songs that are good

Tullycraft - Cowgirls on Parade(Beat Surf Fun) Sometimes it is...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:00:05 -0500

Tullycraft - Cowgirls on Parade
(Beat Surf Fun)

Sometimes it is nice to close one’s eyes and pretend it isn’t the middle of December.

Tom Waits - Hell Broke Luce (Bad As Me) Tom Waits switches from...

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:29:17 -0400

Tom Waits - Hell Broke Luce
(Bad As Me)

Tom Waits switches from demonic carnival barker to whiskey-drowned lounge crooner so seamlessly it’s hard to believe he’s just one person, or at the very least doesn’t have the grotesque head of his partially absorbed siamese twin hidden in his shirt to bark out the brawlers. His latest is a master class in being old and awesome, in a time when it’s easy to give up hope in that even being possible (looking at you Lou Reed*). As far as I know, this is the first song of his to be out and out anti-war, and it’s so magnificently vicious it may make Dylan hang up his complainin’ boots for good.

^{*Seriously, what… what the hell was that? It’s like someone recorded him muttering in his sleep and played it over a high school cover-band’s demo tape. Goddammit.}

Placebo Effect / Siouxsie and the Banshees

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:40:33 -0400

Placebo Effect / Siouxsie and the Banshees

Seam - Two Is Enough (Are You Driving Me Crazy) Seam were a band...

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:37:00 -0400

Seam - Two Is Enough
(Are You Driving Me Crazy)

Seam were a band constantly struggling against themselves. Unable to decide between making languid, melancholy sonic sculptures, and tearing shit apart like a plague of locusts, they tried to have it both ways. Their quiet moments are infused with a sense of barely concealed tension, and their loud ones a savage joy but an almost instant pang of regret at letting themselves go. It should be unbearable, but instead it’s utterly captivating. It’s amazing they lasted as long as they did.

Ida - Shoe In (Ten Small Paces) Here at Songs That Are Good HQ,...

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:04:06 -0400

Ida - Shoe In
(Ten Small Paces)

Here at Songs That Are Good HQ, sappy love songs (unless performed by a certain R. Melberg) are far more likely to trigger eye-rolls, fake-barfing and dark mutterings about ‘cooties’ than come anywhere near my shrivelled black heart-strings. A new exception has recently entered the list though; Low-impersonators-turned-cuddle-rock-overlords Ida. Here they are simpering away in the most heinous manner, and being infuriatingly captivating about it.

Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - I Used To Dream Dread + Eyes...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:55:00 -0400

Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - I Used To Dream Dread + Eyes In The Dark
(Dreadcade)

Though widely reported as a one-man-project, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words is a long running collaboration between Swedish artist Thomas Ekelund, the smoke-monster from Lost, and Dracula. Swathed in mystery, tape-hiss, electronics bleeps and bloops, and definitely not the screams of robot-babies-from-the-future, DLSODW’s myriad releases defy terms like ‘ambient’ and ‘drone’ with their unnatural depth and well-concealed structures.

This year saw their final release, a collection of unreleased songs and cuts from some of their more-obscure releases (spanning cassettes, vinyl, speak-and-spells, Stonehenges, and even the internet). Hopefully it just means they’ll be calling themselves something else on their next one.

Fugazi - I’m So Tired(Instrument Soundtrack) Virtuous...

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:45:09 -0400

Fugazi - I’m So Tired
(Instrument Soundtrack)

Virtuous shoutmonsters Fugazi had no equal when it came to making blistering, earth-shaking anthems of rage and outrage. It’s difficult to imagine, while being pummelled mercilessly by immortal world-destroyers like Merchandise and Waiting Room, that they could ever feel a moment of doubt, or despondency. So it’s a little terrifying to hear Ian MacKaye grumbling softly at a piano with no other accompaniment than the weight on his shoulders. But, being Fugazi, it’s mostly wonderful.

Sarabeth Tucek - At The Bar(Get Well Soon) Alright, vacation...

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:44:25 -0400

Sarabeth Tucek - At The Bar
(Get Well Soon)

Alright, vacation over.

Smoky-voiced sadness-siren Sarabeth Tucek had a pretty crappy year, culminating in the loss of her dad, which seems to me like an excellent reason to take an indefinite hiatus from everything to concentrate on whisky and uncontrollable sobbing. Fortunately Ms. Tucek is made of far stronger stuff, and instead funneled her grief into a fairly stunning record about having a pretty crappy year. May she never be able to make another one again.

The Wooden Birds - Criminals Win(Two Matchsticks) Here is human...

Sun, 29 May 2011 13:23:43 -0400

The Wooden Birds - Criminals Win
(Two Matchsticks)

Here is human hot-water-bottle Andrew Kenney(the dude from the American Analog Set) and his new band. They… sound a lot like the AmAnSet would have without the organ and the drums and the distortion and if they had been really super into Iron and Wine and now I’m going to go listen to some AmAnSet but this is good too I promise!!

Police Teeth - Hatchet Wound City (Awesomer Than The...

Fri, 20 May 2011 12:08:00 -0400

Police Teeth - Hatchet Wound City
(Awesomer Than The Devil)

Seattle-bred teenage rioters Police Teeth may bristle at the term ‘revivalists’ (I would if I were them), but as long as their Fugazi and Husker Du impressions remain pitch-perfect, they’re probably not going to shake it. Fans of smart, sharp, ferocious, indie-in-the-proper-sense rock music would do well to pay attention to them though, these whippersnappers may mine the past, but they’re clearly destined for big things in the future.

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Pleasuring the Divine...

Fri, 06 May 2011 11:15:00 -0400

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Pleasuring the Divine
(Marble Son)

After five years of studying the secrets of loudness with monastic-doom-scholars Sunn O))), Appalachian Amazon Jesse Sykes and her merry men return with a new collection of dirged-out twangfests. Their time spent with the hooded amp-friars is readily apparent; the first track is an 8 minute blast of distortion, noodling, and fog any stoner-rock afficionado would happily stroke his beard to. Things get more wistful and slide-guitar-y afterwards, but the bite is never too far away, and is a welcome addition to their sound.

Explosions in the Sky - Human Qualities (Take Care, Take Care,...

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:00:00 -0400

Explosions in the Sky - Human Qualities
(Take Care, Take Care, Take Care)

A common complaint in recent years about meticulous thundergods Explosions in the Sky is that of stagnation, of mining the same cinematic crescendo-core that the rest of the old-guard of that most nebulous of genres ‘post-rock’ got bored with sometime around Mr. Beast and Takk… (to an even greater amount of complaints of course)

They may have not experimented a whole lot with their sound over their decade-and-change of existence, but close inspection will reveal a definite, if subtle, variety. Certainly the fuzzed out skittering going on up there is a thing I’ve not noticed before.

In the end, EiTS are one of those rare bands whose sound would probably suffer if they did mess about with it. Their intricate, monolithic sonic constructions sound timeless, if not positively ancient, from the second you hear them. Of course the drums are going to go “BOOM” a third of the way through. When you have a drummer as peerless at going “BOOM” as Chris Hrasky, you bloody well let him go “BOOM” every chance you get.

Helmet - Smart (Size Matters) Once upon a time there was a band...

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:29:00 -0400

Helmet - Smart
(Size Matters)

Once upon a time there was a band named Helmet. The young men of Helmet thought that heavy metal was the bee knees, but also that alternative rock was the cat’s pajama’s. It was only a matter of time before the idea of a creature with the knees of a bee and the pajamas of a cat haunted their dreams. They called it… Alternative Metal. The sound caught on, and they enjoyed a taste of the great Post-Nirvana Alternaboom of the mid-90’s, but didn’t set the world on fire or anything. They called it quits just in time (of course) to watch a bunch of ridiculous clowns who sounded kind of like them set the world of fire, and were subsequently sent to prison on the charge of ‘Korn’.

They were released five years later, and decided to cash in, and recorded a new album of crunchy riffs and angsty yowls. It was (of course) universally lauded as ‘some dudes who sound kind of like Puddles of Mud, whatever, have you heard the new Radiohead album?’

TV On The Radio - Repetition (Nine Types of Light) As baffling...

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:00:07 -0400

TV On The Radio - Repetition
(Nine Types of Light)

As baffling and wondrous as its predecessors, monumentally-coiffed sound-magicians TV On The Radio’s latest treasury of correctly-made music slides them right into the Murphy-sized hole in our correctly-made-music-loving hearts.

The pacing is wonderful throughout; the gentle ramp from the intricate beauty of Killer Crane into the charging last third of the record is masterful, and the way the first song follows the flow of the whole like it’s some kind of musical Mandelbrot set is nothing short of delightful.

Nerding out aside, how badass is this song?

Grinderman - Palaces of Montezuma [Barry Adamson Remix] (Palaces...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:38:58 -0400

Grinderman - Palaces of Montezuma [Barry Adamson Remix]
(Palaces of Montezuma)

Eerie atmospherian and long-time Nick Cave ally Barry Adamson gives Grinderman 2’s finest moment a whooshy, minimalist spin, making one wonder if this wasn’t the way the song was supposed to sound in the first place. Five stars!

repeatandfade: Here’s LCD Soundsystem’s final gig at Madison...

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:18:22 -0400

repeatandfade:

Here’s LCD Soundsystem’s final gig at Madison Square Garden from last night in it’s entirety. All three hours and a half hours of it. It’s pretty bloody incredible and has some nice little surprises in it too like a cameo from Arcade Fire.

The setlist goes as follows:

Dance Yrself Clean
(with “I’m Not In Love” by 10cc intro)
Drunk Girls
I Can Change
Time To Get Away
Get Innocuous!
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
Too Much Love
All My Friends
Tired
(with “Heart of the Sunrise” by Yes snippet)
—
Set 2
45:33 Part One
45:33 Part Two (w/ Reggie Watts)
Sound of Silver
45:33 Part Four
45:33 Part Five (w/ Shit Robot)
45:33 Part Six
Freak Out/Starry Eyes
—
Set 3
Us v Them
North American Scum (w/ Arcade Fire)
Bye Bye Bayou (Alan Vega cover)
You Wanted A Hit
Tribulations
Movement
Yeah (Crass Version)
—
Set 4
Someone Great
Losing My Edge (With “Da Funk” by Daft Punk snippet)
Home
—
Set 5
All I Want
Jump Into the Fire (Harry Nilsson Cover)
New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down (with “Twin Peaks Theme” by Angelo Badalamenti intro)

sniffle

Brave Irene - Tangled Line (Brave Irene) Treacle-voiced...

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:45:00 -0400

Brave Irene - Tangled Line
(Brave Irene)

Treacle-voiced delight-miner Rose Melberg sweeps back into our lives with her new band Brave Irene (named after famous Canadian stunt-pilot and dynamite-juggler Irene Reeves). Melberg sticks firmly to her wheelhouse (being wonderful), dishing out eight quick, wistful, virulently catchy pop songs about love lost, found and wallowed in. It suffers from the mandatory haze that all Slumberland records are bathed with, even though Melberg’s songs beg for clarity, but I suppose Albini can’t record everything.

J. Mascis - Where Are You(Several Shades of Why) As anyone who...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:47:06 -0400

J. Mascis - Where Are You
(Several Shades of Why)

As anyone who has witnessed a Dinosaur Jr. gig will attest, laconic guitar-deity J Mascis generally prefers to let his instrument do the talking (and by ‘talking’ I of course mean ‘making everyone in a three-mile radius weep like babies in a mixture of pain and joy as their ear-drums threaten to explode out of their eyesockets’). So it’s surprising that his much-anticipated solo album seems to be mostly him locked in a broom-closet yowling away and plinky-plonking on an acoustic guitar. Not so surprising that it is fantastic, the man could play a cigar box strung with Courtney Love’s thong (sorry) and still sound amazing.

Lyrically, our hero showcases an unprecedented level of intimacy, but this is J Mascis we’re talking about, so that generally boils down to “Hey you guys I actually give a crap about several things! Like stuff, and whatever. I’m not sure why though!” It doesn’t matter at all though, because he remains as supernaturally gifted at speaking through his fingers as ever.

First surprise entry in 2011 Favorites. It’s shaping up quite nicely.

Boris - Black Original (New Album) Hm. In less horrific...

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:40:08 -0400

Boris - Black Original
(New Album)

Hm.

In less horrific Japan-related news, amplifier-worshipping (usually?) sonic-apocalypse Boris have a new album coming out*! It’s called, of course, New Album. Here is a song from it. It is… surprising.

A few listens in, I think I approve. It’s like a shoegaze-techno soundtrack to one of those anime cartoons where giant robots beat eachother up on the moon and have feelings? Everyone loves robots. And Boris. And feelings.

^{*Actually they have two. Three if you count the thing they’re doing with Merzbow. Boris is awesome}

Low - You See Everything (C’Mon) Unstoppable...

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:55:00 -0500

Low - You See Everything
(C’Mon)

Unstoppable emotion-generators Low have a new record coming out! And they didn’t even let Dave Fridmann ruin it like he did their last two! This is the best news.