Red Hot Chili Peppers

Japandroids, “The House That Heaven Built”

Everything about Celebration Rock is just unabashedly turned up to 11. It was impossible for me to not be absolutely charmed to death by it. It was deliberately written to be full of songs that would be massive played live, so the songs were kept simple and pumped just full of big moments. It’s not sophisticated, but it absolutely works.

Neurosis, “Grey”

Maybe the most incongruous record on Lookout Records, certainly the one I think of when I think of something standing out. After a pretty standard hardcore record on Alternative Tentacles, Neurosis put out this album that finds them really transitioning from that hardcore band into the progressive metal powerhouse that would help shape the metal world in the mid 90s. It’s something of a curiosity, but if you’re a big fan of the band and are wondering where you first see their potential, it’s on The Word As Law.

Today!

Atmosphere, “Next To You”

On one hand, I think it’s admirable that Atmosphere is willing to experiment with their music and stray very far from the hip-hop that they originally made their names with. On the other, though, when they do too much of this kind of thing, it can get pretty old. This song, from Fishing Blues, is fine, but isn’t really why I listen to Atmosphere.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Apache Rose Peacock”

OK, let’s take a moment to step back and just admire the production job on this. Not because it’s great, or adds a ton to the music, or anything like that. No, just listen to how immaculate it is. It’s squeaky clean! Every sound is perfectly isolated, perfectly recorded. There’s not an iota of accidental noise anywhere in this. You could perform surgery inside this song, as long as you got the boys to, I dunno, put surgical masks on their junk or whatever.

Back! Caught you lookin’ for the same thing!

M83, “Go!”

I don’t really know what to think about M83. At times, it’s kind of bland, emotionally manipulative but forgettable post-rock. But there are times when it’s energetic and nostalgia driven fun. Junk leans into the past especially hard, which makes it my favorite M83 album. This song, corny as it is, is a blast.

Tortoise, “Learning Curve”

Uh, speaking of post-rock. Well, nobody would describe this as “energetic”. Or “fun”.

Emerald City Comic Con today! I’ve been going every year, since the oldest was around four, because it’s nice to just kind of check out what’s going on in comics. It’s not really ever been my hobby, I’ve only dabbled in it. But it’s an adjacent hobby to my biggest, tabletop gaming, and it’s just fun being in that atmosphere. Being crammed into the convention center with all those people is less than awesome, but it’s still one of my favorite annual rituals.

I dunno, sometimes this stuff just is what it is.

The Beatles, “Octopus’s Garden”

I enjoy all of the songs Ringo sings. There, I said it!

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, “Naked Sun”

Listen to how shamelessly huge that drum beat is! This band is absolutely not afraid to throw a corny vamp like this on their album, and commit to it completely. Fearlessness is underrated in a rock band.

I don’t have a lot to say today.

Man Or Astro-Man?, “Lo Batt”

Man Or Astro-Man? made (mostly) instrumental rock, in sort of a surf rock vein, but with this kind of retro-future 50’s thing going on. Their records were pretty similar and uniformly good, so you can just start with one at random and it’ll work out fine. This is from Made From Technetium, for the record.

The Drapels, “Wondering (When My Love Is Coming Home)”

I think the bit where soul artists would name a song something short and pithy and then whack on some big ol’ parenthetical to the name is adorable. More bands should do that.

We’re a couple of weeks away from the first birthday of Five Songs. I’m thinking about changing up the format a little. Anybody have any thoughts? Here’s today’s music.

Freeway, “Hear The Song”

While I think Freeway usually has great beats, this is not one them. This song just feels kind of disjointed.

The Dead Kennedys, “I Am The Owl”

This comes from the second Kennedys full-length, Plastic Surgery Disasters, which is probably the album in their discography that I hear the least about. It’s not the debut, which was the most purely hardcore of their albums, and it doesn’t have as much of the baroque strangeness of their later releases. But, like all their albums, it’s still very good, and worthy of listening to.