This week was almost the first Five-less week since the inception of the shuffle happy column. I’m a bit under the weather this week and am saving up my energy to go and see Jason Mraz tonight. Rather than cancel the Five, here’s a quick five (with two downloadable tracks this week!) as I’m resting up.
For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.
Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. The Beach Boys - Little Deuce Coup (from The Platinum Collection)
Is it October already? I swear it was just August a few minutes ago. One thing that I’ve found since I started The Five is that I am hyper-aware of the passage of time. And time in the final week of the quarter is even more precious so with that I’m going to keep this brief!
For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.
Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. Destroyer - “Sick Priest Learns to Last Forever” (from Destroyer’s Rubies, 2006)
I picked this up on the suggestion from more than one of the popular blogs of the day and can’t say too much about it as I’ve only listened to it three or four times. It’s not even that I dislike the record; it’s just a matter of time vs. desire.
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - “Pride and Joy” (from Greatest Hits, 1995)
There’s always time for some Stevie Ray Vaughan.
3. The Notorious B.I.G. - “Mo Money Mo Problems (feat. Mase & Puff Daddy)” (from Life After Death, 1997)
I’ve been watching the VH1’s 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs (see the entire list here) series this week and have been pulling up and listening to my favorite Hip-Hop tracks of the past 20 years. This is on my list (though it’s not on VH1’s) without a doubt. Play this one in a club to this day and everyone knows every line of Biggie’s rhyme.
4. Snoop Dogg - “Who Am I (What’s My Name?)” (from Doggystyle, 1993)
Another classic Hip-Hop cut, this time from the Westside courtesy of one Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr., better known to you and I as the one and only Snoop D O Double G. 15 years on this George Clinton fueled track still inspires some serious ass wiggling.
That should read from the last decent record Metallica produced, but I digress. …and Justice for All is the last Metallica record that I truly enjoyed beginning to end. The Black Album was alright, but it was Bob Rock’s version of the band and therefore not as good.
When the world seems set to implode on itself we look to different forms of media to distract, entertain and overall escape from the reality of our situations. Whether personal or global, no problem is too big or too small to escape for a bit with the Friday Five!
Last week the ladies of the Friday Five held court on their own. For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.
Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.
I went through a rather obsessive trip-hop phase in the mid to late 90’s, and while I’ve outgrown that phase there are a few artists that stuck with me. DJ Cam is one of the few that were able to blend Hip-Hop, Jazz and down tempo and not make it seem contrite.
This tune opens to an answering machine message from Mraz cohort Bushwalla clearly dealing with a bad day. The song itself is a lilting yet uplifting message “Everything will be fine, everything in no time at all, Hearts will hold”. The song closes with a second message where he strikes the single oddest metaphor I’ve ever heard “I feel like you’re an island of reality in an ocean of diarrhea. And I love you buddy. Ok. Bye.”
4. Dryden Mitchell - Friday, I’m in Love (from 50 First Dates)
Dryden Mitchell is the lead singer of alt-rockers Alien Ant Farm. For this track he drops the rock and brings a quirky electro pop tilt to The Cure’s classic ode to our favorite day.
The mark of a truly great song is the ability to make minutes seem like seconds making time itself seem almost irrelevant. When used as a tool to make time fly it not only serves the purpose, but makes it all the more enjoyable. I’ve found myself counting units of time in measure of how many songs I can listen two. My commute to work used to be 6-8 tunes long depending on the traffic. My dentist appointment last week was 5 songs (one of which was that Miley Cyrus song “7 Things” which somehow made the work being done seem less painful by comparison). So it should come to no surprise to anyone that the Friday Five is my way of counting the minutes down to the end of the week and the start of the weekend.
Last weeks shuffle exposed my geeky soft spot for sci-fi soundtracks and confirmed that I’m not alone. Our regular cast of participants chimed in with everything from show tunes to a bit of heavy metal. How’s that for disparate genre representation? For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.
Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.
Pete may have his AC/DC but for me it’s all about Sabbath. Would you believe that this tune was intended to be a filler track after the record company complained about the records length? Not bad for a throwaway track, eh?
2. The Toasters - Johnny Go Ska (from Thrill Me Up)
100% Ska from NYC’s The Toasters. Much in the same way that Sabbath defines the roots of Metal, The Toasters are, in my opinion, the defining Third Wave Ska band. This Five is really taking shape!
3. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Pray Your Gods (from Fear)
I’ve written at length about my love of Toad the Wet Sprocket and this song is one of the finest examples of why.
4. The Roots - Rising Up (feat. Wale & Chrisette Michele) (from Rising Down)
I geeked out on this track when it first was hot and I’m still feeling it every single time it comes on. I have to stop to give thanks to The Roots for introducing me to the brilliant Chrisette Michele who’s record will definitely fill the top spot on my year end “Best ‘New to Me’” chart.
I’ll admit that I really did not like this song when I first heard it. It’s inclusion in a brilliant number on So You Think You Can Dance brought me around though.
It looks like Billy Joel was denied the first Friday Five Triple Crown, maybe next time Billy! What’s passing the time in your neck of the woods?
Ah Friday it’s time to relax and you know what that means a glass of wine, your favorite easy chair and of course the Friday Five shuffling on your home stereo. So go on indulge yourself, that’s right, kick off your shoes, put your feet up, lean back and just enjoy the melodies. After all, music soothes even the savage beast….
Last week’s Five (and ½) brought back the straight shuffle with turns from every genre and era. For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.
Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.
I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but this is hands down my favorite Billy Joel tune. It brings me back to being a young man and living for the radio on Saturday afternoons. I realize looking back at the last few weeks that Mr. Joel popped up last week as well. We’ll have to see next week if he can take the Shuffle Triple Crown.
I just picked this up from emusic last week and have not had a chance to give it a proper listen. I was a huge fan of Dallas Green’sfirst record Sometimes. For those not familiar City and Colour is the mostly acoustic and decidedly singer-songwriter slanted side project of Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire’s singer/guitarist Dallas Green (the name comes from his own name as he felt uneasy “putting the album out under the name Dallas Green”).
3. Joey Scarbury - Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not) (from America’s Greatest Hero)
I wish I could say that I dislike this song. I don’t and I suspect that many of you dig it too.
Performed majestically by the London Symphony Orchestra this is easily one of the most instantly recognizable sections of movie score ever. My sci-fi geek roots are certainly showing today!
5. Jshua - Forever (from The Rose Line)
Occasionally I get the opportunity to listen to music well before its release date, and this is one of those cases. Multi-Instrumentalist Jshua blends Soul, Funk, Beatlesesque progressions and a certain sense of grandeur usually reserved for compositions by a certain diminutive fan of purple. I truly cannot wait to share this one with the rest of the world.
As I’ve said before four day work weeks always throw me for a loop. This week had the added pleasure of a computer move leaving my music on one while I get the other ready for day to day use. Needless to say, I’m in need of a Friday Five fix to get me through the rest of this day.
Last week we wrapped up the “The Theme Days of Summer” with a send off. This week we’re back in the swing of the general shuffle. For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with some words for each track.
Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.
For as overexposed of a track as this was I still genuinely enjoying hearing it and have not reached for the ‘skip’ button any time it’s popped up in a shuffle.
Featuring the beat Justin Timberlake lifted for his all-too-obvious Prince inspired track “Until the End of Time”. I’m rather ambivalent about this track in particular as it always seemed out of place on the raunchy Black Album. While it’s a great song it’s no “Cindy C.”.
I think that this might be the first Billy Joel track to appear on a Friday Five. I have an odd relationship with Billy Joel in that I do truly appreciate and enjoy his music, but own relatively little of it and have not ever really looked to change that. I actually do not even own this record, rather the greatest hits package that covers this period of his career.
I know that this may be blasphemy and an act of music-snob hari-kari but this is hands down my favorite Led Zeppelin song. It never fails to lighten even the darkest mood and I’m always up and dancing about during the Samba breakdown.
Well we’ve reached the end of “The Theme Days of Summer” and for this weeks playlist I thought it only appropriate that we send off the summer with an ode to endless summer nights and the changes coming as some head back to school, some back to work, and all of us close the book on the summer of ‘08.
Match ANY of the following conditions
NAME contains End
NAME contains Summer
NAME contains Back
NAME contains Change
NAME contains School
NAME contains Work
As Pete pointed out last week’s mood was rather dark so this week I’m looking to brighten the mood and get everyone ready for the weekend (though I’m steering clear of the puppies, unicorns, sunshine, and fairies). The friends of the five have come through all summer sharing everything from show-tunes, jazz, folk, blues, funk to metal and everything in between. I hope everyone has enjoyed the playlists as much as I’ve enjoyed thinking them up and sharing, next week we’re going back to the general shuffle.
For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with some words (much more this week than last) for each track.
Then it’s your turn! You can play along with the themed playlist or just share the first five of your shuffle, either way the fun is in playing musical voyeur for the day.
While I don’t particularly care for much of the current crop of R&B artists I make an exception when it comes to Ne-Yo. This track was prominently featured in this past year’s season of So You Think You Can Dance which just further endears the track to me.
Originally from 1972’s Black Sabbath, Vol. 4, this was the first Sabbath tune to feature the Piano as its primary instrument. I’ve always liked this tune for how un-Sabbath it was and it was clearly a precursor to Ozzy’s penchant for balladry.
If there is a truly underappreciated record in Prince’s discography then I’d suggest 1996’s Emancipation is it. While time has proven unkind to some of the records tracks (”My Computer”, “Emale”) others stand as brilliant testaments to the time in which it was released. This track is quite bittersweet in that a recording of Prince & Mayte’s child’s (which died shortly after birth) heartbeat is featured as part of the percussion.
The second encore tune performed when I saw John Mayer last Saturday evening (read the full review here). He plays this one pretty straight and true to the recorded version. I’ve included it here just because I dig it so damned much.
This one definitely resonates with that “back to school” sound (even though this particular track was released after my School Daze) and feels like a perfect end cap to the “The Theme Days of Summer”.
So what’s taking you home early on this holiday weekend?
It’s been a long and busy week here at Ickmusic East full of ups and downs. Between the shocking and untimely passing of LeRoi Moore, Jerry Finn, Issac Hayes and Jerry Wexler the music community has lost many members these past two weeks. On the positive side it’s been a week of some cool discoveries (Paul Thorn, Ra Ra Riot) and some great live shows to remind me of the bonds we do create with these musicians and the healing power of music. This week’s playlist is influenced by this sentiment.
Match ANY of the following conditions
NAME contains Dance
NAME contains Light
NAME contains Friend
NAME contains Heart
NAME contains Soul
The tunes rang in aplenty from this combo…
For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with some words (though not so many this week) for each track.
Then it’s your turn! You can play along with the themed playlist or just share the first five of your shuffle, either way the fun is in playing musical voyeur for the day.
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. Bryan Adams - Straight From the Heart (from So Far So Good)
Ah Friday. The day most of us look forward to beginning at around 9:30 AM on Monday morning. The gateway to the weekend and the only thing standing between you and the release from the daily grind… I think that I can easily say for everyone, Thank God it’s Friday.
Friday also means it’s time for the Five. This week I struggled a bit with the theme as we head into the final stretch of “The Theme Days of Summer”. It hit me that we’ve covered a good bit of ground to date and that one thing we’ve not covered is direction. Furthering upon that thought the “Feng Shui” playlist was born.
Match ANY of the following conditions
NAME contains North
NAME contains East
NAME contains West
NAME contains South
NAME contains Heaven
NAME contains Earth
The playlist populated with 216 tracks, with nearly half of them being Prince related, go figure!
Last week’s Olympic inspired theme saw everyone going for the gold and some bringing home the bronze. Everything from Dylan to Bowie to the Godfather of Soul made appearances (some more than once) to represent their home country and bring back the glory.
For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with some words (and on occasion the song itself) for each track.
Then it’s your turn! You can play along with the themed playlist or just share the first five of your shuffle, either way the fun is in playing musical voyeur for the day.
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. The Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden (from Forty Licks)
Yes friends of Ickmusic, this is my favorite Stones tune. Actually it’s tied with “Waiting on a Friend” for the top spot. There’s something about the laid back soul side of Mick and the boys that resonates with me more than some of their more up-tempo numbers.
I am surprisingly unashamed of having this disco-era gem pop up. Featuring Joe “Bean” Esposito (who you can find much more than you ever wanted to know about by paying a visit to our friend Jason Hare over at Popdose) this was a Number 2 hit for Miss Summer and was the last of her purely disco hits.
Did anyone else see Bryan Adams on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the other night? It was a far cry from the lackluster performance that he turned in at this year’s American Idol finale. He belted out “Summer of 69′” like it was 1984 all over again. This one brings memories of school dances and Saturday nights with Dr. John Barron on WSPK.
4. The Ohio Players - Heaven Must Be Like This (MP3) (from Skin Tight)
Back to the 70’s for what was likely the soundtrack to many a session of “7 Minutes in Heaven” in 1974. Clocking in at just over 7 minutes it’s hard to picture this track on the same record as the funk tour-de-force of the title track.
5. The Escape Club - Wild, Wild West (from Wild Wild West)
Cliché in just about every respect from the faux reggae breakdown to the super compressed guitar over the electronic drum beat to the innuendo laced lyrics you could not escape this tune in the late 80’s and well into the early 90’s. Released in 1988 the track reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November and lingered on radio playlists for damned near a decade. Oh and the video, how could I forget the video…
Well we started in the East and ended in the West with a whole lot of Heaven in between, what’s bringing balance to your day?
So if you are reading this you clearly have been on the internet long enough to know that today 8-8-08 is the official beginning of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. And in honor of the occasion, I thought it only appropriate that we take part in the festivities with an Olympic themed playlist. So in the spirit of “One World One Dream” here is your playlist for this week’s Friday Five.
Match ANY of the following conditions
NAME contains One
NAME contains World
NAME contains Dream
NAME contains Games
NAME contains Flame
NAME contains Gold
NAME contains Silver
NAME contains Bronze
756 Tracks, not bad… (at Pete’s suggestion I’ve added the other medals)
Last week’s birthday celebration brought out a parade of everyone’s party favorites and served as the basis for some interesting juxtapositions across the genres, tempos, moods, you name it.
“The Theme Days of Summer” are coming to a close and as I mentioned last week I’m looking to give back to the faithful fivers so send your playlist ideas to michael at Ickmusic.com with the subject line “The Theme Days of Summer” and I’ll choose the best two to be featured in a coming Friday Five.
For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with some words (and on occasion the song itself) for each track.
Then it’s your turn! You can play along with the themed playlist or just share the first five of your shuffle, either way the fun is in playing musical voyeur for the day.
I love me some Maceo Parker, but this is not really the Maceo I know and love. Part of a brilliant overall record this is Maceo with Sly Stone, Bobby Byrd and Bootsy Collins performing a track from Maceo’s For All the King’s Men.
From what I consider the bands magnum opus, this song stands as a testament to the power of music to heal. Written by bassist Stefan Lessard after the death of his infant daughter, the songs protagonist questions his faith in dealing with death while clinging to the perfect world in his mind (The Dreaming Tree). Lyrically and musically it’s one of the most beautiful and moving songs in the bands discography.
Welcome to Ickmusic. I'm Pete (the Ick in Ickmusic). If you're like me, and your tastes in music are all over the map, I think you'll like it here. The audio files I post are here to give you a taste. If you like what you hear, buy it! You can use the links I provide, or use any method you like, but please do support the artists. Thanks for stopping by.
