Joe & Barbara, "You're Astounding"
This comes from very late in the Stax run, from 1975, just before the label's bankruptcy brought things to a close.
Aceyalone, "Five Feet"
Aceyalone was one of the founders of the Freestyle Fellowship, which we just had the other day. He went solo and had a string of albums ranging from solid to excellent. This comes from his 2001 album Accepted Electric, which is probably my favorite solo album of his.
Sleater-Kinney, "Oh!"
You know what? Hearing the occasional Sleater-Kinney track mixed in with the rest of this stuff has actually really increased my appreciation of the band. While I've always liked them, I think it's forced me to concentrate on their music just a little more and I'm digging it. Thank you, Five Songs! Another satisfied customer (me).
KEN Mode, "Counter Culture Complex"
KEN Mode is a noise rock band from Winnipeg, who are very much aware of the past bands in the genre. The name of the band is from a Henry Rollins quote, for instance. They've recorded a bunch with Steve Albini and made Big Black references on their albums. They've put out a string of very good albums, with this being the opening of their 2013 album Entrench. This album has more hardcore in it than some of their other records, and is an excellent and aggressive record.
The Mountain Goats, "Cadaver Sniffing Dog"
I bought Beautiful Rat Sunset way back in 1994, and it just didn't connect with me at all. At that time, I really only listened to more aggressive or noisy stuff, and a dude strumming a guitar just didn't do anything for me. I mentally filed the Mountain Goats as a band I didn't like, and went on to ignore them for the next twenty five years. I then picked up In League With Dragons because my tastes had evolved, and I figured any band that had hung around that long must have something going for them. And it's a good album, I like it - but I'm not that much of a lyrics guy, and I think some of the appeal is John Darnielle's lyrics.