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Music over here.

Pharmakon, “Intent or Instinct”

Pharmakon is the avant garde noise project of Margaret Chardiet, one that is unflinchingly unpleasant. We go in for a fair bit of legitimately difficult music here at Five Songs, and Pharmakon is towards the top of the list. Chardiet was inspired to write it as a reaction to her own emergency surgery for a cyst, and it’s supposed to represent her abandonment by her own body. And, well, it sounds like it. Made of electronic noise and her own howls, shrieks, and agonized breathing, it’s disquieting in a way that many other extreme artists try for and don’t quite reach.

Happy Valentine’s Day! We’re going with a Special this day, searching using “love” in the old collection and then randomizing among those songs. It returned 500 songs, which makes me think it’s only the first 500 results. But whatever. Let’s hear what we got!

The Ramones, “Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World”

I kind of feel like, in tribute to the Ramones’ consistency and committment to making the same album over and over, I should just make every Ramones entry the same.

Here’s today’s music.

Norska, “Too Many Winters”

Portland band Norska combine elements of doom metal with parts of noise rock, which means I am very much interested in their ideas and would like to subscribe to their newsletter. And it pretty much delivers on that promise, with the stretched out songs of doom and guitar patterns of noise rock. The various side projects of Yob (their bassist Aaron Rieseberg is in Norska, their singer is in VHOL for example) continue to explore what metal can do when cross-polinated with other genres, an exploration that gets me excited.

Songs over here.

Mudhoney, “Make It Now Again”

It takes a bit for this to turn into a classic Mudhoney song, but once it gets rolling, it’s aboslutely vintage. This is from that rarities collection March to Fuzz, which really is a lot of fun.

Rogue Wave, “Publish My Love”

Underground pop band Rogue Wave kind of sound like an amalgam of about a half-dozen other underground pop bands from the early 2000s. It’s certainly well done, but it never really got me excited. I mean, I only own two albums!

Today’s music.

Dis, “Untitled”

Back in the day, when CDs were still fairly novel, some bands felt compelled to goof around with the medium. The best known of these goofs, and one of the most annoying, was the “hidden track”, where bands would put in a long period of silence and then follow with an extra song. Not only was the silence super annoying, but the extra song was seldom any good.

Songs!

Scarface, “In Between Us”

Scarface is one of the elder statesmen of rap, having gotten his start with the Geto Boys, who terrified the hell out of mainstream white America back in the day. After leaving them and going solo, he’s had a long string of solid records, sometimes rising above that level and making something great. He’s also someone who has had the respect of everybody in hip-hop, bridging even the east coast/west coast beef when that was going on. This song comes from The Fix, one of my favorites of his.

Nice list today.

Floor, “Kallisti”

This sounds like it could have been from an early 90s band in the Squirrel Bait family. Like, some long-lost Bitch Magnet track or something. There’s nothing wrong with that, for the record!

(NB: this is a different take than the version shuffle pulled up.)

Dr. Dre, “Housewife”

As is often true with songs from 2001, you’re best off just concentrating on the beat here.

Six songs today!

Xzibit, “Carry The Weight”

Before he was on MTV, before he became a meme, Xzibit was a hardcore rapper, which sometimes kind of seems like it’s forgotten. His debut album, featuring production by E-Swift and Muggs among others, is a strong piece of work. Xzibit is a solid rapper, and his storytelling is very good here. It’s not essential, but it’s a good album that seems mostly forgotten at this point.

Much better than yesterday.

Clipse, “Chinese New Year”

Backed by the Neptunes (Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo) doing all the production, Pusha T and Malice made gangsta rap that always sounded vicious and lean. Their first two records, fueled by those fantastic beats, are pretty outstanding, even if the lyrical content is…let’s go with questionable.

Rites of Spring, “Persistent Vision”

You know, I think Guy Picciotto was more comprehensible with Rites of Spring than he was with Fugazi. I’m not entirely sure how that happens, it’s not like he wasn’t yelling with both bands.

Look, they can’t all be winners.

Sebadoh, “Red Riding Good”

Just the other day, we had a pointless bonus track from the reissue of III. Well, here’s another one.

Merle Haggard, “If We Make It Through December”

I should play Down Every Road for the kids. I think they might enjoy it.

Pigs, “Bet It All On Black”

I wonder what the longest period of time we’ve gone around here without some kind of noise rock? Not long. I wonder if it’s longer or shorter than the time between ska?