Mail Order #001: The Best of 2024 Year-End Blowoff
Even though it is almost a month late, please enjoy the best of Martin Douglas in '24
I. A Reintroduction… and an Announcement
I know, I know; it’s been quite a while since you’ve received a dispatch from this newsletter. Without getting too personal about the details (much like I said in “Under Construction”), let’s just say it took me quite a while to nail the format I wanted to achieve with the Martin Douglas Mail Order. I had originally conceived it as a homage to my favorite newsletters and one-page catalogs of the past—particularly that of the vaunted K Records. But then I started to use it as a dumping ground for my feelings and sharing some very personal stuff, which I enjoy doing as a writer, but I never intended this to be the forum for it.
So what you will now receive in these newsletters is a catch-up of sorts of what I’ve been doing in my writing career—of which there is a lot to catch up on, as most of the people closest to me personally remind me all the time. But also, because I’m in constant appreciation (and sometimes even awe) of some very good art, I’ll also include some of my favorite things from books, television, live music, visual art, whatever I find myself obsessed with at the writing of this newsletter.
But wait, that’s not all! I’d also like to use this opportunity to announce a second newsletter, Dispatches from the Edge of Blackness. It’s going to be a culture newsletter; longform pieces from the undiluted perspective of a Black man in America. Black culture-centric, including all areas of Blackness—including and especially the oft-overlooked subculture of what people deem as “alternative” Black culture.
Notes from the Edge of Blackness will be for paid subscribers only—for $5 a month or $50 a year. I did add a “Founding Plan” if you’d like to be a top “investor” of the newsletter. The perks will be revealed if you choose to pay the $250 a year for it. Somewhere along the long and winding road of my life, I realized that I need writing outlet for my cultural observations—because some of the thoughts I have extend way beyond what mere music criticism allows. Anyway, if you think that sounds cool, please consider subscribing! I promise I’ll at least give you your $5 worth.
II. Martin’s Top 10 Cobain 50 Episodes… At Least Out of the Episodes He Produced and Narrated
Just in case you subscribe to this newsletter and you have no clue what The Cobain 50 is, a lot of my work for KEXP over the past year has been working on a podcast about Kurt Cobain’s famous “50 Favorite Albums” list, written in his journals—which were published after his death. My good friend and co-host Dusty Henry (also, uh, my supervisor at KEXP haha) and I break down each of the albums alongside a narrated documentary by either one of us or one of our colleagues. As the title suggests, this list doesn’t include Dusty’s incredible episodes on the Sex Pistols and R.E.M., nor Janice Headley’s wonderful look at Marine Girls (a band I’ve been listening to obsessively because of my work on this podcast).
If this whets your appetite, please subscribe to The Cobain 50 wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts. We’ve still got a couple more months to go!
10. The Beatles - Meet the Beatles (1964)
As I mentioned on the episode, the Beatles are, easily and without question, the most over-researched, over-evaluated band of all time. So what do you do when you are faced with the task of writing about their second American-issued album, released just as Beatlemania was starting to take off? You go a different way. It was important for me to look at the Beatles from a Black lens, and dive deep into how Black American music was imported to England (and specifically, the port town of Liverpool) and galvanized a literal generation of U.K. musicians. [Note: We chose not to use Beatles music clips for the YouTube version of this episode, so I would recommend listening to the podcast version to hear the Beatles in all their splendor.]
9. Bad Brains - Rock for Light (1983)
Another reference to something I mentioned in the episode: I avoided Bad Brains for years because I didn’t want to be stereotyped as “the Black punk.” In fact, I avoided volunteering to write this episode for that very reason—and then ended up having to do it because the deadline was running us down. I’m actually incredibly glad I did, though, as I learned so much about Bad Brains that I had no clue about, like the fact that they were accomplished musicians before they even got into punk rock. I also rediscovered the self-titled record and the demo (which eventually became the album Black Dots), which are all-time rippers. Although my favorite Bad Brains album is still the essential live punk document, Live at CBGB 1982.
8. Lead Belly - Last Sessions, Volume One (1953)
As predictable as I thought “Martin Douglas covers Bad Brains” would be, this was almost even more predictable. Of fucking course I’m going to tackle the man who wrote “In the Pines,” which became one of my favorite covers of all-time with Nirvana’s arresting MTV Unplugged performance of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” Lead Belly is more of a folk artist than many of the musicians of his milieu, but he’s most definitely a product of the blues—and one of the great singers and guitarists of his time. Also, his story is pretty crazy, which made it that much more fun to lay out.
7. “Anything by Kleenex” (1978-1983)
The greatest band to ever get hit with a cease-and-desist by a tissue manufacturer, I’m of the opinion that Kleenex’s earlier singles are some of the best things to happen to punk music and its many subgenres ever. I’ve been obsessed with Kleenex for many, many years now—and when I signed up for this episode, I wrote my name in ALL CAPS so my colleagues knew how serious I was about covering it. I had a great time learning their story and adapting it for my episode, which I sourced heavily from the Grace Ambrose-curated American adaptation of Marlene Marder’s Kleenex tour diaries (which were translated fantastically by Jen Calleja). That book, simply titled Kleenex/LiLiPUT, also features numerous articles on and interviews with the band, literally cut from the pages of bygone zines and music mags.
6. Public Image Ltd. - The Flowers of Romance (1983)
PiL are one of those bands that most of the punks I’m in league with enjoy more than the Sex Pistols. I had a great time tracking Lydon’s history from the end of the Pistols and through what superfans call the “trilogy” of PiL’s great albums. Truth be told, First Issue and Metal Box/Second Edition are truly untouchable albums (especially the latter), but The Flowers of Romance is an… interesting listen.
5. The Slits - Cut (1979)
If you’ve caught any of my interviews about The Cobain 50 (particularly the one from The Stranger), you’ve heard me refer to this series as a historical project. I dove into my research for this episode on one of the London’s finest punk bands; not only is it a place that still holds a lot of mystique for me (and one I love to visit), but I dove deep into the London punk scene and how most of those musicians were obsessed with reggae. The Slits are the band from this scene that, in my opinion, fused their love of punk and reggae seamlessly the best, and it bears repeating that they were one of the precursors to the entire riot grrrl movement (which coincided with a young, impressionable Kurt Cobain living and hanging out in Olympia).
4. The Shaggs - Philosophy of the World (1969)
A paraphrased quote directly from the episode sums this one up best: The story of the Wiggin sisters and the band they formed would be fodder for a Great American Novel, if the story weren’t actually true. If all you’ve heard about the Shaggs is that their music is bad, I implore you to listen to this episode and really take their story in.
3. The Stooges - Raw Power (1973)
I mean, come on. It’s the Stooges. Of course I was going to do this episode. Bonus points for the fact that this was the episode that kicked off the podcast. We set the bar high with the priceless Iggy Pop quote, “I smoked a big joint down by the river and realized I wasn’t Black.” Most of the music I like owes a heavy debt to Iggy Pop and his band of misfits, and I was thrilled I got to be the leadoff hitter for the entire podcast by covering one of my personally most influential bands.
2. Beat Happening - Jamboree (1988)
Another hugely influential band for me; but of course, I have the wrapper from the Black Candy cover tattooed on my arm. If you held me at gunpoint and asked me to list my five favorite bands, Beat Happening would be on that very short list. Jamboree is considered the band’s masterpiece; at the moment, I’m more of a Dreamy guy, but you could argue for any Beat Happening album being their best. The band staffed by Bret, Heather, and Calvin are weirdly polarizing, but you can’t dispute the fact that they basically created the entire American indie-pop movement. This was one of those episodes where Dusty and I got to discuss Kurt’s actual participation as a musician instead of as just a fan, because while Nirvana is repeatedly typecast as a “Seattle band,” they spent many more years in Olympia.
1. Sonic Youth Daydream Nation (1988)
A little behind-the-scenes look at the making of this episode: When I turned in a nearly 90-minute cut of this episode—a full look at Sonic Youth, their formation, their ideas, and their total independent output leading up to their 20-year run on a major label—it was suggested we split it up into two parts. Some people were for the idea, I was fairly vehemently against it. Particularly because I think the extended running time fits the artistic ethos of Sonic Youth—their use of patient, even indulgent, extended passages and longform songwriting—like a hand in glove. Also, in terms of bands that had a direct influence on Kurt and his career, I knew our Daydream Nation episode would be arguably the most important in this entire series. If you know anything about me as an artist, you know there is no limit I’m reluctant to test, bend, and ever-so-slightly try to break.
III. A Small Handful of Throwaway Style Favorites
For the uninitiated, Throwaway Style is my Pacific Northwest music column for KEXP (which is now a newsletter, just in case you need yet another newsletter authored by me), where I go long on some of my favorite Northwest artists; past, present, and future. I took over the column from the aforementioned Dusty in 2018, but last year I feel like I’ve finally gotten into a groove of what I would like the column to be: A longform (we’re talking thousands of words) feature on a Northwest artist, sprinkled with my thoughts on music and the region of the Northwest in general. Here are a select few of my favorite columns from 2024.
MARCH: “The Winding Backroads of Careen”
RIYL: Early Touch & Go, early Sub Pop, post-hardcore (before the term was so broad it was rendered virtually useless), 20-somethings who listen to Lungfish, grody punk houses, “weird [Skagit] county kids,” eight-minute punk rippers, side bands with 20-minute punk rippers.
JUNE: “Power Strip’s Trip Through the Metaphysical Wilderness”
RIYL: Pre-piano-era Grouper, the South King County suburbs, ambient guitar excursions, the Evergreen State College, (and concurrently) the claustrophobia of Olympia, sharing an artists’ warehouse with dozens of other people, the Seattle DIY scene of 2017-2020, heady conversations about process and concept.
AUGUST: “J.R.C.G.’s Avant-Garde, Desert Climate Body Music”
RIYL: Dreamdecay (and you should), the Olympic Peninsula punk scene, the parallels between DIY punk and community rodeos, the weather of Tucson, (more) grody punk houses, Mexican American cowboys, “pop” albums (scare quotes intentional), Morgan Henderson playing saxophone, the ever-crucial John Dwyer co-sign.
DECEMBER: “A Guided Tour Through the Music and Friendship of The Softies”
RIYL: The Softies (c’mon, they’re fucking legends bro), long PNW drives, crying in the studio, crying at your desk, crying in the bathroom, long-distance friendships, Tiger Trap (the shortest-lived Best Band Ever), the legacy of K Records, crying.
IV. The Return of DMDS (…Kinda)
It’s either next month or March, I forget. But either way, 2025 marks 16 (sixteen!) years since the debut of Douglas Martin’s Dirty Shoes, my punk/garage/indie rock column for the highly respected hip-hop website Passion of the Weiss. At the beginning of 2024 (when I wrote my Best of ‘23 list), I made a big fucking to-do of how DMDS was going to be resurrected as a monthly column… and then I ended up only writing two installments of the column the entire calendar year. I’m not going to hold myself to a strict schedule for DMDS, but you can most certainly expect more writing for POW—more DMDS, and another series coming back from the dead that I’m stoked about. Anyhow, here are two things I wrote for DMDS that I’m super proud of.
“The Ear-Splitting Mythology of Les Rallizes Dénudés”
For this one, I went long on the Japanese psych/noise/garage/rock ‘n roll demigods, touching on the history, the mystery, and hours worth of music being mixed and mastered by producer/sometime member Makato Kubota (and reissued by The Last One Musique/Temporal Drift, taking great care to make official LRD releases instead of the dozens of bootlegs that wildly vary in audio quality).
“The Best Rock Albums of 2024”
My favorite albums that the worldwide network of underground music had to offer. From the should-be-populist Rosali to the subversive genius of the Submissives. The wide-reaching bedroom pop of Winston Hightower and the garage-punk rippers of Split System. The excellent indie-pop of the Spatulas and the equally-excellent indie-pop (and -rock) of Feeling Figures. Just wall-to-wall bangers in my personal opinion.
V. Watch This Space for Martin’s Bests
TV, movies, art exhibits, live music, it’s all up for grabs! These insights will be somewhere between the space of blurbs and full-length reviews; hopefully a happy medium, which can go any which way with yours truly.
VII. Watch This Space for Other People’s Writing
Because I love to big up the great stuff I read on the internet/have lots of friends who write great stuff on the internet/have been obsessed with online media for about 23 years now/etc. etc. etc.
VIII. Upcoming News!
I have a retrospective essay on TV on the Radio’s stunning debut LP Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes in Maggot Brain #19, for the occasion of its recent 20-year anniversary reissue on Touch & Go. I wrote a lot of words about the album’s opening line: “Woke up in a magic n-gger movie,” but I wrote quite a bit on the rest of the album, as well as its impact on music (and how we talk about music).
