12 Songs: Omnium Gatherum

Just to spite the algorithm, why don’t we hit shuffle once more?

1. We’ll start with “Memory Motel,” the best song off the worst (legitimate) Rolling Stones album. I like to think that, in a parallel universe, the Twin Peaks theme was recorded by Jagger/Richards in a dive bar, rather than by an Italian Jazz composer in a professional recording studio, and it sounded something like this. 

2. Next is an early track from The Flaming Lips, ostensibly recorded in a garage, before the acid, before the glitter, before the robots. The spiritual sequel to the Cramps’ Psychedelic Jungle.

3. Don’t skip “She’s a Beam,” a joint effort by Ty Segall and Cory Hanson. Think Europe ‘72 meets early Kinks. 

4. Was Jay Reatard’s Blood Visions the greatest punk-adjacent album of the 2010’s? The instrumental coda to “Oh It’s Such a Shame” makes a convincing case.

5. Also noteworthy is “Mesh,” a demo by the band formerly known as Joy Division, dating back to that awkward limbo era between Closer and the first New Order album, Movement.

Listen to 12 Songs: Omnium Gatherum on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple Music here.

[above artwork by Gerard Richter]