Clang & Clatter

Short and sweet pre-vacation Friday Five today. And my first track sorted by name is Anthrax’s “A.D.I./Horror of It All” from Among the Living.

Saosin - “The Worst of Me” (In Search of Solid Ground, 2009)
Possibly the best song on this emo/screamo band’s most commercial (and most recent) release to date.

Glen Phillips - “Got to Get On” (The Unreleased Songs Compilation: Vol. 1)
Interesting track from a set of live versions of songs Glen had not released prior to its compilation. A bit different from the norm for Glen, but still really good.

King’s X - “Marsh Mellow Field” (Please Come Home…Mr. Bulbous, 2000)
Equal parts groove, sludge, and psychedelic. Love it.

Owl City - “Dental Care” (Ocean Eyes, 2009)
OK, confession time. Although I purchased this for my son during his brief obsession with this artist, I have kept it around since I find it catchy and not too annoying—at least most of the time. “I’ve been to the dentist a thousand times, so I know the drill.” Funny.

Smashing Pumpkins - “Siva” (Gish, 1991)
Michael recently questioned what he ever saw in Smashing Pumpkins. This is it. The slow, mellow middle breakdown is why I Mother Earth reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins at times.

It’s Friday, I’m in love (with IckMusic’s Friday Five)!

Glen Phillips with Nickel Creek - “Let It Fall” (Live at the Red Light Cafe, Atlanta, GA, August, 1, 2003 at the Atlantis Music Conference)
Newgrass trio Nickel Creek joined former Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips for the second set of this excellent live performance. They played acoustic versions of everything from TTWS, Glen Phillips, and Nickel Creek tunes to Randy Newman and Elliot Smith covers. “Let It Fall” is a track from Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins’ debut solo album and is one of my favorite songs that Glen has ever lent his vocals to. If you’re interested, you can pick up the entire set at the Internet Archive’s live music archive.

Soasin - “Sleepers” (Saosin, 2006)
Melodic emo/screamo track from Saosin’s debut album. I know little of the band’s history other than a vocalist change that at one point seemed to polarize fans of the Newport Beach, CA post-hardcore outfit. Showy, excessive, dynamic, and emotional, the track is much too short at 2:51. But I like it.

The Cars - “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” (The Cars, 1978)
I can remember a time back in the early- to mid-80s in my teens when I used to spin this vinyl at least once a week—back when I actually had the vinyl and a turntable. I have neither these days, but I do have these lovely 0s and 1s to listen to whenever I get the itch for some early Cars goodness. Their debut is still one of the best albums these guys ever released.

Hayseed Dixie - “Let’s Put the X in Sex” (Kiss My Grass: A Hillbilly Tribute to KISS, 2003)
I’ve always had this affinity for cover tunes—even more so these days since I discovered the Coverville podcast several years ago—and over the years I’ve amassed quite a few hokey covers of songs that I never really cared for in their original form. “Let’s Put the X in Sex” is once such song, and I would like to forget that one of my favorite bands of all time ever released it. As a matter of fact, I like to pretend that the KISS of Unmasked and onward is some impostor band that has the real Gene Simmons chained up in a dungeon someplace.

Queensrÿche - “Get a Life” (Hear in the Now Frontier, 1997)
HITNF was the last Queensrÿche album to feature guitarist and founding member Chris DeGarmo, and in my opinion, was the point where the band began a downward spiral they have yet to pull out of. While I liked quite a bit of the followup Q2K, they have released little since this album that I could really grab onto or identify with as a huge fan of their progressive metal beginnings of The Warning and their excellent 1982 EP.