Songs of the Day: Minutemen - "Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth" and "Little Man with a Gun in His Hand"

Minutemen released so many great songs (and so many songs, period) that it's difficult to pick just one, so as I've done before, I'm breaking my own non-existent rules and posting two songs. It's nearly impossible to talk about Minutemen without mentioning their 45-song (43 on CD) double LP Double Nickels on the Dime. If you watched MTV in the past 10 years, you know at least one song from it, courtesy of Jackass. The album is all over the place musically, ranging from 1-minute punk songs to acoustic instrumentals to songs that actually sound like some sort of jazz.

If you didn't catch it from the name of this post, Minutemen also have some of the greatest song titles of all time, from "There Ain't Shit on TV Tonight" to "Maybe Partying Will Help" - and those are just from Double Nickels. The first song below is also from that album and shows off the band's softer side, while the second song is from Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat (and the DNotD vinyl) and more indicative of their punk side (though it does cross the 3-minute mark). While Double Nickels is a must-own, I'd also recommend Post-Mersh Vol. 2 on CD, which combines Buzz or Howl and the Project: Mersh EP.

Song of the Day: Red Red Meat - Moon Calf Tripe

Don't be too frightened by the band name. Or the song title. Red Red Meat probably wouldn't be confused with any current indie band - their sound is definitely '90s, somewhere between the slacker vibe of Pavement and the Stones' homage of Liz Phair. Yet the band manages to sound unique, which made their Jimmywine Majestic album a difficult listen for me when I first heard it in college. Today's song of the day won't exactly have you humming the tune the rest of the day, but hopefully it will leave you wanting to check out the rest of the album.

Song of the Day: The War on Drugs - I Was There

A couple of weeks ago, when The War on Drugs released their new album, Slave Ambient, I couldn't read a music blog or check updates on Twitter without seeing something about it. Upon first listen I didn't quite get the hype, and I realize it's extremely uncool to not be the first to post about a new album, but it took a few weeks for this one to grow on me. Part of my initial issue was how much the band sounded like Kurt Vile, who I now understand was actually in The War on Drugs at one time. But is sounding like Kurt Vile a bad thing? Not for me - that's why my favorite song on the album is probably the one that sounds most like him.

Song of the Day: The Black Angels - Telephone

Yes, more '60s revivalists! Hard to believe this one is from 2010 - "Telephone" not only sounds like something from the '60s, but it clocks in at 2:02, under the 2 minutes and 30 seconds that was the norm for singles pre-"Like a Rolling Stone." It doesn't have the darkness to it of their first "song of the day" appearance - this one is pure '60s pop.

Song of the Day: Papercuts - Wait Til I'm Dead

Papercuts have opened for two of my favorite bands of the last few years - Grizzly Bear and Beach House. Unfortunately, I completely missed them for the GB show, which took place in 2007 (note that while trying to confirm when this show happened, I also found out that Foreign Born also opened, yet I have no memory of them either). And when they opened for Beach House last year, I only caught about half of the performance.

Still, what I heard was enough to motivate me to buy Papercuts' last two albums, including this year's Fading Parade. You can hear shades of Grizzly Bear and Beach House, especially the latter in atmospheric songs like "Wait Til I'm Dead."

"Song" of the Day: Steven Wright - 7's and Museums

It's the middle of the week and I need a laugh to keep me going. The first time I saw Steven Wright, it was on Late Night with David Letterman, I was probably about 12 or 13 years old, and I don't think I even laughed so hard. Over the years Wright was a frequent guest on all the talk shows, and the VCR was always set to record them. I imagine Zach Galifianakis was also watching - his humor seems very similar, with absurd one-liners such as "My girlfriend looks a little like Charlize Theron...and a lot like Patrick Ewing."

But Steven Wright will always be the best to me, as he entered my world at the perfect time, when new music, comedy, etc. left the most significant impression. This track is off of his 1985 album I Have a Pony.

Song of the Day: Joni Mitchell - Carey

I didn't really know much about Joni Mitchell a decade ago, but two nearly simultaneous events led me to seek out her Blue LP. One was seeing the band Travis (when they were touring for The Man Who) play "River" in concert. The other was the scene from Almost Famous where William discovers the records that his sister left him - Blue was one of those LPs.

I won't say the record changed my life - in fact, it's probably nowhere near my top 100 albums, or maybe even 500, if such lists existed - but there are quite a few memorable songs. "River" is probably the best known, but my favorite is "Carey," which has the best backing vocals of any song on the LP and is probably the most "rocking" (it's all relative).