Some nice stuff today.

Hot Snakes, “Think About Carbs”

Listening to just the right channel on this song is kind of magical. Just Rick Froberg howling along with the drums except for the occasional burst of guitar until you get to the end. Just listen to those toms! Hell yes! Hot Snakes wooo!

Foetus, “The Ballad of Sisyphus T. Jones”

From Hide, this is Foetus at his bombastic, ridiculous best. I like this mode of Thirlwell’s, of making over-the-top songs that sound like songs from corny movies, but through a funhouse mirror.

Excellent one today.

Alex Chilton, “All of the Time”

Alex Chilton, of Big Star, is one of the leading influences on a ton of later rock bands in the underground. Here, for instance, you can really hear the Replacements. This song was on his solo record Bach’s Bottom, but this actually comes from the excellent Ork Records: New York, New York compilation.

Slapstick, “The Geek”

This is what ska-punk should sound like when it’s done well. Lots of speed, lots of energy, it gets in and out without hanging around too long. For your “Operation Ivy substitute”, you really can do so much worse.

Does it seem like I’m getting flakier with this things? I think I’m getting flakier. Whatever. I’m back!

Floor, “The Key”

This song is only 46 seconds. I really wish it were longer.

Crimpshrine, “Rearranged”

Crimpshrine didn’t last long as a band, producing only one album and a smattering of EPs, singles, and compilation appearances. All of that latter material got collected into a single comp, The Sound Of A New World Being Born, which is an excellent document of the early Bay Area punk scene. As that scene would end up being hugely influential over rock, and Crimpshrine would be one of the key bands to help form that scene, this album is kind of like a glimpse into the future. Well, the past now. Whatever.

Don’t have a ton to say today!

The Goats, “The Boom”

The Goats were an underground rap act out of Philadelphia, notable for using a live band during their second album, from which this song comes. Musically they would have fit in with the Tommy Boy acts of the time, such as House of Pain. Overall, the first album was pretty charming, and the second one kind of dragged. Honestly, I can’t remember listening to this stuff for probably 20 years.

Pretty good one today.

Public Enemy, “Give It Up”

Pretty sure I’ve talked about how uneven Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age is, and it really is. It’s the album that marks the sharp decline of PE from the legendary band to the often baffling outfit that’s still out there still making stuff. But the album really has some peaks. This is one of them. The beat is dense and bouncy, Chuck kicks several different flows, and they basically capture their glory days. The verse that kicks off “I never did represent doin’ dumb shit” is one of my favorite verses from him ever.

Good one today! Well, if you ignore that we have a rap skit.

De La Soul, “Skit 5”

The closer for De La Soul Is Dead, the final skit that imagines some bullies discovering stealing the album and deciding it blows. De La Soul was clearly reflecting on a break they were attempting from the first album, of trying to shed their image as rap’s flower children. While De La Soul Is Dead contains plenty of shimmery, bouncy, light tunes, it also features darker material like “My Brother’s a Basehead” and (especially) “Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa”, a tragic tale we’ll talk about when it comes up.

Today!

Thou, “There There”

This is how Thou’s album Algiers ends, which is a collection of assorted EPs and singles. There’s something so elemental about the way that Thou sounds. Something about the entire sound of the band is downright contemptuous. Lots of bands manage to sound ugly, or grim, or noisy, or just generally awful. Thou somehow manages to sound spiteful, which is a neat trick. Well, I dunno about neat. Anyway, this collection isn’t a bad place to start with Thou. Or Heathen, which is a great metal album name.

Today? Fun!

Iron & Wine, “Lion’s Mane”

I think it can be easy to dismiss all these neo-folk types as posers, as just boring sensitive white guys with guitars. And yeah, but some of them are clearly playing something pretty inspired as well. Sam Beam, doing business as Iron & Wine, is one of those worth paying attention to. His debut album, The Creek Drank The Cradle, is pretty precious, but it’s just filled with really nice songs. It’s just Beam’s voice and guitar most of the time, with just the occasional touches of slide guitar or banjo, as you can hear on this song. And while obviously, we here at Five Songs go pretty far in to pretty grim and noisy stuff, sometimes you just really need a pretty song, and Iron & Wine delivers.

Today’s list.

Pavement, “Krell Vid-User”

I’ve complained about the total lack of quality control on Pavements non-album material. For every “Texas Never Whispers” or “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence”, there were a dozen songs like this one lurking in the wings. But hey, at least we’ve got basically every studio dropping ever put on tape by the band lovingly preserved in deluxe editions! That way you can listen to that junk once and never again!

Today!

Dale Crover, “Hillbilly Math”

Here we find Dale Crover playing one of the most straightforward rock songs that he’s probably ever been involved with. I guess you can see how this might not really be a Melvins song, and I’m not sure it’s really necessary, but whatrever, it’s totally fine.

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, “Such Is Love, Such Is Life”

We’re in 1963 with this song today. Frankly, Smokey is sounding a little Chipmunk-y on this song, making this a little less than the best from him.