Waxahatchee

Waxahatchee, “La Loose”

I went and checked what I’ve said about Waxahatchee in the past, because sometimes I try and avoid repeating myself too much. Sometimes. It was then I discovered that this is the third time we’ve had this exact song. Still good! Go read what I said the last two times! Or not, it’s your time.

Madness, “Razor Blade Alley”

Mostly, the third wave of ska was following in the footsteps of the Specials, but I think that the Madness was also an important ingredient in the mix. In particular, the irreverence of Madness is something that a lot of the third wave really picked up on. The attitude, more so than the music, is one that they borrowed and extended.

Steady Earnest, “Swim”

At this point in Five Songs’ evolution, we’ve had more than 1500 bands on here, and I honestly cannot recall which ones I’ve introduced properly and which ones I have not. The tags help some - if I haven’t tagged a band, I haven’t introduced them! - but are not perfect. Because sometimes I write random shit instead of talking about the band. This is where a more professional approach here would help. I could go back and look at entries for bands and figure out if I’ve said anything real about them. But let’s be honest: that’s not going to happen.

Robustos, “My Little Suede Shoes”

The bands that got famous in the third wave of ska were those that took the second wave and went further towards punk. No Doubt, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, folks like Goldfinger, Save Ferris, a bunch of others, they all leaned heavily on rock to make the sound more appealing to a broader audience. But that left out a bunch of other bands who drew more on the first wave and the original sounds, and who didn’t get the attention. Those are the bands that I mostly continue listening to these days. The Robustos are one of those forgotten bands, who played just straight ska, without mixing stuff in, and this album (Introducing…The Robustos) is a good listen.

Monorchid, “A Was For Anarchy”

Monorchid features two alumni from post-hardcore band Circus Lupus, which will be immediately obvious to anybody who listened to Circus Lupus. This comes from their second album, Who Put Out The Fire?, and it’s a solid chunk of DC post-hardcore. Post-harDCore? If I were to rank this against the Circus Lupus records, I’d probably put it behind Solid Brass and ahead of Super Genius.

Jan Jelinek, “Universal Band Silhouette”

Boy, some songs today that would have been really fast picks for me on “Name That Tune”. The glitchy warmth on the first part of this track is instantly recognizable as Jelinek, in the same way that Chris Thomson’s yelp is instantly recognizable.

The Kinks, “Picture Book”

This song is why I started listening to the Kinks, thanks to the cover of the tune by the Young Fresh Fellows on This One’s For The Ladies. It’s such a jam that I went and looked up where it came from, and I was glad I did. It’s such a good album! The Kinks - check ’em out!

Waxahatchee, “Air”

Waxahatchee has been one of the most consistent bands in indie rock over the last bunch of years. Each album just doesn’t miss. This is from Ivy Tripp, which is the first album I heard, and it’s very good.

Hip-hop and indie rock.

Waxahatchee, “La Loose”

Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield’s band that started as a solo project) appeared on a bunch of best-of lists for 2015 for Ivy Tripp. To my ears, it sounds very much like many of the underground pop/rock bands of the 90s, with lots of echo and jangle all over the place. This, of course, is totally OK with me, I loved the 90s underground! I haven’t had a chance to listen to her most recent album, Out In The Storm yet, but people seemed to really like it also.