Posts

Lots of electronics today.

Prefuse 73, “140 Jabs Interlude”

Rivington Não Rio, the 2015 album from Prefuse 73, was something of a return to form for Scott Herren, his best work since Surrounded by Silence for my money. This track takes a little bit to get going, by turns downright pyrotechnic by the end, and Herren’s beats are great when he’s really going for it.

RJD2, “Shot In The Dark”

Prior to firing shuffle up for Five Songs, I had just been listen to STS x RJD2, a delightful collaboration featuring some absolutely ferocious work from RJD2. He’s still never beaten Deadringer, mind you. But I wanted to plug the fact that he’s done some cool shit otherwise.

I’ve legitimately missed this. It was a bit of a grind at times, and I’ll have to find the right pace, but it’s nice to be back in the saddle. And it’s nice to explore the dusty corners of my music again. Here is today’s trip into the vault.

Edan, “Humble Magnificent”

One issue that I have with this thing is that I stopped doing “previously"s, which was a huge hassle, but I haven’t gone back and re-tagged everything. So, I’m not entirely sure what I’ve covered. At any rate, Edan is a rapper/producer/DJ out of Boston who has thus far only made two albums (Primitive Plus and Beauty and the Beat) and a mixtape, but it’s all magnificent. His beats in particular are fantastic, the perfect blend of dusty loops and filthy drums. One of the best pieces of music news in 2018 is Edan’s return to music, with a new album coming out soon. I couldn’t be more excited!

It occurred to me that I didn’t explain who Plexasaurus Rex is. That’s my music server! As you might have guessed, I’m using Plex, and I have to say: so far, it’s pretty good! Did a good job organizing my music, interface seems solid. No complaints thus far. And, of course, I gave it a dumb name, the same dumb name that every other sad nerd who thinks they’re funny gives their server. Anyway, here’s today’s tunes,, now that we have today’s sad exposition out of the way.

WOAH. Kinda blacked out there for a little bit. But we’re back! We’re using a new service! This time it’s all running on all our own shit so it should be solid! I’m only at the mercy of the software! And the device it’s running on! And my home network! And…hang on, I’ll come in again.

Aw, who cares? The rock stopped, and now it’s going again. I think I even have most of my own music back. Let’s do this! HIT IT, PLEXASAURUS REX!

Well, right now, Five Songs is on hopefully a brief hiatus. Amazon has shut down their music locker service, and downloading all that junk has taken time. And, somehow, I ended up with about 5k extra songs in the process. So, I’ve written a script to walk the library, look for anomalies, call into the Discogs API…look, it’s complicated. Once I get the library cleaned up, I’ll need to get a new solution put together for streaming it, and then I can resume. Sorry, everybody. I know this is the only source of music on the Internet, and it kills me to disappoint you all. You’ll have to, like, talk to your friends and family or something.

Today!

Buck-O-Nine, “Voice In My Head”

We like to mock the third wave of ska here at Funf Songs, because it’s eminently mockable. But, there’s a reason why we have so much of the damn stuff, and that’s that when it’s done well, it’s sprightly and charming and summer-y. In the winter, it reminds of long, bright, warm days. In the summer, it just ups the mood to another level. Buck-O-Nine weren’t amazing, but they were pleasant and good and it’s worthwhile to just listen to some pleasant and good things sometimes.

Nice one.

Gaunt, “Powder Keg Variety”

The formula is so simple. Just big guitars, big choruses, and a fun tune. It’s Cheap Trick, basically. But, dammit, it’s still delightful, and I can’t get enough of this. I miss Gaunt, y’all.

Metallica, “The Judas Kiss”

The formula is so simple. Just big guitars…aw, fuck it.

Crackerbash, “Chesham”

The formul[gunshot]

One of the things I always liked about Crackerbash is is how rubbery their bass always sounded. It’s so propulsive, especially when it separates a little from the main guitar line.

Hell yes.

Less Than Jake, “Scott Farcas Takes It On The Chin”

Less Than Jake, especially during their heyday, put out tons of singles and compilation appearances. They’ve collected those on various comps, which are usually worth looking into. This is an alternate take of “Scott Farcas Takes It On The Chin” (which originally appeared on Hello Rockview), this time showing up on the comp Goodbye Blue & White.

Son Volt, “Satellite”

I have an idea that Son Volt’s range is not as wide as Wilco. (Before you say anything: no, you’re not allowed to discuss Son Volt without a comparison to Wilco, it’s part of the Universal Music Critic And Adjacent Commentator Standard Contract and Practices that we all have to sign before we get our blogging license.) Anyway, that notion is probably horseshit, but it’s my horseshit. And now it’s yours?

Today!

The Rolling Stones, “Stray Cat Blues”

Because they hung around so long and turned into basically Rolling Stones Inc., a licensing corporation with a neglected music production arm that would occasionally squeeze out a desultory album, it’s easy for folks of my generation (old, but not super old) to lose track of the fact that for for a while there in the late 60s and early 70s, the Rolling Stones were pretty amazing. The run from Beggars Banquet through Exile on Main Street is one of the foundations of modern rock, and still sounds pretty great today.

Today!

Ice Cube, “No Vaseline”

One of the most famous diss tracks in hip-hop history, “No Vaseline”, the closer to Death Certificate, laid bare how rancorous the split between Ice Cube and N.W.A truly was. Those who were paying attention to the press knew, but after the release of this song, everybody knew. And the song was savage - calling N.W.A out in every possible way. While the homophobia makes me cringe now, Cube’s creativity in dragging his former bandmates is still super impressive. N.W.A never really responded to the track. MC Ren says that it’s because they broke up, but honestly, there was no coming back from this.