Less Than Jake

Y’all, I’ve listened to that Hello, Summer album three times since it popped up randomly here, and folks: it’s good. Real good! I love that my own blog is teaching me about music…from my own collection.

Less Than Jake, “She’s Gonna Break Soon”

What makes late model Less Than Jake work is that, yeah, it’s more or less just standard pop punk with horns. But it’s catchy, cheerful, energetic, and just the musical equivalent of comfort food. It’s not exactly ambitious, but there’s space in my world for well-crafted music like this.

Music!

Less Than Jake, “Automatic”

Forget the horns, forget the rest of the surrounding scene, this is just a hell of a fine pop-punk song. Chris DeMakes turns in a great vocal performance here, and there’s nothing I’d change about this tune.

Queen, “Soul Brother”

Geez, speaking of vocal performances. This is one of the bonus tracks on the deluxe re-issue of Hot Space, and it’s a fun addition. By and large, bonus tracks don’t add a ton, but frankly, that album was kind of a mess in the first place, so having a fun vamp like this added is an improvement.

Here’s today!

Skankin’ Pickle, “Hit My Brain”

Yes, the band is named Skankin’ Pickle. No, there are essentially no depths that the third wave wouldn’t sink to in terms of naming themselves. Yes, this kind of sounds like an outtake from an early Chili Peppers album. But, you know what? They had some good tunes! They really did! One day we’ll get them (today is not that day).

Mike Park of the band also went on to found Asian Man Records, who are, somehow, still going. So have some respect! Or at least as much as you can muster for an outfit named “Skankin’ Pickle”.

Today’s tunes!

J Church, “Lines”

One of the great things that punk is able to do when it’s on is produce a short song that nevertheless is complete and satisfying. This thing clocks in at 1:40 and you’d hardly notice that it’s not the usual three minute pop song. Lance Hahn was able to pull this off time after time, in way that should shame so many people out there writing rock songs.

I dunno, feels like we’ve had a good mix recently. Today is no different.

Sebadoh, “New Worship”

Sebadoh’s Sub Pop debut, Smash Your Head On The Punk Rock, would prove to be a transitional album. Taking the sprawling, brilliant mess of III and at least partially taming it, the focus and professionalism that Sebadoh started exhibiting here would eventually result in much more coherent albums. This period is my favorite one of the band, as I like a little chaos in my music, so when they mostly worked that stuff out of their sound, I stopped paying as much attention. So, the three album stretch from III through Bubble and Scrape is where I mostly listen.

Today!

They Might Be Giants, “Last Wave”

They Might Be Giants released their 20th studio album, I Like Fun, this year, and it’s a solid entry into their discography. While not their best, it’s still a very good record, and I’m always happy for more music from them. They. Whatever.

Guided By Voices, “Cigarette Tricks”

Remember, Alien Lanes is the album where most people agreed that Guided by Voices seemed to be getting their shit together (graded on a curve, of course).

You know, I didn’t think it could really get more third wave-y around here, but it seems like New Shuffle might be even more fond of the stuff. But, you know, here you go!

Death From Above 1979, “Never Swim Alone”

Pounding drums and bellowing through distortion is a time honored formula that almost always gets me going. Just big, pounding, and shameless. Delightful!

Less Than Jake, “Glumble”

Lots of Less Than Jake recently. This comes from Losers, Kings, And Things We Don’t Understand, a compilation of the various non-album cuts that they produced before and around the time of their first proper album, Pezcore. In these early years, Less Than Jake was really more of a punk band than anything else, but they did a good job with it. As always, it’s more down to the energy and hooks than anything else with pop punk.

Lots of electronics today.

Prefuse 73, “140 Jabs Interlude”

Rivington Não Rio, the 2015 album from Prefuse 73, was something of a return to form for Scott Herren, his best work since Surrounded by Silence for my money. This track takes a little bit to get going, by turns downright pyrotechnic by the end, and Herren’s beats are great when he’s really going for it.

RJD2, “Shot In The Dark”

Prior to firing shuffle up for Five Songs, I had just been listen to STS x RJD2, a delightful collaboration featuring some absolutely ferocious work from RJD2. He’s still never beaten Deadringer, mind you. But I wanted to plug the fact that he’s done some cool shit otherwise.

Hell yes.

Less Than Jake, “Scott Farcas Takes It On The Chin”

Less Than Jake, especially during their heyday, put out tons of singles and compilation appearances. They’ve collected those on various comps, which are usually worth looking into. This is an alternate take of “Scott Farcas Takes It On The Chin” (which originally appeared on Hello Rockview), this time showing up on the comp Goodbye Blue & White.

Son Volt, “Satellite”

I have an idea that Son Volt’s range is not as wide as Wilco. (Before you say anything: no, you’re not allowed to discuss Son Volt without a comparison to Wilco, it’s part of the Universal Music Critic And Adjacent Commentator Standard Contract and Practices that we all have to sign before we get our blogging license.) Anyway, that notion is probably horseshit, but it’s my horseshit. And now it’s yours?

Today!

Dale Crover, “Hillbilly Math”

Here we find Dale Crover playing one of the most straightforward rock songs that he’s probably ever been involved with. I guess you can see how this might not really be a Melvins song, and I’m not sure it’s really necessary, but whatrever, it’s totally fine.

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, “Such Is Love, Such Is Life”

We’re in 1963 with this song today. Frankly, Smokey is sounding a little Chipmunk-y on this song, making this a little less than the best from him.