Three 65, Day 34
Primus, Pork Soda

When I first started getting into music in a big way, my mother took me to a record store called Purple Haze (which is now long gone, unfortunately) in New York and bade me pick out three tapes to take home. I chose albums based on cover art, and came away with Dinosaur Jr's Where You Been, Porno For Pyros' self-titled debut, and this album. I still love Where You Been... Porno For Pyros not so much... but Pork Soda has stuck with me for almost 18 years.

Primus is a power trio, emphasis on the word "power." Their music defies categorization, such that when I stick these songs into my computer to bring them up in iTunes, the "genre" category is always something wonky: "thrashfunk," "admiral WHO?" and "Just Primus" have all appeared, non-sequitur like, on the screen. The best description I've heard is "Rush on crack," and that about does it. The bass playing, courtesy of vocalist/bassist Les Claypool, is simply phenomenal, and drives the songs. The drums try to keep up, and the guitarist spits off lead after lead of silly noises in an attempt to accentuate what the rhythm section is doing.

Pork Soda was a huge hit for Primus, as they were coming off of the immensely popular Sailing The Seas Of Cheese and headlining Lollapalooza that year. It's also, I think, their strongest album overall. First single "My Name Is Mud" is a grimy look at hillbilly lifestyle, complete with slap bass and echoing percussion. "Bob" is a suicide lament, which I would have thought an unlikely topic for a Primus song until I actually heard it. "Nature Boy" nearly one-ups the Residents at their own game, and "Mr. Krinkle" shows that Claypool knows his upright bass as well as his standard.

But the standout has got to be the instrumental "Hamburger Train," which sounds like it could have been used to score the closing mine-car race from Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom. Propulsive doesn't begin to describe the musicianship at play here. And it's not just wankery - the band does what it does accessibly, giving the newcomer a chance to appreciate all there is to appreciate.

Primus had more good albums in them - some would argue The Brown Album isn't very good, Claypool among them, I disagree - and a lot of off-again on-again hiatuses to contend with as the years went on. A new album is due in a few months, and it's anyone's guess as to what they will have up their sleeves this time.