Here are today’s tunes.

Richie Hawtin, “Call of the Wild”

Last time this album came up, in one of the cutting bits of analysis that Five Songs is known for, I mostly bitched about the ID3 tags on this album. TRENCHANT! Anyway, I managed to say nothing about the album or the artist last time. I see no reason to change that today.

Wilco, “Ashes of American Flags”

In the first entry on Wilco, I ranked their albums, which remains the INDUSPUTABLE and DEFINITIVE rankings of their records. I am here to point out that despite the definitive nature of those rankings, the first three albums are very, very close. If you argued for a re-ordering of those three, you’d be wrong, but only barely. You’d also agree with various versions of Josh. That three album peak, from Being There to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, is just an incredible stretch of songs. If Being There established that Wilco was going to be far more than an alt-country band, and Summerteeth established that the band was going to be a tremendous pop act, YHF showed that their palette would even expand to include some sonic experimentation around said pop songs.

Here’s your music today.

Ghostface Killah, “Be This Way”

From what I can tell, 2004’s The Pretty Toney Album didn’t seem to go over that well with critics. Perhaps because it’s an album where Ghostface started really pulling away from the Wu-Tang Clan. However, I think it’s really good - Ghost seems to be pretty loose, and while the album is sloppy in parts, it’s nevertheless really fun. After the relatively dreary Bulletproof Wallets, it was a relief for him to get back on track.

Some music for you!

Booker T. and the MGs, “Time Is Tight”

Always love it when Booker T. and the MGs show up. This is from early in volume 2 of the Stax compilations.

Melvins, “Magic Pig Detective”

Stoner Witch was one of the trio of albums that the Melvins made for Atlantic, as part of their most accessible period. So, of course, right smack in the middle of it is an abstract piece of pure noise leading off a track. Because Melvins. Anyway, Stoner Witch is magnificent, and I highly recommend it.

Today’s music.

Mr. T Experience, “A Weekend In Hogboro”

There’s something sort of Young Fresh Fellows-y about this track, particularly the drumming. Anyway, a nice little instrumental here, proving that the Mr. T Experience’s appeal isn’t all about the often goofy lyrics.

Vince Staples, “Yeah Right”

Big Fish Theory showed up on a lot of year-end lists, and for great reason. In a year without a Kendrick Lamar record, it would have been a real contender for the best rap album of the year. And, would you look at that, this track is actually a collaboration between the two. It is, of course, magnificent. One of the things to love about this album is how Staples worked with a bunch of electronic artists on the production end, adding some really interesting noises to the beats.

Spastic noise punk, power pop, third wave ska, rap, bombastic post-rock: this is just about the full gamut for Five Songs!

UFO Or Die, “0 Or 1ers”

Uh, yeah. UFO Or Die isn’t exactly random noise, but it’s not THAT far from it, either.

The New Pornographers, “Centre For Holy Wars”

We’ve heard from A.C. Newman before with Zumpano, but here he is with the band he’s best known for, the New Pornographers. Started as something of a supergroup with Newman, Dan Bejar (Destroyer), and Neko Case (all of whom we’ll hear from with their other acts), the New Pornographers took a while to turn from a lark into a real band. But, they finally put out their debut album, Mass Romantic, and it’s a corker. Fully embracing power pop, it’s one of the catchiest and most fun albums in my collection. And, sorry, if you don’t love “Letter From An Occupant”, you’re dead inside.

Hey, let’s do another roundup! This time, it’s an aggregation of different metal lists. Useful! And, of course, some music for today.

Pegboy, “Spaghetti Western”

Yup, more or less hit the wall on things to say about Pegboy. It’s still the usual melodic punk sound that is perfectly pleasant to listen to. That’s more dismissive than I intend it to be.

Sebadoh, “Mean Distance”

This comes from Smash Your Head On The Punk Rock, the first album from Sebadoh to be released on Sub Pop, as they made the leap from the minor leagues to…well, the bigger minor leagues. But Sub Pop in the early 90s was a pretty big deal, and it was news that the slacker kings of low fi were making their way to the home of grunge. This album is itself a compilation of sorts, with bits and pieces of previous releases collected into an incoherent record. But all Sebadoh records were incoherent, mostly due to the three different song writers and how they approched things. This song is itself a bit of a microcosm of that, as it’s credited to all three and goes bananas with a minute left in the track.

A short little year-end roundup today, from Jamie Zawinski, who I’ve maybe been reading stuff from longer than any other person online, as I recall first encountering reading something from him back in 1995. I’m going to see about putting up some kind of year-end wrapup here myself towards the end of the month, I’d like some time to spend time with all the new stuff I’ve picked up.

Here’s today’s tunes. It’s a good set today!

Yet another year-end roundup! This time from Pitchfork, so prepare to be enraged! And [here’s today’s music].(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLexe714An2QjMniBJQbnevydhM3HcuMaL)

Flop, “Asthenia”

Lost among all the other Seattle bands of the early 90s, Flop was never the slightest bit grungy so they never broke it big. They did, of course, end up on a major label, but the majors were signing every band who had even toured through Seattle in those days, so that’s not that surprising. Instead of being grunge, Flop evoked the power pop bands of the Pacific Northwest, bands like the Posies and the Young Fresh Fellows. With Kurt Bloch (The Young Fresh Fellows, the Fastbacks, tons of producing credits) behind the boards, they even had some real continuity with all the other great bands in that tradition. And their first record, & The Fall of the Mopsqueezer, is an absolute gem, one of the best power pop records in my entire collection, a fuzzy piece of genius.

Another year-end roundup, this time from Heavy Blog. I love this time of year. And here’s today’s music.

Outkast, “Infatuation (Interlude)”

A skit from Idlewild, a shaggy album that has some highlights, but is a mess and is the worst of Outkast’s career.

Public Enemy, “Son Of A Bush”

Somehow, anti-George W. Bush songs sound quaint these days. And he was a deeply terrible president! This is a track from Revolverlution, another later album from a Hall of Fame rap group that is also a mess.

Welcome to the new year! I wonder how many times I’ll type 2017 into the post titles around here? Anyway, here at Five Songs Ltd., one of our resolutions this year is to actually resume making progress learning the bass, which will be fun. But rest assured, we’ll keep bringing you this nonsense as well.

Anyway, today we’re doing another special: searching for the word “new” in the library and then randomizing among those tracks. Let’s see what we get? I had 500 hits for this, a suspiciously round number, so this might just be randomized among the first 500 tracks with “new” in the name. Whatever. To the music!