John Oswald

Prince Paul, “A Prince Among Thieves”

Hearing this song out of context, the climax/punchline of Prince Paul’s briliant album A Prince Among Thieves, really is kind of jarring. It makes so much sense in the original context but is a strange one outside of it. It just kind of sounds like what it is parodying, a maudlin tribute song from the 90s.

Chokebore, “Line Crush”

This is from the comp Clusterfuck ‘94, a collection of singles, album tracks, and unreleased stuff from three bands (Chokebore, Today Is The Day, and Guzzard) that was intended to fund a tour. It’s really pretty unnecessary, especially when you have most of the material on here with other records. But, you know: in ‘94, I didn’t have the ability to look stuff up easily, so I bought it. I bought basically everything Amphetamine Reptile released, just as a policy. Anyway, Chokebore is the least interesting of these three bands, but this track is OK.

Pyramids, “The Echo of Something Lovely”

Experimental post-rock band Pyramids released their first record on Hydra Head Records, which is how I ended up being exposed to them. They’re honestly pretty all over the map on this record, which kind of lurches around between various styles. I’ve only got this and their last record, 2015’s A Northern Meadow, and that’s similarly a restless record. I don’t really love it, but I think it’s at least interesting, so that’s a good thing.

John Oswald, “O’hell (Sir Jim Moron)”

Beyond the disorienting pluderphonics thing being totally in Five Songs’ wheelhouse, anything which calls Jim Morrison a moron is A-OK with us here.

The Melvins, “Honey Bucket”

The Melvins’ 2021 release, Five Legged Dog, is an all-acoustic exploration of their sound. It features songs from across their entire catalog, alongside some assorted covers of other bands. This tune comes from their major label breakthrough (?) Houdini, and it’s fun to hear an alternate take on it like this. It’s impressive how heavy they can get this to sound without the usual roaring amps. This is an inessential record, but any Melvins weirdo needs to hear it.

John Oswald, “Btls (Marco Integer)”

Chopping up the Beatles is really playing with fire, copyright-wise. It’s powerful source material, of course, so I’m glad he went for it. But you know, there’s a reason this stuff was so hard to find for a while.

The Minders, “Now I Can Smile”

An Elephant Six band, the Minders were very much, uh, an Elephant Six band. I mean, you can hear them. They were pretty good at it, but it’s kind of…I guess I’d rather just listen to the Kinks instead?

Pardoner, “My Sorry Ass”

We’re unabashed Pardoner fans here at Five Songs, who do a great job of bringing that 90s indie rock aesthetic into our ears. Go listen to them! They’re really good!

John Oswald, “Btls (Marco Integer)”

I think that’s the chord from “A Day in the Life” getting deconstructed. Fun!

The Exceptions, “Circles”

I generally like it when ska is mixed like this, with kind of an intimate mix putting the vocals forward and sounding like it’s in a small room. It’s nice!

John Oswald, “x24”

I’d say that most of Oswald’s work doesn’t make sense out of context of the rest of the album, but let’s be clear, it doesn’t really make sense in context either. But, hell, enjoy Oswald jacking “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” here. Why not?

Propagandhi, “Government Cartoons (Live)”

Where Quantity Is Job #1 is a fantastic name for an album, even if the album itself is kinda dodgy. This was also the last album with the original lineup, as John (bassist/vocalist) left after this record, which was a loss for the band.

Playlist is here.

Dr. Dre, “Talking To My Diary”

Depending on if you count the record The Aftermath as a Dr. Dre album or not, Dre has either made either two or three albums in the 24 years after The Chronic was released. That level of output has rendered each of those records an event. What makes it even stranger is that Compton, the most recent of those records, was supposedly made in just a year. While nothing has ever matched The Chronic, Compton is excellent, and this closing track finds Dre in a meditative mood. Given how brief his solo discography is, and how important he is to the development of the genre, all of his work is worth listening to. But, you know, not right now, because apparently this track can’t be posted on YouTube. I guess we’ll do six songs today.

Your music is over here!

John Oswald, “Way”

John Oswald, a composer, coined the term “plunderphonics” to describe the process of composing a new song using recognizable parts of existing songs. The “recognizable” portion was something he considered key. It involves the composer making using of existing associations in order to raise emotions in the listener that might otherwise not be possible. This can distinguish it from some of the sampling used in hip hop and the like, which might be considered plunderphonics or not, depending on how much the source is widely known.