Halftime: January 2025
Welcome to Halftime, January 2025 edition. It’s way too fucking cold outside dog. I hate winter. Anyway, here are some more recs for your soul. Special shoutout to
for featuring me on her newsletter and for recommending me. Hope some of you new subscribers enjoy my picks.T-Fire - New Testament (1979)
Buttery smooth Nigerian funk. Can’t fathom a person who wouldn’t enjoy this.
FFO: Fela Kuti, Tunji Oyelana, Orlando Julius, The Apostles
Random Method ‎– Transformation E.P. (2000)
Hot trance shit for those of you who like staying out until 6am. I cannot as I’m too sleepy but I respect the grind.
FFO: DJ Rolando, Jeff Mills, Blue Noise, Maurizio
Ligament - Halfway Between San Juan And Mendoza (1999)
Perfectly good angsty post-hardcore from the turn of the millennium. They were a dime a dozen, and now their species is possibly extinct. Will they even return?
FFO: Drive Like Jehu, Faraquet, Polvo, Unwound
Arian - Arian (1981)
How did this Macedonian man get to New York City and start recording with Paradise Garage veterans? This really needs to be made into a movie. At the very least, Arian should be put into the Funky White Boy Hall of Fame.
FFO: Bobby Caldwell, Jocelyn Brown, Sister Sledge, First Choice
Bielizna - Bielizna (1991)
Back to Eastern Europe, apparently these guys were pretty popular in their native Poland. Which is sick, since this is some seriously funky post-punk in the vein of a kind of edgier Tiger Trap style. Very fun stuff.
FFO: The Go-Betweens, Tiger Trap, The Jam, Mission of Burma
Gi Gi - Lamella Pressed (2022)
Heady dub shit from Texas. Like being trapped in a humidifier or a liminal space.
FFO: Hiroshi Yoshimura, Purelink, Susumu Yokota, Scientist
Pescado Rabioso - Artaud (1973)
Legendary band from Argentina that is anything but canonical in the West. South America had the acoustic singer-songwriter rock on lock in the late 60s/early 70s.
FFO: Novos Baianos, Tim Maia, Vox Dei, Vashti Bunyan
LOOTBAG - Tenth Kid CS (1992)
Real Canadian hardcore. Always nice to find stuff that still sounds fresh despite adhering to the tried and true.
FFO: Circle Jerks, Minutemen, MDC, The Dead Milkmen
Speedometer. - Private (2000)
Excellent Japanese downtempo. Seems to have caught the Youtube algo bug, and it deserves it.
FFO: Fennesz, AIR, Jan Jelinek, Tortoise
Steve Hiett - Down On The Road By The Beach (1983)
Great piece on this one at The Vinyl Factory cataloging what an interesting man Steve Hiett was. Dream-pop at its finest, mk.gee eat your heart out.
FFO: Toshiki Kadomatsu, mk.gee, Mac Demarco, CBS/Sony Sound Image Series
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I’m mad broke so throw something my way if you have the cash. https://ko-fi.com/elischoop
love that Ligament record, sounds drunk and threatening. They are still good as Part Chimp!
Artaud by Pescado Rabioso is a decent entry point for Luis Alberto Spinetta's music. Also would be worth listening to other Argentine artists from this era. Charly GarcÃa put out some classics too.