• Friday Five

    The Friday Five: February 12, 2010

    Friday Five

    Friday Five : ‘frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.

    The Five:

    Editor’s Note: Is anyone else feeling like maybe February is going by too quickly? This week’s Friday Five comes courtesy of the iPod, see you back here next week!

    “Sebrina, Paste and Plato” by Jellyfish (from Spilt Milk, 1993)

    “Time Bomb” by Rancid (from …and Out Comes the Wolves, 1995)

    “America’s Suitehearts” by Fall Out Boy (from Folie à Deux, 2009)

    “Le Freak” by Chic (from C’est Chic, 1978)

    “Girl” by The Beatles (from Rubber Soul, 1965)

    What’s on your shuffle today?

  • Friday Five

    The Friday Five: August 14, 2009

    Watch the shuffle, everywhere, keep looking! Keep watching the shuffle!

    Friday Five : ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.

    The Five:

    The Band – “Up on Cripple Creek”  (from Greatest Hits, 2000)

    I’ll admit that I’ve heard this track covered more often than I’ve heard the original.

    Phish – “The Divided Sky” (mp3) (from 2009-03-06: Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA, USA, 2009)

    In this case, I’ll let the music do the talking.

    John Mellencamp – “Jack and Diane” (from The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988, 1997)

    Pop Quiz: What unique quality does “Jack and Diane” have in common with Prince & The Revolution‘s “When Doves Cry”?

    Jellyfish – “Will You Marry Me” (mp3) (from Fan Club, 2002)

    I recently acquired this fantastic collection of demos, outtakes, b-sides and live material from what could easily be my favorite band of the early 90’s. As evidenced by my last.fm chart, I’ve been on a steady diet of Jellyfish ever since. “Will You Marry Me” is easily one of the band’s strongest unreleased tracks and was only performed live.

    DJ Shadow – “Mashin’ on the Motorway” (from The Private Press, 2002)

    I’ve been a fan of DJ Shadow from the first moments of Entroducing…. in 1996. In the years between solo outtings he released an early singles collection and worked as part of the U.N.K.L.E. project but nothing could compare to what he does best

    Side Note: The first person to correctly guess the “Pop Quiz” question gets a copy of Assembly of Dust‘s Some Assembly Required.

    What’s up next on your shuffle?

  • Friday Five

    The Friday Five: March 27, 2009

    To Our Members, We're the Fourth Emergency Shuffle.

    For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.

    The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!

    The Five:

    “Contact” by Phish (from Junta)

    It’s samba time! I love this side of Phish, the kitschy lyrics and overt melodies (“Hula Hana of Kamana Whala Hula Bay” is clearly quoted during one of Page‘s solos) and a funky twist in the middle and the sing a long. Hopefully you all got in on the free offer of the first three nights of their reunion tour!

    TV Mama” (mp3) by Shuggie Otis (from In Session: Great Rhythm & Blues)

    Ickmusic favorite Shuggie Otis delivers a solid 12 bar blues with some tasty slide work.

    “Better Than Heaven” by Bloc Party (from Intimacy)

    This record never really connected with me. There are a couple of really good songs (this being one of them) but most of the tracks seem very disjointed and cold. The exceptions really being this track and “Biko”.

    Baby’s Coming Back” (mp3) by Jellyfish (from Bellybutton)

    … Excuse me, time to do the Peanuts dance, care to join me?

    Rainy April Day” (mp3) by Fury in the Slaughterhouse (from The Hearing and the Sense of Balance)

    This track is a sober condemnation of Kurt Cobain‘s suicide. It’s not a great selection to close out an otherwise upbeat Friday Five, but you can’t end them all with rainbows, unicorns and trombones!

    What’s shuffling you down to the weekend?

  • Friday Five

    Ickmusic’s Friday Five: November 14, 2008

    If you are a minority of one, the shuffle is the shuffle.

    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….

    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. Effcee – Purple Rain (from Electro Goth Tribute to Prince)

    Imagine Garbage covering Prince with a less adept lead singer (Shirley Manson is amazing) and that is about the sum of this. To illustrate just how bad this collection is, Rebecca Romijn (yes, that one) performs “Darling Nikki”. For a much more fitting (and listenable) tribute head over to Psychotic Leisure Music and check out Dump‘s That Skinny Motherfucker with the High Voice, it’s well worth the time.

    2. Diana Ross & Lionel Richie – Endless Love (from 80s Gold)

    I’m not sure what frightens me more, the fact that I have no less than 4 instances of this song in my iTunes library or the fact that I actually genuinely, in my heart of hearts, like this song.

    3. Ra Ra Riot – Too Too Too Fast (from The Rhumb Line)

    A record that is sure to place highly on my year end list, The Rhumb Line by indie pop darlings Ra Ra Riot delivers 10 undeniably catchy and sprite tunes. If you don’t have this record yet, you should.

    4. JellyfishThe Ghost at Number One (mp3) (from Socrates, Pathos, and Plato)

    This is the demo of the tune from the bands power pop opus Spilt Milk. I’ve been revisiting my power pop past lately and this is always at the top of the list. The quality is not all that great but this one absolutely deserves to be played on 11.

    5. The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back (from Greatest Hits)

    This is the first bass line that I ever tried to learn. So damn funky!

    What’s kicking you into the weekend?