μ-ziq, "Johnny Mastricht"
Electronic artist μ-ziq is the moniker of Michael Paradinas. Designed not for clubs but for headphones, μ-ziq had a great run of really interesting, inventive albums. The prize record is the fantastic Lunatic Harness, but the follow-up Royal Astronomy is great as well. This album, Bilious Paths, is very good but is a little off his peak.
Einstürzende Neubauten, "Mei Ro"
This track is from The Jewels, a compilation of a series of tracks that Neubauten posted on their site. The tracks themselves were the product of a series of formal experiments, with the band participating in games to generate constraints, and the songs were all put together very rapidly, a day or so. The results are interesting but not always super gripping.
Don Caballero, "Well Built Road"
Another song from For Respect, an album that we here at Five Songs still recommend.
Have I mentioned I like using the royal we? I mean, have we mentioned? Dammit, I used "I" again. Dammit!
Badly Drawn Boy, "Journey From A To B"
After four strong albums, Damon Gough supposedly hit writer's block, and his next album took a while to show up. And when it did, it sounded really watered down to me. It's supposed to be something of a Springsteen homage, and I'm not a big Springsteen guy, so maybe that's it. At any rate, I'd put it a pretty big step behind the four albums that precede it.
Leprous, "Illuminate"
From the most recent Leprous album, Malina, which finds the band really borrowing sounds from outside of metal in order to construct their songs. And, frankly, going sort of over the top with the progressive pretension. It happens to just about every prog band, and I suppose it was Leprous's time. There are still moments to enjoy, and if you can just set aside the cheese and lean into it, it can still be pretty fun. But it's not as good as Coal, that's for sure.