Less Than Jake

Today!

Preston School of Industry, “Blu Son”

This is some straight-up They Might Be Giants shit right here.

The Fiery Furnaces, “Guns Under the Counter”

Indie duo the Fiery Furnaces were a sister/brother act, dedicated to playing singular art rock. Employing a wide range of instrumentation, often within the same song, and rife with literate, obtuse storytelling, the Fiery Furnaces could be equal parts fascinating and exasperating. This comes from one of their more challenging albums, Rehearsing My Choir, which is their collaboration with their grandmother. Centered around her memories of growing up in Chicago, it’s a meandering look into one family that can be interesting if you’re paying attention but isn’t something that you can just kind of throw on in the background.

The Management would like to apologize for yesterday’s entry. Those responsible have been sacked. Let’s try this again today.

Less Than Jake, “Just Like Frank”

We’re not rid of the ska, apparently! Actually, Less Than Jake really are barely ska at all. They have the occasional ska song, but they’re really a punk band. And a good one! Have I made that point before? I probably have. Whatever. Here at Five Songs, Quality is Job Six or Seven On A Good Day.

Here’s today’s music.

Channels, “$99.99”

We’ve encountered J. Robbins before, with Jawbox and Office of Future Plans. Channels is yet another of his post-Jawbox projects, and occupies a very similar space. What all of his bands, from Jawbox on, share is a similar focus on the same fundamentals: tightly wound songs, melodic choruses, fantastic drumming, and a certain essential artiness. Personally, I love it, and a new album from him is always a treat.

Totally forgot to post yesterday. I’m super flaky this week. Sorry about that! Here’s some music for today, at least.

Less Than Jake, “The Troubles”

A few things distinguish Less Than Jake from the many other ska-punk bands that all started up at roughly the same time. The first is that they were more punk than ska, refusing to be tied down to the gimmick. The second is that the quality of their songs was, in general, much stronger than most of their peers. The third is probably the most important, which is that they lasted for forever. I’ve got eight albums from them, and I don’t think I have their entire discography. I think their sweet spot is from Losing Streak through Anthem, personally. This song comes from their most recent album, though.