A Bunch of Fives (New Challenge Thread)

[Kory]

Devin Davis - Iron Woman
The songwriting tricks are interesting, I would put this in my Weezer/Fountains of Wayne pop category. Some cool tones and I really liked the sax solo (wish it was a bit louder). I wasn't a huge fan of his voice, but seems like good music for a summer drive. 6/10

Titus Andronicus – Dimed Out
This reminds me of somebody from the 70s, like a cross between the Pogues, Sham 69 and one of the pub rock bands that got lumped in with punk. It's got a hard-poppin' nostalgia flavor that's pretty cool, good energy. Your note that most of their songs are 10 minutes long is intriguing to me. 8/10

Bartees Strange – Boomer
Lots a good dynamic shifts, cool bass, catchy. It's hard to argue with this one, I'll be checking more of this out. edit: checking more of this out, it's got a major Bloc Party element to it. 9/10

Bad Moves – Spirit FM
Short and sweet, would have liked a little more edge on the guitar sound. The singer was a little forgettable, I suppose, but this would probably be fun live. 6/10

Max Roach - Driva Man
Great personnel on this in addition to Max. This kind of stuff is my bread and butter, so 10/10

[gkbill]

Hello,

Devin Davis - good energy, about the right amount chaotic and sloppy (without too chaotic or sloppy) - I'd like to hear an electrified version. 8/10

Titus Andronicus - this is a really good, bordering on great band - I've followed them since The Monitor - this sounds like it might fit on The Obelisk (home of (I Blame) Society - my favorite Titus Andronicus track). 9/10

Bartees Strange - catchy, good pop influences. 7/10

Bad Moves - good catchy guitar pop/rock (you can pick one) - the vocals caught me as a bit odd - they might not sound odd the next time I listen. 8/10

Max Roach - not really my kind of stuff - it's okay but a bit boring and pretentious (as a point of reference, if I want sax jazz, I put on James Chance). NA

Overall, this is a fun batch of tracks. Thanks!

[matedog]

Devin Davis - Iron Woman
The songwriting tricks are interesting, I would put this in my Weezer/Fountains of Wayne pop category. Some cool tones and I really liked the sax solo (wish it was a bit louder). I wasn't a huge fan of his voice, but seems like good music for a summer drive. 6/10

Titus Andronicus – Dimed Out
This reminds me of somebody from the 70s, like a cross between the Pogues, Sham 69 and one of the pub rock bands that got lumped in with punk. It's got a hard-poppin' nostalgia flavor that's pretty cool, good energy. Your note that most of their songs are 10 minutes long is intriguing to me. 8/10

Bartees Strange – Boomer
Lots a good dynamic shifts, cool bass, catchy. It's hard to argue with this one, I'll be checking more of this out. edit: checking more of this out, it's got a major Bloc Party element to it. 9/10

Bad Moves – Spirit FM
Short and sweet, would have liked a little more edge on the guitar sound. The singer was a little forgettable, I suppose, but this would probably be fun live. 6/10

Max Roach - Driva Man
Great personnel on this in addition to Max. This kind of stuff is my bread and butter, so 10/10

Always interesting to see everyone's feedback. For example, I thought Spirit FM was the easiest sell and seemed to go over the best with everyone, but it was your least favorite. I did get a bit of Bloc Party as well with Bartees. Some of his other stuff is more kinda folky indie which isn't as exciting, but nice when packaged together with the uptempo rock stuff.

As for long Titus songs, I'll just go for it, here's the 14 minute one with the bagpipe solo:

[oliver]

Devin Davis 7/10
Hard to describe this one. I don't love it, I don't hate it but I'm not indifferent to it either. I think it confuses me a bit for the reasons you describe. I'm not particularly fond of the strangled vocal but I like it when he pushes it further (i.e. 00:40 --> 00:45ish)
I don't like the sax solo but I like the way the song falls apart at the end

Titus Andronicus 6.5/10
I had flashbacks of Jilted John during the intro :) but I can't get the image of Vim out of my head after Heston mentioned it.
Little one-dimensional the way the vocal follows the chords which I'm not necessarily opposed to but I found it a bit much here.

Bartees Strange 7/10
Kind of schizophrenic and almost sounds like a mash-up of multiple songs but it works. I'd like to hear his voice a little clearer - maybe it's my cloth ears but it's a little muddy (TBF, I'm not listening on a high-end system here)

Bad Moves 7/10
This one is growing on me. At first I was a little 'meh, sounds like a bad film theme' (what I mean is the film is bad, not the song) but after a couple of listens I'm getting into it more and more. I love a song with a proper ending too, none of that fade-out nonsense.

Max Roach 6/10
I think I would have much preferred this without the jazzy interludes. The sparse voice/drum part was a lot more effective and made me pay attention, the jazz part had me drifting off.

[Heston]

Kory up next I think.

[Kory]

Kory up next I think.

I'll try to post it today.

[revbob]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

[matedog]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

I was going to do a garage rock themed 5 and I thought, "revbob'll like this more than usual," but mixed it up at the last minute.

[Heston]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

It's fine to post late reviews. Tom is about 2 months behind and it's his thread.

[revbob]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

I was going to do a garage rock themed 5 and I thought, "revbob'll like this more than usual," but mixed it up at the last minute.

I do enjoy Titus Andronicus and should probably do a deeper dive there. They came to town recently pre-covid but I missed it. I dont have a lot of people to join me in such endeavors in recent years. I need a better, or perhaps different class of friends.

[revbob]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

It's fine to post late reviews. Tom is about 2 months behind and it's his thread.

True dat!

[BitterTom]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

Tom is about 2 months behind and it's his thread.

Just call me Boris.

[Heston]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

Tom is about 2 months behind and it's his thread.

Just call me Boris.

I read that to the tune of The Joker by Steve Miller Band and expected a wolf whistle after it.

[revbob]

Kory up next I think.

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

Tom is about 2 months behind and it's his thread.

Just call me Boris.

I read that to the tune of The Joker by Steve Miller Band and expected a wolf whistle after it.

Some people call me Boreese?

[Heston]

I still need to review Matey's 5 which remarkably Im pretty agreeable with. I was expecting Taylor Swift and Cally Ray Jepson and that ilk. Im still in shock.

Tom is about 2 months behind and it's his thread.

Just call me Boris.

I read that to the tune of The Joker by Steve Miller Band and expected a wolf whistle after it.

Some people call me Boreese?

The very one.