Posts

Mission of Burma, “Red”

Signals, Calls, and Marches, the 1981 debut EP from Mission of Burma, is one of the foundational texts of what was known as college rock and eventually became indie rock. It’s a touchstone that many, many following bands would evoke and echo. It’s not really punk, not really post-punk, certainly not hardcore, but has parts of all those sounds. Mission of Burma would release this and an album in their original incarnation, and then unexpectedly pop up 22 years later with a new run of three (excellent) albums.

Clipse, “Virginia”

As always, the real attraction of the first Clipse record isn’t so much their rhymes, which are fine, but that lovely “produced by the Neptunes” label. And, yeah, this is great.

The Mortals, “Everything But Time”

Part of the Estrus stable of garage rock bands, the Mortals put out three records in the early to mid 90s, without making too many waves but certainly landing on my radar. This comes from the first of those records, Ritual Dimension of Sound, and is a reasonable representation of their sound.

Chuck D, “Generation Wrekkked”

In 1996, Chuck D released his first solo record, Autobiography of Mistachuck, which differs from a Public Enemy record primarily in that Flavor Flav wasn’t involved at all. Because Chuck D was always part of the Bomb Squad, and therefore was involved in putting together the beats, and of course his stentorian voice was always the driving force behind PE, the record really just kind of fits in with the other mid-90’s PE records. Probably better than He Got Game, maybe not quite as good as Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age.

200 johns, “the sun is a h0t m4ss”

Did you know that you needed hyperpop covers of They Might Be Giants songs? I didn’t, until I heard this this EP. And I realized, yes, I very much needed hyperpop covers of TMBG songs.

Nitzer Ebb, “Godhead (remix)”

I was just saying Nitzer Ebb hadn’t aged particularly well to a buddy yesterday! And, you know, it hasn’t particularly. But again, this is part of the whole thing where industrial dance also was just endlessly remixed and re-released, which didn’t help anything. Although there is one remix of “Lightning Man” (on ONE of the multiple singles for that song) that I remember as absolutely ripping. However, I lost that EP, and I haven’t listened to it in ages and had kind of forgotten it until now. I could still pull up the riff from it in my head though.

P.D.Q. Bach, “Six Contrary Dances, S. 39: VI. Moving right alongo”

P.D.Q. Bach, the parody composer, makes truly dumb music that can largely only be appreciated by smart people. Or, maybe more accurately, culturally educated people. The truth is, I sort of catch only a subset of the gags in it, because I’m nowhere near knowledgeable enough in Western classical music to get all of it. But even if you don’t catch all the jokes, the music itself is pretty fun even without them.

Hot Snakes, “Braintrust”

The third Hot Snakes album certainly announces itself with authority. “Braintrust” opens up my favorite record from them, with a song that would absolutely sit right at home on one of the legendary Drive Like Jehu records. Which is a high complement!

Nine Inch Nails, “Get Down Make Love”

As with most industrial dance acts, there were a bunch of singles released with Nine Inch Nails’ early work, usually featuring a bunch of remixes and the occasional half-assed b-side. This is one of those half-assed b-sides, in this case from the “Sin” single (which included three pointless remixes of that tune). But, you know, high school Josh was nonetheless kinda intrigued by it.

The Decemberists, “Summersong”

I’ve talked a little about the Four Album theory, which is that some great metal bands (Metallica, Krallice, Mastodon) will push things as far as they can with their sound over four albums, before taking off in a different direction. It’s half-baked, yes, but it’s a theory anyway.

But in thinking about it, these aren’t the only Four Album bands. The Decemberists, for instance, pushed their increasingly elaborate folk-rock storytelling thing further and further over the course of their first four albums, culminating in The Crane Wife, which is really kind of a concept record that stands as the final record of that approach. While The Hazards of Love is maybe more ambitious, it kind of seeks a more prog direction without as much of the folk stuff, so to my ears, represents the same kind of stylistic break as those metal bands.

Pardoner, “Silly String”

There’s something extremely early 90s about Pardoner’s sound on this track. It sounds like a lost track from a C/Z Records band, or maybe like some old Dinosaur Jr. track from the vault. That, of course, means I’m totally delighted by it.

Marvin Gaye, “Pride and Joy”

A single from 1963, with some jaunty piano really driving things here. A real charmer!

Gold Class, “Life As a Gun”

EXTREMELY post-punk stuff here out of Australia. There’s sort of a Discord feel to the guitars, and almost a Joy Division feel to the singing, which is a pretty potent combination. This is from their first album, It’s You, which is a pretty solid record.

Yet another perfect month in the books! The magic date is 10/29, which is the last time I missed a daily update. It would be pretty cool to go a full calendar year without missing one, honestly.

Lungfish, “Non Dual Bliss”

The repeated opinion of the Five Songs cognoscenti is the Lungfish is kinda boring. Like, this song is pretty good…for the first couple minutes. But it doesn’t really evolve, and the groove isn’t so interesting that it can support six minutes.

The Beastie Boys, “Pass The Mic”

Probably the most Beastie Boys song on Check Your Head, this is the kind of thing that anybody who parodies the band is kind of gesturing towards. Given that it was deliberately constructed to be kind of an update of the sound from their first album, it does make sense.

Screeching Weasel, “Falling Apart”

Have I expressed the opinion that I think Anthem For A New Tomorrow is the best Screeching Weasel record? They had a couple albums to refine the pop-punk/Ramones-knockoff sound they were going for, and there are moments that almost sound sincere on this album that work pretty well. Past this point, they kind of got snottier and snottier and it wasn’t pleasant, and before this, the sloppiness can sometimes get in the way.