Introduction
Five Songs, 5/21/2017
Five Songs

Five Songs, 5/21/2017

When this posts, I'll be at the charity gaming tournament The Gauntlet, probably losing at Caylus and Ponzi Scheme. Should be a good time! While it's too late to donate to my team, it's never too late to donate to the fine folks at Treehouse. Here's today's playlist.

Crystalized Movements, "By Unseen Hands"

Psychedelic noise band Crystalized Movements was mostly Wayne Rogers, seeing how far guitar noise could take him. By the time they hit their last album, Revelations From Pandemonium, they were at the top of their form. At the time, I remember thinking that that album was the best record of 1994, a year that included amazing albums from Drive Like Jehu, Portishead, Nas, Jawbox, Jawbreaker, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Green Day, among others. I wouldn't hold that opinion today, probably taking the Nas record first, but it still says something. This track is from an earlier album, where you can hear that psych/pop/noise aesthetic really starting to coalesce.

Mombu, "Niger"

I loves me some baritone sax! Mombu is a project dedicated to seeing how far a baritone sax and drums can go. Pretty far! This whole album is pretty enjoyable stuff.

Hum, "Stars"

Part of the Champagne-Urbana underground rock scene, this is actually the closest thing Hum ever had to a hit. And you can see why, the crunchy guitars would have fit right into the rest of the radio hits of the mid 90s. This album was really the one where they found their voices, and this and the next album are both solid work.

Spoon, "Don't Let It Get You Down"

More indie rock, this time from a much later band. I'm far from a Spoon expert - I think I only have the one album from them, Kill The Moonlight. I like it, I should pick up more.

They Might Be Giants, "Ana Ng"

What came up on my shuffle was the live version of this song from Severe Tire Damage, the excellent live album that also serves as a decent little "greatest hits" record. I couldn't find that exact version (I did find it...backwards), so I included a really old live version of it instead.

Joshua Buergel
View Comments
Next Post

Five Songs, 5/22/2017

Previous Post

Five Songs, 5/19/2017