The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Cowboy Coffee”

The Bosstones’ second album, More Noise and Other Disturbances, is really where the band hit their stride. The ska and punk were really in balance on this album, with plenty of both livening things up.

The Game, “Intro to the Documentary”

Yup, that’s an intro.

Two Inch Astronaut, “At Risk Student”

Last time they came up, I thought to myself: dang, this is a good song. And I’m pleased to say that I picked up another record from them in the interim, including this song. Still good! Put one in the win column for Five Songs!

SNFU, “Reality Is A Ride On The Bus”

SNFU’s 1993 album, Something Green and Leafy This Way Comes, came out on Epitaph and marked a turn more towards pop punk as opposed to their earlier hardcore. And, honestly, it doesn’t suit them. This song, for instance, is really only good when it’s galloping.

Squarepusher, “Tomorrow World”

Having taken drum and bass to the pinnacle with Hard Normal Daddy, Squarepusher decided to head straight into jazz fusion with Music Is Rotted One Note. It’s a brilliant record, and a serious break with his past. On his next record, Selection Sixteen, he charted a middle course between the two previous albums, featuring some of the fusion as well as some of the drum and bass, albeit in a little less frantic form. It’s a tweener record - good, but not as good as his more focused albums.

The Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby”

This song might be my favorite for making up bogus new lyrics: “Joshua Buergel / Sits on the couch trying to think of a bit / Noone reads iiiit”

Oneohtrix Point Never, “Sleep Dealer”

Hot take time: Replica is real fuckin’ good!

…

I’m being informed that this take is ice cold.

The Exceptions, “Trailer Park Girl”

While The Exceptions are not remotely in the top tier of third wave bands, this is still plenty enjoyable, and you don’t have to just listen to the top bands in a genre. Well, you can do whatever you want. Except when you listen to this blog!

L’Orange & Mr. Lif, “A World Without Music”

As is his penchant, Mr. Lif’s 2016 album was a concept record, this one based around the idea of a society that had stamped out culture completely. As with his other concept albums, it connects better on some tracks than others, but I appreciate the ambition. Meanwhile, the collab with L’Orange on the beats is all great, so overall, it’s another great record.

It’s the end of the year, and the end of a second full month of Five Songs hitting every day. NOT BAD. I’m not sure how long this all will keep going, as I’d like to resume blogging about other stuff over on Game and Tonic, and it’s hard to keep both of these going. Not to mention the fact that if illegal streaming becomes a felony, uh…

Anyway, it’s a special today! I searched for “new year” in the library, which matched 21 tracks, and randomly picked five of them.

The B.U.M.S., “When She Walked”

We’ve had this record show up before, but In Wanna Smash Sensation should have been an absolute classic pop punk record. Cheerful and breezy, great tunes, great production from Kurt Bloch behind the boards, it’s just a delight all the way around.

Hum, “Pinch & Roll”

This comes from the second Hum LP, but the first one that really started to get them attention. Electra 2000 was distributed by Cargo Records, getting it into a lot more hands. It would lead to a major label deal, a couple of well-recieved records, and eventually an outstanding reunion record after 23 years. But going back to this album, it’s a very good indie rock record, a good picture of where the underground was in 1993, and worth a listen to see where a long-lived band really got rolling.

Eagles of Death Metal, “Anything ‘Cept The Truth”

The opening track of Heart On, the third Eagles of Death Metal album of greasy rock before they went on hiatus. For me, I think that the previous album is a little better - a little scuzzier, a little less slick. Love the handclaps here, though. Five Songs is very much a pro-handclaps space.

Dawnbreed, “Volvoteen”

This album is from 1997, from Trans Solar records out of Koblenz. Dig the CompuServe email address on the back of the album! At any rate, this is a Very Josh sounding album, certainly for that time period. Thing is - I don’t remember it! Might have bought it at a show? Might be an album that Megan bought? Did I buy it in a big batch and forget about it? Who knows?

The Kinks, “Picture Book”

This song is why I started listening to the Kinks, thanks to the cover of the tune by the Young Fresh Fellows on This One’s For The Ladies. It’s such a jam that I went and looked up where it came from, and I was glad I did. It’s such a good album! The Kinks - check ’em out!

Waxahatchee, “Air”

Waxahatchee has been one of the most consistent bands in indie rock over the last bunch of years. Each album just doesn’t miss. This is from Ivy Tripp, which is the first album I heard, and it’s very good.

Botanist, “Nourishing the Fetus (Mandragora IV)”

This is from the third Botanist album, helpfully labeled IV: Mandragora. There’s a I and a III, I just don’t know what happened to II. Down the memory hole, I guess! The next album is a VI. Who knows?

King Crimson, “I Talk To The Wind”

I didn’t really pay much attention to King Crimson for a long time, mostly because the dude I knew in college who was into King Crimson was way, way too into them. So, I just kind of ignored them, just sort of picking up little bits about them. I think I was surprised by how quiet a bunch of In The Court of the Crimson King was when I finally heard it. It really wasn’t at all what I was picturing. It turns out I was really kind of picturing Discipline, but I didn’t realize it yet.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, “Got A Thing On My Mind”

More from Miss Sharon Jones! This is the first proper song on the first Sharon Jones album, and my goodness, what a way to announce themselves. This is one of the albums that really got Daptone rolling, and it’s a great record.

The Nation of Ulysses, “Shakedown”

A thing that is pretty incredible about the Nation of Ulysses is that Ian Svenonius was able to keep up this kind of shredding vocals for any period of time. Impressive stuff!