The Aquabats

Hey, if for some reason you’re reading this, and you used to read via RSS, please note you’ll have to delete the feed and re-add it after the server rebuild. Of course, if you tracked this via RSS, I don’t know how you would be seeing this in order to find this out. Because I also posted it on Bluesky, which seems like the only other place you’d find out about this post, and I told people to do that over there. So, I dunno. This is pointless. Everything about Five Songs is pointless. Let the yawning intentionless void consume you!

Squarepusher, “Tundra”

Feed Me Weird Things is Squarepusher’s debut record, where he still hewed closer to jungle than he later would on subsequent albums. But even at this early date, when he was still working to define his approach, the fusion elements still shine through pretty distinctly. In the end, there’s nothing really very standard about this, one of the stronger tracks on the record.

Vaz, “Chartreuse Blues”

Vaz is two-thirds of noise rock legends Hammerhead carrying on with tunes very much in the same aggressive vein. All growling guitars and pummeling rhythms, this is the good stuff. Starting on this record, Chartreuse Bull, they added a second guitarist, giving a more layered sound than they’d ever had, either as Vaz or Hammerhead, so this is probably the record to start with. Or go back and listen to Hammerhead’s Into the Vortex first. I’ll always recommend that record.

Tackhead, “Ticking Time Bomb”

Is industrial funk a thing? There are bits and pieces of Tackhead that remind me of industrial, but it’s also very electro-funk. At the time I encountered this, I wasn’t sure of the combination, and it sounds incredibly of its time at this point, but I think I might be better inclined towards it today. I dunno, maybe I’ll spend some time with the record.

The Aquabats!, “Robot Theme Song”

Yup, that’s a robot theme song.

The Afghan Whigs, “Matamoros”

The Afghan Whigs wrapped up their first incarnation with 1998’s 1965, and Greg Dulli moved on to other projects - primarily the Twilight Singers, but other things like the Gutter Twins album with Mark Lanegan. It wasn’t that the band blew up, but they just decided to stop making albums. A reunion gained momentum in the early 2010s, and a new album eventually emerged from the band in 2014. Obviously, Dulli is the most important member, but John Curley rejoined him, meaning half of the original lineup was back. Good enough!

Eminem, “Guilty Conscience”

I am amused at Dr. Dre playing someone’s guilty conscience.

Bitch Magnet, “Motor”

Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. That late 80s/early 90s production really just connects to me, because of how old I was during that time. Anyway, this is how Bitch Magnet’s first album (Umber) kicked off, and it’s a good record. Ben Hur is probably a little better, but that’s not a knock on this one.

Green Day, “Hitchin’ a Ride”

Nimrod is an uneven record, but I really like the high points of it, and this is one of them, I think. It’s nice to hear them expirimenting with their formula some, as Insomniac really did not at all.

The Budos Band, “Arcane Rambler”

Burnt Offering found the Budos Band referencing hard rock pretty explicitly in their music, and it was a really nice breath of fresh air. The following album returned to their numbering system, and V represents kind of the midpoint between III and Burnt Offering. There are still some of those same hard rock riffs here and there, but the Afrobeat is clearly back in the driver’s seat. It’s a great album from a band that have really taken it up a notch in their last few albums.

The Delgados, “If This Is A Plan”

There are times when I kinda run out of things to say about a band. That’s not even interesting things, mind you, just things in general. I suppose I could just straight repeat myself, but the tags would betray that, if anybody cares. Besides, I’m sure I’m unintentionally repeating myself plenty as it is. I’ve written nearly a thousand of these articles, so nearly five thousand little stories. I haven’t had five thousand distinct things happen to me in my life!

fIREHOSE, “Sometimes”

I know I bang on the drum every time fIREHOSE comes up, but I don’t care: it’s such a shame that people didn’t seem to give them a fair shake after the Minutemen. This is such a good tune! This album is really good (If’n)! fIREHOSE’s first three albums are all flat-out great.

Mogwai, “Heard About You Last Night”

Compare this to the Radiohead track from yesterday. Yeah, both contemplative, almost meditative. Plenty of space in both compositions. But this one feels like it has a point, like it’s going somewhere, not just an unfocused noodle.

Wolves in the Throne Room, “Face In A Night Time Mirror - Part 1”

All four of the songs on the debut album from Wolves in the Throne Room go over 12 minutes. Although it’s very black metal, even from the beginning there were a lot of non-standard moves. The clean vocals on this track, for instance, not to mention the pastoral interlude. Metal has always played around with folk, and there have been other bands that have merged the sounds, but Wolves in the Throne room do a better job of that sort of thing than most.

Swans, “Better Than You”

The late 80s/early 90s vesion of the band is probably the one that is most different from the other iterations. The period began with Burning World, the first (and last) Swans major-label release, which was a commercial disaster and an artistic mess. The other albums of that period (White Light From The Mouth of Infinity, Love of Life, and Ten Songs For Another World which was technically from World of Skin but who cares) were better artistically, but this is kind of the “pretty” Swans period. The albums all went out of print, and stayed that way for a while.