Has-Lo

Bedhead, “Haywire”

Bedhead is the musical equivalent of a weighted blanket.

Lambchop, “The Gusher”

Lambchop is, uh, a velvet smoking jacket, a faded photo of your grandparents, a mostly empty bottle of rye, and a ticket stub for a concert that you can’t actually tell who it was for but you know it was an excellent concert.

PIG, “Valley of the Ignorant”

PIG, meanwhile, is what you get when it’s J.G. Thirlwell who was trapped in amber and they weren’t preoccupied enough with whether they should.

H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “If I Were A Deep One”

The arc popularity of Lovecraft’s writing has been kind of an interesting one to watch. When I was a kid, Lovecraft was largely unknown outside of only a handful of turbo nerds. Call of Cthulhu, the tabletop RPG, did exist, and it slowly brought awareness to Lovecraft’s writing, which was extremely niche in prior years. As the years ground on, and as nerd “culture” continued infiltrating the broader culture, referencing Lovecraft’s writing became just a general shorthand for cosmic horror, a way of gesturing at the ineffable horrors of the universe. Thus, it was invevitable that Lovecraft would slowly become more of a punchline, a cheap gimmick to gain some laughs of recognition from people who understand that this stuff is supposed to be horrible, but look! It’s being played for laughs! SO SUBVERSIVE!

Has-Lo, “Everything Is”

The minimal beat here really works well. Not every song can get by on something like this, but Has-Lo pulls it off.

Girls Against Boys, “(I) Don’t Got A Place”

A thing I sometimes wonder about is the extent to which I contradict myself in the archives here. After writing as many entries for songs and bands, I’m sure I’ve said stuff in the past that can’t be reconciled. And I thought to myself, “hey, this is from the Touch & Go records, the last good ones they made, but this isn’t their best record”. I checked the archive, six articles with them, and you know what? 100% consistent! I call the album before this one my favorite from them, twice, and mention that the last Touch & Go record is their last good record. From this sample of one, I can conclude that I’m totally consistent.

East of the Wall, “Naif”

Hmm, some research shows that I bought this five years ago…and I don’t really remember it. It’s easy to see why I picked it up, though. Seems kind of up my alley. I guess it probably slipped through the cracks, and I should give it an honest spin.

Has-Lo, “Everything Is”

A delicate song here from Has-Lo, in a contemplative mood. He’s good in this mode, though.

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.

Tuxedo, “So Good”

It is so good, Tuxedo, you’re right.

Swarvy, “Lesson With Julian”

Kiiiinda regretting not writing more for that first track.

Has-Lo, “Utero”

Well, on track here for the shortest Five Songs entry ever, at least by word count. Maybe by running time also, I don’t know. I’d have to actually do some research to figure that out, and that is absolutely not going to happen.

Cynic, “Celestial Voyage”

Cynic’s 1993 album Focus is one of the foundational documents of progressive metal, as they took death metal and mashed it up with prog and jazz, resulting in an album that was very, very far out there for the time. The constant showy playing can get kind of exhausting, honestly, but it’s hard not to at least respect what they’re up to here. They actually put just this album out, which would have been an impressive one-record legacy…before ruining that by reforming 15 years later. I have not listened to any post-reunion records, though.

Arsonists, “Session”

My favorite song on As The World Burns, powered by that savage bass line. I’m basically a sucker for any upright bass. And, of course, it’s fun to hear them trading verses back and forth.

Prefuse 73, “Last Night”

One of the less glitchy or fractured tracks on Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, that also makes it one of my least favorite songs on the record.

Dance Hall Crashers, “Street Sweeper”

An old song from Dance Hall Crashers, this was when their style could best be described as “straightforward” (or “boring”, if you’re not inclined to be nice). As they would go on, they would get more interesting, with songs that were less reliant on paint-by-numbers third-wave ska.

One of the most important songs in my personal history today.

Run-D.M.C., “Walk This Way”

Run-D.M.C. had already declared themselves the Kings of Rock before 1986’s Raising Hell was ever released, but it took “Walk This Way” being a massive hit on both the radio and, more importantly, MTV for Run-D.M.C. to really actually take that throne. This crossover song not only brought rap into countless homes in America for the first time, it also was responsible for resurrecting Aerosmith’s career, so it also has a lot to answer for.

Folks, I don’t know if I can keep up this pace. Seven songs AGAIN?

Dälek, “The Son of Immigrants”

As you’d probably imagine based on the stuff that shows up here, I’m 100% here for the merging of noise into hip-hop. There are a bunch of acts that are exploring this territory right now, and one of the better albums in the area is Dälek’s Endangered Philosophies. There’s an urgency that the noise adds to these songs that gives a pretty different feeling from more conventional hip-hop.

Pretty uninspiring today.

Hurl, “Faceman”

Another fine song from old Pittsburgh band Hurl. There’s an expansiveness, a warmth here that’s really pleasant to listen to.

Negativland, “In The Beginning, So Many Different Kinds Of Gods…”

Yeah, I’m kind of mad at some of the choices that Past Josh made. This is, of all damn things, a live album of a recreation of a radio show.

And, look, I couldn’t get this “song” uploaded. My conversion things keep crashing. So, screw it, we’re going to do an extra today.