Stax/Volt

The Staple Singers, “I’ll Take You There”

This is such a majestic tune, absolutely irresistable.

De La Soul, “Thru Ya City”

I mostly think of the two AOI albums (this is from Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump) as kind of lost albums for De La, but that’s not really a fair characterization. They’re uneven to be sure, soft spots in their catalog, but even a soft spot for them is going to have plenty of pleasures. This is a fun track, with the rubbery bass synth and bouncy rhyming from the boys.

OutKast, “Ms. Jackson”

This is, of course, an all-time jam. Also, it makes me remember this (sadly deleted) tweet, which is also nice.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: this image was lost during a changeover on the blog. At some point. Sorry to anybody reading this in the future. It was a screenshot of the “I’m sorry Miss Jackson / ooh / I am four eels / never meant to make your daughter cry / I am several fish and not a guy” tweet. IYKYK.]

The Beatles, “Let It Be”

When I find myself with no ideas / struggling to write a blog / I fall back on dumb jokes / mail it in

TWRP, “Only the Best”

OK, I don’t love those lyrics there, but in the spirit of of mailing it in, I’m not going to take another run at them. Pulling aside the curtain a bit here at Five Songs Agglomerated, I pretty much just write these entries in stream-of-consciousness as I listen to the music, go back and just do a quick edit pass to fix typos or any really duff wording, and then call it good. Revising the joke goes agains the spirit of the thing, I think.

Hoover, “Electrolux”

Hoover were a post-hardcore band with a single album on Discord in 1993 along with a few singles. There are a lot of forgotten gems in the Discord catalog, with albums getting overshadowed by the more famous releases on the label. Fugazi’s In On The Kill Taker released in 1993, for instance, which I think is the best post-hardcore record ever made. So it’s easy to see how this thing might not get noticed. And, yes, there is plenty of influence here from Fugazi. But, hell, that’s not a bad way to take your cues. There’s a little Drive Like Jehu here also, so yeah, this is good stuff.

Mogwai, “Remurdered”

I dunno about this, man. I want some fury with my Mogwai, some big dynamics, something should howl. This is pretty cerebral and isn’t what I’m generally looking for from them.

Jean Knight, “Mr. Big Stuff”

A repeat of an all-time jam.

American Music Club, “If I Had A Hammer”

“Gratitude Walks” is the opener of this album, but this beautiful slice of melancholy in the second position was what got me sold on American Music Club. I bought this album and listened to it on the walk back to campus, and it was such a change of pace from what I was listening to at the time that it really stuck with me. It’s good to have some things in your music diet that aren’t just noise and wrath.

The Young Fresh Fellows, “A Fake Hello”

Tad Hutchinson is really going the extra mile on the drums here. He doesn’t have to, Scott McCaughey’s singing can carry this little tune. But Hutchinson was always the Fellows’ secret weapon, I love his work across the board.

Queen, “Body Language”

Hot Space contains the magnificent “Under Pressure”. It also contains a bunch of other songs, about which the less said, the better.

The Clash, “I Fought The Law”

The US release of The Clash had a different track listing than the original release, swapping in some songs from UK singles onto the album in place of some of the weaker tunes. Overall, it’s probably a better version of the record, with “I Fought The Law” being one of the additions to the record.

Gas Huffer, “The Rest of Us”

Gas Huffer spent three albums in the majors…well, the high minors, with albums out on Epitaph. But then they went back to their roots: Estrus Records, Jack Endino on the boards, and back to wall-to-wall garage rock. The return to their basics suited them well, it’s a strong record, although I suppose nobody really listened to it. I guess it’s relative: their last Epitaph record has 25 ratings on Rate Your Music, compared to 7 for this album. So, nobody really listened to either of them. It’s a shame, Gas Huffer was good!

The Dramatics, “In the Rain”

A repeat, but happy to listen to it again.

Dirty Three, “Last Horse on the Sand”

Dirty Three are an instrumental post-rock band out of Australia, distinguished primarily by being led by a violinist. I’m actually more into this sort of sound than I was in the late 90s when this album came out, so maybe it’s worth sitting with the band some more. They certainly have a lot of records out there.

Cobalt, “Gin”

Gin, that’s a very good idea.

Television, “Friction”

Forever the song before “Marquee Moon”.

The Beatles, “I Me Mine”

We’re skewing old today, which is fine, because I am old. So old.

Fine, I’ll say something more: Let It Be has some memorable songs, but there’s a lot of wankery on it and it’s kind of a shame that their discography ends with this instead of Abbey Road.

Golden Dawn Arkestra, “Mama Se”

Any time you hear the word “collective” in relationship with a band, you know you’re in for something. Golden Dawn Arkestra are one of those, from Austin, and are inspired by Sun Ra, trying to do the whole cosmic exploration stuff. Some funk, jazz, Afrobeat, whatever else occurs to them gets thrown in the blender. It’s a lot, and I don’t know, it seems a little unfocused to me. I only have this one record, and I think as a drop-in here, it works, but the whole album is a bit exhausting.