allen in tow. John Gilmore passed away a couple years later in 1995 and Marshall Allen took over as the leader. He has been leading the band for the next 30 years and counting.

You might think that Marshall Allen would start slowing down once he reached his 90s, but you would be very mistaken.

Here he is performing “Space Is the Place” in 2018 when he was “only” 93 years old:

The next year he was still bringing the fire:

He certainly hasn’t lost his fastball!

Marshall Allen has been living in the same house in Philadelphia that Sun Ra and the band lived and rehearsed in since 1968! Here is an interview and tour of the house Marshall Allen participated in when he was 99 years old in 2023:

In May of 2024 Marshall Allen turned 100 years old. He has been around for a century but has no signs of slowing down. In fact, two days after he reached that milestone he recorded a new studio album. Oddly enough it is the first record credited to him solo. The album is called New Dawn and is today’s pick!

New Dawn continues the traditions of Sun Ra’s music, even though Marshall Allen composed all the material. It is equal parts crazed and beautiful. The record was produced by Knoel Scott and also features him playing saxophone and drums. Knoel Scott is also a long-time member of Sun Ra’s bands.

The album features a large string section as well. Seven violin players, two viola players and a cello round out the regular jazz ensemble giving it a full, lush sound.

The title track of the record features Nenah Cherry on vocals. Here is the official video of the song:

Another highlight of New Dawn is the swinging jump blues of “Are You Ready”. Marshall Allen can still groove and swing!

One of Marshall Allen’s most famous compositions is “Angels and Demons at Play”. It was part of Sun Ra’s repertoire for most of the Arkestra’s existence. It has been recorded again for New Dawn and still sounds great. Compare an early version of it recorded in 1960 with the version recorded 65 years later on New Dawn:

It’s also still a live staple for the Arkestra. Here’s a pretty incredible version of it, which also includes guest musician Shabaka Hutchings (of The Comet Is Coming fame):

New Dawn is an incredible document of a 100 year old musician that sounds like he could live another 100 years. While that might be an exaggeration, I hope he still has many years of living filled with music ahead of him. He’s still performing and still isn’t slowing down. Want proof? Here’s footage of his 100th birthday celebration show here in Baltimore. I don’t think anything else needs to be said. Long live Marshall Allen!

Charlie Hunter is one of my all-time favorite guitar players. He doesn’t play a regular guitar like other mere mortals. He plays an 8 string guitar, with the lower strings acting as a bass. He can play bass and guitar parts simultaneously, which is pretty mind boggling.

In the early 90s his band, The Charlie Hunter Trio, consisted of drummer Scott Amendola and saxophonist Dave Ellis. Here is a great live performance of them playing their original song “Funky Niblets” off of their self-titled debut record which was released on Les Claypool’s (the bassist from Primus) Prawn Song label:

Incredible stuff! They are locked into a pretty ferocious groove, anchored by Scott Amendola’s great drum breaks. He later went on to be part of the Nels Cline Singers, but he has been a steady foil for Charlie Hunter in a wide variety of contexts and groups over the decades.

One of the groups that Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola played together in was called T.J. Kirk (not to be confused with the modern day weirdo podcaster). The band was named T.J. Kirk because of their repertoire: They play covers of Thelonious Monk, James Brown and Rahsaan Roland Kirk…sometimes mixing the artists together into wild medleys! In fact, the band was originally called James T. Kirk, but they were threatened a lawsuit from Paramount (who owns the rights to Star Trek) and ended up changing their name.

The band was a quartet. Hunter and Amendola were joined by two other guitarists: John Schott and Will Bernard. The three guitars allowed them to play some pretty intricate grooves, even while one of them is soloing.

The band was short lived, only playing together from 1995-1997. They put out two studio records (in 1995 and 1996) and a live album. Their self-titled debut record is today’s pick!

As I mentioned, they exclusively play songs by Thelonious Monk, James Brown and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. One of my favorite songs on the album is a medley of Thelonious Monk’s “Shuffle Boil” and James Brown’s “You Can Have Watergate, Just Gimme Some Bucks and I’ll Be Straight”:

They don’t always play the covers in a straightforward manner. One example of their out-of-the-box thinking is their rendition of Rashaan Roland Kirk’s “Volunteered Slavery” which they turned into a heavy reggae number:

They also turn Thelonious Monk’s “Epistrophy” into a crushing heavy metal tune:

Another song I like a lot is their cover of Monk’s “Teo” which has a lot of weird, choppy stops and starts that keeps the listener off balance:

While the group seems like a novelty act, all the musicians actually took the source material very seriously. Here is a promo video the record label Warner Brothers put out to promote the first record, which features interviews of all the band members along with some live snippets and other cool footage:

T.J. Kirk wasn’t just a studio band. They were also a formidable live act that was able to pull off their wild song arrangements while making it look effortless, yet fun. Speaking of fun, they frequently each wore a fez during their shows. Here is an great example of them playing “Cold Sweat” with “Rip, Rig and Panic”:

Finally, here is some more excellent footage of them playing Monk’s “In Walked Bud” and Brown’s “I Got To Move” which even includes an awesome drum solo:

T.J. Kirk’s second record If Four Was One was nominated for a Grammy in 1996 but didn’t win. It is also well worth hearing (they even expand their scope a bit playing Prince’s “Rockhard in a Funky Place” on the album), but I like the debut better. It sounds a little more raw, fresh and exciting.

I was summoned to jury duty today. As you’re probably aware, this usually results in a bunch of downtime while you wait to see if you’ll actually be seated in a jury for a trial. You basically bring snacks, some reading material, good headphones and wait to see what happens.

What happened for me today was just the snacks, reading and music on headphones. I was not asked to perform the civic duty of being part of a trial.

One of the reading materials I packed for the day was the latest issue of Exotica Moderne. This is a quarterly magazine focused on tiki culture: Polynesian themed bars, cocktails and, of course, surf and exotica music. It was a nice escape from the cold and dreary January that we have been experiencing. Exotica Moderne is high quality: great writing, excellent photography and tons of information to chew on.

Reading this periodical influenced what I was listening to on my headphones. I found myself queuing up the classic Martin Denny record…but I wanted to dig deeper into the exotica genre. Which lead me to the series of records Robert Drasnin released under the Voodoo banner. There ended up being three records in the series and they are all today’s pick!

In 1959, while working as an arranger for the tiny Tops Records he was asked to write his own take on the style of music Martin Denny was popularizing at the time. Voodoo was that record. It didn’t have a big splash at the time, but over the next several decades it became a cult favorite with a growing fanbase. In the mid-1990s during the neo-lounge music resurgence / craze (with bands like Combustible Edison) it was finally re-released on CD. This is when I first heard about it. It is a fantastic recording. The songs are laid back, yet catchy. The crystal clear production and arranging allows you to hear every instrument and every note. A very rewarding experience that bears a lot of fruit with repeat listening.

One of the strongest songs on the record is “Chant of the Moon” and it encapsulates what the whole record is about:

Another great song is “Jardin De La Noche”, which has a little more of a Spanish / Latin vibe:

In the mid 2000s, as Robert Drasnin and Voodoo‘s popularity continued to grow he was invited to perform the material live at Tiki themed events. The band he assembled to perform the material certainly did the original songs justice. They sound incredible! Here they are playing “Chant of the Moon” at an event called Tiki Oasis 8:

These performances inspired the Robert Drasnin to record new material for a follow-up record called Voodoo II. PPP favorite Skip Heller was involved in the all aspects of the record: helping to produce and arrange the material as well as playing guitar. Voodoo II came out in 2007…48 years after the original Voodoo and very worth the wait!

Here is a cool promo video for Voodoo II featuring footage of the musicians in the studio:

One of the highlights of Voodoo II is “Tahitian Dream”:

Another song I really like from the record is “Sambalerro”:

The group took the Voodoo II songs to the stage as well! Here is a live version of “Puente Doble” from that record at Hukilau 2007:

Around the time of Voodoo II this nice little summary of Robert Drasnin was produced. It does a good job of showing many of the highlights of his entire career. Worth watching to give you the bigger picture:

Unfortunately, Robert Drasnin passed away in 2015, in the middle of working on Voodoo III. Before he died, he asked Skip Heller to finish the record and release it. It’s a great epilogue to the Voodoo series and the life of Robert Drasnin.

“Jobimiana” is one of my favorites on Voodoo III:

I’m glad I had jury duty today which gave me a ton of time to reacquaint myself with the entire Voodoo series. It brightened my spirits and makes me realize that spring is right around the corner and better days lie ahead. I hope it gives you similar inspiration.

As many of you know, I am somebody who dives pretty deep into the world of underground death metal. It’s not for everyone, but it is definitely for me! When you immerse yourself into the genre it is pretty obvious that while there is a lot of great metal from the United States, there is also a ton that originates from elsewhere in the world. Much of that is even more extreme and forward thinking than what is happening stateside!

There are a few record labels that I keep tabs on their releases, because they have the pulse on what is new and unique in extreme metal around the globe: Nuclear War Now! Productions, Comatose Records, I Voidhanger Records and especially 20 Buck Spin.

20 Buck Spin is a Pittsburgh based label. They don’t seem to put out as many records as the other labels I mentioned but I think that’s because they subscribe to the philosophy of quality over quantity. Some bands worth checking out on their label include Tomb Mold and Immortal Bird. However, one band I particularly am fond of is an Italian group called Bedsore.

They started out as a progressive death metal band not too far off from what groups like Death were doing on classic records like Human and Individual Thought Patterns. Longer songs with a ton of shifting parts and highly technical playing coupled with guttural, screaming vocals.

Bedsore’s first record on 20 Buck Spin, Hypnagogic Hallucinations, is a brutal slab of progressive death metal. The song that closes the record, “Brains on the Tarmac”, is one of my favorites…they really stretch out here:

They eventually started pushing the envelope more. Taking cues from bands like Opeth they included more synthesizers and started writing epics that are not far off in scope from what bands like Yes were doing with Close To The Edge. I’m not kidding. A fine example is their side of a split release they did with the band Mortal Incarnation. It’s a 15+ minute prog suite called “Shapes from Beyond the Veil of Stars and Space”. It starts out with very overture like 70s progressive rock inspired synthesizer groove that gradually builds to a full-on metal explosion. There is a ton of shapeshifting melodies and fluctuating dynamics that keep the song exciting and interesting throughout the entire lengthy runtime:

Bedsore is not just a studio concern. They are also apparently a tight live act. I don’t believe they have brought their shows to the United States yet, but judging from footage like this I am eagerly awaiting that possibility!

That incredible show includes selections from Hypnagogic Hallucinations and even a full performance of “Shapes from Beyond the Veil of Stars and Space”! I was definitely floored.

Even with these progressive rock inspirations and ambitions I was not ready for what came next. Late last year, they released a new full length record called Dreaming the Strife for Love which is today’s pick!

For their new record, Bedsore fully embrace their 70s progressive rock tendencies. The album is chocked full of synthesizers, Mellotron, organ, and 12 string guitar to go along with their more traditional death metal instrumentation. It even includes guest musicians on saxophone, flute, trumpet and trombone. Full orchestration! It’s almost like if 1974-era Emerson, Lake and Palmer played death metal and the Italian band Goblin sits in with them. Completely crazed and amazing!

A fine example of their recent sound is “Scars of Light”. They released a mind-bending animated music video for it:

Bedsore’s progressive rock ambitions don’t stop with the music alone. The entire album is apparently inspired by a book written in the 1400s called Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which was written by a Venetian Catholic Priest named Francesco Colonna. I haven’t read the book, but this summary of it makes it sound like a bonkers, psychedelic journey of love and lust. Sounds perfectly inscrutable for a progressive rock concept record!

The story on the album is so convoluted that Bedsore felt the need to turn it into their own book! Not only does it apparently include detailed explanations of all the themes and lyrics throughout it also includes sheet music and illustrations! Wow! The book is currently only available at their live shows (please come to the U.S. Bedsore, I am begging you!) but they are teasing that it’ll one day be available on their Bandcamp page as well. Here are the details straight from their Facebook page:

Speaking of their Facebook page, they also made separate posts with brief explanations of all six songs on Dreaming the Strife for Love as well:

• Minerva’s Obelisque
• Scars of Light
• A Colossus, an Elephant, a Winged Horse the Dragon Rendezvous
• Realm of Eleuterillide
• Fanfare for a Heartfelt Love
• Fountain of Venus

Obviously, this is a lot to take in. This is part of the appeal of the album for me. There is so much to chew on, it is endlessly replayable to me as I try to unpack all the music as well as the story (this is especially challenging for me since the lyrics are all in Italian).

While most of the songs on the album are lengthy (average length is 6-8 minutes each) the centerpiece of the album is the 15 minute “A Colossus, an Elephant, a Winged Horse the Dragon Rendezvous”. This is a highlight that includes everything but the kitchen sink. Musical ideas pile on top of each other and completely overwhelms your senses. If there’s only one song you hear from Dreaming the Strife for Love, let it be this one:

While this style of intense, extreme music is admittedly for a niche audience I still think it deserves wider acclaim. It is a record I’ve played quite a bit and does not get old. It’ll probably stay in heavy rotation for me for many months to come.

This week there was a horrific incident in the world of hard rock. Original vocalist of the band 24-7 Spyz, P. Fluid (Peter Forrest) was found dead in an apparent homicide. He was working for an ambulette company in New York City, and when co-workers realized he wasn’t making his pickups went to look for him and discovered his body in the vehicle. An awful tragedy.

This made me go back and listen to the first couple 24-7 Spyz records, when P. Fluid was still in the band: Harder Than You from 1989 and Gumbo Millennium from 1990. These albums were in heavy rotation for me back in high school and brought back a lot of nostalgia for those days.

Nostalgia aside, these records are incredibly diverse and the band was firing on all cylinders at the time. They could tackle a wide variety of styles from punk to funk to reggae and thrash metal. Harder Than You is a front-to-back banger and is today’s pick!

There were not many African American bands at that time playing hard rock and metal so they were pushing boundaries. Living Colour and Bad Brains are obvious comparisons, but 24-7 Spyz had their own unique sound that is impossible to replicate. Plus, even though they were part of the same scene as Living Colour and were early members of The Black Rock Coalition, there was apparently bad blood between the two groups.

The first big break for 24-7 Spyz was their cover of Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie”. They made a pretty fun video for it that got some airplay on MTV’s 120 Minutes:

That wasn’t the only cover on Harder Than You. They also recorded “Sponji Reggae” (originally by reggae group Black Uhuru). Incredible stuff:

Their record label at the time, In-Effect was mostly focused on hardcore and metal bands such as Agnostic Front, Prong and Madball. They knew 24-7 Spyz was something special though so they promoted Harder Than You with a couple more videos…sadly they didn’t get much distribution. I remember seeing “Jungle Boogie” back then, but I certainly didn’t see the other videos which is a shame because they rule!

The album opener, “Grandma Dynamite”, was the 2nd video which shows the band doing their thing in a concert setting:

The final video made for the album was the protest song “Ballots Not Bullets” which is an interesting fusion of hard rock and reggae. Plus, there is some incredible vocal harmonies near the end of the tune. It should have been a hit!

24-7 Spyz also frequently played with high speed an intensity. One of my favorite songs on Harder Than You is “Spill My Guts” which gallops along at a pretty furious pace. Drummer Anthony Johnson plays some blazing double-bass and is really walloping the drums here:

Another cool song is “Spyz Dope” which was one of the songs written solely by singer P. Fluid and gives the heavy funk rock of Red Hot Chili Peppers a run for its money:

“Social Plague” is also great. It is a hard rock funk shuffle that sounds like something Infectious Grooves would do a couple years later. No surprise as Infectious Groove’s singer Mike Muir went on tour with 24-7 Spyz around this time with his other band Suicidal Tendencies. He was obviously very influenced by what they were doing here:

Speaking of touring: 24-7 Spyz appeared to be a very awesome live act. Here is some incredible footage of them playing at the Poppark Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1989 (also on the bill that day was fIREHOSE, Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, Stereo MCs and Urban Dance Squad):

Speaking of touring, in 1990 they opened for Janes Addiction when they were promoting Ritual de lo Habitual. They were getting a lot of momentum but that unfortunately came crashing down at the end of the tour. Vocalist P. Fluid quit and drummer Anthony Johnson soon followed.

This is one of those “What If?” moments in my mind. What if 24-7 Spyz was invited by Janes Addiction to be part of the original Lollapalooza festival?

Instead, the rest of the band floundered around for a couple years, eventually getting a new vocalist, Jeff Brodnax, and drummer Mackie Jayson (who previously played with Cro-Mags and Bad Brains). They streamlined their sound focusing mostly on hard rock and metal and signing to East/West Records. They put out a couple records that had some mild success but they never really gained the wide exposure that Living Colour or Red Hot Chili Peppers did. I lost interest in the group around that time because they became more serious and less freewheeling. They broke up in 1998.

In the mid-2000s guitarist Jimi Hazel attempted many times to reform the group with a revolving door of other musicians (occasionally including P. Fluid and Anthony Johnson). They never recaptured the lighting in the bottle they did in 1989-1990.

The current lineup is just a trio: Jimi Hazel and original bassist Rick Skatore with new drummer Tobias Ralph (who previously was in a band with Adrian Belew!). Here they are performing a few years ago. They definitely sound tight and heavy, but it doesn’t pack the punch and excitement of the old days:

Which brings me back to Harder Than You. Before this week, I haven’t heard the album in at least a decade…but I feel like I should have gotten back to it sooner! It is a heavy and innovative (yet fun) album that command attention for the entire 40 minutes. It still sounds pretty fresh 36 years after its original release!

It’s hard to believe 30 years after the fact, but in the mid 1990s jazz swing music was immensely popular. There was a full-on “swing revival” with a style of music from the 1930s being played on modern rock radio stations and on MTV.

One of the earliest examples of a band that contributed was Royal Crown Revue. They formed in 1989 (well before the popular 1990s resurgence). They released their first album Kings of Gangster Bop in 1991 and basically nobody noticed.

That all changed when they were featured in the Jim Carey movie The Mask in 1994. Here is the pivotal scene in the movie of Jim Carey dancing to “Hey Pachuco!” with the band:

This basically kick started the “swing revival” trend. Other bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Brian Setzer Orchestra and Squirrel Nut Zippers soon followed suit (in their zoot suits). It reached critical mass by 1996 when the movie Swingers was released and then was on a downward trend. By 1999 the revival was essentially over.

Royal Crown Revue was there every step of the way. They released their 2nd album Mugzy’s Move around the same time as Swingers. It included a re-recorded version of “Hey Pachuco!” along with “Zip Gun Bop” from Kings of Gangster Bop. The latter of which they made a music video for:

It also included the bonkers song “Barflies on the Beach” which is about exactly what the title implies. They made a wild music video for that too, which includes a ton of funny footage of the band frolicking on a beach plus footage of them playing in concert (showing people crowd surfing, of all things!):

While the band is musically great, there was a lot of kitsch in their approach (see: “Barflies on the Beach”).

For their follow-up record in 1998, The Contender, they brought a more serious approach. That album is today’s pick!

I don’t believe they made any music videos for the record, because by then major label interest in swing was waning which is a shame. The title track is a high-energy, badass swing burner. Here they are performing it soon after the release of The Contender:

Other highlights of the album include their covers of “Stormy Weather” and “Salt Peanuts” which showcase how they were trying to seriously pay homage to the original swing era.

The original songs were also great. One example is the powerful lament about early closing times at the bar called “Big Boss Lee”. I can certainly relate to their plight!

Another highlight was a mid-tempo shuffle of “Walking Like Brando”. This brings back some of the aforementioned kitsch but I think it keeps it mostly in check:

They supported The Contender by taking part in the Van’s Warped Tour. Their drummer Daniel Glass has an excellent podcast and a couple of the episodes goes into detail about their time on the Warped Tour.

Royal Crown Revue only put out one more album (1999’s Walk On Fire on the independent record label SideOneDummy). It didn’t capture the magic like The Contender did and they stopped releasing any new material. They toured for a while afterwards on the festival circuit but eventually disbanded.

Speaking of Daniel Glass, he continues to regularly perform with his own groups (in fact, he is part of the house band at the Birdland Jazz Club in New York City). He is an excellent drummer, and he was a big part of why I enjoyed Royal Crown Revue’s music the most out of all the swing revival bands.

Here is Daniel Glass with his band performing in Germany in 2023:

Here is an awesome drum solo performance that’s part of an instructional video he released:

With the current cold, dark winter days seemingly never ending, I find the music of Royal Crown Revue, especially The Contender warming me up and keeping my mood positive. Hopefully it will do the same for you as well!

2024 is rapidly coming to a close. As I was compiling my list of favorite records this year, other people’s “best of” lists were already showing up online and coming to my attention.

At first glance of other lists I saw, I was initially surprised that hardly any of my favorites were showing up on other lists! There are obvious exceptions with high profile records like The Cure, Blood Incantation and Mdou Moctar…but most of my list seemed out of touch with other listeners. However, even between other people’s lists there wasn’t much crossover beyond the aformentioned high profile examples.

It made me realize that we’re reaching a breaking point of siloed music listening. In the current state of personalized playlists, unique social media feeds, niche podcasts and the entire history of music at our fingertips everyone’s in their own little worlds. No longer are there cultural zeitgeists like MTV, mainstream radio stations or magazines. Even previous online juggernauts like Pitchfork and Stereogum are no longer universal. Sure, Taylor Swift is still huge and there was Brat Summer etc but those are generally out of my wheelhouse (I did like Brat, for what it’s worth).

It made me wonder: who are these year end lists really for? Are people really diving into them to find things they missed? Maybe it’s just to document for future generations? I dunno, but I’m still making my list anyways. I, for one, have made a separate note of albums I missed that showed up on other “best of” lists I want to check out…but I suspect I am the exception and not the rule.

At any rate, below is my list. I can confidently say the top 20 records are definitely my favorites of the year, generally ranked in the order or how much I loved them. After that, the math becomes fuzzier but they are all worth hearing and I heard them all multiple times throughout the year. I’ll likely keep coming back to most of them in the future. They each have links to the full albums in Spotify. At the top of the list I’m also embedding a playlist of 1 song from each album for those who want a “quick” (if you think 7 hours is quick) breeze through them all. You could potentially deep dive from there if you choose. I’m not gonna write about each of the 80 albums I selected individually…I think this year I’ll let the music speak for itself.

Phil’s Phriday Picks will be going on holiday break for the rest of the year. I’ll return in January 2025 with our regularly scheduled weekly selections. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

1. Chaser - Planned Obsolescense Spotify
2. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few - The World is on Fire Spotify
3. Eric Slick - New Age Rage Spotify
4. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere Spotify
5. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of The Last Human Being Spotify
6. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World Spotify
7. Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice Spotify
8. Skip Heller’s Voodoo 5 - The Exotic Sounds Of… Spotify
9. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - s/t Spotify
10. Bedsore - Dreaming the Strife for Love Spotify
11. Bill Frisell - Orchestras Spotify
12. David Murray Quartet - Francesca Spotify
13. Arooj Aftab - Night Reign Spotify
14. Green Day - Saviors Spotify
15. Louis Cole - Nothing Spotify
16. Joshua Ray Walker - Thank You For Listening Spotify
17. Mary Halvorson - Cloudward Spotify
18. Jon Anderson - True Spotify
19. Meshell Ndegeocello - No More Water Spotify
20. The Jesus Lizard - Rack Spotify
21. Jack White - No Name Spotify
22. Upright Forms - Blurred Lines Spotify
23. Nubya Garcia - Odyssey Spotify
24. Kronos Quartet - Outer Spaceways Incorporated Spotify
25. Tony Levin - Bringing It Down to the Bass Spotify
26. McCoy Tyner - Forces of Nature Spotify
27. Judas Priest - Invincible Shield Spotify
28. Amaro Freitas - Y’Y Spotify
29. Yussef Dayes - The Yuessef Dayes Experience (Live From Malibu) Spotify
30. Knoll - As Spoken Spotify
31. Madi Diaz - Weird Faith Spotify
32. Joel Ross - Nublues Spotify
33. Mean Jeans - Blasted Spotify
34. Shabaka - Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowlege Its Grace Spotify
35. Necrot - Lifeless Birth Spotify
36. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few - The Almighty Spotify
37. Shabazz Palaces - Exotic Birds of Prey Spotify
38. Shellac - To All Trains Spotify
39. Dysrhythmia - Coffin of Conviction Spotify
40. Squid Pisser - Dreams of Puke Spotify
41. Previous Industries - Service Merchandise Spotify
42. Dave Harrington - Skull Dream Spotify
43. JPEGMAFIA - I Lay Down My Life For You Spotify
44. Cobranoid - s/t Spotify
45. Astro Can Caravan - Astral Projections Spotify
46. The The - Ensoulment Spotify
47. Molchat Doma - Belaya Polosa Spotify
48. Fig Dish - Feels Like the Very First Two Times Spotify
49. Etran de L’Air - 100% Sahara Guitar Spotify
50. Nick Lowe & Los Straightjackets - Indoor Safari Spotify
51. Darius Jones - Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) Spotify
52. Chat Pile - Cool World Spotify
53. Bunuel - Mansuetude Spotify
54. Brigitte Calls Me Baby - The Future is Our Way Out Spotify
55. Cursive - Devourer Spotify
56. Fievel is Glauque - Rong Weicknes Spotify
57. Body Count - Merciless Spotify
58. Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja Spotify
59. Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More Spotify
60. Opeth - The Last Will and Testament Spotify
61. Patricia Brennan - Breaking Stretch Spotify
62. Shabaka - Possession Spotify
63. Wand - Vertigo Spotify
64. Painkiller - Samsara Spotify
65. Frank Zappa - Live at the Whiskey A Go Go 1968 Spotify
66. Ed Schrader’s Music Beat - Orchestral Hits Spotify
67. Kimmi Bitter - Old School Spotify
68. Jeff Parker - The Way Out of Easy Spotify
69. Dwight Yoakam - Brighter Days Spotify
70. Kit Downes - Breaking the Shell Spotify
71. David Gilmour - Luck and Strange Spotify
72. Ben Arsenault - Make Way For This Heartache Spotify
73. X - Smoke & Fiction Spotify
74. Silverada - s/t Spotify
75. Diskord & Atvm - Bipolarities Spotify
76. Nada Surf - Moon Mirror Spotify
77. Pet Shop Boys - Nonetheless Spotify
78. Thou - Umbilical Spotify
79. Vince Staples - Dark Times Spotify
80. The Black Keys - Ohio Players Spotify

Another year has flown by (by my count there were 38 albums picked in 2024!) and that means the holiday season is upon us. That also means it’s time for my annual Christmas playlist (now in its 16th year counting the time I used to make mix CDs back in ancient times).

Every year there is a huge pile of new Christmas records that come out. I listen to a bunch of them (so you don’t have to) and select some gems from the overall batch of coal to include in the playlist. I also pepper it with classics from Christmases past…some well-known and some more obscure.

This year’s playlist collects 32 songs and will entertain listeners for a bit over an hour and a half. I hope it brings some cheer and optimism to you over the holiday season.

One thing is for sure: Every year for the past 16 years of playlists there have been no repeats! The exact same performance of the same song by the same artist has never reappeared on one of my playlists. However, every song is collected in a giant “Megamix” that has now swelled to an overwhelming 367 songs filling 20.5 hours. That’s a lot of Christmas cheer!! Put that monstrosity on shuffle and you’ll feel like you’re living in the North Pole!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

• 20.5 HOUR MEGA MIX!
• Christmas 2023
• Christmas 2022
• Christmas 2021
• COVID Christmas 2020
• Modern Christmas 2019
• It’s Christmas Again? 2018
• New Christmas Classics 2017
• Merry Christmas 2016
• Festive 2015
• 80s Christmas 2014
• Jazzy Christmas 2013
• Sounds of Christmas 2012
• cRaZy ChRiStMaS 2011
• Wacky Christmas 2010
• Ultimate Christmas 2008