Kind of remember the last time Davis came up saying that I didn’t know anything about her. Still don’t! We don’t do any research around here! That would be against the Five Songs ethos, where we put the “ass” in “half-assed”.
Does it get more early 90s than this? The guitar tone, the sung and spoken parts, the vocals buried in the mix, all that shit. I was big into this stuff, and it still sounds great. Beacuse I’m old and fossilized.
[Read More]This is from the Let It Be…Naked reissue that was put out in 2003, where they (I assume mostly Paul) revisited the songs and stripped away most of the Phil Spector stuff. It’s most noticable on the songs that originally had all those strings, but overall, it’s a superior version of the album, as it lets the songs shine through more and just has less farting around on it.
[Read More]uhhhuhuhuhhuhuh…lostbone
Pretty sure I ended up with this as a result of a grab bag of some variety or another. Among all the ways of discovering music, grab bags are certainly one of them. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually discovered a band I love from one of them. I suppose I should try a bunch more just in case.
Also, this appears to be a repeat. Onward!
[Read More]I dunno, sometimes this stuff just is what it is.
I enjoy all of the songs Ringo sings. There, I said it!
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.
[Read More]Folks, I don’t know if I can keep up this pace. Seven songs AGAIN?
As you’d probably imagine based on the stuff that shows up here, I’m 100% here for the merging of noise into hip-hop. There are a bunch of acts that are exploring this territory right now, and one of the better albums in the area is Dälek’s Endangered Philosophies. There’s an urgency that the noise adds to these songs that gives a pretty different feeling from more conventional hip-hop.
[Read More]Listening to just the right channel on this song is kind of magical. Just Rick Froberg howling along with the drums except for the occasional burst of guitar until you get to the end. Just listen to those toms! Hell yes! Hot Snakes wooo!
From Hide, this is Foetus at his bombastic, ridiculous best. I like this mode of Thirlwell’s, of making over-the-top songs that sound like songs from corny movies, but through a funhouse mirror.
[Read More]Well, it’s not as good as yesterday.
Pretty much what it says on the tin. I knew today wasn’t going to be as good as yesterday, but this is not a great beginning.
This comes from an album called One Way Ticket To Skaville. Say what you want about Skaville, but it’s very clean. Basically no litter. After all, everybody there is just so willing to pick it up, pick it up, pick it up.
[Read More]Sub Pop rock artists out of Portland, Crackerbash were part of the very prolific Pacific Northwest scene in the early nineties that still flew below the radar. While they only made one self-titled album and one amazing EP (Tin Toy), they were excellent for their short run, and don’t deserve to be totally forgotten. There were several bands out of Portland from that time frame that deserved to be bigger - these guys, Pond, the Spinanes.
[Read More]Pharmakon is the avant garde noise project of Margaret Chardiet, one that is unflinchingly unpleasant. We go in for a fair bit of legitimately difficult music here at Five Songs, and Pharmakon is towards the top of the list. Chardiet was inspired to write it as a reaction to her own emergency surgery for a cyst, and it’s supposed to represent her abandonment by her own body. And, well, it sounds like it. Made of electronic noise and her own howls, shrieks, and agonized breathing, it’s disquieting in a way that many other extreme artists try for and don’t quite reach.
[Read More]Some all-time greats today. And, I suppose, the Beatles.
I think Revolver is The Beatles’ best record. But can we talk about that cover? Terrible. And it won a Grammy for “Best Album Cover”, which is a thing they apparently hand out awards for! Apparently it wasn’t just the Beatles who were high all the time.
(NB: of course it’s impossible to find the original on YouTube. So, I picked Elliot Smith doing a cover.)
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