Albert King, "Born Under a Bad Sign"
Majestic. I'm just going to fuck this up if I try and write something.
Chemical Brothers, "Block Rockin' Beats"
Last time we had a track from this album, I expressed mystification that the Chemical Brothers had a moment. But you know what? This song is a fuckin' force of nature, of course it was huge. Listen to it!
Indian Handcrafts, "Starcraft"
We're big fans of noisy duos here at Five Songs, so of course Indian Handcrafts is up our alley. They're more towards the Melvins end of things, putting them in the vicinity of Big Business more than anybody. Big stoner vibes, and huge riffs. It's impressive that this is just a guitar and drums.
Bim Skala Bim, "Train Song"
Eyes & Ears is probably Bim Skala Bim's most poppy album. It's still very ska, of course, but the songs are somehow a little softer and it all seems aimed a little more at a general audience. This, for instance, is a Tom Waits song, but it's turned into a cheerful anthem here.
Shellac, "This Is A Picture"
Shellac is adamantly anti-commercial. After At Action Park made some waves, they waited three and a half years before following up with Terraform, which then opens with a twelve minute dirge. Pretty hostile! Once you wade through that, you encounter this song, which is a solid little chunk of math rock. Overall, Terraform is probably the weakest Shellac album, and they would settle in after this record into a more stable orbit.