Ministry, "Death & Destruction"
I was just making fun of the fact that Ministry just released a new record called AmeriKKKant with the Statue of Liberty doing a facepalm on the cover. That'll teach me! Anyway, as I've mentioned in the past, I was big into Ministry in high school. In-your-face attitude! Super fast crunchy guitars! Edgy vocal samples! It pretty much hit 15-year-old Josh square where he lived. The thing is, I grew up. Ministry didn't. The window in which I loved Ministry was only a few years.
Somehow, and I can't explain this, this comes from 2007's The Last Sucker. The only working theory I have right now is that my buddy Ficus dared me to get this album. I don't have a better explanation.
Al Green, "Let's Stay Together"
Soul giant Al Green had a run of albums in the early 70s that is one of the all-time great tears. The albums from Gets Next To You through Call Me form one of the essential bodies of work in soul. This is the title song of one of those records, Let's Stay Together, and gives you a great idea of what Al Green sounds like.
That's two guys named Al so far today.
Melvins, "Halfway to the Bakersfield Mall"
This comes from the Melvins' first double album, A Walk With Love and Death. The first half of the album (the Death half) sounds like the Melvins. The second half (the Love half, which this comes from) is mostly just experimental noise pieces like this one. Apparently it was made as a movie soundtrack. Frankly, it's pretty inessential. The Death half is good, though.
No Als involved.
Orkesta Mendoza, "Cumbia Amor De Lejos"
A Bandcamp find from 2016, I don't know that much about this band other than, you know, I like this. I'm pretty much a sucker for accordions.
Again, no Als involved.
DJ Krush, "Kemuri/El Condor Pasa"
I like the flute on this song. As always, that's the kind of priceless insight you can only get here at Five Songs Incorporated.
I cannot find any Als involved here either.