The Baseball Project, "Don't Call Them Twinkies"
There's a Venn diagram you can draw, with "Baseball Nerd" as one circle and "Seattle Music Nerd" in the other. In that fantastic overlap sits The Baseball Project and your faithful Five Songs correspondant. Where else can you go for a lovely rock song that name checks Zoilo Versalles? Just the best.
Uniform, "Habit"
And from that piece of charm, we move to the menacing Uniform, sounding like Thaw-era Foetus here. All growling noise and lyrics spit through gritted teeth. The sort of song with a relentless pursuit of "ugly" as an aesthetic.
Bedouine, "You Kill Me"
A thing that this project really drives home is how far apart some of my preferences are. I actually think about this sometimes - not why I like something like Bedouine, but why I also like the disquieting industrial menace of Uniform (to choose a random example). I suppose they're satisfying different parts of my brain. There are times I want something soothing, and sometimes something stimulating. The range of emotions music can generate is wide, and why not try and experience them all? In general, when I'm choosing music, I pick from specific parts of my musical taste, so maybe it makes sense? Except, of course, when I don't!
Boris with Merzbow, "Black Out"
Aw, fuck it, shuffle is messing with me today. Please enjoy veteran rock giants Boris linking up with noise legend Merzbow, and reflect on the fact that just a minute or so ago, you were listening to folk. Why are you here?
Bob Marley & The Wailers, "Corner Stone"
Sure, why not.