BEST THREE SONG SEQUENCES PART 2.

In my experience it’s easy to find the perfect back to back songs on records, but what’s more difficult and ultimately more awesome is when three compelling songs hit all in a row and much excitement is had by not skipping through songs. I’ve done a list like this before, but it’s a great idea so why not come up with five more fantastic multi song sequences. Some of these will be obvious, others will not, but they all rock. Enjoy!

the Chemical Brothers, Brotherhood: Galvanize, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Block Rockin’ Beats
From early on in their career this band was genuinely good, but by the time this record came out they were just showing off. These three songs exemplify how they’ve managed to not only stay very popular but also make consistently solid electronic dance music. “Galvanize” rises like hands in a dance club, while “Hey Boy Hey Girl” takes no time in building up the momentum of the insane ending of the previous song. That little beat slowly getting louder in “Hey Boy” is dark and grimy all at once, and exists in a world similar to that cave dancing scene in the second Matrix. But ultimately the trio of songs is put on the top of the mountain with the help of the classic dance track “Block Rockin’ Beats.” Like, on the reals, this might be one of the top three best known dance songs of the 90’s, and it’s not hard to see why. It surrounds you and wiggles itself into your body and causes nothing but joy from movement.

El-P, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead: Tasmanian Pain Coaster, Smithereens, Up All Night
You never know what you’ll get when Amanda Plummer is the first thing you hear on a record, but the interlude perfectly sets the stage for not just three great songs but overall just a potent record. El-P soon makes his presence known, and as the ever evolving beat cross over us, it’s on it’s way to total meltdown, and with song two “Smithereens,” it’s getting ever so closer to reaching the height of madness. The beats on the second track sizzles and whirls around a crowded party, but then out of nowhere the party anthem of the record is slamming the doors down. The song is of course “Up All Night” and it doesn’t ever let up. P’s call for action and his play on words here are articulate and energizing, but so is the beat, which makes the song a force to be reckoned with.

Modest Mouse, Good News for People Who Love Bad News: the World At Large, Float On, Ocean Breathes Salty
Modest Mouse is a tricky band to categorize. This isn’t their best album, but obviously it’s their best known. Even though this isn’t thought of as their perfect record, no other three songs compare to these in terms of capable instrumentation and heartfelt lyrics. They ebb and flow together in a gradual motion which helps tremendously. “The World at Large” reminds me of a man falling apart and trying to hold onto his emotions and also who he is as a person. Maybe he’s terrified to accept things as they are, but by the time “Float On” comes through perhaps the character(if even there is one) is able to let the weight go and realize that life is too short for trying to fix the unfixable, and that what happens will happen. The best song of the three though, “Ocean Breathes Salty” brings it full circle in a glorious wave of translucent playing and Brook’s voice swimming over the radiating chords that make the song so solid.

Muse, Origin of Symmetry: Hyper Music, Plug in Baby, Citizen Erased
This band has long since lost interest for me, but without a doubt this is a modern rock masterpiece and excuse me for saying but it belongs in this world for all to hear and witness. Muse and especially Bellamy have always been able to contrast lyrics about personal feeling while still drilling in aspects of conspiracy theories and what goes on in the shadows. When during “Hyper Music” Matt belts out “And I Don’t want you, and I never will,” he’s escaping from the clutches of a relationship long doomed, but during the beyond epic “Plug in Baby” the mood stiffens even more and as he goes on to say, he’s using his baby to “crucify his enemies” and expel all bad feelings from his existence. Having said that though, “Citizen Erased,” is a song full of Orwellian themes and attitudes about the questions asked of us, but how questions pointed at the power elite is are able to be tossed aside. One Of their most politically themed songs, but also one of their better ones.

Taylor Swift,1989: Blank Space, Style, Out of the Woods
Essentially these songs and this record have helped me belt it out during a difficult breakup, and i have no fucking shame whatsoever. Music is meant to be enjoyed, and I have no qualms liking things that might seem to be out of my scope. Anyway, what Swift does with 1989 is make a perfect, sophisticated pop record in a period where it’s glossy, no thrills approach is killing pop music itself. “Blank Space” is a word of warning to those who do you wrong, and how to retract such actions before they start. “Style” on the other hand is a song made for the evermoving nighttime glow of a big city, in which all hopes and dreams are possible. Her voice is silky smoothe here, and is more or less a timeless love song devoted to unseen glances from the person who wants you to notice them. “Out of Woods” though is T. Swift at her darkest, brooding best. The beat could only exist in this song, and in a weird ass way it reminds of the opening beat of Bjork’s “Bachelorette.” It’s a jarring beat and time signature, and is one of the many reason she’s currently controlling the entire world.


Thanks for reading, see you Monday.