New Bomb Turks

Stubborn All-Stars, “Lieutenant”

The first Stubborn All-Stars record definitely had their laid-back ska groove going, but I think they took it up a notch on the next record. That said, if you’re looking for something pretty traditional, bordering on rocksteady, you can do a lot worse.

The New Bomb Turks, “Never Will”

After an absolutely raging debut record, the New Bomb Turks followed it up the next year with another ripper full of garage punk. It’s pure adrenaline, with sawtooth guitars and snotty vocals leading the way. Alas, they’d land on Epitaph for their subsequent records, and the cleaned up version of the band isn’t quite as fun.

Vaselines, “Bitch”

Eh.

New Bomb Turks, “Professional Againster”

The New Bomb Turks arrived on Epitaph with Scared Straight, and immediately things got more professional. And that’s not a good thing when you’re dealing with this sort of thing. Listen to this - it’s certainly not bad, but there’s a certain theatrical edge here that really cuts against the proper energy of the band. I just don’t think we need the Jerry Lee Lewis thing going on. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy this record, it’s just not as much fun as the earlier stuff.

New Bomb Turks, “Girl Can’t Help It”

Pissing Out The Poison is a compilation of the early 90s singles and miscellaneous appearances by the New Bomb Turks. As that’s their garage-iest period, this is my second favorite release by them. As you would expect from a comp, it’s pretty uneven, but they’re always bashing away, so it’s never boring.

Floor Baba, “Neon Sands”

There’s kind of a Prefuse 73 feel to this track, with the way that the bass line sounds kind of inverted in parts of it, and the initial spastic rhythms. As the track evolves, it kind of loses that feeling, but it’s kind of a fun connection to make at first.

Flop, “Anne”

If you’re a longtime reader/listener of Five Songs, first, I deeply apologize. But second, you’re probably tired of me moaning about how Flop was unfairly ignored when they were active. Well, guess what? They were! I’ll keep saying it, because dammit, the world needs to know.

Also, I thought the name of this album was & the Fall of the Mousesqueezer for a really long time until someone on Usenet corrected me.

Happy Halloween! Time for a spooky special!

Inter Arma, “Scarecrow”

Inter Arma released a covers album, Garbers Days Revisited, in 2020. This sort of thing is pretty traditional in metal, thanks to Metallica’s Garage Days Revisited. Inter Arma does nice work with their covers, as befits such a good band. This is a Ministry song here, so it’s supposed to sound like this.

Jake One, “Scared”

Seattle producer Jake One worked with a whole bunch of guest MCs on his album White Van Music, but thanks to being the product of a single producer’s vision, it still feels pretty coherent. There’s a lot of excellent stuff on this album, although its long running time kind of wears on you eventually.

Mission of Burma, “Red”

Signals, Calls, and Marches, the 1981 debut EP from Mission of Burma, is one of the foundational texts of what was known as college rock and eventually became indie rock. It’s a touchstone that many, many following bands would evoke and echo. It’s not really punk, not really post-punk, certainly not hardcore, but has parts of all those sounds. Mission of Burma would release this and an album in their original incarnation, and then unexpectedly pop up 22 years later with a new run of three (excellent) albums.

New Bomb Turks, “Double Marlon”

Garage punks out of Columbus, OH, the New Bomb Turks exploded (heh!) onto the scene with their brand of aggressive rock, and they kept it rockin’ for a while. However, they did eventually fell off, and this EP (Beruhren Meiner Affe, “Touching My Monkey”) is kind of where the dividing line is. It’s a perfectly good five songs of their Stooges-esque stuff, but after this, it seemed like the were just kind of tired.

Six songs!

Lostbone, “Destroy What Destroys You”

uhhhuhuhuhhuhuh…lostbone

Pretty sure I ended up with this as a result of a grab bag of some variety or another. Among all the ways of discovering music, grab bags are certainly one of them. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually discovered a band I love from one of them. I suppose I should try a bunch more just in case.

Also, this appears to be a repeat. Onward!

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.