Hi, kids. Welcome to acquired taste, an unremarkable music newsletter where I tell you what I’m listening to this week. In the grand scheme of things, I’m just a minuscule speck of dust and anxious sweat floating in an infinite, gorgeous cosmos, but in my tiny sphere of influence, I’m generally trusted with the aux. 99% of the time, I don’t really care what you think of me as long as you think I have good music taste. Here are 15 songs from my music-snob arsenal for when I want to make a good impression:
01.1 Blackrock "Yeah, Yeah" by Blackrock
If I had a walkout song it would be Harry Nilsson’s "Jump Into the Fire", but if that song was taken, I'd choose this one. Blackrock was apparently a short-lived collaboration of two session musicians, recorded in Memphis in the 60s. There’s also a persistent rumor that Jay-Z recorded a track that samples this one, but it’s never been released. Give the people what they want!
01.2 Stone Coal White by Stone Coal White
I don’t know anything about Stone Coal White other than that this album was re-released by Numero Group in 2011, and that they claim the original copy was “found in the basement of a now-condemned motorcycle gang hideout in Dayton, Ohio”. Which, sure. I certainly want to believe that.
01.3 Slow Burner by Swithold
01.4 Hard Times by Baby Huey
Starts out with the juciest little Soul Bossa Nova flute trill, as a treat. P.S., if you have an original pressing of this album, please call me.
01.5 Paint it Black by Africa
This is a grimy, borderline-sinister cover of the Stones song featuring quite a few people just straight-up screaming in the background. It's grungy and a little polyrythmic and it's so, so much better than the original, just trust me.
01.6 Man From Shooter's Hill by Keith Mansfield & The Soul Syndicate
So you probably know the Hugh Masakela version better, but hear me out— this one sounds like somebody recorded it on the hottest day of the year in an un-airconditioned garage with secondhand equipment they bought off eBay, and it’s incredible.
01.7 Can You Get To That by Funkadelic
I'm a firm believer that all playlists should include at least one Funkadelic, Parliament, and or Parliament Funkadelic track in order to be considered good or even complete.
01.8 Dion Ysiusk by Yin Yin
01.9 Autopsie d'un complot by Ahmad Malek
Quite possibly my favorite song of all time. It's disgustingly funky. Ahmed Malek was an Algerian composer, working mostly in the 70s and 80s writing film scores. He's got a lot of bangers, but this one's the best. The title translates into "Autopsy of a conspiracy", which is also rad as hell.
01.10 Could Heaven Ever Be Like This by Idris Muhammad
01.11 Is It All Over My Face & Tower of Meaning by Blood Orange
This track is legitimately nasty and so, so good. I really, really love the audible string noise on the bass when it comes in around 2:10. The backbone here is a sample of a song by the same name by a disco group called Loose Joints, which is also worth checking out— it's raucous and messy and incredible. It's also worth noting that this track was produced by Arthur Russell, whom I love, and was mostly known for cello-forward early indie folk and also having thee disco ear of all time.
01.12 The Complete Knock by Blood Orange
My queer fever dream is going cratedigging with Devonte Hynes.
01.13 Soon Never Comes by Stimulator Jones
01.14 Darling by Esbe
This is a truly masterful rework of a fairly lukewarm Bobby Caldwell song, and I actually do mean it when I say it's one of the most gorgeous tracks I've ever heard. Sorry!
01.15 Easy Rider by Action Bronson
I really like Action Bronson! I'm not apologizing. "Rocking very loose pants" is an incredible lyric and very relatable. The sample here is a very, very cool psych-rock track called "Adımız Miskindir Bizim" by a Turkish artist, Mazhar Ve Fuat. It once came up on a playlist at a Turkish cafe in Colorado and I could not shazam that shit fast enough.