Stax/Volt

Some authentically old music, and some music that wishes it was older than it is.

Craw, “Eidolons”

I really cannot emphasize how happy it makes me that there are folks that are going back into our past and bringing bands to our attention. Craw’s revival via Kickstarter is one great example, but also labels like Light in the Attic and Numero Group are doing great work. There are so many amazing bands who might have not gotten a fair shake the first time around, and finding them is fantastic. Anyway, Craw is really good!

Yeah! Old Primus! Soul! Kid music?

Labradford, “WR”

The other day, we had Kranky labelmates Jessamine, but here’s the band I associate most with that label, Labradford. Post-rock-y, drone-y, sometimes very experimental, Labradford had a very interesting run of a half dozen albums on Kranky which were all very interesting. Most of the time, they were working with instrumental stuff, and I find it to be really pleasant stuff to put on when I’m working. That sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it’s not intended to be.

Still on the road! Still posting music!

Smashing Orange, “All Girls Are Mine”

Part psychedelic pop, part shoegaze, Smashing Orange are a largely forgotten act which probably deserves better. If you’re looking for washes of fuzzy guitar and pop melodies, you can do a lot worse. Apparently few enough people have ever written about them that I actually got a random person writing to me a while back, referencing a review I wrote for a Usenet group ages ago, asking if I had any bootlegs or live performances or anything. Alas, I did not.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve listened to “!!!!!!” by The Roots, which is the song I get if I go to all my songs and hit play without turning on shuffle. I’ll probably get really confused if and when I ever hit it legitimately. Here’s today’s tunes.

Johnnie Taylor, “I Ain’t Particular”

I kind of wish I was a better historian of these old soul records. I’m mostly familiar with the big names, but I can’t tell you anything much about a lot of these folks. It’s a shame, as I’m sure there’s some great stories for many of them. Well, at any rate, this is from the first Stax/Volt collection, coming at the very end of the Atlantic run (this is actually the last track from that set).

From noise nonsense to gangsta rap to classic soul, we’ve got you covered today!

OK, it’s just those three genres.

Sightings, “Chili Dog”

I originally mistyped this as “Chill Dog”, which is a title I like better. I like it when dogs are chill.

Sightings are an electronic rock-ish trio creating waves of noise on top of often primitive songs. It’s all designed to be difficult to listen to and punishing, and really needs to catch me in the right mood.

I didn’t quite make it all the way through May without missing a day. I didn’t put anything up for 5/7, and I kind of wish I’d managed to hit every day. Well, June is coming up, and maybe I can nail every day in that month! As always, there’s music around here.

MU330, “Around You”

At this point, third-wave ska band MU330 has to be the most obscure band that’s been on here three times. It’s pretty funny, I haven’t listened to most of this stuff for a long time, but it’s all come right back to me upon listening again. I can still whistle a fair number of the horn lines. And for that, I’m sorry for anybody near me.

I’m not sure anybody cares about milestones, but I’ve now been doing this thing for more than a month. And it’s still fun! According to analytics, I’ve had 91 different visitors for the past week, which is actually pretty cool. If anybody out there is reading, feel free to leave a comment! Here’s what you came for!

Foetus, “Take It Outside Godboy”

We last encountered J.G. Thirlwell in one of his side project guises, Wiseblood. Here, we encounter his main project. First, a quick note on band names. For a fair bit of his career, he actually changed the name of the band frequently, although it always had “Foetus” in the name somewhere (“Foetus Interruptus”, “Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel”, etc). At some point, around the release of Flow or so, he knocked it off, acknowledging that everybody just called the band Foetus anyway. Oh, and the “proper” Foetus albums are all four-letter words for the names.

Back from a hectic weekend, with camping and a charity gaming tournament, where we collectively raised more than $110K for Treehouse. Which is amazing! I think the antidote will be some nice, calming songs.

(get ready for five songs of extreme metal)

Dead Rider, “The Blue Flame”

An experimental rock band started after the end of US Maple by Todd Rittman. US Maple was dedicated to deconstructing rock as far as it would go and still have it be rock music, and Dead Rider retains some of that sensibility. They also feature a saxophone, a relative rarity among bands these days. I would say, if you’ve gone through US Maple’s discography and still want more, this band is a good place to move to.

Would anybody be interested in weekly summaries, or merged playlists of this stuff, or a “best of” thing periodically? I’m not sure if I want to do it or not, but it might be interesting. I’m also unsure if people want me to throw in random related songs onto these playlists or not. As always, I await your deafening silence down below. Accompany that silence with some tunes!

Ooh, we had our first repeated song today! MU330’s “Tune Me Out” showed up again. I’m going to skip it, because repeating songs is not what this project is about.

A new month for Five Songs! How long will this keep going? I don’t know, but I’ve managed to get past the first couple weeks just fine, so maybe this has some legs. This entry also has a playlist.

Oh man, we just miseed Steel Pole Bath Tub’s “Train to Miami” for this collection. Ugh, such a good song. But rules are rules!

NoFX, “Mean People Suck”

NoFX delivering a super sophisticated message with this song, which can be summed up as “mean people suck”. The breathtaking nuance they display here would be a hallmark of their punk career. Anyway, NoFX is one of those immutable yardsticks of music, a benchmark that you can use to explain other bands. “Yeah, they’re like NoFX crossed with…” or “they sort of sound like NoFX, only they…”. That sort of thing.