Steve Harwell, Longtime Smash Mouth Frontman, Dead At 56

Steve Harwell, Longtime Smash Mouth Frontman, Dead At 56

Steve Harwell, the former lead singer of the band Smash Mouth, died Monday after battling medical issues for several years, 0according to the band’s Instagram account. He was 56.

Band manager Robert Hayes told Rolling Stone that Harwell died at his home in Boise, Idaho, “surrounded by family and friends.”

BB Gals July 2000.

Today's compilation:

Cottage Industries (A Neo Ouija Compilation) 2000 IDM / Leftfield

Got into some excellent y2k-era IDM today with this first installment from a long-running series called Cottage Industries that was put out by UK label Neo Ouija. Here we have a nearly spotless collection of mindbending stuff that's sure to leave any IDM junkie feeling blissed-out, just like the iconic android in the armchair from the cover of Artificial Intelligence, the foundational comp from Warp Records that really put IDM on the map in the first place all the way back in 1992 😌. Neo Ouija seems to go for that super chill, emotively melancholic, and solitudinous kind of vibe, and this comp here, which appears to have been just the label's fourth release, serves as a great introduction to their sound from when they were just getting started.

And ultimately, it's really hard for me to pick total favorites among this set, but I feel like I need to talk about a couple in particular: one, Quinoline Yellow's "Eythyl Maltol," and two, Clatterbox's "Power Up."

Quinoline Yellow's "Eythyl Maltol," a title that makes reference to a flavor-enhancing chemical compound, is the debut track from a guy named Luke Williams, who, quite possibly because of this very tune, would go on to showcase his talents the following year on the much more well-known Skam label. "Eythyl Maltol" is a slow, head-nod-inducing groove, with rhythmically glitchy stutters and some beautifully layered, otherworldly synth work to go along with it all. And among debut tracks for IDM artists, it probably ranks towards the top; a total unknown guy making a name for himself rather quickly with this one.

And Clatterbox's aptly titled "Power Up," which liberally incorporates zappy 8-bit videogame sounds, feels like the track with the most mass appeal here. Typically, IDM is made for a post-club, home listening environment, but I feel like you could totally get away with playing this one at a nerdy hipster bar-type setting. A bit more uptempo and far more conventionally structured than the rest of these tunes, this electro-leaning track could maybe serve as a solid nugget in order for you to introduce your friends to this whole amazing genre of underground electronic music; before, y'know, you start to melt their brains with some of the more abstract stuff 🫠.

And if you pair this album with the also excellently chill and organically crunchy IDM double-disc comp, Putting the Morr Back in Morrissey, which was put out the same year by German label Morr Music, then you've got yourself a few hours worth of some ultra-satisfying and relaxational, turn-of-the-millennium IDM fare there 😎.

Highlights:

Phonem - "Bioluminescence" Bauri - "Fleck Yck" Plod - "Aptaxi" Geiom - "Reihl (94)" Penfold Plum - "Cute Toy" Geiom v Infant - "Multistories 2" Quinoline Yellow - "Eythyl Maltol" Yunx - "Nemo-Sis" Clatterbox - "Power Up" Consumer Durable - "Cool Dry Places"

Frau my beloved 🛐🛐🛐

Series: Shugo Chara! Artist: Peach-Pit Details: Omaskase♪Guardian (おまかせ♪ガーディアン) single by Guardians4 Publisher: Pony Canyon Year Published: 2009 Source: Scanned from personal collection Other Details: Includes one random trading card. (Kumai Yurina) I hadn't realized this was sealed when I bought it. Unsealing it emotionally pained me. PLEASE DON'T DELETE ABOVE COMMENTARY!

Adema - "Giving In" [x]

All Time Low - Therapy (Live 2009)

10.1 Sampler by Ben Sims Theory Recordings 2001 Tribal Techno / Minimal Techno / Techno

Holy shit you guys, I saw Orgy last night.

My inner 14 year old is quaking.

Hitomi Yaida - Daiya-monde, 2000.

Garbage - Special - Glastonbury Festival 2002

source

In honor of Britney’s birthday today, here’s some of my favorite costumes/outfits of hers. She’s truly a fashion trailblazer!!

Today's compilation:

Two You See? 2000 IDM / Leftfield / Alternative Hip Hop

Alright, back on some electronic shit. Here we have a 12-inch sampler from a little, short-lived label out of the UK called deFocus, which was run by Clair Poulton, a woman who first cut her teeth at Aphex Twin's own Rephlex label before launching a label of her own called Clear; and then after Clear closed up shop, she started up this one.

So Two You See is a five-song showcase of the talent that deFocus was breeding at the time at the turn of the millennium. It's short, but it's largely centered around a very good strain of IDM—one that stresses melody through chiptune-y synth work and incorporates hints of electro too. But its first track, John Tejada's operatic "Genetical Love," is actually a pretty uniquely low-key alternative hip hop one that features rapping from abstract MC Divine Styler, and ultimately it shows that Clair Poulton's vision for this label definitely stretched beyond IDM; and perhaps that's why deFocus was called what it was in the first place 🤔.

But the IDM is where this record really happens to shine regardless, with three separate gems taking up its b-side. Adelaide, Australia's Tim Koch kills it on "Blat," a song that pairs some intertwined videogame melodies—one of which is emotively rubber-thick and reminiscent of subterranean trenches from Super Mario World—with a rhythmic bed that consists of a whole lot of handclaps; then London's Plus One comes through with "Sticker," a happy-go-lucky stroll through a rainbow-colored meadow that was written by him and produced by legendary IDM duo Plaid (who are themselves alums of Clear); and last, but certainly not least, is maybe deFocus' most coveted crown jewel of all, CiM. CiM's time spent on this release is entirely too short, but here he delivers "Ceramic," a sublime song with all sorts of rhythmically mechanical glitchiness laid over some supremely mellow pads 😌. This is a tune that causes you to feel the new, forward-looking frontier that was opening up for this kind of 'intelligent' electronic music back then, during a time when peoples' pie-in-the-sky prognostications for an internet-led future were so naïvely rosy in retrospect 😅. The previous two tunes on this comp that precede "Ceramic" are certainly quite good themselves, but this one in particular is really just on a whole different plane. CiM wasn't the only artist crafting this kind of stuff at the time, but for a label that, for the most part, appeared to be kicking around with an enjoyable retro kind of vibe, this guy seemed to be providing something of a counterbalance with this excellent song of his.

More of this type of stuff on deck. Sit tight 😎.

Highlights:

Tim Koch - "Blat" Plus One - "Sticker" CiM - "Ceramic"

Boyz II Men's cover reminded me of a 90's group that somehow made the era of noughts work for their benefit as we'll see. Yes, Take That continue baffle me. Their reunion during the period shouldn't have worked, they were a boy band, but they somehow released some of their best work in that decade. Then again, maybe we should finally reject our perspective on them as a manufactured entity. Sure, they were presented as the latter, but the members showed themselves to be more adept at playing the rules than many similar to them, including the reality show contestants. However, we must admit Take That seem to achieve their biggest successes with each other, each of them loses something, whenever any one of them is on their own. Sure, Robbie Williams disproves my theory, moving on …