5 Songs is the secret soundtrack. It’s the special playlist. 5 Songs with heart. The ones that really get under our skins and into our bones. But they are yours, too. They're yours, and musicians', and basketball players' songs, too. This week we talked to Milwaukee Buck John Henson, musicians Alvvays, and we picked Nick Cave’s self-made-mythology, Chastity Belt’s self doubt, and Platinum Boys’ distinct Milwaukee flavor.
Hear all 5 Songs We Can't Stop Listening To:
1. John Henson picks J. Cole – “Lights Please”
Every week I have a guest in the studio to pick one of the 5 songs for the week. Usually it’s a musician, or a music journalist, but as a lifelong Bucks fan, I have been itching for an opportunity to ask a Milwaukee Buck what they are listening to. Opportunity came when Buck’s center, John Henson came to our studio after practice and shared his love of music with me. Listen to why he loves J. Cole in the Mixcloud link above.
Listen to our full interview here.
- J. Cole’s album, Cole World – The Sideline Story, was released in 2010.
- Listen if you like: The Milwaukee Bucks, Drake, hip-hop/r&b
2. Nick Cave – “The Sick Bag Song”
Artists are our modern day heroes. The stories they tell are our modern day myths. Nick Cave once mythologized his heroes. Crammed into a one room flat in Germany, Cave hung pictures of Elvis, read Cyrano de Bergerac, and ogled at the works of Matthias Grunewald and Stefan Lochner. Now, Cave creates his own mythology. His world is dark. There are murders, betrayal, and suffering. There is a God, but he’s not listening. There is free will, but there is bad luck, too. There is a boy on the tracks. He’s afraid to jump. It’s a mythic world, a story that he is writing, at the center is our hero, Nick Cave.
- On Nick Cave’s 2014 North American tour, he wrote a series of short stories, doodles, lyrics, and ramblings on the back of airplane sick bags. He will be releasing them all as a book and accompanying audiobook on April 8th.
- Listen if you like: Mythology, storytelling, songs written on barf bags
3. Chastity Belt – “IDC”
I think that saying “I don’t care” is a defense mechanism. Especially for artists, whose entire worth is determined by the amount of people that care about their work. Saying “I don’t care” puts the walls up, insulating artists from criticism and hurt. And I get it. It’s an easy way out. But everybody cares. I care. I care about what you think about me. I want you to like what I’m saying and I want you to like this song. I’m not ashamed to admit that. And I don’t think that I should be. I don’t think anybody should be.
The irony in this song is that Chastity Belt wrote, recorded, and released “I Don’t Care” as a song, so they must care. And even if they don’t, I do. And I think this is a great song.
- Chastity Belt’s new album, Time To Go, is available now.
- Listen if you like: Girlpool, Tacocat, girls rocking with fuzzy guitars
4. Alvvays picks Todd Terje feat. Bryan Ferry – “Johnny and Mary”
Milwaukee Buck John Henson was the first guest this week, but I also wanted the perspective of a musician. Alvvays opened for The Decemberists last week in Milwaukee and they stayed in the city an extra day just to play for us. When I asked Alvvays lead singer, Molly Rankin, why she loved this song, she said, “I hate when people always talk about Twin Peaks, but if you listen to this song it feels like you are in a David Lynch scene.” Listen to her full explanation in the Mixcloud link at the top of the page.
- This song is featured on Todd Terje’s album It’s Album Time, released in 2014 AND it is on Bryan Ferry’s 2014 album, Avonmore.
- Listen if you like: Robert Palmer, Twin Peaks, Roxy Music
5. Platinum Boys – “Platinum Boys”
Platinum Boys are 100% Milwaukee.
They are run-down, beat up, skuzzoids, running 100 miles per hour down I-94 on a rusted out Harley, on their way to chug Miller Lites in a Riverwest basement and then smoke cigs in that alley between Yield Bar and Landmark Lanes with the intention of seeing a punk band at Franks Power Plant before bar close, but knowing that they’ll back out, burn down, forget to go, and they didn’t even have the bread for cab fare in the first place. And we love everything about ‘em.
They’re juvenile delinquents with plans to steal. They’ve got powder in their pockets, patches on their jackets, and a case of stale tall boys in the trunk. They’ve got character, attitude, and a hangover from a three day bender where they made promises to get a lot of creative work done, tomorrow. They’re the Platinum Boys, and we wouldn’t have ‘em any other way.
- Platinum Boys’ new album, Future Hits, is available now.
- Listen if you like: chugging beer, living in Milwaukee, hard and fast rock ‘n’roll