Did I sign up for Spotify just now? To access inveterate Chronicle blogger William Harries Graham’s playlist to this week’s “Hot August Nights” jukebox, it appears yes – finally. Having built my own version of the South Austin Popular Culture Center at work and home – CentPop – I hadn’t foreseen the pressing need to dive down a Ty Segall wormhole until today.
What began last night with a Waterloo Records run following a phenomenal Saxon Pub set by Sunny Sweeney and Brennen Leigh yielded a used copy of the Ty Segall Band’s “Slaughterhouse” from 2012, and continues presently via the pennies-on-the-dollar-for-artists streaming service.
Neither early crudity Horn of the Unicorn (2008), nor garage urgency Lemons (2009) grenades a themed song appropriate for the hot/cold index in today’s issue. 2010 acid rawk/folk LP Melted spins “My Sunshine,” a typically clanging fuzz jangle from the prolific S.F. phenom. Yet it’s Segall and onetime bandmember Mikal Cronin’s scabrous collabo Reverse Shark Attack (2009) that’ll prompt my return trip to Waterloo to acquire ancient physical product.
And Cronin, who put on a Frampton Comes Alive-like set at Austin Psych Fest last year and returns locally to Fun Fun Fun Fest this fall, now follows Segall down my sampling blender – Spotify.
Graham’s Spotify grouping, 28 songs in 104 minutes, funks and bumps a lot longer than your typical Segall burst, but the Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, and White Stripes tracks match his burn. Albert Collins, St. Vincent, and Stevie Ray Vaughan flex ample chops, as well. Mononyms – Adele, Kanye, Raekwon – we threw in for good measure.
Here’s some titles from our Music staff’s brainstorming that couldn’t outmaneuver space and time constraints in a bit of final summer fun before music festival season begins.
HOT Outtakes
“Another Day in the Sun,” Kathy McCarty “Burn,” Alkaline Trio “Burn,” Deep Purple “Burning,” The War on Drugs “Burning For You,” Blue Öyster Cult “Burning Inside,” Ministry “Disco Inferno,” the Tramps “Driven Like the Snow,” Sisters of Mercy “Heat Wave,” Martha & the Vandellas “Hot Cars,” Angry Samoans “Hot Child in the City,” Nick Gilder “Hot Hot Hot,” Buster Pointdexter/Arrow “Hot in Herre,” Nelly “Hot in the City,” Billy Idol Hot Fuss, the Killers “Hot Love,” Cheap Trick Hotter Than Hell, Kiss “Hot Smoke & Sassafrass,” Bubble Puppy “Hot Stuff,” Donna Summer “Houston is Hot Tonight,” Iggy Pop “I’m On Fire,” Dwight Twilley Band “I’m On Fire”/“Fire,” Bruce Springsteen “Fight Fire with Fire,” Metallica “Fire,” Jimi Hendrix “Fire,” Ohio Players “Fire/Fear,” the Head & the Heart firehose “Fire Lake,” Bob Seger “Fire on the Bayou,” Neville Brothers “Fire Woman,” the Cult “Fizzle Fry,” Primus “Light My Fire,” Doors “Red Hot,” Billy Lee Riley “Red Hot,” Mötley Cröe Room on Fire, Strokes “She Lit a Fire,” Lord Huron Steam Heat “That Heat,” Serio Mendes “When We Were On Fire,” James Bay
COLD Leftovers
“Baby It’s Cold Outside,” Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison “Brain Freeze,” DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist “Cold Ethel,” Alice Cooper “Cold on the Shoulder,” Gordon Lightfoot “Cool Jerk,” Capitols/Go-Go’s “Cool Water,” Sons of the Pioneers “50 Feet of Pure White Snow,” Nick Cave “Freezing Moon,” Mayhem “Funky Cold Medina,” Tone Loc “Ice Box,” Omarion “Ice Cold,” Drake “In Cold Blood,” Johnny Thunders “Mrs. Cold,” Kings of Convenience “Real Cool Time,” Stooges “Stone Cold,” Rainbow “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” Bruce Springsteen “Through Being Cool,” Devo “Walk In Cold,” Naked Raygun
This article appears in August 21 • 2015.
