And now, happy birthday to me! This concludes birthday week here at Five Songs.

Seam, “Sweet Pea”

I think this 1993 EP, Kernel, is actually my favorite Seam release, pound-for-pound. I’m not really sure why that is, exactly. It’s not necessarily super differentiated from their other stuff. I just think the songs on here work really well for me. Pump it loud!

Silkworm, “Written on the Wind”

We’re still in Josh’s College Years here, my friends. It’s a cut from my favorite Silkworm album, although it’s tough to pick just one record. What I really like about Libertine in particular is that many of the songs have a tons of space in them to let Michael Dahlquist and Tim Midgett do their thing. Just a lovely record.

Well, this blog officially turns five today! There have been 1137 posts on this site, if my tagging is to be trusted, so a pace better than every other day. More than five thousand little capsules on songs and bands, and that’s a dang lot of vapid garbage. I’ve probably spent more time on this than any other creative project, and I’m really not entirely sure why. I guess in the end I’ll be a better writer, and it’s nice to do something consistently. I don’t have an endgame for this or anything. It’s just, you know, music is nice.

Cause for Effect, “Sonic Titanic”

This will never fail to make me laugh. It’s just so absurd! Demented prog/grindcore fusion, complete with brutal vocals, come on, how could you not love this! I listened to this three times in a row before moving on.

Palm Reader, “Tire Me”

Palm Reader got together with Conjurer for a split covers EP. That’s a pretty inessential premise, but it’s a fun release. This, of course, is a Rage Against the Machine track, and they do a nice job with it.

The Coup, “Get Up”

The Coup got together with one of their peers on this one, Dead Prez, combining two of the most political acts in hip hop at the time for one great track. I don’t know what else there is to say, they’re both bringing their A-game. Also, I love it when rappers imitate sirens, always a good move.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Where’d You Go?”

This is the first Bosstones song I ever heard, when I saw it on 120 Mintes back in probably summer of 1992. I really enjoyed it as a total change of pace from what I was listening to at the time, but didn’t go back and visit the band under later, after I’d found the Specials, and started teaching myself about ska. It’s still a charming little tune, it’s hard to resist the big horns.

Koenjihyakkei, “Angherr Shisspa”

Koenjihyakkei is a band led by Tatsuya Yoshida, the drummer/lunatic in Ruins. It’s an off-kilter take on prog, inspired by Magma, and it’s every bit as unhinged as Ruins ever was. Just with a bigger band. I mean, I suppose I don’t really need to describe it, you can hear it just fine. How would I go about describing this, anyway?

The Mars Volta, “Askepios”

Oh, is this what we’re doing today, shuffle?

Cave In, “Come Into Your Own”

I was a latecomer to Cave In, only really starting to listen to them around 2015 or so when I got a Hydra Head sampler with this EP among the stuff. And I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it sure wasn’t this. This is pretty indie rock, and while I know it’s not representative of all of their sound, it’s still kind of jarring to listen to this and try and square it with the reputation of Cave In as a hardcore band.

Eddie Floyd, “My Girl”

The soul artists of the 60s and 70s went ahead and just covered each other, including even covering truly huge songs. Songs don’t really get bigger than “My Girl”, but that didn’t stop Eddie Floyd here, who was no slouch himself. The comparable situation just doesn’t seem to happen much with rock, certainly not with the same frequency.

Royal Headache, “Wouldn’t You Know”

Pretty straight ahead rock out of Australia, a recommendation from an internet friend, and a fun album. I know nothing about them other than the fact that they’re from Australia, though. Sorry!

Calexico, “Voices in the Field”

For a split second, at the beginning of this track, there’s a burly menace to the sound that the seasoned Five Songs reader/listener would suspect is going to descend into some nightmare basement howling and guitarpocalypse. But no, it’s just Calexico being a little dramatic at the start of this tune.

Calexico has always taken inspiration from their surroundings, and they’ve taken on the habit of recording their albums in different places in order to change up that inspiration. As a result, they’ve moved away some from the habitual desert sounds some on their latest records.

The Mighty Mocambos, “Calling the Shots”

The immediacy of the drums here, both in their entry into the song as well as the production, really drives things here. That insistent bell, the grit and echo, it’s fantastic. On top of that, those punchy horns, goddamn, I could just listen to this all day. And bari sax! Love it.

L’Orange & Mr. Lif, “Strange Technology”

I wonder what it is about hip-hop that pairs with sci-fi so successfully in a way that, say, rock music can struggle with. A lot of the time when rock tries to go sci-fi, it comes across as corny or ridiculous. But hip-hop can go futuristic without any real struggle, and there have been some awesome sci-fi hip-hop records. I suppose the beats can get kind of inorganic without stretching the genre too much, and that can help things.

Cloud Nothings, “Sun Meat”

You know, cranking out a monthly EP for an entire year is an absolutely tremendous achievement, one of the more impressive ones I’ve seen from an artist in years. I think it’s kind of a shame that they didn’t have a wider audience for them. It looks like 5-600 people subscribed, judging by how many people have them in their collections on Bandcamp. Maybe they’ll package stuff up and release them later.