The Pixies

Pixies, “Dead”

I was going to make a “ooh, another Lost 90’s Gem” joke here, as if anybody has ever forgotten the Pixies. And then I remembered, no, this album came out in 1989. Time is an illusion.

Jamire Williams, “Dos Au Soleil”

This is so good. It reminds me of nothing so much as Einstürzende Neubauten, in the way it approaches rhythm and the use of open space in the song. I should really look up more work from Williams.

MC Frontalot, “A Skit About Robots”

Unfortunately for me, I’m exposed to probably an unhealthy amount of what would be described as geek media. That’s largely a consequence of being as into tabletop gaming as I am, and staying on top of new releases and things will inevitably lead to reading about adjacent culture stuff. I’m not proud of it. At any rate, at some point, I had read enough about the existence of nerdcore hip-hop that I decided I should probably listen to at least something. The lead nerdcore guy was MC Frontalot, so I picked up what was his latest album at the time.

Kid Koala, “The Fundamentals”

Floor Kids is the game soundtrack that Kid Koala did, because it’s not enough for him to be a musican, composer, and artist, it was time to work on a game also. It’s a fun rhythm game around breakdancing, and I recommend it, and of course the soundtrack is a good time.

The Skoidats, “Running Riot (live)”

A cover of the song by Cock Sparrer, in case you couldn’t make out the intro. Uh, not a whole lot else to say here.

Mary Wells, “You Beat Me To The Punch”

Lots of Mary Wells recently, which is OK by me!

Olivia Tremor Control, “The Opera House”

Music From The Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle is one of the key documents of the indie pop underground from the mid-90s. Although it hasn’t retained the level of enduring fame as In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, it’s very much a peer to that one. The record nerds who went nuts over Neutral Milk Hotel at the time were already nuts over Olivia Tremor Control.

Devin the Dude, “Do What You Wanna Do”

You’re never going to guess what this song is about! (It’s weed.)

The Pixies, “All the Saints”

23 years passed between Trompe Le Monde and Indie Candy, time where Frank Black spent a lot of time making records with a whole lot of people that weren’t the Pixies. But by the time he got around to making records with them again, it was only a partial reunion. Kim Deal didn’t return to the band, and as much as I like Santiago and Lovering, the first record really sounded like yet another Frank Black project and not the Pixies.

Pixies, “Here Comes Your Man”

A classic. Also a member of the group of songs where I can play both the bass and drums for it.

Fugazi, “Waiting Room (version)”

Another classic! Sounding like my dorm room in here today. Except this isn’t from 7 Songs, it’s the demo version from First Demo, which is a huge amount of fun if you’re a big Fugazi fan. Which I am!

Andrew Bird, “Polynation”

Goddamn! Really hitting some of my favorite artists here! However, this is a just a little interstitial tune from Break It Yourself.

The Orb, “Into The Fourth Dimension: Essenes Beyond Control”

Little Fluffy Clouds was one of the first things that ambient electronic artists The Orb released, and I picked it up as part of a foray into whether I liked electronic music at that time. I knew some folks that were into going to raves and things, and thought, eh, I like industrial enough, maybe I’ll like this too. I never really got into it, though, at least not at that time. Wasn’t too wild about raves either. It wasn’t until I encountered more frantic genres of electronic music that I really got it.

Happy birthday to the most important listener/reader of Five Songs! YES, YOU.

The Pixies, “Where Is My Mind?”

I’m not sure a week doesn’t go by where Dave Lovering’s entry into this song doesn’t go through my head. And that’s without talking about how often the rest of the song goes through my brain. Where is my mind? It’s on the Pixies, most of the time.

The Jesus Lizard, “Mouth Breather”

Speaking of drum parts that go through my head all the time, Mac McNeilly’s drums here are indelibly printed into my head. When I die (probably crushed by a stack of board games falling on me), you’ll be able to slice me open and find the chunk of gray matter assigned to keep track of this. This is essentially a perfect rock song.

Good one today!

Albert King, “Playing On Me”

This merger of King’s blues guitar with the Stax horns, with funk folded in, is just delightful. I need to find some more shit like this. You can add blues to the long list of music that I fundamentally know jack squat about. I’m starting to think I’m not qualified to write a music blog at all!

MU330, “Dropping The Ball”

If you’re going to combine ska and punk, you can’t half-ass it. Full tempo punk with horns, hell yeah! Yeah, this shit’s a laughingstock, but I don’t care. It’s fun! Screw y’all!

I don’t have a ton to say today.

Game Theory, “Exactly What We Don’t Want To Hear”

You know, you should all thank me that I haven’t yet made a “it’s time for some game theory!” joke! Or “joke”, really. Uh, until now, I suppose.

The Spinanes, “Meridian”

There should be more rock duos, in my opinion. The Spinanes don’t suffer from the spare instrumentation at all. It gives more space to focus on the individual elements of the band, which is totally OK with me! I wonder what Rebecca Gates is up to these days? Probably shouldn’t look. Never learn anything, that’s my motto.