The Fiery Furnaces

The Fiery Furnaces, “South is Only a Home”

Brother and sister duo the Fiery Furnaces kind of epitomize a certain quirky, challenging strain of indie band. They’re restless, always searching for new sounds, and often end up being kind of difficult as a result. It’s all for good reasons, it’s not just experimentation for the sake of experimentation, but it does require some concentration to really pick up.

Mudhoney, “Magnolia Caboose Babyshit”

A lively instrumental from their debut self-titled LP, this is actually one of my favorite songs on the record. Not that I don’t love Mark Arm’s singing, but they’re just in and out on this one, getting the point across in a tidy 1:07. Great stuff.

Swans, “Stay Here”

Filth is maybe the best named album ever made. Belching forth from the no-wave scene in New York City, it’s just 36 minutes of pure punishment. Grinding, scraping, the nihilism is palpable on every part of the record. From Roli Mossimann’s relentless pounding on the drums, to Norman Westberg’s doom-laden guitar work, and especially Michael Gira’s howling vocals, the Swans are operating in a primal mode here that would inspire countless other noise bands. They would tune their attack, add in a lot more variation and complexity, and would end up as one of the most majestic bands ever. But when they started? They were the avatars of everything murky and gross.

SIX SONGS TODAY

Mix Master Mike, “Supa Wyde Laces”

We had a track from Hello Nasty yesterday, today we’ve got a track from the DJ that joined them with that record. Mix Master Mike was a member of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, the most successful DJ collective around. This is from his solo record, which came out the same year as Hello Nasty, and which at the time, I liked more. Probably wouldn’t be true these days.

Today!

Preston School of Industry, “Blu Son”

This is some straight-up They Might Be Giants shit right here.

The Fiery Furnaces, “Guns Under the Counter”

Indie duo the Fiery Furnaces were a sister/brother act, dedicated to playing singular art rock. Employing a wide range of instrumentation, often within the same song, and rife with literate, obtuse storytelling, the Fiery Furnaces could be equal parts fascinating and exasperating. This comes from one of their more challenging albums, Rehearsing My Choir, which is their collaboration with their grandmother. Centered around her memories of growing up in Chicago, it’s a meandering look into one family that can be interesting if you’re paying attention but isn’t something that you can just kind of throw on in the background.