Five Songs, 10/10/2022

Cursive, “Bad Sects”

Cursive followed up my favorite album of theirs with Happy Hollow, which probably isn’t really a step back or anything, but I always think more highly of albums that are a breakout. Domestica is arresting, an unflinching look into divorce that can be downright haunting, but The Ugly Organ was a leap forward in the songs that causes it to really stick out in my head. At any rate, this is also a great record, I’m probably just an idiot.

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Five Songs, 4/16/2022

Cursive, “Big Bang”

Dang, friends, that’s a hell of a groove there. “Big Bang” indeed!

Bedouine, “Nice and Quiet”

This is not a groove. Too pretty.

De La Soul, “Drawn”

I wonder what the shortest Five Songs has been? I mean, five songs long, but in text.

Man or Astro-Man?, “The Sound Waves Reversing”

I’m absolutely not going to figure it out, mind you.

Union Carbide Productions, “Swing”

But I gotta figure this one is the “winner”. I’ll do better tomorrow!

Five Songs, 8/19/2021

Chaos A.D., “Generation Shit”

Chaos A.D. is an Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher), releasing a miscellaneous pile of tracks from his early years. It doesn’t show the same kind of sophistication of his later recordings, and honestly, it’s an easy skip. This is probalby the worst track on the album, though, so don’t totally judge on this song.

The Beatles, “Dear Prudence”

One of my simultaneously dumbest and proudest moments in Rock Band was five starring this song on the drums and vocals and the same time…except I whistled the entirety of the vocal track. Not bad!

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Five Songs, 1/6/2020

Clinic, “Voodoo Wop”

Imagine having the confidence to open an album this way. A distant, chilly vibe, acutal ocean noises, a complete change a minute in in both mood and sound, no vocals until the last five seconds. Just bonkers. It was a true declaration of intent, though, as the whole album basically fulfilled the promise of this opening track.

Cursive, “Driftwood: A Fairy Tale”

One of the fun things about The Ugly Organ, if “fun” is the right word, is that they made great use of the cello in order to really fill out the sounds on the record. Tim Kasher’s songs are very good, as always, and the album is one of my favorites of theirs.

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Five Songs, 2/12/2019

PUNK AS FUCK TODAY

White Lung, “Kiss Me When I Bleed”

Been a little while since we’ve had any Canadian punk! I’ve missed it! They’re from Vancouver, it’s lovely to have some singing not from a dude, and the guitar work is righteous.

Sicko, “Kenny (Live)”

Yeah! More punk! Seattle is basically in southern Canada, I’m going to count it. The live stuff is inessential, but I’ll take any Sicko material I can get.

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Five Songs, 2/11/2019

Today!

Girl Talk, “Ffun Haave To”

Before he became the best mashup artist around with Night Ripper, Greg Gillis was much more into noise. Yeah, you still have bits and pieces of recognizable songs floating in and out, but this stuff has much more in common with experimental artists like Negativland than it does with the kaleidoscope of party music that he would later create. In other words, don’t go back further than Night Ripper and expect to find more stuff like that.

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Five Songs, 2/5/2019

Six songs!

Lostbone, “Destroy What Destroys You”

uhhhuhuhuhhuhuh…lostbone

Pretty sure I ended up with this as a result of a grab bag of some variety or another. Among all the ways of discovering music, grab bags are certainly one of them. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually discovered a band I love from one of them. I suppose I should try a bunch more just in case.

Also, this appears to be a repeat. Onward!

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