The Mr T Experience

Stereolab, “Changer”

Switched On collected a bunch of early Stereolab singles, before they had really developed their sound fully. It’s more guitar-forward and less drone-heavy than their later music would be. I think it’s not as essential as their later records, but it’s an interesting comp, and worth going back if you’re already a Stereolab fan. We’ll discuss thme more when they come up again.

Mr. T Experience, “Tapin’ Up My Heart”

In Dan Ozzi’s excellent Reply All newsletter, Dr. Frank of the Mr. T Experience ranks his own records, and places this album at the top of the list. I actually usually think the previous record (and #2 on the list) Love is Dead is their best work, but hey, who am I to argue?

Well, that was fun! Nothing like coming back after a big hiatus. I mean, the music was still the same routine, and I’m just typing the same nonsense, so…uh, why do I do this again?

The Greyboy Allstars, “Jack Rabbit”

There are times when I end up with a record, and can’t figure out where it came from or why I have it. This record, I can’t figure out where it came from, but can at least can figure out why I have it. I’m sure I read a good review of it, and I’m just a sucker for instrumental funk, so here we are. Good tune! I should listen to the rest of this, and I would, except I’m going to listen to five random songs. Well, four more.

SIX SONGS

Buck-O-Nine, “Tear Jerky”

I often wonder at the functioning of the human brain. I frequently have trouble using the correct “M” name for the various folks and dogs who live in this house with me (in my defense, I’ve never used the dog’s name for one of the humans, but that time is probably coming). But I can still whistle along to the horn lines of forgotten ska records. Good use of gray matter there!

Nice one today.

Fugazi, “Break-In (version)”

Fugazi released First Demo in 2014, putting out a session from just a year or so into their existence. The songs here would appear on several of their proper releases in a different (and more polished) form. But as a Fugazi obsessive, it’s great to hear how these songs first started shaping up.

New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, “Nelson Mandela”

One of the great questions being debated by Five Songs scholars everywhere is whether I am, in fact, qualified to talk about the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble. It’s well-established in canon that I’m not qualified to talk about jazz, of course. But half jazz? The pro camp: clearly I know some shit about ska, right? The con camp: I’m demonstrably a terminal dipshit.

Nice stuff today.

The Mars Volta, “This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed”

This is from the first Mars Volta album. So, as you can tell, the Mars Volta were swinging for the fences right away. You never really know where they’re going, and that just was more and more true as things went along.

Señor Coconut, “The Robots”

Oh man, you’re all in for a treat. Señor Coconut is a project of electronic artist Uwe Schmidt, who created this album to document a fake Latin group doing an entire album of Kraftwerk covers. It’s pretty much all note-for-note covers of the originals, but with little flourishes here and there. It’s all played with a totally straight face, and it’s 100% delightful. I never knew that I needed fake Latin covers of Kraftwerk, but I did. Very much.

Superchunk was great! I can’t believe I didn’t see them until about 25 years after I first listened to them, but whatever, at least I got the chance. I’m really pleased that their second act has gone well. Today’s music!

Flop, “Sorry Henry Maartens”

Well, we’ve now gotten a song from all three of their albums. This one, Whenever You’re Ready, sort of is a classic demonstration of the “troubled second album” idea. It’s unfocused, and just doesn’t snap the way their debut album did. It’s not bad, exactly, but it just kind of feels diluted compared to the sugar rush of the debut.

Playlist is here.

Dr. Dre, “Talking To My Diary”

Depending on if you count the record The Aftermath as a Dr. Dre album or not, Dre has either made either two or three albums in the 24 years after The Chronic was released. That level of output has rendered each of those records an event. What makes it even stranger is that Compton, the most recent of those records, was supposedly made in just a year. While nothing has ever matched The Chronic, Compton is excellent, and this closing track finds Dre in a meditative mood. Given how brief his solo discography is, and how important he is to the development of the genre, all of his work is worth listening to. But, you know, not right now, because apparently this track can’t be posted on YouTube. I guess we’ll do six songs today.

Today’s music.

Mr. T Experience, “A Weekend In Hogboro”

There’s something sort of Young Fresh Fellows-y about this track, particularly the drumming. Anyway, a nice little instrumental here, proving that the Mr. T Experience’s appeal isn’t all about the often goofy lyrics.

Vince Staples, “Yeah Right”

Big Fish Theory showed up on a lot of year-end lists, and for great reason. In a year without a Kendrick Lamar record, it would have been a real contender for the best rap album of the year. And, would you look at that, this track is actually a collaboration between the two. It is, of course, magnificent. One of the things to love about this album is how Staples worked with a bunch of electronic artists on the production end, adding some really interesting noises to the beats.

Nice set of songs today. I am not posting this on Twitter today because I’m boycotting today in support of the #WomenBoycottTwitter protest going on.

Dumptruck, “Watch Her Fall”

Underground pop act Dumptruck was a favorite of college radio before I really listened to that sort of music, and I eventually gave them a listen after hearing so much about how great they were. They were made out to be The Band That Should Have Made It. And I like them, but I don’t have the connection to them that so many folks who were there seem to have. This comes from the only album I have, Haul of Fame, a retrospective compilation of their entire career that I recommend checking out.

Back and forth between cerebral stuff and straightforward things. It’s the Five Songs way!

The Jam, “Boy About Town”

From Sound Affects, this is just a great song. I could listen to this stuff all day long.

Negativland, “I Believe It’s L”

Negativland’s 1997 album Dispepsi was all about advertising, with a focus on the “cola wars” between Coke and Pepsi. Constructed out of bits of found sound and with a fair number of things that might actually pass for songs, it’s one of the most accessible Negativland albums, along with Escape From Noise and Free. It’s still not normal, mind you, but I’m grading on a curve here. I doubt that this record would resonate with anybody who didn’t grow up surrounded by these ads.