Beck

Propagandhi, “Laplante/Smith Song (Live)”

Where Quantity Is Job #1 is really an excellent title for a comp like this. Also, dig those Canadian accents!

Beck, “The Golden Age”

A little while back, we talked about Party Beck vs. Sad Beck. Please enjoy (?) peak Sad Beck here.

BADBADNOTGOOD, “Time Moves Slow”

I love the skittering drums here, they’re making me kind of jittery just listening to them. BADBADNOTGOOD, out of Toronto, sit somewhere between funk/soul, hip-hop, and jazz, putting out records that cheerfully wander back-and-forth between the genres as their muses take them. As anybody who has been reading Five Songs for any length of time can guess, that’s extremely up our alley around here.

Hockey Night, “For Guys’ Eyes Only”

[don’t mention Pavement don’t mention Pavement don’t mention Pavement]

Hey, that doesn’t actually sound much like Malkmus! It’s more like Spiral Stairs.

[nailed it!]

Beck, “Sexx Laws”

Midnite Vultures starts off like this, letting us know that we are in for Party Beck instead of Sad Beck. I like Party Beck a lot more, personally.

Cannibal Ox, “Ox Out the Cage”

It’s always fun to hear a record that still sounds fresh more than twenty years later. El-P’s production on this record is so good that it still sounds futuristic even after all this time. A great record!

Killdozer, “Pour Man”

Killdozer were not a joke band. But they were a band that was never really being serious, with Michael Gerald’s vocal delivery on this thing being a good example. Why is he singing like this? Because it’s silly. Does it make the song silly? Well, not really? Kinda?

Beck, “Guess I’m Doing Fine”

Beck, on the other hand, is clearly a joke act.

Smut Peddlers, “Stank MCs”

OK, I’ll let the listener decide if this is a joke act.

Ghostface Killah, “The Champ”

This production from Just Blaze (you can tell it’s him because he announces it in the track, in his his trademark understated manner) needs to be played at maximum volume to be properly appreciated. Just trust me on that.

The Spinanes, “72-74”

Been a while since we’ve had The Spinanes, the duo of Rebecca Gates and Scott Plouf, who put out three albums in the 90s before disbanding. Defined by Gates’s lovely songs and a generally spare sensibility that ran contrary to the prevailaing approach in rock (especially for a Seattle band), this stuff holds up really well today. This is from the third and final Spinanes record, Arches and Aisles, which has the biggest arrangements on it, but is still pretty uncluttered.

The Flaming Lips, “Turn It On”

I tend to listen to the albums from Soft Bulletin on more than anything, but that’s kind of a mistake. The Ronald Jones albums (he left after Clouds Taste Metallic) are a different beast than the more symphonic stuff later, but that extra crunch goes really nice. This is a great tune! Now, if you go prior to In A Priest Driven Ambulence, you’re really getting some dodgy stuff, but this era (this is the opener to 1993’s Transmissions From the Satellite Heart) has lots to recommend it.

The New Year, “Half A Day”

We just had The New Year on, uh, the New Year, so I won’t go over it again. Slowcore! It’s pleasant!

Marlowe, “The Places We Stay”

Marlowe is producer L’Orange and Solemn Brigham on the mic, here with a little instrumental track from their first, self-titled album. It’s a solid record, recommended particularly if you like L’Orange’s production. It turns out there’s a second album from them, I’m going to pick that up right now.

Today!

Mu330, “Around You”

There’s sort of a darker edge to this song, with the horns especially, which is fairly unusual among the third-wave bands that were Mu330’s peers. Of course, this isn’t ska, this is rock with horns.

Beck, “Strange Apparition”

Mostly, I look goofy, funky Beck more than the other versions of Beck, so I’m more drawn to those albums where he lets that side loose. The Information is the followup to Guero (which is one of the ones I like), so I was clearly hoping for more of the same. And, it’s not really the same. It’s not as loose, as spontaneous. But, you know, some of it works. Listen to how beautiful the production on this song is!

Just to clarify the stance of us here at Five Songs Amalgamated: if it’s a single track, it counts as a song for the purposes of providing you with five of them. You’ll see why that’s relevant today.

Beck, “Round the Bend”

I’m not really sure I’m on board with sad Beck. I mean, Sea Change is clearly a good album, but I don’t really enjoy listening to it very much. Give me prankster Beck any day of the week.