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Dance Hall Crashers, “All Mine”

Oops! All harmonies!

Holy Fuck, “The Pulse”

Holy Fuck play a sort of instrumental rock that, in its use of primitive electronics and hypnotic grooves, has more than a little in common with krautrock. It’s really delightful stuff, a recognition that some blips and a bitchin’ beat will take you a long ways.

Idles, “Mother”

I think the last couple times Idles has come up, I’ve mostly waxed on about how punk this record is. And, you know - it really is. There’s an immediacy and urgency to this that really calls back to the spirit of punk. This is one of those albums that just gets better the more you listen to it.

Rocket From The Crypt, “Guilt Free”

The essential insight of Rocket From The Crypt, that garage rock is even more fun with a saxophone involved, is an elemental truth of music. It’s a lesson that more bands should learn.

The Mr. T Experience, “Our Days Are Numbered”

Like, this is a perfectly good song. But, let’s add a sax and see how it smokes!

Helmet, “I Know”

I’m going to avoid the obvious joke of saying this song needs a sax. It absolutely does not. It just needs to be cranked to tooth-rattling volume to be perfect.

Dis, “I’m Not Sagan”

The Historically Troubled Third Album is a really fantastic album name.

Aretha Franklin, “Save Me”

I’m often at a loss for words when we have some of the all-time greats come up on here, particularly folks like the great soul artists. There’s nothing I can really say that’s going to add anything here. Of course Aretha Franklin was great. We should all listen to more of her!

Eggs, “Erin Go Bragh!”

Hmm. Time to find out what the translation of “erin go bragh” actually is, a phrase that I know only from associations, and not what it actually means. “Ireland to the end of time”, neat!

J Church, “The Versace Killer”

From Cat Food, a mini-album that features some new tracks, a couple re-workings, an Electric Light Orchestra cover (“Turn To Stone”), and the usual commitment to rocking from J Church.

Floor, “Find Away”

In some ways, there’s some real similarities between My Bloody Valentine and Floor. Both use a ton of guitar to sometimes disorienting effect, but leaven them with vocals that are kind of at odds with the overall tone. MBV uses dream-like vocals, and Floor uses clean singing (which is unexpected in something this heavy), but it results in a dual thing that gives them a really interesting feel.

Merle Haggard, “Are The Good Times Really Over (I Wish A Buck Was Still Silver)”

Personally, I look to my country music artists for trenchant commentary on monetary policy.

They Might Be Giants, “Bangs”

The opening of Mink Car, the last record TMBG released for Warner Bros. I suppose being released on 9/11 was probably an ill omen for the sales of the record. It contains some really good stuff (“Man, It’s So Loud In Here” is one of my favorites of all-time from them), but overall is kind of treading water a little bit. It was after this album that TMBG began making kids’ records, and after a few of those, I think they really kind of started progressing again.

Destroyer, “The Way of Perpetual Roads”

This is from Thief, a pretty early album from Destroyer before they became really big. Well, by indie standards. But even from this relatively early date, the ambitious melodies and elaborate pop were certainly present. The most frequent comparison I see people make with Destroyer is Bowie, and you can certainly hear why on this tune.

Tim Armstrong, “Translator”

Tim Armstrong is of course the man behind Operation Ivy and Rancid, but on his one solo record (A Poet’s Life), he lets a different side of his music shine. Backed by the Aggrolites, he put together a very straighforward ska record that embraces his influences and goes for it. It’s a fun record, and honestly, I wish he would do more like this.

2Pac, “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted”

All Eyez On Me represented 2Pac’s commercial peak, with the double-album selling tons of copies driven by “California Love”. Of course, it would be the last album he would make while alive, so we don’t know what he would have done after moving on from G-funk. If he’d been alive, there would have actually been many fewer 2Pac records, as I think he would have just moved on to acting and not much music would have been released. Instead, essentially every noise he ever made on tape would eventually get released.

That’s 11 month of perfect attendance. NOT BAD AT ALL. On the 29th, we’ll celebrate a full year of Five Songs every day unless I totally biff it. Which I might! And we’re getting pretty close to one thousand entries on this blog, so I guess I’ll have another little celebration when we hit that. Or I’ll forget.

Vulfpeck, “3 on E”

You know what? I wanted to hear this song, and I wrote this entry back-to-back with the previous one. Screw it! This place is random enough! Please write to the Five Songs ombudsman if you have a problem with our editorial decision here.

The Toasters, “New York Fever”

I’d have to go back and listen to a bunch of early Toasters records to confirm this, but in my memory, New York Fever is the record where the Toasters’ sound kind of accelerated. There’s a more frantic pace to their work from here going forward, which kind of presages the ska-punk to come along in a few years.

UFO Or Die, “Old Cold Meat”

UFO or Die is a side project of Boredoms leader/genius/lunatic Yamatsuka Eye. It’s just pure experimentation, all sound collages, weird squawky noises, random hiss, and just general messiness. Is it good? I don’t think that’s really a sensible question to ask of something like this. Is it fun to listen to? Every now and again, sure.