Death From Above 1979

Fennesz, “Endless Summer”

Fennesz’s Endless Summeer is a lovely glitchy, ambient thing, full of processed guitar and languid, stretched out melodies. I’m not always a big ambient guy, I generally like my music to get places faster than this, but every now and again, I’m up for something like album.

Earl Sweatshirt, “EAST”

Among the many interesting things about Earl Sweatshirt’s career is how willing he is to put out short records. It cuts against the general direction with rap albums, which have tended towards a bit of sprawl and a lack of editing. Some Rap Songs was a short record in running time, 25 minutes or so, and his followup is a 15 minute, seven track EP. It allows him to get his ideas out there in compact form, which makes them all stand out even better than they might otherwise. More artists should be willing to make shorter records. As always, this is a pro-EP space.

Logic, “The Glorious Five”

I’m old, so I’m out of touch with music. Keeping up with the latest artists and releases requires a lot more hustle than I can really perform. Not to mention that my own personal network just doesn’t dig up stuff for me as much as it used to. It’s a natural thing, and it’s just a fact of agint. Music is a young person’s game. But I’m relatively more in touch with some scenes and genres than others. Hip-hop? I’m hopeless. I’ll just randomly come across artists, and I have no idea of how big they are or aren’t, or their reception. So, Logic - I have this record, I like it. He has a billion records though. How is he perceived? How is the rest of his body of work? No idea! It didn’t used to be this way.

Death From Above 1979, “Black History Month (Josh Homme remix)”

After the explosive success of You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine, a remix record was hustled out the door. I didn’t realize it was a remix record, I just saw it in Sonic Boom here in Seattle and thought “neat, a new DFA record!” Friends, it wasn’t a new record, not really, and is as pointless as any other remix record.

Steady Earnest, “Swim”

At this point in Five Songs’ evolution, we’ve had more than 1500 bands on here, and I honestly cannot recall which ones I’ve introduced properly and which ones I have not. The tags help some - if I haven’t tagged a band, I haven’t introduced them! - but are not perfect. Because sometimes I write random shit instead of talking about the band. This is where a more professional approach here would help. I could go back and look at entries for bands and figure out if I’ve said anything real about them. But let’s be honest: that’s not going to happen.

Medeski, Martin and Wood, “Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho”

If my search is to be trusted, there are about 102 blog posts on this site indicating that I don’t know shit about jazz. Sad that I’m so ignorant, given that I actually listen to a fair bit of it.

Calexico, “Black Heart”

My favorite Calexico record. If this song doesn’t grab you, I’m afraid to inform you that you’re hopeless.

Therapy?, “Nausea”

Therapy? was a band that kind of got tagged with an alternative metal label during the early 90s. It kind of makes sense - this isn’t as gritty as grunge, and it’s not robotic enough for industrial metal, but it also doesn’t really have any markers of any of the genres of metal going at the time. This is from Nurse, a record that got them signed to a major label. It’s a decent record, although I’ll confess I haven’t thought about this band in ages.

The Evens, “Dinner With The President”

After Fugazi went on hiatus (I refuse to say they’re broken up!), Ian MacKaye started a band with his wife, Amy Farina, on drums. They play as a duo, playing a stripped down indie rock that still has touches of Fugazi’s post-punk. It’s not as incendiary, but there are definitely pleasures to their records, so it’s worth checking out.

The Roots, “Stay Cool”

Flipping the same Al Hirt sample as De La Soul’s “Ego Trippin’”, this kind of call back to hip hop history is the sort of thing that the Roots did regularly, which was always a pleasure. And, of course, Black Thought kills it, providing one of the highlight tracks on The Tipping Point.

You know, I didn’t think it could really get more third wave-y around here, but it seems like New Shuffle might be even more fond of the stuff. But, you know, here you go!

Death From Above 1979, “Never Swim Alone”

Pounding drums and bellowing through distortion is a time honored formula that almost always gets me going. Just big, pounding, and shameless. Delightful!

Less Than Jake, “Glumble”

Lots of Less Than Jake recently. This comes from Losers, Kings, And Things We Don’t Understand, a compilation of the various non-album cuts that they produced before and around the time of their first proper album, Pezcore. In these early years, Less Than Jake was really more of a punk band than anything else, but they did a good job with it. As always, it’s more down to the energy and hooks than anything else with pop punk.

This playlist is rescued by the last two tracks.

Death From Above 1979, “Black History Month (Josh Homme Remix)”

Death From Above 1979 made only one proper album during their initial run, but there was also a remix album. Which is as inessential as basically every other remix album. There is something interesting about Josh Homme doing a remix of a dance punk band’s song, but eh.

Robustos, “Nigel Thornhill”

Totally forgotten third wave ska act the Robustos had even been basically forgotten by me up until this moment.

Back from a hectic weekend, with camping and a charity gaming tournament, where we collectively raised more than $110K for Treehouse. Which is amazing! I think the antidote will be some nice, calming songs.

(get ready for five songs of extreme metal)

Dead Rider, “The Blue Flame”

An experimental rock band started after the end of US Maple by Todd Rittman. US Maple was dedicated to deconstructing rock as far as it would go and still have it be rock music, and Dead Rider retains some of that sensibility. They also feature a saxophone, a relative rarity among bands these days. I would say, if you’ve gone through US Maple’s discography and still want more, this band is a good place to move to.