New year, same old flaky schedule! My apologies, we here at Five Songs were on the road intending on keeping the rock going, even lugging our laptop all over the place. But, alas, Plexasaurus Rex back home decided to die, and needed a reboot, and nobody was around to push the button. So, a bit of a break. We're back! We're ready to rumble! HIT IT, PLEXASAURUS REX!
Green Day, "Minority"
I was playing Rock Band with the kids the other day, and a couple of Green Day tracks popped up. The kids declared that all Green Day songs sounded the same, and I'll be honest, I thought I had a couple more years before they started roasting my taste in music. Disheartening! I grounded them for a decade.
Nation of Ulysses, "You're My Miss Washington, D.C."
Let's see them declare that Nation of Ulysses all sounds the same! Take that, you philistines! I'm still cool!
(I am very much not.)
Wolves in the Throne Room, "Ex Cathedra"
Olympia, WA's Wolves in the Throne Room have long married atmospheric and folk noises to Scandanavian-inspired black metal, providing a Pacific Northwest spin on the genre. But with Black Cascade, which provided this track, the less conventional elments were dialed back a bit, resulting in probably their most straightforward album, if a black metal record with four 10+ minute tracks can be described as "straightforward".
The Notorious B.I.G., "Life After Death (Intro)"
I don't think we've had Biggie on here before! So, anyway, while Life After Death is certainly very good, and there are some classics on it, I think it's just not as tight and interesting overall as Ready to Die. And the intro is certainly not one of the highlights.
(The tags tell me we've had him before. Whatever!)
Gerald Wilson, "California Soul"
One of the real joys of listening to the sources of breaks used by rap producers is that a lot of the original songs are fantastic listens in their own right. This is a fine example. Just lean back and listen to this and feel yourself transported back in time.