Shuffle. Five. Describe.

1. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians- Birds In Perspex (live, BBC). One of my favorite RH & Es tunes, this version especially. I played this album ("Perspex Island"), David Byrne's self-titled solo album, and Adrian Belew's "Here", constantly, the summer of 1994. T'was a summer of pleasant melodic adult-alternative. Though I was only 23.
2. Beck - Sing It Again. A simple country waltz: finger-plucked acoustic, brushed drums, piano, some kind of slide guitar haunting the background, a harmonica. I'm sure a lot of people only know Beck's dense, sample-heavy rap and/or dance songs. But, he has albums full of tunes which sound nothing at all like "Loser" or "Devil's Haircut"; one of the bleakest records I have is his "Sea Change". Quite the talent, that Beck.
3. Sunny Day Real Estate - Song About An Angel. My favorite SDRE song. Quiet-loud-louder - repeat, beautifully melodic, and the lyrics are completely unintelligible and impenetrable.
4. Pixies - Santo. From their "Complete B-sides" collection. The mixed Spanish/English lyrics and shouty delivery makes this sound like a "Surfer Rosa" outtake. But it was the B-side for "Dig For Fire", from "Bossanova". Shows what I know.
5. Belly - Stay.This pretty thing is the last song on "Star", closing that awesome album with a sweet, warm hug. A YouTube search for this brings up countless videos of fat bellies, pregnant women, exercise videos.

Do it.

Special dilemma edition:
Best way to orient two monitors: landscape or portrait?

Once you've answered that, start your music shuffler, list the first five songs and describe them!

1. The Beatles - Tell Me What You See. An OK number from "Help!". Kindof sing-song, a little lyrically meh.
2. Dizzy Gillespie & Stan Getz - Impromptu. The first three minutes of this uptempo number feature neither minutes Gillespie nor Getz; piano and guitar run the show. But, eventually, Getz shows up with a long and exuberant run, and Gillespie comes in with his own at minute 5. Gillespie, Getz and the guitar player close it out with 90 seconds of intertwining solos.
3. Nick Drake - Hanging On A Star. A nice Pink Moon-style tune, vox + guitar. It's one of the last songs he recorded, for an album he never finished in '74. It's from the mostly excellent Time Of No Reply outtakes and alternates CD, put out in 1986.
4. Big Black - Pigeon Kill (live). This sounds pretty much identical to any number of other Big Black songs. Rocks pretty damned hard, though - even if it is about killing a bird.
5. Broken Social Scene - Handjobs For The Holidays. That title sets the bar pretty high. Does the song itself measure up? I don't think so. Not quite. It bops along at a nice clip, but without a hook of any kind. There's a lot of stuff going on, too much, maybe. The lyrics are mumbly, and, I couldn't tell if they had anything to do with the title.

Now, you do it.

Start your music shuffling machines! List the first five song it gives you, and describe them to us!

I'll go first:

1. The Boys Of The Lough - Patsy Campbell. A quick Irish pipe and drum song. My dad periodically mails me LPs that he needs transferred to CD. I always keep copies of all the records I rip - just for the sake of collecting. Some I don't care for, most I like. This one has stayed on my iPod pretty much continuously, for years.
2. DJ Krush - The Kinetics. DJ Krush is a Japanese hip-hop DJ / turntablist. Most of his tracks are instrumental, atmospheric/ambient, and a little trippy - like this one.
3. Television - Friction. This one's a bit more raucous than the rest of the Marquee Moon album - that loud a-melodic guitar grinding over the top of everything else gives the song a bit of an edge that the other songs, IMHO, lack.
4. Sonic Youth - Total Trash. A great song from their best record. There's a nice hook, some fun lyrics, a nice long SY feedback break-down in the middle: everything you'd expect from a good SY tune. Makes me think of the winter of 88/89, and what a happy shock it was to discover this. Up until then, the most deviant stuff I'd heard was REM, The Cure and Metallica. Hearing this was like discovering that my house has an extra floor where gravity works in reverse - why didn't I know about this sooner, and wow... disorienting! "Slap him on the back / with a heavy rock".
5. Rush - Subdivisions. Any escape might to smooth the unattractive truth that the suburbs have no charms to soothe the restless dreams of youth. Kindof a cliche, these days: both the song and the band. But, I'll always love Rush - Permanent Waves through Signals, at least. Be cool or be cast out? Can't cast me out, I was never in.

OK, now you.

Shuffle-up five songs. Describe them so that we may learn.

1. Kristin Hersh - Silver Sun. The same week the Throwing Muses put out their blistering self-titled 2003 'comeback' album, their singer, Kristin Hersh, put out a solo album of eerie, gloomy acoustic tunes called "The Grotto". This is from that album. It's really quite beautiful (and Andrew Bird's in there playing violin), but it's really quite cold, too.
2. Portishead - Over. Speaking of gloomy and beautiful... Portishead kindof owned that category, in the mid 90s. And this is one of my favorite songs from their second, self-titled, album.
3. The Cure - Charlotte Sometimes (live). Gloomy and beautiful, right. This one is just dripping with that creepy unsettled feeling that defined their early 80's sound, which I love. Maybe this song's is a little too filled-out though - I can generally do with fewer keyboards - when compared to the rest of their stuff from '81. But, overall, a nice 2nd-era Cure tune.
4. Kristin Hersh - Vitamins V. The iPod is clearly in a mood. This is also from "The Grotto", and so: gloomy and beautiful. The 'Vitamins V' are vodka and valium. That's partially what this song is about, and is exactly what it sounds like.
5. John Mayall - All Your Love. I play this song on guitar, constantly, sloppily. Wish we lived out in the country, so I could crank my amp and get some of that lovely feedback Clapton gets on the breaks. It wouldn't sound any better to anyone listening, but it would be a lot more fun for me.

Do it!

Shuffle em up. Describe five. Live long in phosphor.

1. Pixies - Letter To Memphis (instrumental). A track from their "'B' Sides" collection. Hearing it this way does highlight the music, a bit; but I miss the vocals. I can't help but fill them in, mentally, which distracts from listening.
2. Soundgarden - All Your Lies. When they did tunes like this, Soundgarden was the heaviest band ever. Everyone knows singer Chris Cornell could wail, but the rest of the band, especially IMO, guitar player Kim Thayil, still remains under-appreciated.
3. Nod - Prescription Bottle. A bit of a sunny and mellow tune for Nod, like a walk round a pond on a sunny day, while geese wheezily quack at each other, and two different bands play similar songs from opposite sides of the water. Wish they'd put more of their tunes on-line.
4. T-Rex - Bang a Gong. I just realized that this song sounds exactly like the Stones' "It's Only Rock And Roll". Actually, I think it's the other way around, since the Stones' song came out three years after this did. I hope the Stones credited Bolan somewhere.
5. Benny Goodman Trio - Blue (And broken-hearted). I've always liked this kind of clarinet-centered small-combo jazz. And, then we started playing this simple but addictive game called "Flight Control", in which you play an air traffic controller who has to deal with congested air space and dumb planes; the background music for that game is a small-combo clarinet jazz tune, in the Goodman style (if it's nt Goodman himself). And now all I can think about when I hear this stuff is that friggin game.

Go!

a) Given:
1) you have a music collection
2) you have a device capable of choosing random selection from 1
3) you have access to 2
b) Enable the device, 2
c) Allow it to choose 5 (five) songs at random
d) list each song here and
e) describe it so that we may learn from you

For example:

1. Albert King + SRV - Matchbox Blues (from "In Session"). Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King got together in the studio and made a record (and the whole thing's on video, too). This is from that session. It's classic "master and student" stuff; King is as good as ever, but SRV shows that he's not only mastered King's moves but has super-charged them with Hendrix-style fire. SRV is humble throughout, but King is clearly impressed.
2. Apples In Stereo - Dots 1-2-3. A snappy little thing from an under-appreciated band. Space-age retro-psychedelic, but still very early 90's. This was a favorite for a month or so, back in the day.
3. New Pornographers - Broken Breads. Never knew the name of this one - it's always been the "I Don't Wanna" song, to me. Like most NP songs, there are a lot of gear changes and tight corners, so listening is a bit of holding on while they flit around. A few of the sections don't really work for me, so I've never completely loved this one. Still, it's un-terrible, and works in context on the album.
4. Andrew Bird - Some Of These Days. A classic (very) early jazz tune. This is from his Bowl Of Fire album "Thrills", which is full of these early jazz standards. The version on the record is about 3:40; but, after a short silence, there's another five minutes of a smokin early-jazz instrumental which I can't identify and isn't credited. Very cool.
5. Bad Company - Rock Steady. Straight-up 70's rock. The lyrics are a little meh, here and there. But the song's simple, non-nonsense vibe is solid. And the chorus is pure Paul Rodgers.

Now, you do it.

Special FYWP edition!

Shuffle-up five tunes, list em, describe em. I'll go first:

1. Talking Heads - Making Flippy Floppy. In which the Heads get their 80's Prince-style electro dance club groove on. I like it now, but I don't know what I'd make of this if I knew it when it came out. Never been a fan of mid-80s dance music. Love the bass line in the first verse, though - that little half-step slide always gets me.
2. Liz Phair - Thrax. One her 'Girlysound' demos. It's not a great tune one its own, but it contains the seeds of greatness: one verse ended up in Whip-Smart's "Jealousy" and some other bits ended up in Exile's "Soap Star Joe".
3. Neil Young - When You Dance.... Linked to the Live Rust version, which I prefer because, as always, his live guitar sound is so huge and angry and he slams the notes out of his amp. The studio versions always sound tame by comparison.
4. Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Samba Dees Days. Would prefer to hear more of Byrd's guitar - it's barely audible over the sax and percussion, most of the time. Still, a nice little samba. Getz always brings the mellow - even when he's going fast, it's smooth and light. Rum-scented.
5. St Vincent - The Bed. A pretty and dreamy tune, though as with most St Vincent songs, this is ever-shifting and complexly arranged - it may be pretty, but it ain't simple. Can't wait for her next record (Sept!).

Let's see what you got...

Shuffle em up. Five songs. Describe em.

1. CCR - Who'll Stop The Rain. Like that odd little harmony they do at the very end of the chorus. "Who'll stop the raa_aiiin..." I always forget that I have this, let alone that it's on my iPod.
2. Benny Goodman Trio - At Sundown. A nice little clarinet tune. Don't recall ever hearing it before, though I certainly have, since I've played this record many times before. Should I call it "forgettable" ? Seems harsh.
3. Leon Redbone - Polly Wolly Doodle. A favorite of mine since this album came out... when I was 4. Cause what 4 year old wouldn't like this song?
4. Guided By Voices - Apology In Advance. At two and a half minutes, this is nearly an epic by GBV standards. Not as catchy as some GBV songs, and rather cleanly produced. Must be a later one.
5. Dirty Projectors - Temecula Sunrise. Starts out with some tastefully plucked guitar and it sounds like it's going to be a sweet little folksong. Quickly, though, the guitar's rhythm starts to break down, and it ends up in a twisting, hiccuping loop. By the time it gets to the titular chorus, the guitar has become a Frippish cluster of quick notes. There's a simple steady drum beat, but I think that's there just to confuse the listener, since nothing seems to be paying much attention to it. A little tough for 7:45AM.

Now you do it.

OK, OK. No more May. June shuffling begins... today!

Five songs, random, list and describe!

1. Nora - Dummy. This is a song from one of my college-era bands. It's a snappy little upbeat number and the performance here is pretty good (if you'll allow me this prideful moment)! This was always a blast to play.
   

2. Led Zeppelin - Thank You. It's my 2nd-least favorite song from my favorite Zep album (Moby Dick wins last place because of the drum solo). Still, it's a better song than most bands will ever do, so I haven't totally wasted these five minutes!
3. Neil Young & C.H. - Hey Hey, My My (live, from Weld). His guitar sound is just killer. It's so raw and brutal; it wants to tear your face off and kick you for being so ugly. And the beat is just StompStompStompStompStompStomp. It's like sitting on top of an overdriven sheet metal stamping machine. One of his best - especially the live versions, ex. on Weld and Live Rust.
4. Cat Power - Salty Dog. This is from her "Covers Record" (an album of covers). It's just her and an acoustic guitar. Pretty mellow, in and out in two minutes. Not bad.
5. Calexico - Nom de Plume. In a change from their usual unique blend of American and Mexican musical styles, this one is in whispered French. I don't know the name of the style, but it's that dark, minor-key French thing; there's typically an accordion (though not here). Calexico is an interesting band. I should buy more of their records.

OK, your turn!

Special small selection from the Nano because my full library is being held hostage by a once-again-dead NAS edition :

1. Black Keys - Sinister Kid. A groovy tune from their latest record. It's unmistakably the Black Keys - kinda retro, pared-down and funky. Very nice.
2. Beastie Boys - So What'cha Want. Kick-ass classic Beasties. And the video still kills. Yeah, you can't front on that.
3. Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain (Peel). A rather dull tune from a rather great album (Hatful Of Hollow). The lyrics are typically sharp, but the music just kinda lays there.
4. Tricky - Bad Things. This is one is kind of a mess. There's some funky bass noodling and some random noises under which Tricky mumbles something. It sets a mood - a grimy, pot-smokey mood - but doesn't do much with it.
5. Beastie Boys - The Biz Vs. The Nuge. A silly little 30 second thing. I guess that's how rappers rolled.

Shuffle up five songs, list em, describe em.