The Icky Shuffle

Remember Icky Woods and his celebration dance? Unless you're from Cincinnati or happened to be a Bengals fan (I was when I was 7 or 8), I don't expect you to. This post isn't about that, either. This is my version of The Onion AV Club's "Random Rules" when they get some famous person to put their iPod on random and see what comes up. Since I'm not famous, I don't get to do that, but I was curious to see what kind of embarrassing stuff would come up if I was famous and featured in that segment.

The Acacia Strain, "Sarin: The End"
I recently got turned on to these Western Mass fellas who, by their name, I would have thought were some mediocre metalcore band. Nope. This album, 2006's The Dead Walk, is pretty damn tight, so I was pleasantly surprised. It's not something I'd listen to all the time, and I get the impression that their fans are of the more breakdown-friendly metalcore variety, but I can definitely dig it when it pops up. Some of their tones and phrasings are rather original for what I would otherwise consider a "genre band" (because I'm a dick and I label things).

Pig Destroyer, "Downpour Girl"
This little ditty, from 2004's Terrifyer, isn't one of my favorites on this record, but this whole album is so f'ing amazing that it doesn't matter. I've seen these guys a few times and they make an ungodly amount of noise for a band with only one guitarist (though, to be fair, he is Scott Hull). Some people hate this album and I can't for the life of me figure out why. I didn't find any videos of this song, but I found one of "Gravedancer" in which JR is wearing a Triac t-shirt, which is awesome, cos those dudes kill as well.

Autechre, "Stud"
I don't have any extensive knowledge of electronic music, but there is some I find quite appealing. The Manc duo are fairly prolific and have released a ton of albums and eps since '91. This track is from one of the few albums of theirs I have, 1995's, Tri Repetae. When I'm not listening to retardedly heavy music, I tend to put on either classical music of stuff like Autechre or any of Aphex Twin's ambient works. In my completely unqualified opinion, quality electronic music should capture our modern mechanized and schizophrenic period, yet remain oddly blissful.

Autechre, "The Pic"
Okay, so it looks like I get a double dose today. This track is off their latest release, Quaristice, and is much less low-key than the above. It is this sort of track, full of bleeps and sound squiggles, that sends my brain into "the world of the future" that is right now. My head conjures images of a lot of modernist and postmodernist European and Japanese landscapes when I listen to this stuff. But that's just me.

Sole, "Respect, Pt. 3"
Lastly we have one of the few hip-hop artists I really appreciate. I don't give a shit that he's white and from Maine and blah blah blah. He's a poet, he actually says something with his art and lives what he says. I think that's important for any artist. This track is from 2003's Selling Live Water, an album that defined, on some level anyway, that year of my life. I used to sit on the Chinatown bus between Boston and New York with this record on repeat and just write. Sole's lyrics are dark, introspective, often stream-of-consciousness and harshly critical of modern society, so as far as hip-hop goes, I can relate to what he's talking about. Also, Jel's production on this album is killer.


PS- I was gonna link to a video of Icky doing his famous dance, but I couldn't find one!!!! I found the next best thing, though: a women's fitness class doing it on FoxNews in da 'Nati. (You're so so so welcome it hurts.)