Obits, “I Want Results”

There’s an interesting comparison to make between Obits and Rocket from the Crypt. We know what John Reis and Rick Froberg sound like when they’re writing songs and performing together (great!). But their bands apart give a window into what they sound like on their own, and what they bring to the combined work. Outside of his distinctive yelp, it turns out that Froberg sounds like a more traditional blues and psych influenced rock band than anything else. It’s very well-done, of course, but it’s interesting to observe that the punk energy seems to be coming more from Reis.

The Grifters, “Spaced Out”

By the time the Grifters arrived at this record, album number five, they were recording for a mid-major (Sub Pop), in a real studio, and they were sounding like a real full-on band instead of the ramshackle act they used to sound like. There are some bands that get exposed as boring when you shine them up, but happily the Grifters are not one of them. This is their slickest album by a lot, but their country/blues/rock songs sound great, and it’s a shame that their ride ended here.

Infesticons, “Night Night Theme”

Infesticons is Mike Ladd and some assorted helpers, making grimy underground hip-hop. Gun Hill Road came out in 2000, and is chock full of noise, gritty beats and loops, and frankly uneven rapping. It’s an interesting album, I think, but not really a great one.

Note that there’s a couple minutes of silence in the middle of today’s track, and then there’s an un-named instrumental bonus track. I’m delighted that the era of CD hidden bonus tracks is over.

The Jam, “That’s Entertainment”

I wasn’t following music during the Jam’s heyday, what with being too young, but they were pretty big shit. Specifically, according to Wikipedia, “That’s Enterainment” is still the best-selling single in the UK ever. Pretty impressive! Lovely song, too.

The Mr. T Experience, “More Than Toast”

Here’s MTX doing what they do best, laying down a catchy pop-punk tune for three minutes and then getting out of here. I will honor them by doing the same.

Filastine, “Singularities”

Electronic artist Filastine draws widely from musical traditions from across the globe, pulling in bits and pieces from many cultures to assemble his songs. What could sound eclectic doesn’t come off that way, it instead is more like a kaleidoscope - assembling a fractured image into an interesting whole.

The Dead Milkmen, “Tiny Town (Live)”

Is this one of the rare live albums that elevates past just being a worse-sounding collection of their studio hits? One of those shining gems that comes across just often enough for me to keep buying live albums like a big fuckin’ chump? Reader, it is not. It is fine.

The Baseball Project, “Don’t Call Them Twinkies”

There’s a Venn diagram you can draw, with “Baseball Nerd” as one circle and “Seattle Music Nerd” in the other. In that fantastic overlap sits The Baseball Project and your faithful Five Songs correspondant. Where else can you go for a lovely rock song that name checks Zoilo Versalles? Just the best.

Uniform, “Habit”

And from that piece of charm, we move to the menacing Uniform, sounding like Thaw-era Foetus here. All growling noise and lyrics spit through gritted teeth. The sort of song with a relentless pursuit of “ugly” as an aesthetic.

The Toasters, “Dub 56”

We’re mid-career with the Toasters here, with the Toasters basically having found their sound with Dub 56. They’d further refine it a bit on the next couple albums, but this is more or less where they ended up. You can very much hear their debt to two-tone ska here.

Foetus, “I Hate You All”

After Flow and Blow in 2001, J.G. Thirlwell didn’t release another record under the Foetus moniker until 2006, releasing Damp. When he came back, he was in a very strange place. Like, I’m not even sure what to call this? Deranged big band, I guess? There’s nothing else really like it, and I love it.

Torche, “Admission”

When we had My Bloody Valentine the other day, I confessed that I didn’t really love Loveless. In turn, that means that I’m not really much on shoegaze, which is true. What I do often like is when bands take shoegaze-style wall of guitar and bring it in to other places. Like, Torche’s muscular riff-y rock has those washes of sound, and it’s great.

Jean Knight, “Mr. Big Stuff”

We’ve had “Mr. Big Stuff” on here, but it’s such an all-time jam, I’m not mad. But let’s do six today!

Manorexia, “Zithromax Jitters”

I think I mention this every time Manorexia pops up, but that’s infrequent enough that I think it’s OK: Manorexia is one of J.G. Thirlwell’s (Foetus, Wiseblood, Steroid Maximus, Clint Ruin, etc) aliases. Like Steroid Maximus, Manorexia is dedicated to cinematic instrumental music, and it’s not at all clear what differentiates the two aliases. At any rate, this is an interesting album.

Veda Brown, “Living A Life Without Love”

You can tell within seconds that this is a Stax record. This is obviously from relatively late in the Stax run, when the soul sound of the label had evolved in this lush direction. I’ve always preferred the rawer style of the earlier records, but this is still a lovely sound.

Boris, “Furi”

The first Boris album I encountered was Akuma No Uta after reading a good review of it online somewhere, and I was blown away. To have “Introduction” get followed by two absolute rippers like “Ibitsu” and today’s track, from the same band, I was just in love. Boris has paid that love back with a ton of classic records, many of them better than this album. But it’s still one I return to again and again, because your first album is often special with a band.