Five Songs Special

Been a while since I’ve done a special, so let’s do this. For those who haven’t seen them, I usually pick a word, search the library for that word, and then randomize among those songs. Today, I’m going with “school” in honor of the kids going back to school. Let’s see what we get!

The Nation of Ulysses, “Cool Senior High School (Fight Song)”

Oh fuck yeah, good start. This urgent tune comes to us from the first Nation of Ulysses album, 13-Point Program To Destroy America, which is probably my favorite of the two just by virtue of being first. But they both rule, the sort of post-hardcore that actually ends up shading just back into hardcore. The drive and energy of this album is palpable.

Valentine’s Day! Let’s do a special!

The Twilight Singers, “Candy Cany Crawl”

No! That’s the wrong kind of candy! Stupid randomizer.

Snoop Dogg, “Candy (Drippin’ Like Water)”

That’s the wrong kind of candy also! Starting to think that “candy” is mostly used as a metaphor in songs for other things than, you know, candy.

The Spinanes, “Kid in Candy”

First, before we examine the candy content of the song, let’s just take a moment and just marvel at how much fun it is to listen to Scott Plouf go on the drums. And Rebecca Gates is always a marvel. What a pleasure.

CHRISTMAS DAY! TIME FOR A SPECIAL!

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “My Little Drum”

Oh yeah, Christmas music baby! This is from A Charlie Brown Christmas, a perennial favorite. What makes it such a lasting record is that it’s not insulting to its listeners. It doesn’t lean on treacle or anything to get the point across, and so you don’t get tired of hearing it.

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”

Even when it’s going super traditional, it just turns in a lovely rendition of the song and doesn’t drag it out or anything. It’s pleasant!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American reader/listeners! I don’t think I have any non-American reader/listeners! I barely have any American ones. Hmm, let’s do “dinner” for a special word. For those of you who haven’t seen me explain these before, when I do a special, I search for a word or phrase in the library and pick the random songs from that.

The Evens, “Dinner With The President”

The Evens (Amy Farina and Ian MacKaye) put out their second album, Get Evens, pretty quickly after the first one. And I think it’s a step forward, they seemed to be more comfortable with how to write songs to suit such a stripped down lineup. Is folk-punk a thing? I guess it is.

I wanted to do a special, and decided to search for “explosion” in my library. That turns out to be an album from Explosions in the Sky and a whole shitload of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. And so, fuck it, here’s five random Jon Spencer Blues Explosion tracks! Happy 4th!

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “Train #2”

I think I’ve told this story before, but one summer, my job included about a month stretch where I pulled staples from telephone poles. All day long, just moving from telephone pole to telephone pole with a screwdriver. It was miserable, the summer Spokane sun beating down on me as I wrecked my wrists digging into those hateful things. Sometimes, my screwdriver would slip, and I’d drag my knuckles into the splintered surface. The only nice thing I can say for it is that I worked alone, and was able to smuggle headphones in under my hardhat (required by safety rules because I was working next to a road, as if the hardhat was going to save me when someone plowed over me in their F-150) despite the rules against it. Mostly, I listened to the same handful of albums over and over, one of which was Extra Width. This album kept me sane that summer, and a certain dusty heat has clung to it in my memory as a consequence.

Valentine’s Day! Let’s do something special! How about a giant pile of Melvins, along with a survey of all their records? Breaks the formula, but who gives a shit! The Melvins are for lovers!

THE BONER YEARS

Not everything they released in this period was on Boner Records, but it’s a convenient way to label things. Buzz Osborne formed the band in 1983 with Matt Lukin (who would later go on to help found Mudhoney) and Mike Dillard (who actually rejoined the band for an album thirty years later). Dale Crover pretty quickly replaced Dillard and that lineup stuck around for at least a little while. The Melvins are kind of legendary in the Northwest music scene for how much of the ball they got rolling. Not only did Lukin help form Mudhoney, one of the pillars of grunge, but Crover was Nirvana’s original drummer (on Bleach). Not only THAT, but Buzz is the guy who introduced Dave Grohl to Cobain. It’s not like things wouldn’t have gotten going up here otherwise, but the Melvins family tree is pretty extensive.

Goin’ with a theme today!

Sleater-Kinney, “Buy Her Candy”

Now, seriously, what’s the point of a Sleater-Kinney song without Janet Weiss?

Andrew Bird & His Bowl of Fire, “Candy Shop”

Very early material from Andrew Bird, when he was still recording with a band credited as His Bowl of Fire. This version lasted for three albums, with the first two albums staying pretty close to a hot jazz formula like you hear on this track. The third album found the band adding some more rock influence, to great effect, leaving the first couple albums as just sort of a fun dead-end. He does have many of his strengths on display here, though, especially his great vocal delivery, the maserful violin, and the dynamic songwriting.

Happy birthday to the most important listener/reader of Five Songs! YES, YOU.

The Pixies, “Where Is My Mind?”

I’m not sure a week doesn’t go by where Dave Lovering’s entry into this song doesn’t go through my head. And that’s without talking about how often the rest of the song goes through my brain. Where is my mind? It’s on the Pixies, most of the time.

The Jesus Lizard, “Mouth Breather”

Speaking of drum parts that go through my head all the time, Mac McNeilly’s drums here are indelibly printed into my head. When I die (probably crushed by a stack of board games falling on me), you’ll be able to slice me open and find the chunk of gray matter assigned to keep track of this. This is essentially a perfect rock song.