Seems like we’ve had a lot of new bands recently. That’s cool! Here’s the music for today.

Girls Against Boys, “In Like Flynn”

Early 90s underground rock act Girls Against Boys stood out from the pack for a couple reasons. First, the sound wasn’t just all grim pounding or punk gallop. Instead, Girls Against Boys always sounded like a rock band you could dance to, which was kind of a rarity. The second distinguishing feature probably drove the first, which is that the band had two bassists, a good idea that far too few bands take advantage of. This album, Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, is probably their best.

Nice stuff today.

The Mars Volta, “This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed”

This is from the first Mars Volta album. So, as you can tell, the Mars Volta were swinging for the fences right away. You never really know where they’re going, and that just was more and more true as things went along.

Señor Coconut, “The Robots”

Oh man, you’re all in for a treat. Señor Coconut is a project of electronic artist Uwe Schmidt, who created this album to document a fake Latin group doing an entire album of Kraftwerk covers. It’s pretty much all note-for-note covers of the originals, but with little flourishes here and there. It’s all played with a totally straight face, and it’s 100% delightful. I never knew that I needed fake Latin covers of Kraftwerk, but I did. Very much.

Today’s list.

CROOKED BANGS, “Out”

I discovered this album via Bandcamp’s Album of the Day feature, which is always deadly. I like it, it’s always nice to pick up on random punk records now and again.

Yo-Yo Ma, “Suite for Solo Cello No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: VI. Gigue”

As before, still don’t know anything about this.

Leatherface, “Discipline”

Long-running UK punks Leatherface made ten albums, which is probably about eight more than we actually needed. They play very back-to-basics punk that evokes all the first-wave punk bands from the UK. I’ve got two albums from them, and I’m not totally sure I could tell them apart.

Today!

Rocket From The Crypt, “Suit City”

I love the urgency in this song, it’s always driving forward hard. And it sticks around for just two and a half minutes. Get in, do what you want to do, get out. Nice.

Nine Inch Nails, “Let’s Hear It For Nine Inch Nails”

OK, you ready for what is probably the most obscure and dumbest thing we’ve had on here yet? Right. This is from the “Head Like A Hole” extended CD single. Four different mixes of “Head Like A Hole”, two of “Terrible Lie”, three of “Down In It”, a b-side, and then this. Four seconds of someone saying the title of the track to close out the CD single. And now, you’ve all listened to it. Somehow, it was already on YouTube.

Nice one today!

Yautja, “for naught”

Kind of math-rock, kind of death metal, this kind of hybrid makes me happy. Which it probably shouldn’t! This comes from the EP Songs of Lament, the followup to their excellent Songs of Descent. Both are worth looking into.

Bathory, “Shores in Flames”

Bathory were black metal pioneers, with the singer Quorthon’s strangled croak setting the template for black metal vocalists that persists today. The primitive recording and washes of guitar noise also formed one of the pillars of the genre. But, not content to provide some of the building blocks for one type of metal, Bathory re-invented themselves. The album prior to this one started experimenting with breaking out of the template, but Hammerheart showed that the template was gone. This song is the opener of that album, featuring Quorthon actually singing, and the songwriting now was focused on the epic rather than the squalid. And, indeed, Bathory had now invented the subgenre of Viking metal which, yes, is a thing. Bottom line: there aren’t very many bands that have ever been as metal as Bathory, and there aren’t very many bands more influential on the genre.

Today’s music.

Presidents of the United States of America, “Blank Baby”

This song comes from Freaked Out And Small, by which time most people had long since moved on. The major labels certainly had, as the Presidents found themselves back on an indie label. But that’s fine, they were still putting together fun stuff. And maybe that’s what’s so enjoyable about the Presidents. They always legitimately sounds like they’re having fun, and it’s infectious. I don’t think this album beats their second one, but it’s still very good.

This was so close to being great today.

Sam & Dave, “I Thank You”

I was wondering when we’d get Sam & Dave, one of the top acts from Stax and reliable hitmakers for the label. The drought is over! This comes to us from 1968, an Isaac Hayes song, and goddamn, listen to that.

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, “Heat Wave”

Hell yes, shuffle, keep it going!

For a long time, I’ve always thought that at some point, the rats in one of the Muppet movies sang a little bit of this song. Well, my memory was only a little right, the scene had just a little echo of this song.

And the beat goes on!

Terrace Martin Presents The Pollyseeds, “Wake Up”

From Sounds of Crenshaw, Vol. 1, this album is from producer Terrace Martin, who is best known for his work with Kendrick Lamar. On this album, he also has other folks in the Lamar orbit, such as Kamasi Washington (whose playing on the sax you’re listening to). A mix of R&B and jazz, it’s a very interesting album, and absolutely worthy of further exploration, although don’t expect anything as banging as, say, “LOYALTY.”

The Management would like to apologize for yesterday’s entry. Those responsible have been sacked. Let’s try this again today.

Less Than Jake, “Just Like Frank”

We’re not rid of the ska, apparently! Actually, Less Than Jake really are barely ska at all. They have the occasional ska song, but they’re really a punk band. And a good one! Have I made that point before? I probably have. Whatever. Here at Five Songs, Quality is Job Six or Seven On A Good Day.

Happy Pi Day! I do not celebrate Pi Day usually. I have occasionally done something for Pi Approximation Day, though. Let’s do a special!

The Pietasters, “Night Owl (Live)”

So, in case you haven’t guessed, our special word for today is “pie”. As with some previous specials, I searched my library for our magic word, and shuffled between those songs. There was a significant risk of a lot of Pietasters today. (UPDATE: indeed there was.) Anyway, the Pietasters were a third wave ska act who made one out-of-character tremendous album (Oolooloo) and an assortment of lesser albums. This is from a decent live album, Strapped Live!, where most of the best songs are from Oolooloo. So, you know, that album is really good!