Friday Random Five (#5)

Once again, the end of the week is upon us, meaning it's time for another five-pack of tunes with which to ride off into the weekend. It is a random five, after all, and this week offers old things & new things, 4 originals and a cover, seasonal and unseasonal, 2 with a magnetic bent, etc.

1- Psst, hey buddy, wanna be young again? Wanna feel younger than you already might? Want youth bursting through your pores like tiny, shining beams of light? Clap Your Hands Say Yeah declares war on suburbs and crewcuts (or, that's my take, at least) with "In This Home On Ice" (MP3), from their self-titled, self-released 2005 debut.

2- San Francisco's Oranger have a new release called New Comes & Goes. "Crones" (MP3) features a bassline of brilliance.

3- A classsic here from the Magnetic Fields, who seem to have a penchant for making songs about country songs and songs that seem like they should be country songs but really aren't. And they're rarely less than brilliant. "Two Characters in Search of a Country Song" (MP3) comes from 1994's The Charm of the Highway Strip.

4- One good Magnetic Fields song deserves another, I always say-- even if they're not both performed by the Magnetic Fields. The response to Kelly Hogan's cover of "Papa Was a Rodeo," offered here a couple of weeks back, was so overwhelming (meaning it got an actual comment from someone) that another M.F. cover appears here this week. It's Our Lady of the Highway's version of "100,000 Fireflies" (MP3).

5- Another act from San Francisco closes it out with something a bit seasonal given that this is the first Friday Five of Autumn. "In Time It Snows" (MP3) comes from the 2004 debut Summerland from Nedelle & Thom.



Enjoy. Rinse. Repeat.