Scared of Chaka

This band was the real deal. SOC songs just hit you. You don't think about them, ponder their larger meaning, or break into discussion groups to cut through their subtext. Their lyrics are often unintelligible, but that doesn't matter...it's about the sound and the feel.

The rough-around-the-edges garage-y production suits SOC perfectly. Instead of hearing songs laboriously perfected by cut-and-paste studio patchwork, you hear the unrefined sound of rock n' roll being made. Of course, the songwriting is excellent - these are great little blasts of rockage - but it's the frenetic way the tunes are played and recorded that makes them hit so hard. It's nothing but a gut reaction.

In spite of (because of?) the fact that I engage in near-constant thinking (overthinking?) and contemplation, my musical taste has always tended towards the visceral and spontaneous. I'm going for a head-clearing walk after work. In this case, "head-clearing" = SOC on shuffle. Yeah, that's the stuff.