Rocket From The Crypt, “Good Bye”

RFTC almost in a Smashing Pumpkins kind of mode here. Can’t decide which band would be more insulted by that comparison.

Señor Coconut, “Pisco Control (Jive Electico)”

Señor Coconut’s album of Kraftwerk covers done in a Latin style is a delight, a charming re-interpretation of the Kraftwerk originals that really highlights the beating heart at the center of those shiny, robotic songs. Alas, the first Señor Coconut record (this one, El Gran Baile) is sort of a testing ground for some of those ideas of merging electronic music with Latin style, and it’s not nearly as much fun.

Emperor, “A Fine Day to Die”

Among the various albums to emerge from the second wave of black metal, In The Nightside Eclipse seems to me to be the one that really set the template that a lot of black metal followed. While it’s inaccessible, it’s not as inaccessible as many of the other early records from the scene, and the extra elements that Emperor played with are ones that many other black metal bands would end up also playing with. As such, if you were to listen to one old black metal record to kind of understand the music, this is probably a great choice.

James Brown, “I Got You (I Feel Good)”

There’s a certain strange thing that goes on in my head around timelines. This song was first released in an early version in 1964, and it absolutely does not seem like it should be contemporaneous with, say, A Hard Days Night. Or Eddie Holland’s “Just Ain’t Enough Love” to pick an example of what Motown was up to at this time. As a consequence, the timelines for funk and soul are just completely disconnected in my brain from those of rock. I can get the progressions of both straight in my head, within their own milieu, but when I think about what they were each doing at the same time, it just doens’t fit, like a miscut jigsaw.

Spawn of Possession, “Bodiless Sleeper”

Every time Spawn of Possession has come up here I’ve mostly just complained about it. It’s all just from the same record, and you know what? Let’s move on.

Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators, “No One’s Gonna Love You”

A little harsh there, don’t you think? No one is going to love me? My dog thinks I’m pretty neat.

Jackintosh Plus, “Desert Rider”

Hey, it’s my buddy Jack Grimes! He did the logo for this joint, hire him for your graphics needs!

The Mr. T Experience, “I’m Like Yeah, but She’s All No”

Seems like we’ve had a lot of East Bay stuff recently. Or am I just imaginging things? Anyway, it’s welcome. I might have that impression because I was listening to Operation Ivy in the car earlier today, I guess. I’m highly suggestible.

R.E.M., “Half a World Away”

Folks, do you really want to hear my thoughts on the archetypical “college rock” band? You do not. They are vapid. My thoughts, not R.E.M.

Monsula, “Concession”

Monsula were one of the bands in the East Bay who had a bunch of people from the scene move through (up to and including Five Songs favorite Lance Hahn of J Church) and thus helped really mould the sound of a lot of bands. But even setting aside influence, this is really good stuff, bringing in some post-hardcore to the punk sound of the East Bay. Both Monsula albums were re-issued by Lookout on CD as a single disc, which was a fantastic deal. I suppose you can’t get that deal these days.

Leprous, “Nighttime Disguise”

Ah Leprous, the perfect band for when you think “dang, I really want to hear a lot of time signatures.”

Cthulhu Rise, “Opus 23”

Cthulhu Rise are an instrumental prog metal/jazz fusion thing. I mean, I suppose you can hear that, huh? This whole album is like this - always moving around, always experimenting, always trying to surprise you, but you know, it also all starts to blend together a fair bit. Not bad as something to pop up randomly like this, though. A track at a time? Sure, that’s fun.

Been a while since I’ve done a special, so let’s do this. For those who haven’t seen them, I usually pick a word, search the library for that word, and then randomize among those songs. Today, I’m going with “school” in honor of the kids going back to school. Let’s see what we get!

The Nation of Ulysses, “Cool Senior High School (Fight Song)”

Oh fuck yeah, good start. This urgent tune comes to us from the first Nation of Ulysses album, 13-Point Program To Destroy America, which is probably my favorite of the two just by virtue of being first. But they both rule, the sort of post-hardcore that actually ends up shading just back into hardcore. The drive and energy of this album is palpable.

Fennesz, “Endless Summer”

Fennesz’s Endless Summeer is a lovely glitchy, ambient thing, full of processed guitar and languid, stretched out melodies. I’m not always a big ambient guy, I generally like my music to get places faster than this, but every now and again, I’m up for something like album.

Earl Sweatshirt, “EAST”

Among the many interesting things about Earl Sweatshirt’s career is how willing he is to put out short records. It cuts against the general direction with rap albums, which have tended towards a bit of sprawl and a lack of editing. Some Rap Songs was a short record in running time, 25 minutes or so, and his followup is a 15 minute, seven track EP. It allows him to get his ideas out there in compact form, which makes them all stand out even better than they might otherwise. More artists should be willing to make shorter records. As always, this is a pro-EP space.

Black Flag, “Loose Nut”

We’ve had this song before, and I told the store about how I bought it at random after deciding I should probably hear some Black Flag. That was the sort of thing we did in those days, when the Usenet wasn’t really searchable in any useful way, and you had to rely on either word-of-mouth, college radio, or magazines to learn about stuff. I would just take a flyer on records, because that was what you did. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes you ended up with a so-so Black Flag record.