An Excellent Friday 5!!

May 16th 2008 by E..

Clinic - “Shopping Bag” from Do It!

Masked Liverpudlians Clinic are bringing back the classic rave-up in an explosive way…if X-Ray Spex had performed “Over, Under, Sideways, Down”, it probably would have sounded a lot like “Shopping Bag”…the screeching saxophone and the song’s manic pace are enough to totally melt some faces…come to think of it, maybe that’s why they wear those masks all the time…

Big Audio Dynamite - “Dragon Town” from Megatop Phoenix

From the final album to feature the original B.A.D. lineup, this song (like most of the band’s songs) featured a quirky sample at the base…this particular sample is of George Formby, Jr.’s “Chinese Laundry Blues”, one of his many songs featuring the character of Mr. Wu…among other Formby’s other Wu tunes were “Mr. Wu’s A Window Cleaner Now” and “Mr. Wu’s An Air Raid Warden Now”…from what I’ve come to understand, the members of B.A.D. went on to take up those professions after this album, as well…

Dodos - “Fools” from Visiter

Over the past few years, two-piece bands have become the new three-piece bands…the power trios have been replaced with more powerful, often noisy duos…San Francisco’s Dodos are towards the lighter end of the experimental spectrum, but that doesn’t make their music any less exciting…melding steady drums and steadier acoustic guitar, the twosome make tunes that fall somewhere between Rogue Wave and Animal Collective’s less out-there stuff…I’m not sure if these guys are going to be on the next iPod commercial or anything, but I expect great things to come to these guys in exchange for this engaging record…

Rock Plaza Central - “How Shall I To Heaven Aspire?” from Are We Not Horses?

By now, you should know all about Chris Eaton’s epic tale about six-legged robotic horses who think they’re real horses…even without the story behind them, the songs on Are We Not Horses? are incredibly strong…Eaton’s high-register shout and the band’s ornate instrumentation might conjure images of Neutral Milk Hotel or Bright Eyes, but Rock Plaza Central are a group that isn’t concerned with sounding like other people…I mean, when was the last time Conor Oberst wrote a song about robot horses?…

Public Image Ltd. - “Don’t Ask Me”

A single from just before the release of their (until now) final album, “Don’t Ask Me” was quite a different kind of song than would be expected from PiL…straightforward pop wasn’t exactly common in PiL’s early catalogue, but by the end of their career, they seemed to be moving towards a more accessible sound…most likely, this was a big scheme by John Lydon to get pop people into PiL’s music, only to have them explore their back catalogue and cringe at the sound of Metal Box…pure genius!…

Posted in Music, Friday 5 | No Comments »