Bedhead, “Haywire”

Bedhead is the musical equivalent of a weighted blanket.

Lambchop, “The Gusher”

Lambchop is, uh, a velvet smoking jacket, a faded photo of your grandparents, a mostly empty bottle of rye, and a ticket stub for a concert that you can’t actually tell who it was for but you know it was an excellent concert.

PIG, “Valley of the Ignorant”

PIG, meanwhile, is what you get when it’s J.G. Thirlwell who was trapped in amber and they weren’t preoccupied enough with whether they should.

John Oswald, “O’hell (Sir Jim Moron)”

Beyond the disorienting pluderphonics thing being totally in Five Songs’ wheelhouse, anything which calls Jim Morrison a moron is A-OK with us here.

The Melvins, “Honey Bucket”

The Melvins’ 2021 release, Five Legged Dog, is an all-acoustic exploration of their sound. It features songs from across their entire catalog, alongside some assorted covers of other bands. This tune comes from their major label breakthrough (?) Houdini, and it’s fun to hear an alternate take on it like this. It’s impressive how heavy they can get this to sound without the usual roaring amps. This is an inessential record, but any Melvins weirdo needs to hear it.

Golden Dawn Arkestra, “Mama Se”

Any time you hear the word “collective” in relationship with a band, you know you’re in for something. Golden Dawn Arkestra are one of those, from Austin, and are inspired by Sun Ra, trying to do the whole cosmic exploration stuff. Some funk, jazz, Afrobeat, whatever else occurs to them gets thrown in the blender. It’s a lot, and I don’t know, it seems a little unfocused to me. I only have this one record, and I think as a drop-in here, it works, but the whole album is a bit exhausting.

Boogie Down Productions, “I’m Still #1”

The first two BDP records are landmarks in rap. BDP managed to both bring in a lot of the hardcore style that would later be pushed further into gangsta rap, but also introduced a lot of the socially conscious elements that would be picked up by acts like the Native Tongues. The second BDP record in particular demonstrated that KRS-One was still a force even after the tragic death of Scott La Rock between the two albums. You can draw a straight line from this to so much of 90s rap, but KRS-One’s delivery is so strong that it sounds good on its own even without the historical interest.

Eminem, “Guilty Conscience”

I am amused at Dr. Dre playing someone’s guilty conscience.

Bitch Magnet, “Motor”

Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. That late 80s/early 90s production really just connects to me, because of how old I was during that time. Anyway, this is how Bitch Magnet’s first album (Umber) kicked off, and it’s a good record. Ben Hur is probably a little better, but that’s not a knock on this one.

Radiohead, “True Love Waits”

Hmm. I guess maybe Radiohead used Conlon Nancarrow?

Elvis Costello, “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea”

A friend used to do a bit where he’d refer to song titles or whatever with synonyms or just slightly wrong words, and it always killed me. Two of his titles from This Year’s Model always stuck with me. “Inflate It” and this one, “Chelsea (Fuck It)”.

Report Suspicious Activity, “Goldstein”

Yup, that’s J Robbins in yet another one of his bands that put out a couple albums before calling it good. It’s a good one, but that’s kind of redundant. Where does it rank in the list of bands? Probably below Burning Airlines and Jawbox, but probably above Office of Future Plans and Channels.

Blackalicious, “World of Vibrations”

It wasn’t clear if there would be a follow-up to the masterful Blazing Arrow, but three years later, The Craft showed up. And while it’s not quite as good, that’s an unreasonable expectation. It’s an excellent record, Gift of Gab was a master, and the beats are urgent enough to provide a strong platform and not disappear.

Caspar Babypants, “Cotton Eyed Joe”

I think last time we had the Presidents of the United States of America on here, I mentioned that Chris Ballew was occupying himself with making kids’ records under the moniker Caspar Babypants. Well, here he is, and it’s a testament to his basic affability and deft hand with a tune that he managed to turn the curdled anthem of canned baseball stadium antics from a rancid abomination to a totally pleasant listen.

Conlon Nancarrow, “Study for Player Piano No. 3a”

Has anybody flipped Nancarrow into any beats? Seems like it would be a fun thing to hear.

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, “Crime Pays”

What a lovely beat here. As someone who grew up listening to the radio in cars in the early 80s an awful lot, that late 70s vibe here just sparks something really primal in me.

Tame Impala, “Lucidity”

Another of my breaks with music critic orthodoxy (although I don’t really feel like I’m a real critic) is that I think Tame Impala is kind of boring. I’m not sure why that is - I like other psychedelic stuff just fine, I don’t have any problems with any elements that go into this. It just glides past my brain and nothing finds any purchase. It’s pleasant, but it’s like taking a nap.

Die Warzau, “Funkopolis”

Die Warzau mostly got lumped in with other industrial dance acts, mostly due to a name that looked like an industrial band and a vocal style that sounded like Nitzer Ebb after some vocal lessons. But in retrospect, there’s really very little that connects them to other industrial dance. There’s nowhere near enough noise, it’s not chilly enough, there’s no disaffection on display. This is just dance music that somebody has darkened ever so slightly.

The Flaming Lips, “The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine”

They should have kept that noise from the first few seconds going throughout. Just go full abrasive. It would make me happy, anyway.

Mudhoney, “Burn It Clean”

One of the delightful bits of early Mudhoney is how often you can just hear someone yelling, belching, or otherwise making noise at the beginning or ending of tracks. It’s an excellent choice to leave that stuff in. The “hey jackass!” at the start of this really sets the tone.