Johnnie Taylor

Welcome to Five Songs, where we have six songs for you!

Kid Koala, “Cardboard Stars, Sea Shells (Page 100)”

A repeat! Since there’s not much to say about it exactly, I’ll instead mention that Kid Koala did the score for the video game Floor Kids, which I haven’t tried yet, but will.

Dillinger Escape Plan, “Weekend Sex Change”

Listen to the space on those drums. They sound so live! Awesome.

Ihsahn, “After”

Leading force behind Norwegian black metal legends Emperor, whose In The Nightside Eclipse is one of the touchstones of the genre, Ihsahn has continued forward as a vital force in metal over the decades since. His solo work has tended more towards the progressive and symphonic end of things rather than the black metal grime of his earlier career, but he’s shown a pretty wide range in general.

Today!

BIG|BRAVE, “Look At How The World Has Made A Change”

Au De La, the album by BIG|BRAVE that we’re listening to, is an odd beast. Mostly drone, kind of post-rock, sort of metal-y, it’s atmospheric and pounding and pretty different from most stuff out there. It’s not the kind of thing I always want to listen to, but it’s good stuff at times.

Claw Hammer, “The Spawning Of A New Error”

We’re discussed how Claw Hammer made their first album a full-length cover of Devo’s first album. Well, this is the first track on that album, before they launched into the thing. It kind of describes the idea. Oh, and they called it Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are NOT Devo!.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve listened to “!!!!!!” by The Roots, which is the song I get if I go to all my songs and hit play without turning on shuffle. I’ll probably get really confused if and when I ever hit it legitimately. Here’s today’s tunes.

Johnnie Taylor, “I Ain’t Particular”

I kind of wish I was a better historian of these old soul records. I’m mostly familiar with the big names, but I can’t tell you anything much about a lot of these folks. It’s a shame, as I’m sure there’s some great stories for many of them. Well, at any rate, this is from the first Stax/Volt collection, coming at the very end of the Atlantic run (this is actually the last track from that set).