Yo La Tengo

Sorry we’ve missed a couple days around here. I’m gonna lie and say it’s not going to happen again. All good now! Here’s today.

Tricky, “Demise”

We’ve heard from Portishead and Massive Attack, and now it’s time to hear from the other giant of trip-hop, Tricky. Tricky’s debut, Maxinquaye, ranks up there with Dummy and Blue Lines as one of the masterpieces of electronic music from the early to mid 90s. Alas, this does not come from Maxinquaye, but from the much later Angels With Dirty Faces, which is only so-so.

Four new bands! And a reminder, if you have thoughts about the future of Five Songs, let me know!

The Counts, “Pack Of Lies”

There are endless great soul records out there from the 70s, and even with how many of these records have been revived by hip-hop artists, there are always still more to discover. J-Zone has mentioned several times that What’s Up Front That Counts by the Counts is one of his favorites, and goddamn, of course it’s great. Also, dig that bit that Dre flipped on “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?”!

Today’s music.

Presidents of the United States of America, “Blank Baby”

This song comes from Freaked Out And Small, by which time most people had long since moved on. The major labels certainly had, as the Presidents found themselves back on an indie label. But that’s fine, they were still putting together fun stuff. And maybe that’s what’s so enjoyable about the Presidents. They always legitimately sounds like they’re having fun, and it’s infectious. I don’t think this album beats their second one, but it’s still very good.

Going to see Superchunk tonight, pretty excited about that! Here’s today’s music.

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, “A Perfect Kind Of Love”

Hey, I asked for more soul yesterday, and shuffle delivered! Nice. OK, uh, uh, how about…some mid 90s indie rock?

Marvin Gaye, “You Sure Love To Ball (Single Mix)”

Yeah, more soul, that’s what I said!

One of the things that you can really appeciate about old soul is how subtle it all was. Just sly innuendo and clever wordplay.

Today starts out as slow as it gets, but don’t worry, that part doesn’t last long.

TV On The Radio, “Black”

Yes, it’s another 15 seconds of silence. TV On The Radio is, thus far, by far the clubhouse leader in “Most Annoying Contributions to Five Songs”.

(NB: I searched for “fifteen seconds of silence” and put that in the playlist instead of, you know, TV On The Radio’s fifteen seconds of silence. Think of it as a cover version.)

From a musty 70s basement to the sound of future rap, today’s Five Songs has you covered.

Space Rock, “Dark Days”

So, here’s a true oddity for you. Numero Group, a record label primarily doing reissues (and doing a great job!), released Cities of Darkscorch, a fantasy board game where you’re playing as a hard rock band, traveling around the world defeating monsters and questing. It was accompanied by a double LP, Wayfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles, which was full of Sabbath and Zeppelin inspired heavy rock from a variety of acts. It all kind of tries to function as a time machine back to the early days of gaming, and ends up being a pretty unique package. I’m not sure it’s all good, exactly, but I’m sure glad I own it.

I wonder at what point I start hitting diminishing returns on this thing. 200 articles? 300? 500? I suppose I’ll find out. Let’s fire up the music!

Yo La Tengo, “The Summer”

Well, personally, I remain resolutely un-fired up. This is from Fakebook, a quiet covers album that is the least noisy thing they ever made by a long ways. Yo La Tengo have always had two sides, and this album really only emphasizes the folk-ish side of the band.

I think we’re on a streak here, with another strong collection of songs for this entry. Take a listen and see if you agree.

Willie Nelson, “Undo The Right”

This is from Crazy: The Demo Sessions, a compilation of very early demos of Nelson performing a bunch of his songs, some of which ended up becoming very famous. “Crazy” as recorded by Patsy Cline, for instance. The songs on this album are all pretty spare arrangements, mostly just Nelson and his guitar. I’m far from a Nelson expert, so I have no real pointers on where to go with his discography, but this album is very good. Makes for a disorienting duet when you have two copies of the song going at once, though.