Kanye West

The Minders, “Pass It Around”

Have I done the zalgofied text gag before? Feels like I have. Look folks, I ran out of material about a thousand of these ago. And it’s not like it was good material back then.

The Mono Men, “I’m Hangin'”

Just pure garage rock from the Mono Men, with a tune that closed their second album Wrecker!, although it comes to us courtesy of the comp Back To Mono! Yes, they used a lot of exclamation points. This record collects the first two Mono Men albums into one release, with some minor changes in track order, so it’s a solid pickup. You know, if people still bought CDs or anything. Because it’s not like any of this stuff is available on streaming. Unless you’re in my house. Come on over! We have garage rock and Chex Mix!

Deltron 3030, “Virus”

Hmm, gotta say this song hits a little different than it used to.

Cinerama, “Maniac”

Yet another live-in-studio thing! Two yesterday, another today. This is from John Peel Sessions, the progenitor of all these projects. Well, not this particular one, the John Peel sessions in general. John Peel loved David Gedge, so Cinerama did a bunch of these things (as did the Wedding Present). This session actually preceeds the release of Va Va Voom, and this song would end up as their debut album opener. If you’re a huge Cinerama fan, it’s fun to hear things in an earlier form.

METZ, “Drained Lake”

The closest that noise rock ever really got to any kind of mass popularity was in the late 90s, when the grunge tide lifted up the boats of related acts like Helmet and some folks got major label contracts. But this stuff is intentionally abrasive, and none of it every broke through for good reason. While some grunge acts and followers became huge, noise rock went right back into the underground. But, happily, there’s still bands like METZ keeping the flame alive, and this is even from 2017! Recent! Although, again: I listen to the same shit, even if some of it was made not long ago.

Lily Allen, “Not Big”

Huh, there are two Lily Allen albums that I’ve never heard. I should fix that.

Kanye West, “Slow Jamz”

Always really enjoyed the chorus on this song.

I guess I’m full of insight today!

Ugly Duckling, “Einstein Buys a Monkey”

The guitar loop immediately makes this recognizable as an Ugly Duckling song. I’m not sure I really needed a 6:24 DJ track from them, though.

Napalm Death, “M.A.D.”

OK, now I’m really not going to say much. Wouldn’t be right with this.

Khruangbin, “Maria También”

What the hell is this? This is really good! I feel like past Josh sent me a present. I almost certainly picked this up from an appearance in a year-end roundup, and it got lost in the shuffle last year. I do that with a few albums every year. I’m excited!

High On Fire, “Downing Dog”

Don’t drown dogs! That’s not nice! And not especially metal!

Kanye West, “Hey Mana”

The artist who made Late Registration seems so distant from the Kanye West of today. This is a really beautiful beat, though.

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.

I think this is the longest Five Songs yet!

Inter Arma, “The Cavern”

Oooh, have we got a treat today! Doom metal band Inter Arma have always played around with doom’s template and exploring where it could go. On today’s track, they check in on what happens if they stretch things out to 45 minutes. That’s right, this is the entirety of the album as one single track. It’s a delight, and I’m just going to let you all lean in to it.

Shuffle’s kind of been killing it lately.

Marvin Gaye, “Your Unchanging Love”

Marvin Gaye, here on a single from 1967. It’s impressive to listen to the difference between this and what he’d make a mere four years later with What’s Going On.

Mephiskapheles, “Plan B”

I went to go compare the hi-hat intro here to the bit in “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” (at 8:01), and then realized the bit I was thinking of wasn’t just on the hi-hat, and then I got caught up listening to that song. And then I kind of got lost for a bit.

Make! The most! Of my! Toe toast! Hey, while we’re giggling over this first Descendents track, a Five Songs correspondent pointed out the existence of this masterpiece, which is really breathtaking.

Descendents, “Enjoy”

A couple albums into the Descendents’ snotty punk career, the casual observer might have wondered if they were ever ACTUALLY going to grow up, despite an album title declaring otherwise. With the opening track of Enjoy, the band gave a definitive answer. An ode to bodily smells of all types, “Enjoy” was defiantly sophomoric in a way that exceeded even the low maturity standards of their first few releases. I will say this, the little descending baseline is very memorable.

This is ostensibly a game blog still, so I’ll just mention that copies of Fox in the Forest are in people’s hands! We had a limited number available for sale at Origins, and people seem pleased so far. And by people, I mean my friends who have played it. Still, it’s a good start! Here’s today’s music. For the first time ever, every entry has a “previously” associated with it.

The Wedding Present, “Don’t Be So Hard”

The Wedding Present arrived as a more-or-less fully formed band, with all the frenetic pop and downbeat lyrics that would be their signature for years. This song is from their first album, George Best, which is fantastic. I first encountered it when a listener made a request on my radio show, and I picked a track randomly to play. I loved it instantly.