A Bunch of Fives (New Challenge Thread)

[Flex]

Now to matey's:

Softee – Oh No
Not bad, I like this kind of stuff from time to time, but I usually wish stuff like this was like 1.5 times as fast. It does get a bit livelier at moments, I might give it a point or two higher if it cut out like the first minute and a half. 5/10

KennyHoopla – how will I rest in peace if I’m buried by a highway?
Ahh yeah, these sounds make me feel old (but I'll say that's good for points rather than deductions in this case). Some good impassioned vocal work and the way the band ups the energy just the right touch at around 2:30 is perfect for this kinda music. 6.5/10

Sheer Mag – Nobody’s Baby
Now we're cooking with gas. Love the big sounds that start right out and the grimy vocal work. This song sneers and rocks, which is always a good combo, imho. Nice little guitar solo too. Not for nothing, but I love the music video too. 8/10

Camp Cope – The Opener
A song that's really designed to showcase its lyrics, and does it well. Which doesn't mean that its careless or that the music is secondary, but the song has a very good sense of purpose. This reminds me of a more indie version of Lucinda Williams, in terms of the vocalist's sound. That's a good thing. As you say in your write up, matey, biting stuff. 8/10

Blood Orange – You’re Not Good Enough
This is fun, as you and others have commented definitely an 80s and prince inspired funk vibe which is enjoyable. This is squarely in the area of "music I enjoy when it's on, but am not particularly passionate about." I love that bass line tho, and some of the synth work has an almost horror-movie vibe which I like. 7/10

A nice selection matey. Some tracks that circle my areas of interest and then a couple that really get right to my heart. Nice picks.

[matedog]

I get busy at work for one week and I'm all of a sudden four weeks behind.

Jennifer Rostock - Feuer
Real fun rocker. Hooky, cool keys, driving drums, a clap track, even a key change. There's a lot to like here. 8/10

SEEED - Komm in mein Haus
Solid hook and solid groove. Doesn't move me too much, but it's well done.

Wir Sind Helden - Rüssel an Schwanz
Real cool chorus, love the keys and off beat guitar. This sounds like it could have come out in 1979 and I mean that in a good way. 7/10.

Erobique - Wann strahlst du?
Some of the melodies are very familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. The instrumentation has a nice 70's throwback feel, but I don't think ultimately amount to much. 5/10.

Faber - Das Boot ist voll
I was not a fan of the deep, soft, spoken parts, but I like how it rises to the kinda screaming parts. Interesting arrangement. This isn't a straightforward listen, especially with the language barrier, but it's intriguing. 7/10.

[Flex]

Onto Kory's picks!

Crumb—Locket:
I was getting ready to give it a "too long" verdict but at 3:30 the shift happened which I really dug and kept me going with the song through the end. Probably would be better on psychedelics, but this is still quite nicely done. 6.5/10

The Internet—Get Away:
For a hot second I was really into Odd Future stuff, so got into Syd's early stuff and that first The Internet release. It's nice to revisit and I think Syd & co. have gotten more refined since I last checked in (in a good way). 8/10

Glasser—Mirrorage:
Vocoder for the win. This mostly sounds like singing over a musical score (a good one), and there's pleasure in that. Does what it intends to do, I imagine. 7/10

Pylon—Dub:
Good, scratcy post-punk. I actually am not too familiar with Pylon outside of the name but I love how aggressive this feels (especially compared to the last few picks). Will have to check these guys out more. 8/10


Sorry—Things to Hold Onto:
I was surprised for a moment that you selected a track from the 80s Boston post-hardcore outfit that would feature some Mission of Burma members on their records, but this makes more sense. Love the staticy, jarring storytime aesthetic. Will probably hunt some more down by these folks. 8/10

Solid selections, Kory. You have an aesthetic you mine, and you come up with good selections from it.

[Heston]

OLAF

Jennifer Rostock - Feuer
Really liked this. I might be stereotyping here but it sounds like a great Nena song. 8/10

SEEED - Komm in mein Haus
Yeah, quite like this, a pleasant three minutes. 7/10

Wir Sind Helden - Rüssel an Schwanz
This one never really grabbed me. 5/10

Erobique - Wann strahlst du?
Love the groove, great bass. This kind of reminded me of another tune but I can't put my finger on it. 7/10

Faber - Das Boot ist voll
Voices this deep unnerve me. That's why I was never a Tom Waits fan. 4/10

[Flex]

We're onto Oliver's Army of five tunes:

Smiley Culture - Police Officer
I have definitely never heard this before but it screams classic. I assume this was some sort of hit back in the day? Just really well executed reggae. 8/10

Amiri Baraka - Who Will Survive America?
This is insanely good. The music is actually hot shit good and obviously the vocals are a centerpiece of the song, propelling the whole thing. Don't think I've ever heard this, but as I've documented in this thread I'm a definite sucker for talking/preaching type style songs. The background vocals on repeat add a sense of frenzy. 9/10

Folk Implosion - Natural One
God, I fucking love Folk Implosion. I haven't heard them (or this song in a while) but it's pure uncut classic imho. What a band. 10/10

Blaze Foley - Clay Pigeons
I'm mildly familiar with Foley - one of those guys whose songs have been performed by other good artists. This is good performance of Austin-flavored country. I don't have much more than that, but now I'm thinking I should pick up a Foley comp one of these days. 7/10

Tony Butler - Here Comes the First One
Big Country with some strong dad rock vibes, which isn't necessarily a criticism. Can't beat the message, though as someone who is, at best, a casual Big Country fan getting a cotemporary derivative is probably a little lost on me. Could stand to trim a minute or so. 6.5/10

Really solid picks, Oliver. Not much I was familiar with (but you hit it out of the park on the one I was) and a few more I need to add into my rotation or otherwise check out further.

[Heston]

Fuck me, the reviews are coming in thick and fast!

[Flex]

Time for Count Olaf's picks. Finally, to not have to worry about the content of the lyrics. Five picks in non-english automatically get points on the board for every song, lol.

Jennifer Rostock - Feuer
Real good driving punk-ish rock. Great drumbeat and love the big choruses. I can imagine this being quite a hit live. 8/10

SEEED - Komm in mein Haus
Great dubby sound on this one, contemporary without being the kind of modern dancehall that sometimes really annoys me. Nice horns and backing vocals too that elide some soul influences. Another 8/10

Wir Sind Helden - Rüssel an Schwanz
Great driving bass and, uh, honking and flautist type sounds that I can only imagine are what your scrap trucks sound like as they drive through the neighborhood. This one has a nice sheen across the music that mostly works, I think. The videogame sounds are... mostly... a strength. 7/10

Erobique - Wann strahlst du?
I have no idea how to describe what's going on here precisely but I really, really like it. It's smooth but unsettling with some really nice backing arrangements that almost feel a touch Beatles-post-psych-esque at times. I assume the animals on the cover murdered, ate and are now performing as the musicians. 9/10

Faber - Das Boot ist voll
I don't know what the guy's singing about precisely, but in the U.S. I think we'd all assume this is some sort of German courtship song/video. Great, unsettling atmosphere. 8/10, I think.

These were great, Olaf. All of them were able to overcome the essential problem that (likely) the intended audience wouldn't understand the words. Mark of a good song, that.

[Flex]

Time for Doc's affirmative action picks

Au Revoir Simone, “Crazy”
I don't think I've ever seen After Hours so the film conceit is lost on me (although I'm sure I've seen stills since some of the scenes look familiar). Musically, this is good, propulsive indie rock with hooks and drive to keep the song going. It's obviously all sorts of hipstery throwbacky but it avoids sounded hopelessly dated or corny. I'm gonna blast this song in the car when I'm driving around.

Kitten, “Cut It Out”
Some industrial-ish type beats here counterbalance the vocals quite nicely. You point to the narrative arc of the video, which complements the song, and it's a strong point here. If there's a criticism, it's that towards the end there's a bit of same-ness that threatens to dissolve some of the contours of the tune, but I think they smartly wrap the song before that really kicks in. Good stuff.

Drug Store Romeos, “Frame of Reference”
I wouldn't argue that as an attitude this definitely fits in with at least one of the definitions of punk. On the merits of the song itself, I like it. It's catchy and basic and the charming video works in its favor. I'm sure there are other sub-genres that these folks would also fall into, but a lot of the elements that make punk fun are present here so you end up at the same place either way, really.

Midwife, “S.W.I.M.”
Midwife is a pretty good mindfuck live. Go see her if you get a chance, folks. I don't think I have this tune, it's a good representation.

The Innocence Mission, “There”
My eBay app, out of the blue, recommended to me that I buy a copy of the king james bible. Now I know why. This is perfectly fine stuff, but again the I dunno jangly or 80s indie guitar inspired stuff or whatever you'd call it just never really gets anywhere above "fine" for me. I don't dislike it, but it just kinda sits there for me.

Really strong selections, Doc. At most, only one track that wouldn't lead me to snatch up an album from the given band and/or see them live or whatever.

[revbob]

Fuck me, the reviews are coming in thick and fast!

Yeah Doc cant stop this freight train with his rules n stuff.

[Flex]

And here we are onto gkbill!

Cowbell - Tallulah
God this is so fucking cool. It's greasy and rockin' and stomping, three of my favorite things. Great video too, I'm near plenty of landscape like that (minus the water) and I can see myself blasting this song out while we're heading to a trailhead or something. 9/10

Sons of Kemet - The Castle of my Skin
And now for something completely different. I was curious so looked this band up. Lots of indie and jazz credentials, which makes sense. I love the marching band influences here, very different and creative. I was worried the length would end up being a turn off but this mines the same territory that the drone-y type stuff folks post does just with some different style. This is really good, interesting stuff. Will definitely be checking more out. 8/10

Streetlight Manifesto - The Three of Us
I (obviously?) am a big Streetlight Manifesto guy, and this is one of their great tunes. Killer contemporary Ska. Well, when I say contemporary, I almost can't believe this song (and record) are almost 10 years old now, jesus. 10/10

The Bobby Lees - damn, more punk stuff.
Another winner here. Not familiar with these folks but there's some great frentic energy here that played a little straighter would menacing but there's just a little too much fun being had here for that (all to the good, in my opinion). This has what I love a lot: bashing this shit out of your respective instruments and gettin' wild. Each member of the band is a bundle of pure enery, rock and roll. 9/10

Unschooling - More is More.
Yeah, good call, this is definite Devo-inpsired stuff. The hardcore devo stuff. I just fucking love my music played with some speed and this does that. More broadly than Devo, this would slot in well with lots of that edgy, nervy new york punk and post punk. It's music that makes you want to lose your mind a little. 8.5/10

Mission accomplished on the new material. Uniformly very strong stuff here, you can build playlists for me any time, bill.

[Flex]

It's actually kinda fun to shotgun a bunch of folks picks in a row. You get a bunch of different musical tastes back to back to back to back. I think it'd be easier on my schedule to actually do these once a week tho.

[revbob]

It's actually kinda fun to shotgun a bunch of folks picks in a row. You get a bunch of different musical tastes back to back to back to back. I think it'd be easier on my schedule to actually do these once a week tho.

Yeah, you can get in a nice groove though when you do a bunch.

[Dr. Medulla]

Time for Doc's affirmative action picks

Shut up, man. I'm tryin' to get laid here.

Thanks for the comments. You *need* to see After Hours. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to see it. It's driven by a Kafkaesque humour that I think most everyone here would embrace.

[revbob]

Time for Doc's affirmative action picks

Shut up, man. I'm tryin' to get laid here.

Thanks for the comments. You *need* to see After Hours. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to see it. It's driven by a Kafkaesque humour that I think most everyone here would embrace.

After Hours is very cool. Need to see it again its been a while.

[Dr. Medulla]

Time for Doc's affirmative action picks

Shut up, man. I'm tryin' to get laid here.

Thanks for the comments. You *need* to see After Hours. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to see it. It's driven by a Kafkaesque humour that I think most everyone here would embrace.

After Hours is very cool. Need to see it again its been a while.

Whenever someone in a movie or tv show does the Klondike-5 thing, I respond, “Not enough numbers but okay.“