Pavement

Pavement, “Texas Never Whispers”

Time for a deranged opinion! Specifically: Watery, Domestic, the 1992 EP that Pavement released between Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is, pound for pound, the best Pavement release. Four songs, all killer, and from their peak period. These tracks would end up on various collections, re-issued, re-packaged, re-packaged, but I think it dulls the impact a little bit when they’re just mixed into a compilation or are bonus tracks to an anniversary re-release or whatever. You don’t necessarily realize that these were all in one place originally. Anyway, it’s fantastic, make a playlist of the four songs and have a go or pull it up specifically on Spotify or whatever.

Kowloon Walled City, “Diabetic Feet”

This is from the first Kowloon Walled City record, Gambling on the Richter Scale, where they are bringing back that Unsane sound. There’s something about that vocal style in particular that really reminds me of that band, which is of course a good thing.

Thou, “Corrupted Sanctum”

Thou contributed some songs to a video game soundtrack, which is kind of a funny phrase. I know absolutely nothing about the game except that it’s set in New Orleans, which presumably is how Thou got involved. Anyway, always happy to get new music from them, even if it’s a strange delivery like this.

Pavement, “Stereo”

I dunno, I just love Pavement. Just hearing the intro to this song puts a grin on my face. I haven’t gotten sick of it yet, and I hope I never do. Pavement will probably be one of those bands that my kids will look back on fondly as reminding them of their old man, and maybe they’ll even listen to them occasionally as a result. I’ll still be distorting their taste from beyond the grave!

Touché Amoré, “Just Exist”

I sometimes find screamo to be a little bit tiring. Musically, it’s my jam, but the vocals wear me out sometimes. This seems like a stupid thing for someone who listens to as much metal with vocals that sounds like someone caught something important in a home appliance. But I am very stupid, so here we are.

Luscious Jackson, “LP Retreat”

You know, if Luscious Jackson had made this record another fifteen years later, I’ll bet they would have found a much bigger audience. It sounds pretty ahead of its time, and I’m not sure people in 1994 really knew what to make of it.

Xasthur, “Purgatory Spiral”

Another track from Xasthur, the weird experimental metal act that I ended up with courtesy of a Hydra Head grab bag. It’s not really, uh, my bag.

Converge, “Sadness Comes Home”

All We Love We Leave Behind is my favorite Converge record, where their hardcore reached a pinnacle of bananas complexity that it ends up being compulsively listenable. It’s sometimes the case that hardcore bands lose their edge as they go, as increased polish starts exposing simple songs and reveals all the flaws. It’s a rare hardcore band that gets better as they go, but Converge managed that.

The Solids, “Over The Sirens”

Guess how many people are in this band? Correct, two! That places them square in one of the major interests of Five Songs: Loud Rock Duos. They’re not as outre as someone like Lightning Bolt, they’re more towards the Big Business end of things. Only the one record from them, though.

Pavement, “Two States”

You ever wonder how often you’ve listened to albums you love? Slanted & Enchanted was released in April of 1992, and I bought it the day it came out. I think I probably listened to it a couple times a week for the first year or so, and then maybe once a week on average for the rest of my time in college, and then maybe every other week for the next decade. And then down to maybe…once a month? For the next fifteen years? Let’s add that up - have I listened to this album 400 times? Jesus.

The High Back Chairs, “Miles To Inches”

Jeff Nelson is one of the co-founders of Discord Records, as well as the drummer for the legendary Minor Threat, a legacy that would be the envy of so many people. I was just listening to Minor Threat the other day, and it still holds up incredibly well.

He also drummed in the High Back Chairs.

Anagnorisis, “This Cursed Blood”

While listening to metal might not be good for much in terms of self-enrichment, if you look up band and song names, it’ll at least increase your vocabulary.

No Age, “Turned To String”

Long running punk duo No Age fill out their sound by using the occasional sample, which helps keep things a little fresher than the formula might otherwise result in. At this point, six albums in, they’re really getting by on the strength of their strongwriting, but that songwriting is keeping up. This is from their 2020 album Goons Be Gone.

The Toasters, “Thrill Me Up”

The Toasters were one of the key bands of the third wave, as they not only got things rolling very early and blazed a trail for other bands in New York City to follow, but they ran the most important label of the third wave, Moon Ska. Early on, the Toasters didn’t have as much punk in their sound, as this track from 1988 demonstrates.

Today!

Joe Lally, “Reason to Believe”

Joe Lally was, of course, bassist for the incomparable Fugazi, and one of the biggest reasons why the bass is one of the instruments I choose to butcher. All of the members of Fugazi have pursued various projects in the wake of Fugazi’s break (I choose to pretend that it’s just a really long pause), with one of the first being Lally making a solo record, There to Here. This is how that album opens, and it sets the tone for what you might hear. It’s fairly experimental in feel, with a lot of differences between songs, and a musical approach that varies from sparse to lush. While there are other post-Fugazi projects I like more (the Evens, the Messthetics), this is still an interesting album.

All over the map today!

Wu-Tang Clan, “Maria”

There were more of this sort of filthy song on Wu-Tang Forever than there were on their debut album. And, honestly, this song falls a little flat. It seems to think it can skate by on the explicit lyrics, but everybody’s rhymes here are really kind of by-the-books. Wu-Tang is always at its best when you have some contrast in styles. What’s the point of having this many MCs otherwise!