Budakhan Mindphone is an EP that was released just a few months after Music Is Rotted One Note, where Tom Jenkinson broke free of the gravity of drum’n’bass and moved into really doing his own thing. The lever that broke him free was fusion, but this EP is really more of an experimental thing than pure fusion. It’s a worthwhile companion to the album, well worth looking up if you like this period of his music.
[Read More]That Total Age was more towards the industrial end of industrial dance, with more clanking machines in the sound, and Showtime found them pushing a little more melody in things and varying their arrangements more. This comes from the album in-between, Belief, where they kind of blended those two approaches, and arguably made their more interesting record. There’s a risk in industrial dance in ending up in parody, but this album is so direct in its intention that it feels pretty good.
[Read More]The Historically Troubled Third Album is a really fantastic album name.
I’m often at a loss for words when we have some of the all-time greats come up on here, particularly folks like the great soul artists. There’s nothing I can really say that’s going to add anything here. Of course Aretha Franklin was great. We should all listen to more of her!
[Read More]Every now and again, a record breaks through into mainstream attention that surprises me. I would not have bet on the ascetic blues rock revivalists the White Stripes being anybody who would get mainstream attention, but somehow they broke through. White Blood Cells still doesn’t sound like a record that should have gotten huge, as it’s still relatively uncompromising in the vision they’re pursuing.
[Read More]Kind of remember the last time Davis came up saying that I didn’t know anything about her. Still don’t! We don’t do any research around here! That would be against the Five Songs ethos, where we put the “ass” in “half-assed”.
Does it get more early 90s than this? The guitar tone, the sung and spoken parts, the vocals buried in the mix, all that shit. I was big into this stuff, and it still sounds great. Beacuse I’m old and fossilized.
[Read More]Yes, this is the Bob Marley song. Yes, this song rules. Yes, this cover is probably pushing the tempo too much, but whatever, see point #2 above.
Ghost In The Machine is easily the worst Police album, with neither of the energy and catchiness of the best of their early work, but not yet settled into the progressive pop of Synchronicity. It just doesn’t really hang together well for me, and I basically never listen to it.
[Read More]Back in the day, when CDs were still fairly novel, some bands felt compelled to goof around with the medium. The best known of these goofs, and one of the most annoying, was the “hidden track”, where bands would put in a long period of silence and then follow with an extra song. Not only was the silence super annoying, but the extra song was seldom any good.
[Read More]Been a little while since we’ve hit any ska. Fixed that today! PICK IT UP, PICK IT UP, PICK IT UP!
Another New York third-wave band, the Scofflaws were distinguished by…well, let’s be honest, nothing. But, they had solid chops, were amusing without being too smug, and wrote some good songs, so they’re worth a go. This is from Ska In Hi-Fi, their best album, featuring as it does odes to nude beaches and William Shatner.
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