Cop Shoot Cop

The Safety Fire, “Mouth of Swords”

Mouth of swords. Arms of pikes. Feet of daggers. Butt of warhammers.

Couch Slut, “All The Way Down”

We’re big Couch Slut fans here at Five Songs. The torch of grimy NYC noise rock is ably carried forward by this band, who cheerfully (?) make their music as grim and churning as they can. But it’s not artless filth, there’s an intentionality to the noise that charms me. Charms me? Well, I’ll go with it.

400 Blows, “The Ugly Are So Beautiful”

There’s a ruthless, efficient logic at the heart of 400 Blows. The find their groove, riff, or idea and just hammer away at it. It’s not that they’re robotic or simplistic or anything, but they recognize that repetition has a power of its own, and are unafraid to make use of it. It’s the sort of music you can disassemble an engine to.

Pinkwash, “Gumdrop”

Legitimately don’t remember picking this up. Apparently this is a band out of Philly, and this is their only record.

[listening]

Not bad! I can see why I picked this up! It’s shame I’m getting dumber and more forgetful.

Farside, “I Hope You’re Unhappy”

This is probably the most likely Farside song to get big, a straightforward power-pop song about longing, one almost designed to get MTV play. I have no idea if it did so, because even by 1999 I was thoroughly unplugged from the zeitgiest. It’s a pretty good tune, though.

Folks, I don’t know if I can keep up this pace. Seven songs AGAIN?

Dälek, “The Son of Immigrants”

As you’d probably imagine based on the stuff that shows up here, I’m 100% here for the merging of noise into hip-hop. There are a bunch of acts that are exploring this territory right now, and one of the better albums in the area is Dälek’s Endangered Philosophies. There’s an urgency that the noise adds to these songs that gives a pretty different feeling from more conventional hip-hop.

Pretty good one today!

Cop Shoot Cop, “All the Clocks are Broken”

One of the things that set Cop Shoot Cop apart from the other acts they were usually lumped with, often other industrial bands, was that Tod Ashley was never afraid to deploy some genuine emotion in his songs. It wasn’t all just pummelling, fury, noise, and aggression. Songs like this would presage the work that Ashley would later turn in with Firewater.