Lungfish

One thing about Five Songs that I always appreciate is that it always makes me stay in the habit of putting music on when I can. There’s just something about always thinking “oh, I could write a post” that sometimes decays into “oh, I could put on some tunes” that I appreciate.

Lungfish, “Descender”

I know what the Five Songs party line is on Lungfish (kinda boring), so I’m going to skip that and just kind of focus on a sense memory. Specifically, I can remember wandering around my college campus not long after getting this album. I was trying to develop a taste for it, so I wasn’t doing much other than listening to it and walking around. But it was a beautiful fall day, and I kept walking past groups of kids having a great time outdoors. Three different frisbee games were going on. A hacky sack circle. A volleyball game had broken out. The breeze was blowing, the sun was shining, I was bumping tunes, and I was just kind of watching people having a great time. So even though I am not wild about the album, an association with a perfect fall day from one of the happiest periods of my life still clings to it. This album sounds like youthful innocence and hope. And is also kinda boring.

Lungfish, “My Fool Heart”

I’ve kind of run down Lungfish often enough here to make it clear that I’m not a big fan, so I won’t rehash it. I do wonder occasionally (usually whenever they come up here) if I’m missing something by not going for their later albums and seeing if my opinion would change.

And then I realize that I do have a couple later albums, and had just forgotten that they existed. Whoops! I already answered this for myself.

Yet another perfect month in the books! The magic date is 10/29, which is the last time I missed a daily update. It would be pretty cool to go a full calendar year without missing one, honestly.

Lungfish, “Non Dual Bliss”

The repeated opinion of the Five Songs cognoscenti is the Lungfish is kinda boring. Like, this song is pretty good…for the first couple minutes. But it doesn’t really evolve, and the groove isn’t so interesting that it can support six minutes.

Tool, “Intolerance”

I picked up Tool’s first album when it came out, because they kind of ran parallel to bands like Helmet, who I loved. But they never really did it for me, and I fell off them after this album. I think it’s just too clinical for me. Yeah, you can hear some similarities to bands I like, but it needs to be grittier. At any rate, after not falling in love right away, the door was permanently closed by one of the most annoying fan bases in music at the time.

Uh oh, the roll below the level / ‘cause I’m livin’ low

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, “Intro: A Song Of Fire And Wine”

My goodness, this is so corny. But, this song does set you up for the cheese sculpture that is this record, which is probably good. And I authentically love the album (So Divided), so I’m happy to hear this. I’m just bummed I’m not going to hear the rest of it right now.

New verison of Ghost! So far, I don’t like it. Whatever. Still basically works. I have music for you!

Lungfish, “Reveal Me”

I have a very distinct memory of listening to this album while wandering around Wean Hall at my college, and paying a lot of attention to it, and deciding that I just didn’t really like it very much. I’m not sure what set me off about it, but I very much decided that Lungfish weren’t for me. This is from their debut album, and apparently they lasted for a long time, and I stuck to my guns. I haven’t heard anything else from them. Maybe they were good! I don’t know!

Still hanging in there on my streak. It’s been close for a few days!

Hattie Littles, “Here You Come”

I know nothing about Hattie Littles, but this song is such an exemplar of that early Motown sound, it’s hard not to smile. This comes from 1962, by the way.

Jets to Brazil, “Chinatown”

After Jawbreaker imploded, at least partially due to the pressure of their major label contract, Blake Schwarzenbach thankfully didn’t hang up his guitar for good. His next band, Jets to Brazil, continues in the same vein. While I think Jets to Brazil is a little more polished (and therefore I’m not sure I love them quite as much), they’re a worthy successor, and all three of their albums are worth looking up.