Anything On Your Mind?
Well, well, well. I’ve run out of years to talk about in here. Unless…we go backwards! And, hell, why not. 2010 ahoy!
In 2010, I was laid off. It was the second time in my life to that point, and honestly, it could have gone worse. The company that purchased my startup decided that they didn’t want a Seattle office after all, and they shut us down. I could have moved to Denver and kept my job, but with two small kids, that wasn’t really an option. Luckily for me, I was given a fair bit of time before I was actually let go, and so I had plenty of time for a job search. Somewhat incredibly, I ran into the CEO of a company I had worked for a decade earlier (the first place that had laid me off, actually, also after the startup I had worked for was acquired). Even more incredibly, he recognized me and suggested I apply to his new company, which turned out to be in the same office building, the legendary Smith Tower. I interviewed, loved the team, and ended up at the new place. Where, upon joining, I discovered that said former CEO had departed in the interim. No biggie!
Music-wise, I’m having some trouble pulling up memories of 2010 specifically. I’m curious what I’m going to discover about albums released that year. The best guess I have is thinking that some old bands released new material that year. Wasn’t there a Built to Spill record that year? [Ed. note: there was not.] Anyway, the RYM chart features…wait, what? My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was 2010? Huh. There are a weird number of chud and chud-adjacent artists on that list - Kanye, of course, but Deathspell Omega, Arcade Fire, Alcest, and Daughters all turned out to be varying kinds of bad news. And that’s just the folks I know off the top of my head. Anyway, I have six of these albums in the collection, but I’m not going to say they’re “Five Songs Approved”, because they include the DSO, Arcade Fire, and Daughters albums. All before I knew about the people in those bands! Don’t hate me!
What Were You Listening To In 2010, Josh?
A sampling of albums from 2010 that I still think highly of, which maybe you’d enjoy as well.
Let’s have a look at non-chud records (as far as I know!) from 2010.
The Stimulus Package, Freeway & Jake One
After high profile albums for Roc-a-Fella, Freeway moved away from the label (it’s a little unclear if he was dropped or left, it seems to be a mix, what with Beanie Sigel’s legal trouble and stuff with Jay-Z, and I don’t really care to untangle things), putting out this release on Rhymesayers. For my money, it’s his best release, due in large part to Jake One’s production. And I swear, that’s not just me being a Seattle homer. I think Jake One’s ear for funk really helps elevate Freeway’s rhymes. Jake One would go on to form Tuxedo with Mayer Hawthorne and concentrate on electro-funk, which makes a lot of sense to me. Anyway, Freeway sounds loose and engaged and the beats are enjoyable, just a great hang all around, particularly in the summer.
The Tenant, Ludicra
I’ve sung the praises of John Cobbett before, with VHOL and Hammers of Misfortune getting plenty of mention, especially the latter’s 2022 opus. Well, here’s Cobbett with another band, his relatively pure black metal act Ludicra. Relatively, because there’s a little more going on than just shrieking, tremelo and blasting. Album opener “Stagnant Pond” is downright pretty before moving into “A Larger Silence” as more of a typical black metal song. I think if I were to suggest an album to someone who is curious about black metal and wants to kick the tires, this might be the record I’d recommend.
Blackjazz, Shining
Note that there are multiple bands called Shining working in extreme metal that were operating contemporaneously. This is the one from Norway, not the one from Sweden. From the first track of this album, “The Madness and the Damage Done”, I was in. The urgency of everything, those propulsive little ascending runs, the…keyboard solo?…halfway through, this is chaos in all the best possible ways. This album is what you’d get if you put old Wax Trax records into a Galapagos Island situation and let them evolve separately before coming back to see what unique mutations arose. The rest of the album maybe doesn’t quite live up to the explosive opener but is still a gas, finishing up with a very entertaining cover of “21st Century Schizoid Man” which, in some ways, plays it kind of straight. Straight-ish. Look, just relax and listen to this thing go.
Let’s Talk New Releases
Records come out every week, and there’s no way to stay on top of them. This isn’t a comprehensive look at everything, just a few things that have caught my ears out of recent releases. Any impressions here are very early!
Been a little bit since I’ve highlighted some new releases, so let’s have a look at some recent-ish records I’ve been enjoying.
Nação, Prisão
The hardcore EPs will continue until morale improves.
New Traditions, Gimic
After a very promising single in 2024, Gimic’s debut album just came out and it’s a banger. The review blurb on their Bandcamp page references the Minutemen and NoMeansNo, and my goodness, that’s awfully fancy company. I suppose I can hear the latter, especially with such an adept rhythm section. This isn’t a band that’s burying you in distortion with their guitars, which actually makes me think more about math rock bands or maybe something like Hella. Harriet Elder’s vocals help distinguish the band as well, as her shouting and singing adds to the urgency. I’ve only got a couple listens so far, but I’m really enjoying this record a lot.
No Comply, Baratro
Let’s get the first thing out of the way: every time I see this band name, I think it’s a bizarre mispronunciation of the poker roguelike video game Balatro.
Baratro is noise rock veteran Dave Curran (Unsane, Pigs) getting together with three Italian guys and making mature noise rock. The tempos here are generally slower than Unsane pounded out, but it’s still definitely in the noise rock realm, albeit at a fancier level. The mature modifier I tossed in there is an important qualification! There are strings! You can’t have strings on your record and still sound like it was recorded in a shitty basement. Still, if you’d like to hear something that takes the textures and sounds of noise rock and applies them in a more languid kind of way, give this one a spin.
Five Random Songs
Yes, it’s the “classic” five random songs format. It’s been told before on this blog many times, but basically, on an old forum, people would post the last five songs their shuffle pulled up. I liked it, so I made it into a blog. And now, here we are.
“Crawl of Time”, Nightmarer
2026 alert! Total Dissonance Worship is one of those labels I keep a close eye on, as they have a great ear for interesting metal acts. This is an EP from Nightmarer, who fall into the “dissonant death metal” sub-genre of death metal bands who produce extra gross noises even compared to their peers. I think this is the kind of thing you only wind up at after a fair bit of wandering through metal, so you probably already know if you want to check this out.
“White Light/White Heat”, Velvet Undergound
What is this shit, why is this garbage polluting my library? Who told these bozos they could hang out with actual rock bands? What, are they trying to be all edgy and shit? Come on, man.
“The Gods of Science”, The Coup
Boots Riley put out this album in 2012, Sorry To Bother You, as a soundtrack to a movie that didn’t exist, drawn from his own experience as a telemarketer. Six years later, the actual movie emerged, which is really very cool for a communist underground rapper. Take some notes, Velvet Underground, that’s how you make something of yourselves!
“A Song About Hawaii”, Cringer
Bay Area punks Cringer operated from the mid-80s until the early 90s, cranking out melodic punk across a bewildering number of releases. After Cringer folded, Lance Hahn would form J Church and continue along in more or less the same vein for years. This was a delightful thing for the staff of Five Songs, seeing as how J Church are the second-most tagged band on here after They Might Be Giants. As with J Church, Cringer released music haphazardly on all kinds of records for all kinds of labels, making them a pain in the ass to keep up with. Luckily, most of their stuff was collected onto a compilation, Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, presaging the same approach that J Church took. It’s sloppy as you might expect from a young punk band, but if any of you out there are J Church sickos, first, hello. Second, give it a whirl, you’ll for sure enjoy it.
“One Last Time”, RJD2 & Supastition
Another 2026 alert! I’ve said before that I really like when RJD2 gets together with an MC to make an album, and this release is no exception. It’s clear that both RJD2 and Supastition are thinking about middle age, as you can hear on this track. Just a nice, clean, pro track. Also, I swear that little keyboard run is the same little thing that Jacob Mann plays on Knower’s “I’m The President”.
Some Better Places To Learn About Music
Check these folks out, you’ll learn more for sure. In no particular order: To The Teeth, Wolf’s Week/Plague Rages, The Devil’s Mouth, Burning Ambulance, Lamniformes Cuneiform, Hex Records, See/Saw, Starkweather.