Mayday - King Cobb Steelie (2000)

A week of kings: I spun up my randomizer and randomly got 3 different artists with “King” in their names. So I’ve expanded it to a whole week

As I’ve said before, I listened to a lot of college radio in the 90s. I was struck late one night on my local station with Rationale, King Cobb Steelie’s tribute to the executed Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa from their 1997 record Junior Relaxer.

For whatever reason, Junior Relaxer doesn’t seem to be available to stream anywhere, so instead this spot is occupied by Mayday, its turn-of-the-century followup.

Meh.

I heard it today for the first time in years, and I’d forgive you if you–like me–thought “huh. Fugazi but with no teeth.”

There’s some funky drumming and well-mannered guitar. It seldom breaks out into anything large, but instead rides a groove and adds some plaintive lyrics.

It’s not bad. It’s just not as good as it was in my head before listening again.