Wilco

Man Or Astro-Man?, “Organ Smash”

The debut record for Man Or Astro-Man? (Is It Man…Or Astro-Man?) set the template for the rest of their career. All reverbed out and surf-y, with a thick layer of retro science fiction. And they would cheerfully mine the same vein for their entire career, while still somehow basically managing to sound fresh. It’s a neat trick!

Melvins, “see how pretty, see how smart”

The Maggot was the first of a trio of albums that the Melvins recorded for Ipecac after getting bounced off their major label, following a brief tour with Amphetamine Reptile. All the albums were recorded at the same time, but with a different focus. The Maggot is the most Melvins-y of the three, being pretty much wall-to-wall sludge. It’s also tracked super annoyingly, with each song being divided in half (this, technically, is only the first half of this song).

Led Zeppelin, “Since I’ve Been Loving You”

I dunno, I’ve just got a feeling, I’m not sure this band is really gonna ever make it big.

James Brown, “There It Is”

Awwww hell yes, if we’re going back, let’s get the Godfather of Soul! I always wonder a little bit with Brown, if his music sounds so fresh because so much of it was refreshed by hip hop making use of it. I don’t think so, but it’s also impossible for me to listen to this stuff totally clean.

Excellent one today.

Joe Lally, “Message From Earth”

I don’t know why I’m surprised at how minimal Lally is willing to get, given how even the most spare Fugazi songs still had a lot going on. But, it’s silly to get surprised by that, as Lally has always clearly been talented, and there’s no reason to believe he’d just make Fugazi Light once on his own.

J Church, “Chemicals”

We’ve discussed many times how J Church has put out a ton of compilations in their time, but when I look at their normal albums, I think Prophylaxis is my favorite of the bunch. It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly, as J Church didn’t really vary their sound much over the years. I suspect some of that is just that it was one of their earliest, so I spent more time with it. When you encounter an album at 19, it makes an impression! But, whatever, it’s my favorite! You can’t take that away!

Here’s today’s menu.

Leviathan, “-”

This is the intro to Scar Sighted, Leviathan’s 2015 album, a fearsome black metal album. Leviathan is the solo band of Jef Whitehead, who is also notable for starting one of the premier metal labels around, Profound Lore. This track is really just a build up to the start of the of the record, so I guess we’ll tackle it properly next time it comes up, along with maybe the controversy surrounding him.

Kind of wiplashing around today.

Art Brut, “Formed A Band”

This might be the platonic ideal of the Art Brut song, a song where you legitimately can’t tell if they’re putting you on or not. I think they’re doing both, it’s dead serious as well as an arch joke. Like, it’s many layers of put on that just wraps around itself. Putonception.

They Might Be Giants, “Destroy the Past”

You know, I never actually saw Inception.

WOAH. Kinda blacked out there for a little bit. But we’re back! We’re using a new service! This time it’s all running on all our own shit so it should be solid! I’m only at the mercy of the software! And the device it’s running on! And my home network! And…hang on, I’ll come in again.

Aw, who cares? The rock stopped, and now it’s going again. I think I even have most of my own music back. Let’s do this! HIT IT, PLEXASAURUS REX!

OK, let’s see if we can do better than that low energy thing yesterday. Whatcha got, shuffle?

Dawnbringer, “Nobody There”

Pure heavy metal revivalism, Dawnbringer has decided to see if they can just play this stuff totally straight and manage to not sound totally cheesy. Do they pull it off? Well…I don’t know. It’s reasonably well done, I guess, but by and large I’d pretty much rather just listen to Sabbath. Decent for an occasional change of pace.

Some great songs today.

Wilco, “ELT”

You know, this might be the first time I’ve had a song come up on Five Songs after I had listened to it by choice earlier that day. This is not an interesting fact.

Anyway, Summerteeth is fantastic. Tweedy made a basically clean break entirely from the alt-country that had been present on all of his albums up to this point, and made just a straight up pop record. And it’s so good! Lush and orchestral at times, slow and contemplative at others, it’s a tour de force.

Good stuff today.

Wilco, “Old Maid”

Fundamentally, I just like hearing Jeff Tweedy sing. I think it kind of comes down to that. This isn’t a revolutionary song or anything, but it’s a pleasant, the arrangement is nice, and Tweedy is great. That’s just the bottom line for me.

Guided By Voices, “Queen Of Cans And Jars”

Like a Wilco song, if half of the players were located in a different room from the mic and the singer was in a different house.

Less talk, more…rock? today.

Negativland, “Seat Bee Sate”

This is another track from an Over The Edge compilation, this time Volume 8: Sex Dirt. Still nonsense, of course.

Weezer, “Butterfly”

Pinkerton really is their best album, y’all. I still don’t know why I have four of their albums.

Broken Social Scene, “Lover’s Spit”

Another good song from Broken Social Scene. I guess I have to pay more attention to them, huh? We’re all learning around here! I’m learning I like bands I already own music to, and you’re all learning that Five Songs is run by a dumbass!