Ex-Helmet drummer John Stanier joined with Ian Williams of Don Caballero to form Battles. Given the pedigree, it’s no surprise that the focus was on complex, prog-y songs. Somewhat surprising, given the muscular nature of those two bands and the tough-sounding name, is the fact that Battles actually ends up playing pretty playful stuff. It’s not just wall-to-wall power, but ends up instead focusing on finesse.
[Read More]Some strong hip hop, some great reggae, an instrumental trifle, and some classic rock. It’s Five Songs!
Part of a blossoming reaction to the preeminent aesthetic of late 80s hip hop, A Tribe Called Quest quickly became the greatest of the acts rejecting the posturing of so many of their peers. From their very first album, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (which this song comes from), they were already executing a fully realized artistic vision, one perfected in their next album, The Low End Theory. The focus on addressing topics that other groups weren’t talking about along with a sonic palette that included far more jazz than was the norm helped them stand out from just about anybody else, excepting maybe De La Soul (who were frequent collaborators). Simply put, A Tribe Called Quest is one of the giants of hip-hop, and their first three albums are all essential listening.
[Read More]I get itchy when we go too long without a Stax track. This is one of Eddie Floyd’s biggest hits, later covered by Al Green on his magnificent Let’s Stay Together.
There have been multiple bands called 400 Blows (all named after the Truffaut film, one presumes), but this is the noise rock one from California. This song comes from Black Rainbow, and is full of this kind of start/stop fun and yelling. Good times!
[Read More]Happy Halloween! This is coming to you late, because I forgot to put it together before now. Well, better late than never.
You know, up until this track came up, I had kind of forgotten that A Moon Shaped Pool existed. I pre-ordered it, and then forgot to listen to it when it arrived. Well, no time like the present! Dig those strings!
(NB: I pulled up a live version, because the studio version seems to be missing.)
[Read More]Here at Five Songs, we never stop working for you, the tiny handful of people who put up with this, day in and day out. So, today, we’re going the extra 20% with six songs! Such generosity!
If you look at that band name and say to yourself “that sounds like a fourth-tier third-wave band”, congratulations! You’ve probably consumed too much Five Songs!
[Read More]Without noticing, I passed six moths of doing this stuff. Nice. Here’s today’s tunes.
Another track from Unsteady’s fantastic Double or Nothing, this sarcastic song contains the genius line “I’m a blessed martyr to the church inside my head”, which I think about a lot. Anyway, the ratio of “how much I like this album” to “how much the rest of the world has heard of this album” is just about as high as it gets on this record.
[Read More]Seattle band that plays a combination of 60’s pop, surf, and a bit of garage rock. Everything is super reverbed out, is what I’m saying. It’s a lot of fun! I like the second album, Weirdo Shrine, the best of the two studio records.
Another local band! Seaweed were out of Tacoma, WA, and were active on Sub Pop during the grunge explosion. Despite that, they were always more of a punk band than a grunge band, and consequently kind of got lost in the shuffle. The middle couple albums, Weak and Four, were excellent, and are worth digging up to try out.
[Read More]I’m delighted by this set today.
As before, this is truly a strange artifact in the ol’ collection. Once again, it’s a pretty pleasant listen, and kind of makes me wish that there was more of this around.
It’s obscure day here at Five Songs! Well, as I mentioned last time, if Russell Simins is involved, I’m there. I mean, come on, listen to this shit! Groovy as hell.
[Read More]WRCT, the campus radio station at Carnegie Mellon, used to get tons of records from just about every label. Primarily, that was because we actually would play stuff from smaller labels, having largely rejected the idea of “college rock” as well as “coherence” and “professionalism”. From that wave of incoming stuff, somebody on the staff would listen to everything and write a little note on an index card to stick to it. You’d suggest which songs might make sense to play on the air, which songs you should avoid unless you were in the “safe harbor” (in other words, which ones had swearing), if a record was hopeless, whatever. If you really liked a record, you’d put it in the booth with the other notable new releases.
[Read More]Every now and again, I catch myself thinking, “geez, this playlist really sounds like something I’d love!” And then I think, come ON brain, what are you thinking? But my brain has already moved on. Well, anyway, today’s playlist is pretty indie rock-y. And Haggard-y, I suppose.
I’ve always really liked the Wedding Present’s slower numbers. The contrast with the usual hyperactive pop really centers David Gedge’s lonely, weary lyrics. And sometimes you want that extra bummer, you know? This comes from Saturnalia, the last album from their first incarnation, before Gedge recorded with Colorama for a while. It’s an excellent album, as is everything that that version of the band put out.
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