This Track Is Fire!

Am I late to the party?  Absolutely. Will these rappers make you think of The Beastie Boys? Most likely. But is it really fucking good? Definitely! My friend Ringo sent this (and more) over to me the other day and warned me of the aforementioned comparisons, but as he told me, once you get past that you quickly see how talented this duo is. Now, I'm a middle-aged guy, so I apologize for being - checks date - four years late on this, but when I hear good music I call it out. I've been listening to this on repeat all morning and have been smiling the whole time. And now you can too. Happy Friday! Enjoy!

Note: In honor of one full year of This Track Is Fire I thought I would highlight the top 10 posts over the last year, but there's a tie in the seventh position, and a three-way tie in the tenth position, so instead you're getting the Top 12 Posts over the past year. When I had originally posted about this track last year it did not have an official name nor a release, so I referred to it as the "Nine Inch Nails 'Closer' (B Stage Remix w/Boys Noize)" but since then NIN/Boys Noize have released their collaboration album and now it's officially known as "Closer (Nine Inch Noize Version." Listen, regardless of however it's called, this, in my humble opinion, is the proper way to refurbish a classic track that is 30+ years old, keeping everything that made it great while also give it a new polish so that it sounds fresh again. Sure, there are its detractors, but for me this song, heck, this entire album and tour, reinvigorated my deep love of N...

I find new (or new to me music) all over the place, and while I do discover a fair amount of it on my own, a good chunk of it comes from friends and family that share tracks with me that they think I will like. Whether it's one of my friends, like Jeff sending me Chalk, Peter sending me Ecca Vandal, or Sean introducing me to The Jellyfish, The xx, The National (and many, many more), sometimes they come from within my own house. My daughter came up to me over a week ago and said, "I have a song to share with you." I immediately perked up because usually I love what she sends along. Adéla "KGB" is no exception. Is it synthpop? Dance music? Just straight up pop? Honestly, it checks lots of boxes, but in the end, it doesn't matter, because it's just fucking good. All I know is that I'm playing it louder than I should and doing some chair dancing. Check it and enjoy!

Note: In honor of one full year of This Track Is Fire I thought I would highlight the top 10 posts over the last year, but there's a tie in the seventh position, and a three-way tie in the tenth position, so instead you're getting the Top 12 Posts over the past year. As I said back in October , I did not even really know this track before I saw Elbow live for the first time last year, but as I said then, it was a live standout. Nine months later it's still in heavy rotation for me, which, of course it is, I love Elbow, but I love that a band that sells out stadiums in the UK but has a far more limited fanbase in the US is sitting safely at the number two spot in my list of most popular posts. I mean, they should be, but I am glad so many of you agree. Check it out !

Last week while I was writing about the Killing Joke-minus-Jaz-Coleman-adding-Chris-Connelly band of Murder, Inc. I took a small trip down memory lane as I thought about Killing Joke. I think it would be easy, almost expected of me, to highlight their song "Eighties," which is fantastic, no question, but I admit that I did not discover that song until much later in my life. My first real exposure to Killing Joke was via Murder, Inc. and thereafter, when they released the album  Pandemonium.   A friend of mine had grabbed it on CD, and before I knew it "Mathematics of Chaos" was on near-constant repeat. Of course I went back and checked out their earlier works, but there's something very nostalgic about this track that takes me back in time and melts my face off. Also, it just fucking rocks. Enjoy!

Note: this week, in honor of the legendary Steve Albini's birthday, I am highlighting his impressive audio engineering work (he refused to be called a "producer"). These five posts are a small example of his musical prowess, selected by me, just a fan with a blog. And here we are folks, the final post in this series. I intentionally did not lead with this track at the beginning of the week as it's too obvious. In fact, I struggled with including it at all, because of that very fact, but at the end of the day this song was mind-blowing to when it came out during my sophomore year of college and listening again today, or any day, I am reminded of how colossally talented Kurt, Krist, Dave, and yes, Steve were. Certainly this could be argued to be Albini's most high-profile work, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Yes, Albini worked with artists large, small, and absolutely massive (like Nirvana), but as I said at the beginning of this week, he was f...

Note: this week, in honor of the legendary Steve Albini's birthday, I am highlighting his impressive audio engineering work (he refused to be called a "producer"). These five posts are a small example of his musical prowess, selected by me, just a fan with a blog. This was a tough one for me, picking out the best Pixies song that they worked with Steve Albini on, because, honestly, I could have picked just about any song on Surfer Rosa  and it would have fit the bill. At the end of the day, I had to go with "Where is My Mind?" predominantly due to its distinct opening riff. If you're around my age and you hear Black Francis/Frank Black wail and say "Stop!" you immediately know what song it is. That's iconic, just as the Pixies are, just as Steve Albini was. Then you hear those first few guitar lines followed by drums crashing around you like the surf. God damn, this song is good. So many bands try to capture lightning in a bottle and so many f...