iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Blake Babies 🇺🇸 Sunburn (1989) I didn’t have this LP in 89. Thus it’s the sound of the early 90s for me. Juliana Hatfield at full force. John Strohm is one of my favorite guitarists. One of the reasons I bought a Strat. I couldn’t afford a Princeton amp.

Which member(s) did you have a crush on?

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

#MusicSky get 2 know me thru my fav records Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (1982) With due respect to the extended Black Sabbath universe, Dio is the only person (excepting perhaps Rob Halford, who was not featured on any LP) who could follow Ozzy. Tighter, NWOBHM influenced, Dio’s vocals are perfect.

The revolving door would turn again, as Dio being given a solo contract on the strength of Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules sowed discord in the band. I don’t think it was Ronnie James’s fault. I imagine that, in hindsight, none of the others would have wanted to deprive the world of Holy Diver. Or the others. Keeping Ronnie James to themselves would have been like caging a majestic animal.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970) Paranoid, Ramones, Nevermind hold a special place for me. I admire bands who make masterpieces outta easy riffs/chord progressions. A kid learning guitar can play the songs easily. Geezer’s lyrics inspire creative writing

Hopefully, that kid learning guitar will take away the idea that they should write simple parts themselves. Iommi is considered capable, but not a top-tier shredder. Music shouldn’t be a competition or power trip; music should be democratic and communal. Early Sabbath’s ensemble dynamic is a case study in how to do it.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records Black Lips 🇺🇸 Arabia Mountain (2011) The band’s early LPs were raw & feral, then they got a producer capable of wrangling them (Mark Ronson, of Amy Winehouse fame). The result is the first truly coherent Black Lips LP. Less puke, more garage pop.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Black Angels 🇺🇸 Phosphene Dream (2010) Phosphene Dream seems like the moment Black Angels matured. A feast for the ears: Rickenbacker jangle thru stereo tremolo and spring reverb. Unusual beat pairings. Shorter songs. A throwback to 13th Floor Elevators.

And though the last sentence reads like it was written by ChatGPT, Pop Matters’s 2010 review is on point:

“The first step is admitting there’s never been anything particularly revelatory about the Black Angels. Even their name is a nod to rock’s dark history, a nod to the Velvet Underground’s “The Black Angel’s Death Song”, a grim little number even by Lou Reed’s decayed standards. . . Even Alex Maas’ vocals sound like Grace Slick doing a Jim Morrison impression.

“But even if the Black Angels don’t necessarily cover any new territory, they lay it to waste with brain-scrambling guitars that come off like the lost soundtrack to a drive-in double feature of biker and slasher flicks. Dirty shit goes down to the music of the Black Angels. The music doesn’t embrace you as much as it props you up while the world spins into oblivion.”

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me through my favorite records Björk - Post (1995) A sillier me, a week ago, said that, in middle-age, Debut is the one I most often reach for. I’ve been listening to Post daily since then, and I feel the need to correct past me. This is the best one. Duh.

I guess what I was thinking before is that Debut has more manic pixie energy, where Post is somewhat overwrought. Overwrought can be good when done correctly (late Beatles, Radiohead, etc.). Wall-to-wall bangers on this.

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Reposted by Patty

The Music Nation @themusicnation.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Happy Birthday to Budgie (Siouxsie & The Banshees).

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

In other #MetalSky news, I recently finished a survey on recent (2022-2024) UK black metal (and adjacent metal). open.spotify.com/playlist/1lF...

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

#MetalSky Pthumulhu 🇮🇸 Tungumál Svarthola (Language of the Black Hole) Another record from last year I missed. Spooky, doomy sludge and heavy as hell. I assume the songs explore eldritch horror and the void of space, but Icelandic is hard and I have no idea other than my instinct on this. Recommend!

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Björk - Debut (1993) For most of my life, Post has been my favorite. In middle-age, it’s totally Debut. If I have one gripe, it’s that it echoes late Sugarcubes but loses the Einar rapping magic.

I really like the way Björk pronounces “ghetto blaster.”

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Bishop Allen 🇺🇸 Charm School (2003) DIY bedroom pop, recorded one track at a time with a lot of clever tricks to conceal limited instrumental prowess & because they only had one mic. Some bands work best with inept drumming (see also, early Cub).

I really like the way they took standards (“Little Black Egg” and “Eve of Destruction”), but not quite as covers. Lyrics were changed to “Little Black Ache” and “Eve of Destruction” refers to a social scene instead of social upheaval. The album is loaded with these kinds of tricks.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

#FilmSky I made the tragicomic mistake of watching Kairo (The Pulse) 🇯🇵 (2001) last night. I am a vivid dreamer and dreaded the dreams that would come. Thankfully, I made it through the night without nightmares. This is the second scariest movie in the world to me.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Big Star 🇺🇸 Radio City (1974) The only argument needed for Radio City: Christgau gave it an A (for “Alex,” I presume). As the dean points out, Chris Bell “just couldn’t take it any more.” (Alex Chilton had that effect on people.) Chilton noisy AND poppy.

I actually need to know a little more about this album. Someone should write a book. Oh, there is one. Well, I haven’t read it, so I interpret it thusly:

I imagine Chris Bell desperately trying to focus Alex Chilton, going crazy, and finally saying to hell with it. Alex Chilton, perhaps energized by the chaos, moves in and starts the work. The other two members hesitantly trickle back. Not quite the Alex Chilton crazy show yet, but you can hear that coming.

Not that the world needs any more opinions on guitar players, but Alex Chilton may be my favorite guitar player.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Belly 🇺🇸 Star (1993) I prefer not to understand Belly. Star made my brain go boink because I got something, but knew that what I was getting probably wasn’t the intended point. It’s an example of an album that sounds precisely like it’s cover art.

My original, high school copy of Star was scratched and “Low Red Moon” skipped in a way that made it glitchy and better than it actually sounds on the recording. I think that explains what I mean too. Star is an album I imagine sounds totally different to each fan. How does one make art like this?

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records Beatles - s/t (1968) My 2025 take on the White Album: insight into the collapse of a once unassailable unit. Beatles were a tight gang of outrageously fun boys. By White Album, it’s more like Nabokov’s Pale Fire - splintered, wasting, but still great.

I blame Yoko for nothing. John should have renegotiated the band’s no wives and girlfriends policy, but the Beatles were already five (John, Paul, George 1, George 2 (Martin), and Ringo). Expanding the roster, or making it elastic, was not unlike what acts like Zappa, Talking Heads, and PiL would do.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Beatles - Revolver (1966) In true #MusicSky spirit, I spent days contemplating where to start talking about Beatles. I could’ve begun with Help & Rubber Soul, but Beatles weren’t Beatles before LSD, Indophilia & the decision to stop playing live to all the screaming kids. Maybe the best record ever

Ok, Help has tremendous merit. But the complicated US release format is bananas, and historicity matters. The fixed relationship the soundtrack has to a fair-to-middlin’ motion picture further muddies matters.

Rubber Soul is perhaps the moment the Beatles fully mature, but the song about “if I can’t have you no one will” is a bad look at a time when they began questioning patriarchal ideas. I think the Beatles themselves would agree.

Finally, Ringo had a contractual guarantee of lead vocal on one track per album, and “Yellow Submarine” is leaning hard into the character. It remains fascinating fodder, and foreshadows Sgt Pepper fanfare and white album excess. As the world’s stupidest song, it is the perfect dichotomy. It is also possibly genius.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

#MusicSky my favorite records Beat Happening 🇺🇸 You Turn Me On (1992) C Johnson added S Moxham (Young Marble Giants) to production, bringing minimalism (& not mere simplicity) to the fore. BH was freeing pop from consumer expectations, not bottling 60s fantasy, which critics used to like saying.

Had anyone been pursuing an idealized 60’s, “Pine Box Derby” would have had reverb on the vocals (to get that “Time of the Season” (Zombies) leaded exhalation) and a Farfisa, which would have made it a ? and the Mysterians song. One gets the sense that most of the production ideas were to remove the obvious, not polish it up nice (even while being the most polished Beat Happening album).

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records (English) Beat 🇬🇧 Special Beat Service (1982) Progressing from the rude boy sound to a more New Pop/High Street sound, this is clearly Wakeling’s LP. One that predicted John Hughes films by a couple of years. Crack for Anglophiles, what IRS was for.

It also foreshadows General Public, obviously, and isn’t far removed from what Paul Weller had in mind with Style Council.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records Beach Fossils 🇺🇸 Somersault (2017) Brilliant maturation from early 00s Brooklyn Pitchfork core to sunkissed indie pop with baroque nods to Pet Sounds, Odessey & Oracle, Love. I dunno about you, but the way to my heart is opened by a hot flute.

I have memories of music from this album being used as bumper music on NPR Morning Edition and/or All Things Considered, but can’t verify my memories are accurate.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records Bauhaus 🇬🇧 In the Flat Field (1980) CAD 13 (4AD’s 1st full-length). Glam was always a little dangerous, but usually practiced & palatable. Bauhaus was glam’s feral, runaway children, raised by raucous birds, who never saw the sun, just strobe lights.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Barenaked Ladies 🇨🇦 Gordon (1992) Seymour Stein saw that Barenaked Ladies were more than a joke & gave Gordon to the world. Yes, I said “more than a joke,” but the original artwork is a must for ambiance. Quintessential early 90s smarty pants dork pop.

So my friend and I worked at different stores in the mall, and one night we gave my jock coworker a ride home. She played “Gordon” in the car to passive aggressively alienate him and I acted like I also loved it. And after that, I did.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Few people have contributed to so may people’s musical DNA. 👑

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records Bananas 🇺🇸 Nautical Rock n Roll (2003) Cohesive/Sonic progression from early DIY recordings. Totes in the sweet spot. Later LPs (on Recess) had excess lustre. This’s the real pop. No words 4 how strongly I recommend this open.spotify.com/track/4MFU3L...

I really thought the preceding album, A Slippery Subject, was a definitive statement , I didn’t set out to buy anymore Bananas. But then The Devil is Electric or Ghost Mice played and Chris/Hannah brought their distro along. 5th best $5 I ever spent for an album (after Bananas’s A Slippery Subject, the first two This Bike is a Pipe Bomb releases, and the Carrie Nations’s Be Still).

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records Bananas 🇺🇸 A Slippery Subject (2001) ⚠️Key Band Alert⚠️ Like Smiths, I never saw Bananas live. Like Smiths, their manic good-time front masks melancholy underpinnings, in exactly the same magical proportions. RECOMMEND!! open.spotify.com/album/4yFjid...

Y’all remember the ads for this in MRR? Hannah drew and hand lettered the copy, not saying what the band sounded like, but communication perfectly. $5 ppd was a way of life and Bananas an early introduction. PERFECT ALBUM!!!

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records Bad Brains - i against i (1986) Discovered retroactively (I was 9 when it came out) by backtracking from Faith No More. Music could have ended at this point and God would have called it supremely good.

Nothing pithy for the alt text, sadly, but if you don’t know about the recording of “Sacred Love,” put on long sleeves before googling, because you will get the chills.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

#FilmSky Flatbed Annie & Sweetiepie: Lady Truckers (1979) Damn-the-man trucker TV movie w/ chops worthy of atheatrical run. Harry Dean Stanton as Coen Bros nemesis & Billy Carter (whose brother was A-OK), but the sauce came from Annie Potts’s take on Deadwood’s Calamity Jane via Jane Weidlin.

Am I a bad person for feeling Garth from Wayne’s World feelings for Annie Potts in Joan Jett/Joey Ramone leathers?

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

If you see this, post with a video game that transports you back to your childhood!

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

#MusicSky Bad Moves 🇺🇸 Untenable (2020) With a foot in Merge’s power-poppier stuff & the good old days of Mutant Pop & 2000s Lookout! Less overwrought than last year’s Wearing Out the Refrain; more scrappy, aww-shucks charisma. Remember, pop is a co-ed sport & there’s never been a bad band from DC.

I read that Bad Moves dedicated a lot of time perfecting the vocal melodies, lying together on a carpet and assigning the harmonies just so for Wearing Out the Refrain. Untenable’s harmonies have more bite, probably because they were honed playing the songs out. I do love a band that likes to sing together in the van, just for the joy of it. There’s never been a bad band from DC.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

#FilmSky The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie) (1972) A little slow to start, but once it gets going is good and weird. A story about how hungry being rich makes you, told through brain-melting dream sequences involving doom and walking a pilgrimage to nothing.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

#MusicSky get to know me thru my fav records Babies 🇺🇸 s/t (2011) Cassie Ramone (the caterwauling Vivian Girl) & a guy from Woods’s outsider pop side project. I’m a huge admirer of Ramone’s playing; she reminds me of young Joe Jack Talcum. So under appreciated. Listen to “Meet Me in the City.”

So, yeah. The thing I like most about Cassie Ramone’s playing is how it is clearly self-taught, the way 70s punks learned to play a little (but not virtuosic) and came up with new things (see, Slits, Raincoats) because they literally couldn’t play the old things. Ms Ramone can’t solo, but she doesn’t want to just fumble through a pentatonic scale. So she developed a novel set of scales, resembling koto lines in Chinese restaurant musak. It isn’t oriental fetishism or anything. It’s the sound she makes. Which is punk as fuck and the world needs more of her sort.

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

I dream about raccoons a lot. What is that about?

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

#MusicSky Get to know me thru my fav records B-52s - Cosmic Thing (1989) I like the older ones too, but Cosmic Thing came around at the right time (I just turned 12), so it was the one that stuck. Now I appreciate the phoenix story behind the LP. Don Was’s production was what the doctor ordered.

A couple of days back, y’all were talking about out worst songs of all time. Folks across the pond do not recall “Love Shack” fondly. But then again they eat ketchupy beans for breakfast. If there was a single that wore out its welcome, it was “Roam.” I heard that one so much I sometimes just skip over it.

The worst radio hit of the 80s by the way? “Black Velvet” ::shudder; Lurch/Homer Simpson groan::

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Patty @scuutes.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

#MetalSky I started a project on Inauguration Day surveying the living metal of the 21c, by country. Taking 2-5 year samples from each, I made 2hr playlists from the best material. I have a couple in the hopper & felt maybe I should share my Norway (2020-2024) mix. open.spotify.com/playlist/2tH...

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