5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #158

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. Ice Station Zebra, by Jack White

Last week the Willy Wonka of rock n' roll came out with his third studio solo LP Boarding House Reach and boy is it something else. This has to be one of the most peculiar and out there records I have ever heard in my entire life. Listen for yourself and you'll see what I mean. This tune from it is one of the more straightforward ones, but it's the most hip-hop I've ever seen Jack go. At the same time though, it's surprisingly addicting.

2. Nocturne, by The Sword

If you love some classic Sabbath with trace elements of some other great classic bands, then The Sword is definitely up your alley. This tune in particular from their new album is entirely instrumental and definitely has that 80's Black Sabbath instrumental track feel to it while at the same time still doing plenty of its own thing. It's fairly relaxing, but at the same time intriguing and engaging to the ear.

3. Have Love Will Travel, by The Sonics

If you have had enough of my weird song suggestions for the time being, then here is something a bit more rocking and to the point. The Sonics were one of those cool rough n' tumble lo-fi garage rock bands from the mid-60's that sadly never got all of the major fame and notoriety they truly deserved. This song in particular is their take on a blues classic, but done in their own loud, uptempo, string snapping kind of way.

4. Still Fit to Boogie, by Saxon

This is a tune from Saxon's 1979 debut album Saxon. It is unlike anything else I have ever heard out of the band because it is very much an old school rock n' roll boogie kind of song where most of their material is straight up metal or at least hard rock. Regardless, it is a fun little number that cooks and is sure to help you have a good time or at least brighten your day up a little bit if you are feeling down in the dumps and need a pick me up.

5. HT, by Tsuneo Imahori

Ok, so I'm going to get geeky on you for just a minute. This short little tune is the opening theme song to a classic anime called Trigun. Even if anime isn't really your jive, I think you still might like this song anyway because it is a minute and a half of ripping and running on electric guitar. It almost has a bit of a Steve Vai kind of vibe about it. If you are willing to try something different for a change, I think you might actually like this. Also, the show itself is pretty cool too.