Wax of the Week #101...Rodd Keith and the Raindrops: “October Smiles" 7" (196?)

A sultry, moody crooner ballad from the king of song poems.

Wax of the Week #100...Big Black: Songs About Fucking (1987)

This is one of the records that showed me that “heavy” didn’t have to be metal. There’s some filler, but the good stuff is good.

Wax of the Week #99...Big Black: Headache (1987)

The 12” EP grooves on this are nice and loud. Happy songs concerning child beating, grinding the face of someone who messed with your tools, strike breakers, and racist cops. A “heavy” guitar paired with one that sounds like a big chain smashing against a cyclone fence. Granulating roundwound bass groove. A thumping 808. And a killer Savage Pencil cover illustration.

Wax of the Week #98...Big Black: The Hammer Party (1986)

Comp of their first two EPs from ’82 and ’83. The first one (Lungs) is pretty weird; sounds very homemade (it was a one-man band at this point). There’s not much hint of the fury they’d unleash later on. The second one (Bulldozer) is more aggressive, accentuating the darkness in the lyrical content.