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Mostly rock today.

The Strokes, “When It Started”

Every so often, rock “comes back”, brought back into cultural relevance by some release that critics declare revinvents the genre. Meanwhile, of course, rock never goes anywhere between these “breakthrough” albums, mainly because old boring people never shut up about it.

(cough)

Anyway, most of the time, these albums are often pretty darn good. Is This It, for instance, is a pretty tasty album! It doesn’t break any ground, not really, but it’s energetic and plenty fun.

We open and close today pretty funky! And, you know, track four is built on the Amen break, so I’ll count that too!

Parliament, “Oil Jones”

Parliament’s first album was in 1970, and Medicaid Fraud Dogg came out in 2018. When I think about the idea that I might do the same job for 48 years, I can’t really wrap my head around it. And I got an early start in my career! Sure, this isn’t George Clinton’s best work. But nevertheless, it’s still impressive.

All over the map today.

Common Market, “Slow Cure”

It’s been a while since we’ve had Common Market, so a little re-introduction: this is a Seattle duo, featuring Sabzi (more famously known as half of the Blue Scholars) and RA Scion. Given that it’s Sabzi on the beats, it’s going to share a certain feel with the Blue Scholars, but Scion is different enough from Geologic that they don’t sound totally the same.

Here’s today, but check out the bonus song I link down below.

The Goats, “Rumblefish”

The second Goats album seemed like it was chasing the trends of early 90s rap, with plenty of stabs towards rock, jazz, and other types of hybrid styles. It doesn’t hang together particularly well, and it’s mostly forgettable. There are some fun moments on the album, but overall, it’s a miss.

They Might Be Giants, “Someone Keeps Moving My Chair”

The opener to the second side of Flood, the album that really put the group on the map. And while it has some truly great tunes on that first half, my HOT TAKE here is that the second half is only so-so. It’s that second half that puts this album nowhere near the top of my favorite albums from TMBG.

Here’s today!

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “Born Bad”

Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015 was a throwback for the Blues Explosion, bringing back the stripped down sound that they had really moved away from after Now I Got Worry. It’s pretty much just back to two guitars, Jon’s strange yelping/posturing, and of course Russel Simins wrecking it on the drums. What’s nice about it is that it doesn’t really sound like a throwback, it mostly sounds like a lost recording from that time. Which is great!

SIX SONGS

Buck-O-Nine, “Tear Jerky”

I often wonder at the functioning of the human brain. I frequently have trouble using the correct “M” name for the various folks and dogs who live in this house with me (in my defense, I’ve never used the dog’s name for one of the humans, but that time is probably coming). But I can still whistle along to the horn lines of forgotten ska records. Good use of gray matter there!

Excellent one today.

Joe Lally, “Message From Earth”

I don’t know why I’m surprised at how minimal Lally is willing to get, given how even the most spare Fugazi songs still had a lot going on. But, it’s silly to get surprised by that, as Lally has always clearly been talented, and there’s no reason to believe he’d just make Fugazi Light once on his own.

J Church, “Chemicals”

We’ve discussed many times how J Church has put out a ton of compilations in their time, but when I look at their normal albums, I think Prophylaxis is my favorite of the bunch. It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly, as J Church didn’t really vary their sound much over the years. I suspect some of that is just that it was one of their earliest, so I spent more time with it. When you encounter an album at 19, it makes an impression! But, whatever, it’s my favorite! You can’t take that away!

Today!

Thou, “Find the Cost of Freedom”

Metal has links to folk in a bunch of ways, ranging from the atavistic impulses of black metal, the explicit crossover of various folk metal acts, the lack of fear of being totally uncommercial, or even just the willingness of metal bands to strip things down to provide contrast, like Thou is doing here.

Louis Armstrong, “Ain’t Misbehaving”

We, of course, are well aware that I don’t know shit. About anything, really. But I have to do something to entertain myself while listening, so I read a little potted bio of Armstrong. Why not? And this bio declared that Armstrong is the most influential figure in jazz. Huh.

Finished a big thing at work, so let’s celebrate Five Songs style! (sitting in a basement, drinking, listening to music through one headphone) HIT IT PLEXASAURUS REX!

TV/TV$, “Liberal 4 Me”

One day, I’m gonna put together “Screeching Weasel or Not Screeching Weasel?” as a quiz, and it’s gonna be fuckin’ hard.

Violent Femmes, “Kiss Off [Live]”

Violent Femmes is one of the grand treasures in all of modern rock, the purest distilled essence of teenage frustration, captured and frozen in amber for all time. “Kiss Off” is, of course, one of the highlights of that record (an album composed almost entirely of highlights), with its instantly memorable count-up section that everybody loves singing along to. It sincerely gives me chills.

Here’s today.

Mouse on Mars, “First: Break”

A thing that unifies a lot of my music taste is a certain amount of boundary pushing and unpredictability. It’s why on the electronic side I tend to prefer noisy, hyperactive stuff rather than music from the ambient side of things. This spastic…tune?…is a good example. It doesn’t make any goddamn sense at all, but whatever, it’s fun.

Chance the Rapper, “Summer Friends”

There’s a warmth and humanity in Chance’s work that is lovely to hear. It’s as human as that Mouse on Mars track is cold and mechanical. We here at Five Songs contain multitudes!