Here's how we roll: start your music shuffling device, list and describe the first five songs that come up. No skipping, no choosing, random!.

For example:

1. A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour. One of my favorite tracks from one of my favorite records. Jazzy, laid-back, with that catchy little vibraphone sample. Sounds odd out of context, though. I'm expecting the segue into "8 Million Stories". Instead...
2. The Allman Bros - Don't Keep Me Wonderin' (live). Starts out with a harmonica blast that makes me think it's Black Sabbath's "The Wizard". And then the fear sets in: oh shit, is this one of those 20 minute Allman Bros tunes that I forgot to take off the iPod? Nope: this is a short one. Still, Duane Allman packs a hell of a lot of sizzlin slide guitar goodness into these 3 minutes.
3. Polvo - Channel Changer. The kings of Chapel Hill noise. There were a lot of indie bands in the early 90s that, inspired by Sonic Youth, featured two oddly-tuned, dissonant, guitars weaving around each other. But Polvo's guitar sound is distinguished by a slight middle-eastern vibe, especially in the less chaotic parts. This is a pretty good example of their early sound; it's dissonant as fuck, but still a pretty strong melody somehow emerges from all the grinding and hissing. I wish it was mixed a little differently. This whole album is muddy.
4. Matt Pond PA - Taught To Look Away. A pretty little bittersweet love song, sounds like it could've been written in the 50's - reminds me of "Sea Of Love". That clip doesn't really do it justice, but it's only one I could find. I'm always puzzled by the last verse, though. It starts with the woman who was singing harmony singing the verse alone. And that would make the song a duet, which feels exactly right for a sweet little thing like this. But Matt Pond comes in singing after the first line and then finishes the verse alone. It's like they started that verse thinking "duet!" then changed their mind after ten words. A great song, though. A grea album, too.
5. Robyn Hitchcock - Shuffling Over The Flagstones. An instrumental: mostly acoustic guitar, with some electric accents. Not really a favorite - I like the playing, but the tune itself is meandering and a little too vague for me to get into.

OK, now you go!

Start your music delivery system. Tell it to shuffle/randomize/mix. Describe the first five songs that come up - no skipping, no editing.

1. Breeders - Divine Hammer. In my book, this is a perfect pop song. I can't think of a thing about it that I don't like, or that I would change. It's a solid 2:39 of Yaaayyyyyy!
2. Feelies - Everybody's Got Something To Hide (except for me and my monkey). Yup, it's The Beatles' song. But this one's been stripped down and streamlined and compressed, and it zips by much faster than the original. I couldn't find The Feelies' original version on YouTube, and the live versions (which all seem to be recent), are a little messy, but, on the 1980 recording, it's all tight and nervous and twitchy.
3. Spoon - Anything You Want (live, NPR). The live version is a little faster and Britt Daniels' vocals are a little loud, a little shouty and a little sloppy - because he's always that way, live. But, this is my favorite Spoon song. I don't even want to think about it any more than that.
4. The Breeders - Chances Are. This is a cover of a Bob Marley song. It's a slow simple tune, without even the slightest touch of reggae - sounds more like a late 50's R&B ballad. The Breeders' version isn't much different than the original - Marley had a drummer tapping out a simple beat in his, which The Breeders skipped. The big difference is the vocals. In Marley's version, it sounds like Kim Deal is (somehow) doing the backup vocals. In The Breeders' version, she's doing the lead.
5. Paul McCartney - Eat At Home. I'm a little new to the McCartney solo stuff. Never bothered with it until a few months ago, when I bought "Ram" out of curiosity. This isn't bad. It's moderately catchy and inoffensive. But it needs something... "Divine Hammer" is simple, but it's also blissful; this is just good natured.

I've showed you mine. Now you show me yours.

... and talk about what they turn up?

(five songs, random, describe them)

1. Radiohead - Motion Picture Soundtrack. It's one of those Radiohead songs that doesn't seem to do a lot. There's a funereal organ bit, and some electronic chimes breeze in and out. A choir Ooohs and Ahhhs in the background. Thom sings something I can't understand. Then there's a huge chunk of silence before the band comes back with a bit of sound collage, then the silence is back for a minute or so before the track officially ends. It's a pretty thing, but I don't know really what to do with it. The silences are inconvenient because they make me think my iPod has died. I suppose the structure would work as an actual motion picture soundtrack, but I don't know what the movie is. Oh Radiohead, why do you torment me so?
2. Beastie Boys - Shadrach. Yeah, OK, three weeks in a row; it's time to get take some B.Boys off the iPod. Unlike the past two, this is not a live-band track. This is a classic (and fantastic) sample-n-beats hip-hop track with classic Beastie vocals over it - wise ass, nasal, etc.. It has a few good lines, but it's not one of my favorite Beastie tunes - I don't hate it, but it just doesn't stick to me.
3. Shellac - Didn't We Deserve A Look At You The Way You Really Are. And this is a pretty standard long Shellac song: minimal drums and quiet bass play the same thing for two minutes (the bass does a little 2-bar fill about 2 minutes in! then it's back to the original two note pattern); Albini deadpans a couple of lines of lyrics over top then stops; guitar comes in for a couple of seconds at the 3:00 mark. Then it's back to bass and drums for another minute. Things get really crazy around the 4:00 mark, when the guitar plays a couple of quiet chords and the bass does another fill! Then it's back to the bass & drums for another minute. A little bit of some thin high vocals at 5:00, then, at 5:30, the volume kicks in! They're gonna bust out! But, no. By 6:00, they're back to the basic bass & drums. Just past 8:00, a couple more lines of deadpan vocals! At 9:30, Albini mutters the titular line! At 10:15, a guitar comes in, with real volume! Could this be where they let loose? 11:00, bass does another fill. 10:50, a drum fill! 11:00, Volume! Sigh. Then we're back to the basic bit again. 12:00, they abandon the basic pattern! Crescendo! Finale! Huzzah!
4. Bauhaus - Telegram Sam. Bauhaus could really kick the hell out of a cover. I'd almost say they're better at covers than at their own songs. But really, I think it's just because they pick really good songs to cover. The T-Rex original is the standard T-Rex groove (ie. the music in the verses is completely indistinguishable from "Bang A Gong"), but Bauhaus speeds it up, replaces T-Rex's glam-pouting swing and swagger with a nervous and wiry anxiety; and instead of horns, we get Daniel Ash's screaming feedback. It sounds nothing like the original. Love it.
5. Tokyo Police Club - Graves. One of their better tunes. It's got enough melody to be sweet and enough energy to be fun. It rushes by in a brisk 2:35, with guitars a-barking, background vox a-oooohh-ing, singer a-whining, drums a-pounding. This is what makes them one of my favorite new bands.

And now, you do it.

It's the most wonderful time of the week...

Crank up your music shuffler, let it play five songs, then describe them to us! Enlighten us!

1. Judas Priest - Victim Of Changes ("live"). This is actually two songs glued together: a hard rocking one formerly called "Whiskey Woman" which precedes the slow-building, dreamy, "Victim Of Changes". And it's not really "live", as much of the album was redone in the studio after the initial live recording. But, it's my favorite JP song, and it's off my favorite JP album. The Smashing Pumpkins could have done a credible version of this in the mid-90s; it's got that Pumpkins feel.
   

   Take another look around
   You're not going anywhere
   You realize you're getting old
   And no-one seems to care

   Yippee!

2. Andrew Bird - Trimmed + Burning. Just Andrew and his violin, live. It's a ragged, dark thing, from his first "Fingerlings" disc (a series of releases that he uses for outtakes, experiments and such). His first "Band Of Fire" records were full of this old-timey fiddlin, but he doesn't do much of this stuff on record any more.
3. Rogue Wave - Right With You. It's a poppy little song. Not exceptionally catchy, though it tries to be, with its big, bright chorus and simple sing-song verses. It does not grab me.
4. Paul Simon - Saint Judy's Comet. This is a very mellow, very mid-70's tune. It's a lullaby to a little boy, and Simon's voice is barely louder than a whisper. And while the song is actually a little on the quick side, the playing is subdued and muted, so it all seems to breeze on past. I can't find a link to it... apparently Simon's one of those artists who hates YouTube.
5. Marah - Barstool Boys. The Marah boys love them some down-on-your-luck ballads, and this is one of their better ones. Fairly short, right to the point. Most of the versions on YouTube are live with just guitar and piano, but this one is the studio version with banjo (? maybe a dobro), drums, bells, three or more guitars, backup vocals, etc.. Luckily, it manages to avoid sounding crowded. Nicely done!

OK, your turn!

Grab hold of your music shuffling device. Command it to play then five songs. Describe here those five songs to us, so that from you we may learn of them.

1. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - Heaven (Kershaw Sessions). While most of the songs on this album were recorded on Andy Kershaw's radio show, this one was actually re-packaged from their "Gotta Let This Hen Out" record. Cheaters! Anyway... this is a nice little tune from Robyn's very early period, very poppy, very chipper and upbeat, very mid 80s.
2. Copeland - The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song). A delicate little sketch of a song. A wispy keyboard line and the sparest of drum tracks accent a high simple vocal melody. Sometimes there's harmony. It doesn't do a lot, and it's almost too sweet, but I like it. It's been sitting on my iPod for a couple of years now, and has slowly grown on me. I almost never think about it, but one day it came on and I realized I had memorized it - though I didn't know the name of the song or who it was from. And the band broke up last year. Alas.
3. The New Pornographers - Use It. On the other hand, the verses in this song are just drums, a simple piano line and a simple vocal melody, too. But the New Pornographers don't do wispy and delicate. This song rocks. And then the chorus comes in, and everything goes to 11. One of my favorite NP songs.
4. Beastie Boys - Something's Got To Give. Another live-band Beasties track! This one's a laid-back, funky, trippy thing - like a garage band doing a War impression. The video is all bomber footage and tanks and ruination. Good times.
5. King Crimson - Matte Kudasai (alternate take). KC's prettiest song, by far. Even people who aren't fans of prog rock will like this one. It still has Belew's trademark animal noises (seagulls, this time) and Fripp's guitar parts are sick, but it's all in service of a soft, mellow and sweetly-lovesick vibe. Veddy nice. Veddy nice. The difference between this and the the original is in the guitar parts - Belew's howling infinite-sustain parts are slightly different from the original version, and Fripp gets a little extra bit.

Onward!

It was fun last week, so let's do it again: turn your music player of choice to 'random', describe the first five songs that come up.

1. Miles Davis - Love For Sale. This is from a record I, for some reason, don't listen to often ('58 Sessions). So, I'm not too familiar with it. I'm going to have to do this one by actually listening to the song a couple of times... luckily, it's only 12 minutes long...

   It's basically the same band that would make Kind Of Blue slightly less than a year from when they made this one, so it's got that great combination of Bill Evans' introspective piano and Miles' lonely trumpet vs. the Coltrane and Adderley power sax duo, with Jimmy Cobb's quick, light touch on the drums. Can't hear the bass at all in my headphones - sorry Mr. Chambers. But this a more conventional tune than the stuff that makes Kind Of Blue special - though it starts leaning in the KoB direction near the end, when Evans' and Davis' solos start reaching into that cool, unresolved space that their next record inhabits so well. Not a bad number, but the length is a little much - at least on this first (and second) really close listen.

2. Death Cab For Cutie - Expo '86. Lazily melodic, with a calm sing-song verse, a loud and soaring chorus, a great bridge, wistful lyrics: a Death Cab For Cutie song. And it's one of my favorite DCfC songs.
   

   Sometimes I think this cycle never ends.
   We slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again.
   And it seems by the time that I have figured what it's worth.
   The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse.

3. Blind Boy Fuller - Big Leg Woman Gets My Pay. Early country blues - with washboard accompaniment! Not a bad song, but - title notwithstanding - nothing spectacular, either.
4. The Coctails - City Sun. Archer Prewitt, The Sea And Cake's lead (?) guitar player was in this band, first. That's really the only way I know about this band. They were a rock/jazz band in somewhat the same style as Sea And Cake, but with a bit less polish. This track is just guitar and drums, and sounds like it might have been a Prewitt solo thing - sounds very much like the kind of stuff guitarists make when they're experimenting in their living room.
5. Sunny Day Real Estate - One. Loud and bombastic and emo. It's not their best song, but it's not their worst, either. That's pretty much how I feel about all of this, their last, record.

And you? What have you to say?

Let's try something different. Five songs, random, describe them.

1. Beta Band - Dr Baker. A great, low-key tune. Many Beta Band songs have a strong dance club vibe, but this one is more of a stoner head-nodder. Well, most of their songs are head-nodders, too. This one is just missing the dance beats.
2. Beastie Boys - Gratitude. One of their live-band tracks - giant fuzzed-out bass groovin on a heavy riff, organ, wah guitar, bongos! Great video in the style of Pink Floyd @ Pompeii. Look how young they were!
3. Faces - Had Me a Real Good Time. Sounds like Rod Stewart, sounds like the Stones, when that sax solo comes in it sounds like a Saturday Night Live band clip (as do all mid-70s rock songs with sax solos). In other words: it sounds like the 70s.
4. Andrew Bird - Don't Be Scared. A mellow-but-swelling tune from Weather Systems. Not a lot of violin on this one. Female backup vocals are a nice touch.
5. Cowboy Junkies - Misguided Angel. This is the quintessential Cowboy Junkies song: a slow bittersweet country ballad - a little numb, a little dreamy. Also, like everything else on this album (The Trinity Sessions), it sounds amazing.

OK, go!

T'was Monday...

1. Brandi Carlile - Fall Apart Again
2. Liz Phair - In Love With Yourself
3. Broken Social Scene - Windsurfing Nation
4. Digable Plants - Pacifics
5. Vetiver - Strictly Rule
6. Yes - The Clap (live vid. i'd like to see a real bluegrass picker do this tune)
7. Dylan - Temporary Like Achilles
8. The Jesus Lizard - Seasick
9. Van Halen - Loss Of Control
10. Adrian Belew - Dream Life

...and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

It's time to shuffle.

1. Cream - Crossroads (live, short version)
2. Leon Redbone - The Sheik of Araby
3. Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer Theme
4. Belle & Sebastian - Chickfactor
5. Miles Davis - Tadd's Delight
6. PJ Harvey - Snake
7. Gillian Welch - Hickory Wind
8. Van Halen - Beautiful Girls
9. John Pizzarelli - Nobody's Heart
10. Wilco - Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (again)

Everybody shuffle.

Special IDon'tKnowWhatTheFuckDayItIs Edition!

1. Robyn Hitchcock - Groovin On An Inner Plane
2. REM - It's The End Of The Blahblahblah
3. Oscar Peterson - Mumbles
4. Cream - Those Were The Days
5. Unrest - So Sick
6. Robyn Hitchcock + V3 - TLC
7. Stones - Beast Of Burden (live)
8. The Sunshine Fix - Sail Beyond The Sunset
9. Fleetwood Mac - Sentimental Lady (which I always sing as "scented metal gentleman")
10. St Vincent - Save Me From What I Want

Recommend: St Vincent.

Entertain us!