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DPD: 080 - Three of a Perfect Pair


Track Listing:

1

I Come From A Long Line Of Shipbuilders - Bastro

2

Newest Industry - Husker Du

3

Motorcycle - Love and Rockets

4

In Like The Rose - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

5

Kissing The Sun - The Young Gods

6

Call the Ships to Port - Covenant

7

All Mine - Portishead

8

Virginia Creeper - Kepone

9

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

10

Stockholm Syndrome - Muse

11

Way Down in Old Alabam' - Killdozer

12

Fields - Centaur

13

In The City - The Jam

14

Fish Fry - Big Black

15

The Trees - Rush

Date: July 26th, 2008  


Prokop Trios. Three people, three instruments. It’s pretty much the bare minimum one needs to make some kick ass tunes. Sure, there are a few of true ‘duos’ that don’t use any backing instruments, but it’s pretty rare.

The trio is hot shit. In doing this I think I uncovered something deep in my persona as well. No matter what, I will always fall back to the power trio. Screaming, screeching, buzz saw cutting madness. I love it. I listen to and enjoy so many other types of trios, so many other genres, styles, eras; you name it. Check the stats buddy, I’ve put the best of them through out this entire project. But for a theme of pure trios, forget it. These just rule my world.

Diamond The holy muthafuckin' trinity yo! There's a lot of good in the power of three, hell, we're a pretty damn formidable trio ourselves.

Darpino Behold the power of the mighty trio, music's most deceptively simple band format. The great thing about trios, no matter what genre, is that everything every one in them does, counts. There isn't any fat, there isn't any wasted effort, there is no room for fuck-ups, and no excuse for slacking. It's three people who have to be at the top of their game the whole time or the thing falls apart. There isn't any other -insert instrument- to hide behind if you drop the ball. Trio, especially live, is the real "fuck or walk" band structure and because of that I think the best trios push themselves to be extra special. So here are 45 kamikaze musicians making up the top 15 songs in the known trio-verse.


1: I Come From A Long Line Of Shipbuilders

    Bastro - Sing The Troubled Beast


Selection by: darpino

Noise rock power trios - a force unto themselves.

Bastro is my pick.

Strap in and enjoy the ride.


2: Newest Industry

    Husker Du - Zen Arcade


Selection by: prokop

This packs pretty much everything I like into one little post-apocalyptic diddy. Musically it’s got the great Husker Du pop hooks, their wailing guitar grind, all with Mould sneering about mass destruction, big corporations, and folks to eager to sign up for it all again. Just a piece of cynic beauty.


3: Motorcycle

    Love and Rockets - Love and Rockets


Selection by: diamond

This bright light from the very disappointing 4th album, just kicks all kinds of fuzztone ass! I don't mind a band expanding their sound, evolving and all that, but these guys bread and butter was in that fuzzed out sound that put them on the map after the demise of Bauhaus.


4: In Like The Rose

    Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Take Them On, On Your Own


Selection by: darpino

Conveniently for me, my favorite BRMC song also happens to be their best which makes my choice on how to represent this rock-n-revolutionary trio pretty easy. That said I put these boys through their paces by listening to all four albums and b-sides before relying on my initial gut instinct to use "In Like The Rose". BRMC are one of the very best "newish" bands out there and as a trio generate some really kick-ass sounds.

And by "newish", I simply mean they are a relatively new band (even though they are ten years old they are still "newish" in my book).

That's not to be confused with the "newish" race, a newt-like people who were subjected to holocaust in Weird War Two and now jealously guard their tiny nation in the Little East.


5: Kissing The Sun

    The Young Gods - Only Heaven


Selection by: prokop

Who said I picked all power-trios. Hmmm, ok, this one kind of counts too. But really, AMG calls them Swiss electro-noise terrorists. Too kool for skool.


6: Call the Ships to Port

    Covenant - Northern Light


Selection by: diamond

I originally wanted to use this for the Gods, Myths and Legends disc, but this legend didn't meet the criteria of existing legend, so it was disqualified. I remember some damn good times cutting a rug to this song at The Edge before it was knocked down to make room for the ballpark.


7: All Mine

    Portishead - Portishead


Selection by: darpino

One of the coolest sounding trios ever. This is far and away my favorite song by Portishead. It highlights their inventive production work, multi-instrumental talent, and Beth Gibbons' amazing voice unlike any other song they've done.

Why they were never tapped to provided a James Bond theme song is beyond me. This song screams for a trippy title sequence with sexy silhouettes blasting out of shadow pistols flanking a woman's hands with sharp, painted nails closing around a spinning globe.


8: Virginia Creeper

    Kepone - Kepone


Selection by: prokop

This song has more drive then Tiger Woods on the surface of the moon. I think it’s an awesome showcase of how a drummer and bassist make each other’s bed. And there’s some goddamned good screaming to boot.


9: Maps

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell


Selection by: diamond

If The Pretenders were to form now, this is what they would sound like. While the music is good (much like The Pretenders) it's really just an accompaniment to the star of the show, the vocals. I don't want to say that Karen O is ripping off Chrissy Hynde, which some people will say, but she is an obvious influence on her style and it really works well.


10: Stockholm Syndrome

     Muse - Absolution


Selection by: darpino

This song gets me fired up. Turn it up!

Until you see Muse live it is hard to believe they are just a trio with all the power and layers of sound that they produce on each album. Even when seeing them play a total emotional, barn-burner like this song, it is still hard to believe that they are just three dudes (bass, guitar, drums). I love every aspect of this song, but as a trio song I think it rocks extra hard for the amazing pedal effects they apply to the guitar and bass (especially on bass) which makes them sound like they are playing all different kinds of instruments at once. Also it helps a trio when its lead singer can belt out vocals with the best of them while simultaneously playing giant riff guitar and incredibly intricate keyboard parts.

On album I always assumed there was a lot of production layering going on, but in concert Bellamy really plays all that stuff at once! (Take that Jack White). Muse are the most exciting trio I've ever seen play live and this song captures the spirit of that pretty damn well.


11: Way Down in Old Alabam'

     Killdozer - The Last Waltz


Selection by: prokop

I just can’t get over the amount of noise these guys can produce, and really it’s mainly from just two of them. I did feel a bit bad using a cover, as they really do have a lot of great songs themselves; however, the full power of this is pretty hard to deny. I mean the original Skynyrd version has 7 guys play this. Seriously, over twice as many people. And this is live, no added guitar tracks, no anything. Just two dudes strumming and one guy banging. No wonder Killdozer is better, they are twice as efficient. Best damn pig-fucking around if you ask me.


12: Fields

     Centaur - In Streams


Selection by: diamond

Due to its heavy usage of the deep, crunchy onslaught of effected guitar sound, this song takes a place on the podium of top 5 trios. Matt Talbot, the genius behind Hum has taken his wall of sound to new heights with Centaur, it's like Hum + I know some folks would disagree with me, but that's just like your opinion man.


13: In The City

     The Jam - In The City


Selection by: darpino

One of The Jam's classic anthems highlighting their classic rock-n-roll trio format. Wicked rhythm work, propelling guitar, impassioned vocals, and just the right amount of harmonized back-up singing. While The Jam had a great career and pumped out a lot of terrific songs, I feel their first album really highlights their trio-ness the most. In The City as an album and a song features a stripped-down style that fits in nicely with the British Punk era and relies heavily on simpler trio song-writing in a way that I love. Not to detract from Weller's later structural genius but to represent one of the best trios ever, I think this early work does the trick the best.


14: Fish Fry

     Big Black - Songs about Fucking


Selection by: prokop

"it went like this, as near as anybody can tell. he went to her family's fish fry, took her to the drive-in, porked her, then beat her to death with his boot. it is speculated that he was upset about the ease with which he got into her pants, when she had resisted his brother's attempts earlier. he threw the body into frenchtown pond, if memory serves, and went home. when the police found him the following afternoon, he was nonchalantly scrubbing out the cab of his truck with the aid of a garden hose."

How can I add to that?


15: The Trees

     Rush - Hemispheres


Selection by: diamond

I know this is supposed to be a metaphor about oppressive governments, but I can imagine these guys sitting around, taking psychotropic drugs, reading Tolkein and writing this song based on the Ents from The Two Towers.
The real life parallel kicks in on the last couple lines, while the little groups are bickering amongst themselves about somewhat tiny things, an even more oppressive force comes in and rules with an even heavier hand and greater consequences.