Welcome

This is the newly rebuilt Five Random Songs: chock full of posts, each featuring five random songs from my collection of music. Along with some other junk. Everything is tagged by artist. Poke around some, it’s been here since 2017. Starting in 2026, I shifted to twice-weekly posts with a little longer format. If you want to keep up, you can use RSS, sign up for email, or follow me on Bluesky.

Five Songs, 6/2/2017

Posted on June 2, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

I think there’s something goofy about the shuffle algorithm they’re using at Amazon. I’ve seen it pick the same song from the same band multiple times, and for now, I’m treating that as a glitch and reloading things. I don’t consider that cheating. I have to bring you all novel stuff!

Forest Swords, “Panic”

Hey, something pretty new! This was released less than a month ago. Forest Swords makes atmospheric music that invariably sounds like a soundtrack pretty much at all times. I haven’t had that much time to delve too deeply into this new album yet, but I like what I hear so far. The horn at the end of this song in particular sounds great.

Five Songs, 6/1/2017

Posted on June 1, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

Should I re-think the policy of putting in Bandcamp links instead of the Youtube videos? It occurs to me that maybe I should put in both? I dunno. Feel free to let me know down below or on Twitter. Or email, because frankly, anybody reading this probably has my email. Today’s tunes are here, by the way.

Mudhoney, “Inside Out Over You”

Mudhoney was grunge. Nirvana might have been the band that everybody knew, but it was Mudhoney that really laid down the template for the scene. Fuzzed out and beer soaked, they combined elements of punk, metal, and garage rock to form the sound that would come to define Seattle music in the early 90s, and indeed much of rock music. Not only that, but the extended Mudhoney family tree includes other huge Pacific Northwest bands - Mark Arm and Steve Turner were in Green River with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), and Matt Lukin was in the Melvins, to choose two examples.

Five Songs, 5/31/2017

Posted on May 31, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

I didn’t quite make it all the way through May without missing a day. I didn’t put anything up for 5/7, and I kind of wish I’d managed to hit every day. Well, June is coming up, and maybe I can nail every day in that month! As always, there’s music around here.

MU330, “Around You”

At this point, third-wave ska band MU330 has to be the most obscure band that’s been on here three times. It’s pretty funny, I haven’t listened to most of this stuff for a long time, but it’s all come right back to me upon listening again. I can still whistle a fair number of the horn lines. And for that, I’m sorry for anybody near me.

Five Songs, 5/30/2017

Posted on May 30, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

Back from the holiday weekend, let’s see what kicks off the work week for me!

Minor Threat, “It Follows”

Our first Ian MacKaye track! I don’t think it’s any big secret that Fugazi is my favorite band (says the guy who has a daughter with the middle name “MacKaye”), but Minor Threat is obviously great as well. Originators of the entire straight edge scene (“don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t fuck”), and hardcore punk pioneers, Minor Threat inspired so many earnest young people to start bands and make a racket. For that alone, they should be commended. They only put out one album and an assortment of singles, and they’re all collected on Complete Discography, which is an essential release if you’re into punk at all. I kind of want to stop here and just listen to this whole album. But I won’t, because I’m a pro.

Five Songs, 5/29/2017

Posted on May 29, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

Memorial Day! We here at Five Songs Multinational Holdings never sleep in order to bring you the freshest beats and finest jams.

Diamond District, “Intro”

The times when I’m most tempted to cheat at this is when shuffle pulls up a skit, or an intro, or something like this. This is, um, an intro to the excellent In The Ruff by the throwback hip-hop group Diamond District. Maybe they’ll come up again soon!

Five Songs, 5/28/2017

Posted on May 29, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

I continue to love this project for digging up things that I just forget to listen to. I should really just devote a certain percentage of my listening to shuffle all the time. Like, maybe a few songs a day? Five sound good to anybody? Music ahoy!

The Housemartins, “Step Outside”

Jangly pop band from Hull, the Housemartins played beautiful songs, driven by Paul Heaton’s singing. They especially were known for witty, often sarcastic lyrics, as well as their leftist politics. They released two proper albums, both fantastic, and later had a singles/rarities collection, Now That’s What I Call Quite Good, which is where this song comes from. I recommend all three records heartily. Paul Heaton would go on to form the Beautiful South, whose first album stands with the Housemartins albums, and Norman Cook would later be known as Fatboy Slim.

Five Songs, 5/27/2017

Posted on May 28, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

I’m not sure anybody cares about milestones, but I’ve now been doing this thing for more than a month. And it’s still fun! According to analytics, I’ve had 91 different visitors for the past week, which is actually pretty cool. If anybody out there is reading, feel free to leave a comment! Here’s what you came for!

Foetus, “Take It Outside Godboy”

We last encountered J.G. Thirlwell in one of his side project guises, Wiseblood. Here, we encounter his main project. First, a quick note on band names. For a fair bit of his career, he actually changed the name of the band frequently, although it always had “Foetus” in the name somewhere (“Foetus Interruptus”, “Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel”, etc). At some point, around the release of Flow or so, he knocked it off, acknowledging that everybody just called the band Foetus anyway. Oh, and the “proper” Foetus albums are all four-letter words for the names.

Five Songs, 5/26/2017

Posted on May 26, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

No intro today, straight to the tunes!

Propagandhi, “Utter Crap Song”

Propagandhi, avowed anti-capitalists and purveyors of radical left-wing politics, played catchy punk with lyrics that were largely polemics. But they made things work, and their best albums (largely their first two records) didn’t let the propaganda totally take over the proceedings. This song is from a compilation of singles, Where Quantity is Job #1, which is as uneven as most singles comps are.

Five Songs, 5/25/2017

Posted on May 26, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

I’m excited to see what comes up today! After yesterday’s contrasts, what twists and turns can we expect?

Toots & the Maytals, “Reggae Got Soul”

One of the great bands of the first wave of ska, Toots and the Maytals delivered some of the most memorable songs of that period, including the oft-covered and incredible “Pressure Drop”. Toots Hibbert is also credited with coming up with the term “reggae”. Like a lot of his peers, his discography can be a little confusing to follow, as a lot of his stuff was spread out across a bunch of places and there are innumerable compilations that you can find, with overlapping track lists. The Very Best of Toots & the Maytals is an excellent compilation as a starting point, though.

Five Songs, 5/24/2017

Posted on May 24, 2017 | Joshua Buergel

Today’s entry is probably the most divided one we’ve ever had. Two songs of pure pop (separated by over 40 years), two disparate slabs of uncompromising noise, and one song of old, yet futuristic sounding hip hop. That’s the stuff.

Lily Allen, “Him”

Lily Allen’s first album, Alright, Still is thoroughly charming, pure pop delivered with wit and tons of catchy songs. One of those albums that’s hard not smile your way all the way through. Her followup album shares at least some of those same attributes, but I never found it as bouncy or memorable as the first record.