Five favorite EPs

[Arizona Warwilf]

The other night at work I was geeking out about music with my coworkers. We were having a very "Championship Vinyl" kind of evening, if you know what I mean.

I suggested we list our top five EPs . . . but I was the only one who could do it. (To my coworkers' credit, we're not all music junkies; we sell books primarily; I was also the only "music guy" on duty.) But it struck me that probably only really hardcore music nerds could list five favorite EPs. I thought, "This could be the ultimate music nerd test: Can you name your 5 favorite EPs without looking at your collection?" But then I thought that the test could be sort of era-ist or genre-ist. I mean, for example, if you're not that into independent music from the '80s-'00s, you may not even own 5 EPs! Yet you could, conceivably, still be a hardcore music nerd. So maybe it isn't the perfect test, but here's my list.

• Astrud- Astrud
  A Spanish duo with guitars, drum machines, and cheap synths singing bilingually. I think this 10" is their only release.
  _{Edit: Nope they have a full length album now. I guess this EP is A.K.A. Superman and is available on CD.}
  
• Mike Doughty- Rockity Roll
  Cool synth/drum machine stuff from a guy who usually uses a guitar. Oh yeah, he's ex-Soul Coughing.
  
• Junior Brown- Junior High
  My introduction to Junior. Fun songs. Better versions than the ones on the albums.
  
• mcenroe- convenience ep
  Independent Canadian rapper rails against consumerism!
  
• Everything But The Girl- The Only Living Boy in New York e.p.
  Just gorgeous.
  

Rob, your turn.

[hopesfall]

Hopesfall - No Wings to Speak Of

The 4 most amazing melodic hardcore songs ever written. "The End of an Era" never fails to give me chills. Ironically, it truly was the end of an era for both the band and hardcore music in general.

Hopesfall - The End of an Era

Shai Hulud - A Whole New Level of Sickness

Only 3 songs, 2 of which are covers (AMAZING covers). Their original song "Set Your Body Ablaze" brought me to tears when I first heard it. So much passion...

Shai Hulud - Set Your Body Ablaze

Ambitions - Question

Formed by ex-members of With Honor. Fast, melodic hardcore punk at it's best.

Ambitions - Question

He Is Legend - 91025

Amazing band. I really can't believe they aren't more well known. This is their first album and not only does it bring back tons of good memories, it rocks.

He Is Legend - Either They Decorated For Christmas Early Or They're All Dead

At The Drive-In - El Gran Orgo

Back when the members of The Mars Volta were more interested in playing music than embracing crappy ambiance and taking themselves way too seriously, there was At The Drive-In. This is an excellent early album of theirs. It's a little more upbeat than their later stuff and it's just as awesome. This one also brings back a lot of good memories.

At the Drive-In - Give it a Name

There are lots more, but I narrowed it down to the ones that mean the most to me.

[harpo]

Ack, you got me here! My brain has stopped functioning and I can't even think of five EPs. The only one I can think of is the Libertines' I Get Along EP, which is fantastic as it has "Don't Look Back Into the Sun" and "The Delaney" on it.

Also, I love At The Drive-In but have not yet heard that EP!

Actually do Ryan Adams' Love is Hell Pt. 1 and Love is Hell Pt. 2 count as EPs? Because those would be in my top 5. As a whole, that album is amazing.

[Bix Dugan]

What's an EP?

[Shep]

The Verve's EP is pretty amazing. "Gravity Grave," "Man Called The Sun," etc. Some great early songs from that band.

The early Oasis singles were almost like EPs because they always had 3 b-sides and most of them were pretty amazing.

[Chuck]

Kate Bush - Eat The Music (She covers Candle In The Wind)
My Bloody Valentine - Glider (Soon . . . )
Cocteau Twins - Love's Easy Tears (Everybody, SING ALONG!)
Cocteau Twins - Aikea - Guinea (One More Time!)
Roxy Music - The High Road (vinyl) (Crank up the turntable, Bryan!) (and open the pod bay door, Hal)

[Arizona Warwilf]

bixdugan said:

What's an EP?

Longer than a single, shorter than an album. Usually 4-6 songs.

[Mod City]

The Didjits - Little Miss Carriage!
Great little album. The Man makes you nod your head, you know?

1000 Homo DJs - Supernaut
An EP was just enough for this side project. Still holds up.

Frank Black and Teenage Fanclub - The John Peel Sessions
Handyman is so catchy it's wrong.

Metallica - The $5.98 EP/Garage Days Re-Revisited
Before they were overblown and ridiculous, they could be tight. Cool covers that were out-of-print before Garage, Inc.

Urge Overkill - The Stull EP
Great opening. Makes you thankful for their full-length releases.

[Hoss Ragen]

E.S.G. (Emerald, Sapphire and Gold) - E.S.G. (99 Records, 1980)

45 RPM LP from this no-wave quintet from New York. Real cool stuff. It really grows on you. For the sake of reference, this is best known for the song "U.F.O.", which has been sampled and played to fame by original hip-hop DJs by slowing it down to 33 RPM. "Moody" is a great, too. One side is studio and one side is live. These ladies were label mates to the similar band Liquid Liquid (of "Cavern" fame, with the infectious bass rhythm illegally used as the basis for the song "White Lines"), who also had a bass-and-drum heavy, NYC-based dancefloor LP from the same year.

Butthole Surfers Live PCPPEP (Alternative Tentacles, 1984?)

I cannot stand a lot of weird-just-to-be-weird bands, the quality of their albums went downhill considerably by the time the 90s rolled along and it seems like the appeal of the BS'es was a "you had to be there" sort of thing. Still, entertaining and mind-bending stuff from a live performance in Austin.

All of Fela Kuti's records

70s African funk superstar who cut a lot of records and gained quite a government-threating cult of personality in his homeland at the time. All his albums only have two, three or four songs, all of them mid-tempo, funky, bass and horn section heavy, 10-15 minute plus tunes which infuse tradional Nigerian folk and percussion with Westernized, James Brown style beats. He collaborated with Cream's Ginger Baker, too.Thankfully, for the new generation such as myself curious about his lilbrary of music which is super rare in its original press, CDs are available.

[harpo]

I thought of two more I enjoy.. this is going to expose me as the uber-indie hipster that I am...

The Decemberists - 5 Songs EP
Three of these songs are in my all-time favorite list by this band. I just love the stories that Colin Meloy tells. And the music is gorgeous.

The Strokes - The Modern Age EP
I was a massive Strokes fan when they first emerged. This EP just has rough versions of a few songs that later appeared on their first album, but the Strokes sound particularly fantastic when they're rough and not too polished.

[Mighty Jack]

Be Stiff, Devo
Come on Pilgrim, Pixies
Rev 9 The Shazam
The Beatles Hits
(their 2nd EP collects single version of Please, Please, Me -without vocal mistake- collected the groups 1st 3 hits and a B-side... From Me To You*, Thank you Girl* and Love Me Do) *=Not on Please, Please Me LP
Not a Viable Commercial Product, Ophelia's Kiss

[Arizona Warwilf]

modcitygun said:

Frank Black and Teenage Fanclub - The John Peel Sessions
Handyman is so catchy it's wrong.

Urge Overkill - The Stull EP
Great opening. Makes you thankful for their full-length releases.

Ooh, good calls!

I didn't actually know about the Frank Black/Teenage Fanclub ep. I'll have to look for that. But I do have Frank Black performing Handyman on an Otis Blackwell tribute CD. I can play that track over and over and over. It is madly catchy.

harpo said:

The Decemberists - 5 Songs EP
Three of these songs are in my all-time favorite list by this band. I just love the stories that Colin Meloy tells. And the music is gorgeous.

The Strokes - The Modern Age EP
I was a massive Strokes fan when they first emerged. This EP just has rough versions of a few songs that later appeared on their first album, but the Strokes sound particularly fantastic when they're rough and not too polished.

Again, good stuff!

I thought of including 5 Songs as well as Picaresqueties (another Decemberists EP) but I own both of those as combined with other things on LPs (The Tain/5 Songs (which actually has 6!) and Picaresque/Picaresqueties), so I felt like they didn't quite count for me. But I love Apology Song to bits. If you haven't already, get the Tarkio Omnibus collection. It's Meloy's previous band. They do My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist also.

[harpo]

azwarwilf said:

Again, good stuff!

I thought of including 5 Songs as well as Picaresqueties (another Decemberists EP) but I own both of those as combined with other things on LPs (The Tain/5 Songs (which actually has 6!) and Picaresque/Picaresqueties), so I felt like they didn't quite count for me. But I love Apology Song to bits. If you haven't already, get the Tarkio Omnibus collection. It's Meloy's previous band. They do My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist also.

"My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist" is one of my favorite songs. I was so upset when they cancelled their tour in November because it looked like they were going to play that! But I have seen them play "Shiny" which is almost as good.

I have both Tarkio albums (I think?) but haven't really listened to them much yet!

[Shep]

harpo said:

The Strokes - The Modern Age EP
I was a massive Strokes fan when they first emerged. This EP just has rough versions of a few songs that later appeared on their first album, but the Strokes sound particularly fantastic when they're rough and not too polished.

I'd never heard of this before. I'll have to get it.

[Mod City]

azwarwilf said:

modcitygun said:

Frank Black and Teenage Fanclub - The John Peel Sessions
Handyman is so catchy it's wrong.

Urge Overkill - The Stull EP
Great opening. Makes you thankful for their full-length releases.

Ooh, good calls!

I didn't actually know about the Frank Black/Teenage Fanclub ep. I'll have to look for that. But I do have Frank Black performing Handyman on an Otis Blackwell tribute CD. I can play that track over and over and over. It is madly catchy.

It's a great disc. Four songs, I believe. I lost my copy far too long ago and haven't heard it since. And good call to Lincoln mentioning Come On Pilgrim. I don't know how that slipped my mind.