Crudbump

Squarepusher, “Tundra”

Feed Me Weird Things is Squarepusher’s debut record, where he still hewed closer to jungle than he later would on subsequent albums. But even at this early date, when he was still working to define his approach, the fusion elements still shine through pretty distinctly. In the end, there’s nothing really very standard about this, one of the stronger tracks on the record.

Vaz, “Chartreuse Blues”

Vaz is two-thirds of noise rock legends Hammerhead carrying on with tunes very much in the same aggressive vein. All growling guitars and pummeling rhythms, this is the good stuff. Starting on this record, Chartreuse Bull, they added a second guitarist, giving a more layered sound than they’d ever had, either as Vaz or Hammerhead, so this is probably the record to start with. Or go back and listen to Hammerhead’s Into the Vortex first. I’ll always recommend that record.

Seaweed, “Punchy (The Clown)”

Not much to say about the song, but I do think it’s funny that Hollywood Records (a Disney label!) had Seaweed signed at one point.

DJ Vadim, “Your Revolution”

Damn, that drum resonating in this beat, that’s delicious.

Teengenerate, “Stink”

Perfect name for a band like this, perfect song title, no notes. Looks like a short one today!

No Use For A Name, “Exit”

Oh god, nine minutes. Nothing on Fat Wreck Chords should last nine minutes, unless it’s an entire release. I don’t remember if this is one of those CD things where they merged two songs together, with some silence in-between, to create a hidden track. Often a cover. Let’s find out together!

Kid Koala, “The Fundamentals”

Floor Kids is the game soundtrack that Kid Koala did, because it’s not enough for him to be a musican, composer, and artist, it was time to work on a game also. It’s a fun rhythm game around breakdancing, and I recommend it, and of course the soundtrack is a good time.

The Skoidats, “Running Riot (live)”

A cover of the song by Cock Sparrer, in case you couldn’t make out the intro. Uh, not a whole lot else to say here.

Crudbump, “Bite That Butt”

What can you say in the presence of true art?

Screeching Weasel, “Hey Suburbia”

I spend a fair bit of time kind of complaining about Screeching Weasel, and that’s probably a little unfair. This is from their second record, Boogadaboogadaboogada!, and it’s a lot of fun. Yes, very basic punk, but plenty of energy and it gets in and out.

The Isley Brothers, “Tell Me When You Need It Again, Parts 1 & 2”

An oddity of Go For Your Guns is that the first four tracks are all two-part songs. I’m not entirely sure why that was - formatting things for easier radio play, perhaps? We don’t have to worry about that, so we can just let the funk linger in our ears. Isn’t that nice?

Propagandhi, “Resisting Tyrannical Government”

Less Talk, More Rock is such a good name for a Propagandhi record. I can only imagine how many knuckleheads brayed at them something along these lines. Anyway, it’s a delight.

Flop, “Act 1, Scene 1”

After Flop’s one record for Sony was a commercial failure, Flop went back to Frontier Records and banged out a third stone-cold pop classic. It’s tighter than the first record, and maybe sliiiiightly less catchy. But it’s still a ton of fun, and it’s sad that we only got three albums from them.

Crudbump, “My Dick’s On The Phone [Explicit]”

I don’t normally include the “[Explicit]” tags on songs, but I think you all need that warning when we’re facing something as nasty as Crudbump.

Has-Lo, “Got My Mind”

This is from Has-Lo’s tribute to Prince Paul, The Paul Tape, an instrumental record in the style of the legendary producer. And if anybody hasn’t encountered it yet, Open Mike Eagle’s podcast, What Had Happened Was, is tremendous and has an entire season with Prince Paul.

The Toasters, “Dub 56”

We’re mid-career with the Toasters here, with the Toasters basically having found their sound with Dub 56. They’d further refine it a bit on the next couple albums, but this is more or less where they ended up. You can very much hear their debt to two-tone ska here.

Foetus, “I Hate You All”

After Flow and Blow in 2001, J.G. Thirlwell didn’t release another record under the Foetus moniker until 2006, releasing Damp. When he came back, he was in a very strange place. Like, I’m not even sure what to call this? Deranged big band, I guess? There’s nothing else really like it, and I love it.

Well, it’s been an interesting seven months, I guess. I stopped updating Five Random Songs because I was doing another blog (Game & Tonic) and that was taking up my time. And then, uh, a global pandemic hit (you may have heard about it!), and my creativity just went to shit.

So, yeah. Without any fanfare, I’m back. I wanted to listen to more of my music, simple as that.

This is almost the full Five Songs experience today, we’re just missing some incomprehensible metal.

Edna’s Goldfish, “World Over”

Ahh, 1998. With The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at the peak of their popularity, with “The Impression That I Get” as a pretty big hit, it’s not a surprise that there were lots of followers who got record contracts in their wake. And so, Edna’s Goldfish. Difficult not to picture my old Civic when I listen to this.

Today!

The White Stripes, “Suzy Lee”

From their first, most primitive record, the White Stripes nevertheless still sounded like themselves right from the beginning. Some of that is Jack White’s distinctive yelp, some of that is the spare blues, some of it is the plodding drums. But they’re instantly recognizable.

Crudbump, “England (Last Year)”

It takes somebody pretty sharp to write something this aggressively dumb.

Bob Marley, “Gonna Get You”

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m crediting everything to Bob Marley even when it’s credited to him and the Wailers. I’m erasing the Wailers just to make my categorization easier. That makes me shitty. Always nice to listen to Marley, Wailers or no.