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.
I have no recollection of getting this record, but I can say: that is a very funny song title.
On Imperial F.F.R.R. (that stands for “full frequence range recording”), Unrest not only delivered an excellent album of jangly indie pop, but also managed to sneak in some fun experimental stuff. Like this bad boy. This whole album very much does not sound like this, but it’s nice to break things up.
[Read More]Tortoise had five years between this record and the previous one (not counting their collab with Bonnie “Prince” Billy), and when they came back, they were sounding pretty energized. This track is a good example - it starts out sounding like a contemplative piece of post-rock, but it eventually turns into what sounds like at least two different songs being played at the same time. Fun stuff!
[Read More]Now, I’m kinda sitting here wondering what it would sound like if Touché Amoré covered Rush. Or the other direction! Maybe a split single, with them covering each other. I’d listen to that.
Just had Harvey Milk the other day, this is nice. Well, not nice exactly. It’s nice they came up again? Anyway, it seems like I don’t even see much discussion of the band, they don’t seem to be anybody’s touchstone or point of comparison. I guess I don’t really know why that is, except that I suppose I don’t ever reference them either. Anyway, this record (Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men) is excellent, you should listen to it.
[Read More]A thing that always strikes me about this project is that it seems like past me always had better judgement and taste than present me. It’s very strange living in your own shadow and constantly having your own diminishment displayed so clearly.
I mean, sometimes.
Well, here’s another one of those records that I remember buying, and even recall listening to, but don’t remember why I picked it up. I actually usually retain some context around albums and why I pick them up, but occasionally, a contextless record bobs along in here. I guess it just arrived on my doorstep one day.
[Read More]A difficult question to answer is “what is the best Lambchop record?” Part of the problem here is that they’ve evolved gently over their existence, but don’t really have recognizable periods where one could really say that that style is your favorite. Another problem is their consistency, where the albums are pretty uniformly excellent, but there’s not really noticeable jumps and dips. It’s all a big, good plateau.
[Read More]Not much to say about the song, but I do think it’s funny that Hollywood Records (a Disney label!) had Seaweed signed at one point.
Damn, that drum resonating in this beat, that’s delicious.
Perfect name for a band like this, perfect song title, no notes. Looks like a short one today!
Oh god, nine minutes. Nothing on Fat Wreck Chords should last nine minutes, unless it’s an entire release. I don’t remember if this is one of those CD things where they merged two songs together, with some silence in-between, to create a hidden track. Often a cover. Let’s find out together!
[Read More]This comes from the deluxe reissue of Uncle Tupelo’s second album, Still Feel Gone. And, you know what? I’m just going to get sentimental here. I really miss Uncle Tupelo! I know that we ended up with plenty of great music from Tweedy and Farrar, so it’s not some tragedy or anything. And maybe their partnership breaking down is one of the things that unleashed their creativity, sure, sure. But, their alchemy was special, and Uncle Tupelo was brilliant and still touches me. I miss ’em.
[Read More]Has it been a while since we’ve had extreme metal on here? It seems like it has been. Sunless’s 2021 release, Ylem, is a fine example of the sort of dissonant death metal that I usually go for in the death metal space. While I’m not sure it’s super stuck with me like my favorites in the genre, it’s crunchy and plenty surprising, so I like it.
[Read More]A lot of covers like this one are basically just to generate the Leo DeCaprio pointing meme - excitement at recognizing a thing and little else. The Fearless Flyers (Cory Wong and Joe Dart of Vulfpeck, Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy, and Nate Smith of a whole bunch of jazz projects) are great enough players that it’s fun to listen to them add their flourishes here, but it’s still essentially a disposable track.
[Read More]I’m a huge Seattle homer, so when I mention that this is a Seattle act, just deflate your ratings appropriately. But after a charming EP (on cassette!), they put out their first LP in 2020, and it’s quite good. Their lineup is pretty extensive (six people), resulting in some nice, full arrangements for their tunes. I don’t know that it’s surprising, but I just enjoy having some rock sometimes, especially from the Pacific Northwest. Listen local!
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