The Blood Brothers

Godflesh, “Pulp”

When Streetcleaner was released, people would lump it in with grindcore, because Justin Broadrick cut his teeth in grindcore progenitors Napalm Death. But this isn’t grindcore, not the way we understand the genre today. Listen to yesterday’s Piss Vortex track again (it’s only thirty seconds!) to remind yourselves of what we think of grindcore. Instead, this really is either slowed down industrial metal (given the drum machine driving the proceedings) or more like doom. Either way, this is a touchstone for numerous heavy bands, who look to the plodding, punishing rhythems of this record for inspiration on how to make something really heavy.

The Shins, “New Slang”

I sort of mentally lumped the Shins in with a bunch of other indie bands (like Death Cab) as being “fine, but not for me”. Who had the time to differentiate all these bands? It wasn’t actually until I found “For A Fool” on Rocksmith and had such a good time playing it that I paid more attention, and hey - turns out I actually really like the Shins. We wander into the music we like through a lot of different ways, and it always pays to keep your ears open.

Third month in a row without missing a day! 94 day streak going here. NOT BAD AT ALL.

Smut Peddlers, “That Smut”

Well, here’s a ridiculous album from 2001. While obsession with sex has a long and storied history in music, it’s seldom quite so forward as with this record, and the focus on porn in particular is relatively unusual. But it’s not unheard of in hip-hop either, not with Too $hort around, so this isn’t even really breaking new ground. At any rate, outside of the outlandish lyrics, the record itself is a bit of a time capsule of that time in rap.

Hell yes.

Black Star, “Definition”

We’ve had Mos Def, we’ve had Talib Kweli, but now it’s time for their collaboration. Black Star loomed large over the later careers of both men, and for good reason: this is easily one of the greatest hip-hop records ever made. Off the top of my head, there are only a very small handful of records I’d put ahead of it. The spare, precise, jazz-inflected beats married perfectly with the impossibly deft rhyming from Mos and Kweli. This album is basically perfect.

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!

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.