Prefuse 73

I don’t have a ton to say today.

Game Theory, “Exactly What We Don’t Want To Hear”

You know, you should all thank me that I haven’t yet made a “it’s time for some game theory!” joke! Or “joke”, really. Uh, until now, I suppose.

The Spinanes, “Meridian”

There should be more rock duos, in my opinion. The Spinanes don’t suffer from the spare instrumentation at all. It gives more space to focus on the individual elements of the band, which is totally OK with me! I wonder what Rebecca Gates is up to these days? Probably shouldn’t look. Never learn anything, that’s my motto.

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.

Today!

Buck-O-Nine, “Voice In My Head”

We like to mock the third wave of ska here at Funf Songs, because it’s eminently mockable. But, there’s a reason why we have so much of the damn stuff, and that’s that when it’s done well, it’s sprightly and charming and summer-y. In the winter, it reminds of long, bright, warm days. In the summer, it just ups the mood to another level. Buck-O-Nine weren’t amazing, but they were pleasant and good and it’s worthwhile to just listen to some pleasant and good things sometimes.

Today’s list.

CROOKED BANGS, “Out”

I discovered this album via Bandcamp’s Album of the Day feature, which is always deadly. I like it, it’s always nice to pick up on random punk records now and again.

Yo-Yo Ma, “Suite for Solo Cello No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: VI. Gigue”

As before, still don’t know anything about this.

Leatherface, “Discipline”

Long-running UK punks Leatherface made ten albums, which is probably about eight more than we actually needed. They play very back-to-basics punk that evokes all the first-wave punk bands from the UK. I’ve got two albums from them, and I’m not totally sure I could tell them apart.

I’m delighted by this set today.

The Popgun Seven, “The Waiting Feeling’s Fine”

As before, this is truly a strange artifact in the ol’ collection. Once again, it’s a pretty pleasant listen, and kind of makes me wish that there was more of this around.

Butter 08, “Shut Up”

It’s obscure day here at Five Songs! Well, as I mentioned last time, if Russell Simins is involved, I’m there. I mean, come on, listen to this shit! Groovy as hell.

Memorial Day! We here at Five Songs Multinational Holdings never sleep in order to bring you the freshest beats and finest jams.

Diamond District, “Intro”

The times when I’m most tempted to cheat at this is when shuffle pulls up a skit, or an intro, or something like this. This is, um, an intro to the excellent In The Ruff by the throwback hip-hop group Diamond District. Maybe they’ll come up again soon!

The intro to this series has been pushed off the page, so a brief mention might be in order. I’m writing about five random songs from my collection on a daily-ish basis, and giving everybody a link to listen along. Here’s the intro to the series, and here’s the link to today’s songs.

Prefuse 73, “Tel Aviv’s Gravel Toothbrush”

Prefuse 73 is one of the names that Scott Herren records under, mixing up hip-hop influences with electronic music. He’s at his best when you’ve got stuttering bits and pieces of recognizable hip-hop running through, but broken up in strange ways. When he wanders too far from that into pure electronic stuff, he gets less interesting to me. This is a short piece from Extinguished, which is outtakes from his excellent One Word Extinguisher album. On the whole, you can see why he left this material off the main album, so this record is for completists only. Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives and One Word Extinguisher remain the pick of the litter for him.