Five Songs, 8/17/2022

Gang Starr, “Take It Personal”

DJ Premier is one of the best to ever do it, and Daily Operation captures him near the top of his form. His beats are spare but bracing, with everything having a purpose, which is to hit hard. Guru is similarly direct, without a lot of embellishment, leading to a record that sounds almost businesslike. That’s not a complaint or anything, it’s nice to hear something that takes itself seriously and has the chops to back it up.

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Five Songs, 2/18/2021

Thundercat, “Daylight”

Thundercat is very hard to describe. Jazzy, yeah, but with some R&B, some fusion, some soft rock, some soft jazz? This is from his first album, and he doesn’t get any easier to categorize down the road.

Upsilon Acrux, “Death Before Disharmonic”

Upsilon Acrux is very hard to describe too. Math rock, prog, little bit of krautrock here and there, maybe even the occasional jazzy excursion? In the end, I’ve got to be in a mood to listen to this sort of thing, but in the right frame of mind, nothing else will do.

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Five Songs, 1/18/2018

Your periodic reminder that there’s an index to this nonsense. And here’s today’s music.

Ghostface Killah, “Be Easy”

From one of his best albums, Fishscale, and the best album he’s made that wasn’t produced by the RZA. This album finds Ghostface in top form, energetically spitting crazy nonsense, and he’s paired with some great production. On this track, Pete Rock is absolutely laying it down.

Paris Combo, “Moi, Mon Âme Et Ma Conscience (Live)”

This is the second time we’ve had Ghostface and the Paris Combo in the same playlist. This is Five Songs, baby!

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