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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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We have another Bandcamp embed here, so the YouTube playlist only has four songs instead of the usual five. I assume you’ll all survive.

YACHT, “The Denver Nuggets”

Whimsical electronic music, sounding here like nothing so much as a video game song. I used to keep a list of albums to check out in a document that I carried around in various electronic devices (Palm OS represent!), and sometimes albums would make their way onto it and stay for a really long time until I found them. This was before most everything was instantly available digitally. I remember Y.A.C.H.T. getting on that list and staying there for so long that I couldn’t remember why they were on there or what they purportedly sounded like. I was somewhat nonplussed upon finally finding the record at the old Easy Street Records in lower Queen Anne.

Back from a hectic weekend, with camping and a charity gaming tournament, where we collectively raised more than $110K for Treehouse. Which is amazing! I think the antidote will be some nice, calming songs.

(get ready for five songs of extreme metal)

Dead Rider, “The Blue Flame”

An experimental rock band started after the end of US Maple by Todd Rittman. US Maple was dedicated to deconstructing rock as far as it would go and still have it be rock music, and Dead Rider retains some of that sensibility. They also feature a saxophone, a relative rarity among bands these days. I would say, if you’ve gone through US Maple’s discography and still want more, this band is a good place to move to.

When this posts, I’ll be at the charity gaming tournament The Gauntlet, probably losing at Caylus and Ponzi Scheme. Should be a good time! While it’s too late to donate to my team, it’s never too late to donate to the fine folks at Treehouse. Here’s today’s playlist.

Crystalized Movements, “By Unseen Hands”

Psychedelic noise band Crystalized Movements was mostly Wayne Rogers, seeing how far guitar noise could take him. By the time they hit their last album, Revelations From Pandemonium, they were at the top of their form. At the time, I remember thinking that that album was the best record of 1994, a year that included amazing albums from Drive Like Jehu, Portishead, Nas, Jawbox, Jawbreaker, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Green Day, among others. I wouldn’t hold that opinion today, probably taking the Nas record first, but it still says something. This track is from an earlier album, where you can hear that psych/pop/noise aesthetic really starting to coalesce.