A Bunch of Fives (New Challenge Thread)

[revbob]

Nilüfer Yanya – Heavyweight Champion of the Year
Hate the vocals and the song basically meanders with a build up to not much.
2/10

Jeff Rosenstock – Scram!
New to me and enjoyable 6.5/10

Empress Of – When I’m With Him
Why do you hate me? Painful, I had to stop long before it finished. 0/10

Royal Headache – Love Her If I Tried
Really enjoy the music, no wasting my time, got right into it. Vocals are strong, lyrics were not. 6.5/10.

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
Not my thing 2/10

Overall considering the usual divergence in our musical tastes Im not surprised by the outcome but also comforted by the common ground on 2 of them.

[Heston]

Lining them up now. I fear for the future of Hoyston.

[revbob]

Lining them up now. I fear for the future of Hoyston.

This will be telling for sure.

[Heston]

Nilüfer Yanya – Heavyweight Champion of the Year
I really enjoyed this. Thought the vocal was great. Love the texture of the guitar and the vocal harmonies. Reminded me of Joan Armatrading a bit. Only criticism is I think the drums should have kicked in earlier in places. 8/10

Jeff Rosenstock – Scram!
I really like this but a slightly leaner arrangement would have hit the spot better. Thoroughly enjoyable though. 8/10

Empress Of – When I’m With Him
Decent pop tune, the chorus started registering nicely on the third play. Nice use of Honky Tonk Women for the drums. 6/10

Royal Headache – Love Her If I Tried
This weirdly reminds me of early Motorhead. Pretty good stuff. 7.5/10

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
If the song had just started at 2:40 this would have got a 8. Loses 2 points for the drivel at the start. 6/10.

[Heston]

Hoyston lives to fight another day.

[Dr. Medulla]

Nilüfer Yanya – Heavyweight Champion of the Year
I’m actually okay with the vocals when they’re more understated and deadish, but the croaking is sand in the vaseline. I do like the sparse instrumentation quite a bit—it adds gravity to the vocals. Which makes it especially a shame that that croak guts the impact. Nevertheless, I give it a lot of credit for never sounding conventional. Listening, I was never sure where it was going to go next, so it certainly kept me engaged.

Jeff Rosenstock – Scram!
It has energy, that’s undeniable, but it neither commits to serious noise or a notable melody. It just kind of hovers in a generic ska punk zone. If I was more sympathetic to ska punk maybe I’d like this more. But I'm not so I don't.

Empress Of – When I’m With Him
Nothing I’d ever buy or even pirate, but it has genuine charm. The rhythm track somehow manages to be too much yet quite hypnotic.

Royal Headache – Love Her If I Tried
Quick and dirty and basic. The vocals are neither here not there for me. I’d say they’re serviceable, but I’d rather listen to the rest of band than him.

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
This is so over-the-top and maudlin that I’m sold. But I have a perverse weak spot for those schlocky 70s country tunes. They’re fake as a rug but they work by overselling. Then it suddenly goes in a completely different direction at 2.40 for some reason. Yeah, I like this one a lot.

[matedog]

Nilüfer Yanya – Heavyweight Champion of the Year
Hate the vocals and the song basically meanders with a build up to not much.
2/10

Jeff Rosenstock – Scram!
New to me and enjoyable 6.5/10

Empress Of – When I’m With Him
Why do you hate me? Painful, I had to stop long before it finished. 0/10

Royal Headache – Love Her If I Tried
Really enjoy the music, no wasting my time, got right into it. Vocals are strong, lyrics were not. 6.5/10.

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
Not my thing 2/10

Overall considering the usual divergence in our musical tastes Im not surprised by the outcome but also comforted by the common ground on 2 of them.

Overlap on 20-25% and a strong aversion to the remaining portion seems about right for revhoy.

[matedog]

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
This is so over-the-top and maudlin that I’m sold. But I have a perverse weak spot for those schlocky 70s country tunes. They’re fake as a rug but they work by overselling. Then it suddenly goes in a completely different direction at 2.40 for some reason. Yeah, I like this one a lot.

I knew the Stax rave up would go over well, but was waiting to see who would be into the whole package. Sturgill is a fascinating artist - he's country, but a leftist and his last album was like a hard rock/psych/funk with an actual Japanese anime film tie-in. He's certainly unique.

[revbob]

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
This is so over-the-top and maudlin that I’m sold. But I have a perverse weak spot for those schlocky 70s country tunes. They’re fake as a rug but they work by overselling. Then it suddenly goes in a completely different direction at 2.40 for some reason. Yeah, I like this one a lot.

I knew the Stax rave up would go over well, but was waiting to see who would be into the whole package. Sturgill is a fascinating artist - he's country, but a leftist and his last album was like a hard rock/psych/funk with an actual Japanese anime film tie-in. He's certainly unique.

So I did revisit this song. TBH I'd bailed before it got interesting. I did enjoy the last 3rd of the song but the first 2/3 were not doing me any favors. Upgrade from 2/10 to 6/10, especially if I ignore the first part.

[Dr. Medulla]

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
This is so over-the-top and maudlin that I’m sold. But I have a perverse weak spot for those schlocky 70s country tunes. They’re fake as a rug but they work by overselling. Then it suddenly goes in a completely different direction at 2.40 for some reason. Yeah, I like this one a lot.

I knew the Stax rave up would go over well, but was waiting to see who would be into the whole package. Sturgill is a fascinating artist - he's country, but a leftist and his last album was like a hard rock/psych/funk with an actual Japanese anime film tie-in. He's certainly unique.

Postmodern country is a genre that should exist.

[oliver]

Nilüfer Yanya 5/10
I don't know. I liked this to a point but the vocals did get a 'bit much' for me in the end. If it had ended around the 3 minute mark I'd have been a couple more points generous. Maybe if I could have made out a single word of the lyrics I might have been more engaged.


Jeff Rosenstock 6.5/10
I had high hopes after the intro and the verse but the chorus didn't do anything for me and dragged the score down a point. Not that I disliked it but I wanted to like it more because I did enjoy the bouncy bass


Empress Of 4/10
Inoffensive and not really something that appeals to me. If I was hitting 'scan' on the radio and this came up there would be nothing to compel me to stop. I can see how some people would like it a lot though.


Royal Headache 7/10
Nice - it sounded 60s, garagey but not derivative. Really grew on me. If I'd have written this tomorrow it would probably have been an 8


Sturgill Simpson 6/10 and 8/10 so 7/10
On first listen (to the first half) I was thinking how could I be polite here when reviewing but something flipped and I kind of liked it. Then the switch came at 2:40 and I didn't want it to end. Such an interesting song.


There are some real growers here... stuff I'd have probably discarded without a solid recommendation in our current 'give-me-what-I-want-now' way of consuming music.

[Kory]

Nilüfer Yanya – Heavyweight Champion of the Year
Some of her cadences and leaps in melody reminded me a bit of what Caroline Polachek has been doing lately. I like how this builds, but I have to say I might have chosen a different base instrument—like late-period Mick Jones, I'm kind of off guitar right now, especially as a basic muted backing. Otherwise, I found this interesting and am curious about other songs. 8/10

Jeff Rosenstock – Scram!
I loathe whoever mixes performances on the late night shows, it's always so gutless. I can tell there's something valuable here, but it's all sucked out by the weak mix. Good energy, there's some 60s pop influence, some very obvious Pinkerton-era Weezer-isms. Overall fun. 8/10

Empress Of – When I’m With Him
In a bit of synchronicity, I was just introduced to this artist a couple weeks ago. I liked the albums I heard, though this song is a little on the basic side to appeal to me. As a single, I think it needs a slightly stronger hook—there's something about the melody that feels slightly dated to me, though I'm not sure I can put my finger on it. Good production though. 6/10

Royal Headache – Love Her If I Tried
A good, if basic, song. The hi-hat is a little hot in the mix, which sucks some of the power out of the guitars. The bass has good presence and use of harmony though, so that's a bonus for me. Really like the unresolved final chord. I don't know if I'd check these guys out if their sound is as basic as this, it sort of reminds me of the whole Hives/Jet/Vines era of garage rock that didn't really turn my head, but I'd much rather listen to this than any of those three. 7/10

Sturgill Simpson – Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
I first became familiar with this guy through the Jarmusch meta-zombie film The Dead Don't Die, in which he's mentioned by name as well as being the main soundrack piece. I also have a big problem with contemporary country, particularly because all the male singers sound exactly the same, which is a trap Simpson also falls into (with a dash of Kermit). However, much as you note, there's something very different about him stylistically and even philosophically, and I hope he can inject some freshness into the whole genre, sort of how R&B has been turned on its head over the last 10 years. 7/10

[matedog]

Jeff Rosenstock – Scram!
I loathe whoever mixes performances on the late night shows, it's always so gutless. I can tell there's something valuable here, but it's all sucked out by the weak mix. Good energy, there's some 60s pop influence, some very obvious Pinkerton-era Weezer-isms. Overall fun. 8/10

I chose the late night clip because they have a great energy live and you get more political edge with the BLM facemask, etc. Not sure if you notice the digitally inserted bass player too (they spin exit him at the end of the song to make it very clear he's not actually in the room, I found it charming). Here's the real video for it:


As for Royal Headache, the big appeal to me is the strong and unique soul influence to the vocals. He does some serious runs that you would never hear in this kind of garage rock, particularly the bands you mention. I was vacillating between a few different songs of theirs and went with "Love Her If I Tried" because it seemed to have the most immediate hook, maybe not the best demonstration of what their main appeal is to me (but not a bad one).

Thanks guys. That was fun feedback from the typically cantankerous revbob to the more technical approach from Kory. I don't know if anyone else still needs to go. If not, I nominate Kory to go next unless I'm forgetting someone else's turn.

[WestwayKid]

1. I thought I didn’t like this song until about halfway through. I didn’t mind the slow build and the muted instrumentation, but there was something about her voice that I didn’t care for. It was a little too swoopy if that makes sense. It all came together in the end, however. Her voice worked better with more music behind her. I’m giving this one a 5 out of 10.
2. I had to find a non-facemask version, but I dig this song. Sort of pop-punk, but with a slightly rougher edge. It’s catchy and powerful. A real toe tapper. This one gets a 7 out of 10.
3. This is right in my wheelhouse. I love synthpop (sorry revbob). A bit subdued, I kept waiting for a big pop chorus to breakout. 6 out of 10 on this one. I liked it, but I’ve heard better.
4. The best of the bunch. Good track. I like his rough, yet melodic, voice. Fast, garage sounding drums. Crunchy guitars with some decent glam hooks. I’m definitely going to check out more of their stuff. 9 out of 10.
5. Sturgill is awesome. I was already quite familiar with this track. He’s got such a great voice. This track is a great throwback to classic late 70’s and early 80’s country, complete with a string section. Again, what a voice. The lyrics choke me up a bit (they’re about his son). This whole album is great and I give this song 10 out of 10.

[Kory]

Jeff Rosenstock – Scram!
I loathe whoever mixes performances on the late night shows, it's always so gutless. I can tell there's something valuable here, but it's all sucked out by the weak mix. Good energy, there's some 60s pop influence, some very obvious Pinkerton-era Weezer-isms. Overall fun. 8/10

I chose the late night clip because they have a great energy live and you get more political edge with the BLM facemask, etc. Not sure if you notice the digitally inserted bass player too (they spin exit him at the end of the song to make it very clear he's not actually in the room, I found it charming). Here's the real video for it:


As for Royal Headache, the big appeal to me is the strong and unique soul influence to the vocals. He does some serious runs that you would never hear in this kind of garage rock, particularly the bands you mention. I was vacillating between a few different songs of theirs and went with "Love Her If I Tried" because it seemed to have the most immediate hook, maybe not the best demonstration of what their main appeal is to me (but not a bad one).

Thanks guys. That was fun feedback from the typically cantankerous revbob to the more technical approach from Kory. I don't know if anyone else still needs to go. If not, I nominate Kory to go next unless I'm forgetting someone else's turn.

I'll go. I'm still flip-flopping on my 5th entry, but I just have to pull the trigger.