Posts

Ghost Bath, “Golden Number”

There’s a continuum in music that relies heavily tremelo picking going from black metal at one end to shoegaze at the other end. The placement of any band on this spectrum kind of comes down to the vocals, the use of dissonance, the melodies (if any), and the production. And bands can move around on the spectrum (Alcest, for instance). Ghost Bath isn’t pure black metal, so they’ve moved along that spectrum some. “Blackgaze” is sometimes used for these sorts of bands, and I can’t decide if that’s a good name or not.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Nagorny Karabach”

Alles Wieder Offen (“All Open Again”) represents Neubauten fully completing their new model of creating albums. In 2002, Neubauten wanted to get themselves total creative freedom to create the music they wanted, without any label interference. They managed to get 2,000 people signed up at $35 a piece, which was enough to fund some sessions. Those recordings would turn into Supporter Album No. 1, which I have a copy of somewhere around here. However, the band turned to Mute records to turn it into a full release (Perpetuum Mobile, which re-worked some of the songs from it), which allowed them to fund a tour.

The Beatles, “Birthday”

Stupid Beatles! It’s not my birthday! Or this blog’s birthday, which is a day off of mine! I can’t put them in charge of anything.

christian fitness, “all ghosts to medicine counter four”

When you make really elaborate song or album names, it can easily tip over into pretension or tweeness. Andrew Falkous does a really good job with it, though. I mean, this album is called Love Letters In The Age of Steam. That’s really good!

Dr. Ring-Ding and the Senior All-Stars, “Big Man”

Love a trombonist/singer!

Madvillain, “Curls”

Madvillain, the collaboration between MF Doom and Madlib, is such an incredible record, it’s a shame that there’s no followup to it. This is a great example of the wizardry - it’s only a minute and a half, but the beat sounds amazing and Doom is on top of his game, so it feels like a whole song. With the belated announcement of Doom’s death last year, this is a perfect time to listen to this album again.

Rapeman, “Monobrow”

The disconnected guitar skronk at the front of this song is weirdly something that kind of sticks with me. I think because it kind of lays bare what noise rock kind of sounds like when its stripped of all the layers. And, of course, when the rest of the band joins in, it’s thunderous magic.

Claw Hammer, “Three Fifteen”

I guess we’re going to open all the songs today with a lil’ guitar wank. OK by me!

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Cowboy Coffee”

The Bosstones’ second album, More Noise and Other Disturbances, is really where the band hit their stride. The ska and punk were really in balance on this album, with plenty of both livening things up.

The Game, “Intro to the Documentary”

Yup, that’s an intro.

Two Inch Astronaut, “At Risk Student”

Last time they came up, I thought to myself: dang, this is a good song. And I’m pleased to say that I picked up another record from them in the interim, including this song. Still good! Put one in the win column for Five Songs!

SNFU, “Reality Is A Ride On The Bus”

SNFU’s 1993 album, Something Green and Leafy This Way Comes, came out on Epitaph and marked a turn more towards pop punk as opposed to their earlier hardcore. And, honestly, it doesn’t suit them. This song, for instance, is really only good when it’s galloping.

Squarepusher, “Tomorrow World”

Having taken drum and bass to the pinnacle with Hard Normal Daddy, Squarepusher decided to head straight into jazz fusion with Music Is Rotted One Note. It’s a brilliant record, and a serious break with his past. On his next record, Selection Sixteen, he charted a middle course between the two previous albums, featuring some of the fusion as well as some of the drum and bass, albeit in a little less frantic form. It’s a tweener record - good, but not as good as his more focused albums.

The Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby”

This song might be my favorite for making up bogus new lyrics: “Joshua Buergel / Sits on the couch trying to think of a bit / Noone reads iiiit”

Oneohtrix Point Never, “Sleep Dealer”

Hot take time: Replica is real fuckin’ good!

…

I’m being informed that this take is ice cold.

The Exceptions, “Trailer Park Girl”

While The Exceptions are not remotely in the top tier of third wave bands, this is still plenty enjoyable, and you don’t have to just listen to the top bands in a genre. Well, you can do whatever you want. Except when you listen to this blog!

L’Orange & Mr. Lif, “A World Without Music”

As is his penchant, Mr. Lif’s 2016 album was a concept record, this one based around the idea of a society that had stamped out culture completely. As with his other concept albums, it connects better on some tracks than others, but I appreciate the ambition. Meanwhile, the collab with L’Orange on the beats is all great, so overall, it’s another great record.

It’s the end of the year, and the end of a second full month of Five Songs hitting every day. NOT BAD. I’m not sure how long this all will keep going, as I’d like to resume blogging about other stuff over on Game and Tonic, and it’s hard to keep both of these going. Not to mention the fact that if illegal streaming becomes a felony, uh…

Anyway, it’s a special today! I searched for “new year” in the library, which matched 21 tracks, and randomly picked five of them.