5 Song Set

This episode features five very upbeat, very fun ska tunes. Ska has changed a lot over the years from its beginnings in Jamaica in the late 1950s, but the changes haven't diminished the music. If anything, time has given ska bands all over the world a lot of room to find their own sound and get out their message. From four high school guys in Colorado to Cleveland Street Ska coming out of Russia, ska has a lot to offer. The songs in this episode are "A Song For The Broken" by Stacked Like Pancakes, "Model Rocket" by Hatrick Penry, "Despierta" by Termofrigidus, "The City of Khakassia" by Hary Davi, and "Never Stop" by The Ruckus.

This is the Valentine's Day themed podcast, but since I can't really top last year's podcast for songs about love, I thought I'd go for something a little bit different. So, do you remember in the movie "The Terminator" when Sarah Connor's answering machine says "Machines need love too"? Well, I decided to use that as the theme. With that in mind, here are five songs about robots... and their relationships with the humans who love or need them. The podcast begins with "Everybody Needs a Robot" by Matthew Ebel, followed by "Robots" by Canadian musician Dan Mangan, which has a fantastic video. "Disco Droid" by Astro Kid and "I Need Your (Robot) Love" by Eat Me Drink Me are two robot-themed dance songs, and "Wadsworth's Song" by Lewis Fitzjohn wraps up the show with a tribute to the video game Fallout 3 in the style of The Ink Spots. Also, in this episode, I announce the winners of the 2011 Listeners' Choice Contest.

In this episode, I have five modern classical songs for you. Some of the songs are more "modern" and some are more "classical" but they are all really good. The first song in this episode is "Waltz of the Pigalle Side Streets" by Alexander Piterskiy, who wrote the podcast's theme music and cohosted episode 21. It is a swirling waltz that manages to be both complex and very easy to listen to. It is followed with the dark and chaotically fun "Drehorgel" by Sallo, a duo from Portland, Oregon. "Hiatus" by RQTN is a beautiful little piece from Paris. "Shores" by Empiric Project and "Nanoreactor" by Xcentric Noizz are both much more modern and push the definition of "classical". "Shores" is ambient electonica, while "Nanoreactor" is much darker and heavier. Both are off a compilation dedicated to the Chernobyl tragedy put out by the Tunguska Electronic Music Society. Classical is still alive and definitely still evolving.

In this episode, you'll hear five ragtime songs ranging from traditional to modern, beautiful and moving to upbeat and silly. The songs are "Harbor Light Rag" by Goodbye Kumiko, "Levi Jackson's Rag" by Tylwyth Teg, "Training Wheel Rag" by the Asylum Street Spankers, "Libellule Rag" by Jean-Paul Bataille, and "Big Top Rag" by Julian Gaskell.

In this episode, I have five happy songs to get you started out right in 2012. The songs are "Gitar" by Peter Nalitch, "Invincible" by SO3, "Love You Only" by Phat Bollard, "Abigail, Don't Be Long" by The Dimes, and "Le Rechauffement D'La Planete" by Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project.

This episode rounds out the year with just really damn good songs, one of which is even a Christmas-y song. The songs are "The Eyes, The Beard, The Nose, The Stomach, The Lungs" by Indie Folker, "Ode To The Oligarchs" by the Long Dead Kings, "Hand Me The Crown" by The Dirty Urchins, "She's On Fire" by Something Underground, and "Emi Completely" by Summer Salt.

In this episode, I have five songs that cover the whole nerdy to science-themed spectruum. First, we'll hear two songs about video games, then two songs about astronomy, followed up by a song about the internet - kind of like a little survey of the different kinds of fun geek rock music out there. The songs are "Vault 101" by Kirby Krackle, "The Quick and the Blue" by The Megas, "The Ballad of Carl Sagan" by The Amoeba People, "Down on Vesta" by Andy Rivkin and his Gedankenband, and "3 Rules of the Internet" by Jonathan Mann.

This episode is a collaboration with Alexander Piterskiy, a Russian musician whose name you may remember from episode 19. Most of the five songs in this episode are in Russian, but they are fantastic songs even if you don't have the slightest idea what the lyrics are saying. The songs are "Bird" by alhimia, "Not For Everyone" by the Electric Guerillas, "Nantes" by Beirut, "So Dramatic Dance" by Au7um, and "Our Tanks" by Zakhar May.

In this episode, we'll hear five songs related to the Occupy movement. Songs in this episode are "Speak (Nothing to Lose)" by the Los Angeles-based UByK, F_Tape with "A Fair Warning", "I'm a 99" by the Nomadic Firs, "Work Is Hard To Find At The Bottom Of America" by Adam Lempel, and "A Luta Continua!" - some truly upbeat music by the MarchFourth Marching Band.

This is the third and final episode in my series of podcasts dedicated to the saxophone. The songs featured in this episode are "Some Lipstick" by Anita Coats, "Back to the Start" by Disco's Out (Murder's In), "Yes, Mom, I Saxed" by Alexander Piterskiy, "Ix'mant'sikka Dub" by Malox, and "Ciudad Salvaje" by Distryto 13.

In the last episode, I had five old school jazz songs that feature the saxophone. In this episode, we'll hear five newer songs that include a saxophone, and this isn't just jazz either. The songs in this episode are "Reconcile" by Brent Thompson, "Maple Street" by Ironwood Run, "bake" by The Beats and Pieces Big Band, "Besa Sorta" by The Montalban Quintet, and "No Words" by Dan Dectis.

In this episode, I have five old school jazz songs for you that feature the saxophone. The songs in this episode are "Smiles and Chuckles" by Six Brown Brothers, "Wringin' and Twistin'" by Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke, "I Got Rhythm" by Don Redmon and his Orchestra with Benny Morton, "Sittin' In" by Chu Berry, and "Someone To Watch Over Me" by Ike Quebec.

In this episode, I have five kind of off the beaten path, experimental songs for you - everything from dishwasher and movie samples to live performances and spoken word. The songs in this episode are "Get Smooth and Smash Things" by Stushido, "Lost At Sea" by Mannequin Races, "Closet Frequencies" by Rich La Bonte, "Paranormal Investigators Unite!" by Station!, and "Sputnik" by The Power Jack.

Episode 15: In this episode, I have five songs for you featuring the theremin. The theremin is an early electronic musical instrument and is unique in that it is the only instrument that is played without being touched. The songs in this episode are "Monsters In Rome" by Indie Folker, "The Lemonade Kid" by The T Town Bottlestoppers, "Hippie Hippie Manic Pulse" by Looney Buns, "The Tragic Adventures of StarQuake and the WarMaster" by The Bomb Tasty Yum-Yums, and "Benthic Tentacular" by Seth G Samuel.

Episode 14: In this episode, I don't have a specific theme so much as five really good songs. The songs in this episode are "Merimehe surm/Sailor's Death" by Kihnu Poisid, "She Ain't Your Girl" by Tyler Fortier, "Gambling Bar Room Blues" by The Mighty Campfire Punks, "Price Check on Aisle 5 for Love" by Warner Drive, and "Been So Long" by Junkyard Groove.

This episode features five songs about books. Please note that the lyrics (and titles) to some songs are fairly explicit. The songs in this episode are "Books Say and I Say" by Adam Dubberly, "Librarian" by Jonathan Rundman, "George R R Martin is Not Your Bitch" by John Anealio, "Life is a Book" by Rich LaBonte, and "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" by Rachel Bloom.

Episode 12: This episode follows up episode 4 with five more awesome nerd rock songs. The songs in this episode are "Super Powered Love" by Kirby Krackle, "Geek Love at First Sight" by Schroedinger's Cathouse, "This Fantasy World (Dungeons and Dragons)" by The Doubleclicks, "Nerd Party" by The Modrats, and "Curse of the Female Paladin" by Blue Turtle Shell.

Episode 11: This episode takes us from the beginning of Dixieland right up to the edge of what still fits in the genre. We get to hear some great music along the way. The songs in this episode are "Sensation Rag" by Original Dixieland Jass Band, "Uptown Lowdown" by Firecracker Jazz Band, "Yuppie Exodus From Dumbo" by Jed Davis, "Paradise Found" by Miff Mole and His Little Molars, and "Man In The Light Blue Suit" by Emersen.

Episode 10: For this episode, I have collected five upbeat chiptunes for you. What are chiptunes? A chiptune is synthesized music often produced with the sound chips of old computer and video game consoles, which means that a lot of the music was made on Game Boys. That's pretty cool! The songs in this episode are "General Error" by 047, "Baby Still Too Fat" by Starship Amazing, "Cheeky Girls Fast Food" by cerror, "Retrotune" by Souleye, and "Hexadecimal Genome" by Bit Shifter.

Episode 9: In this episode, you'll hear five songs about workers and unions in honor of May Day. The songs are "Rosie The Riveter" by The Four Vagabonds, "Union Makes Us Strong" by David Rovics, "Lads of the BLF" by Roaring Jack, "Banks of Marble" by The Mighty Campfire Punks, and "Libraries" by Richard March.