May 1 - June 7

Updates have not happened lately.  38 days of selections will go here, in this post, and the rest will proceed as normal.

Spoon - The Way We Get By

Finally caught up.  Happy May Day.  Almost 33% of the year is in the past.

Soundtrack for walking beneath an overpass tagged into oblivion.

Spoon - The Way We Get By

Miss Kittin - Rippin Kitten

04/30/11

The remix version of this song adds a chorus that is really, really bad.  However, it comes with a music video that wasn't made by someone in the YouTube community.

"Honey, give me a real jungle knife."

Miss Kittin - Rippin Kitten

Mike Doughty - Unsingable Name

04/29/11

From how often Mike Doughty has shown up in this blog, it seems like I listen to him a lot more than I do.

Mike Doughty - Unsingable Name

Bob Dylan - Tomorrow Night

04/28/11

For some strange reason, all my Bob Dylan tracks disappeared except for this and three others.  Maybe that isn't a terrible thing.  I could have been stuck with three bad Dylan tracks, such as Spanish Boots of Spanish Leather.

"Will you be with me when the moon is bright?"

Bob Dylan - Tomorrow Night

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

04/27/11

Nice cover.  I never seek out the Cowboy Junkies, but I also won't turn them down.

"Everyone who's ever had a dream, everyone who's ever played a part."

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

Micah P. Hinson - The Fire Came Up to My Knees

04/26/11

This choice was after listening to a lot of new music from M. Ward, this guy, and the newer Bad Religion Album.  The last 15 seconds of the song really sealed the deal for me.  However, this YouTube version doesn't have the same cracking, disintegration that is at the conclusion of the album version.

Micah P. Hinson - The Fire Came Up to My Knees

The Twilight Singers - Bonnie Brae

04/25/11

At night in the summer, it does look like there was a rapture on Bonnie Brae sometimes.  Paper blowing in the wind, abandoned streets, and maybe Greg Dulli, thinking about it all.

The Twilight Singers - Bonnie Brae

"The soul, the screen, the smoke in between"

The Queers - I Only Drink Bud

04/24/11

This song has always made me smile.  I agree, Miller tastes so bad.  Then again Joe Queer, Bud isn't too great either.

The Queers - I Only Drink Bud

M. Ward - Helicopter

04/23/11

Yeah, yeah...there was another M. Ward track a week or two ago.  I still need to stick to my own rules, so that song was the best for the day.  So it goes, so it goes.

M. Ward - Helicopter

I'm From Barcelona - Can See Miles

4/22/11
YouTube doesn't have a posting for this.  I trust you.  You can find the song somewhere.

"Don't let them get to you."

Ryan Adams - To Be Young

Terrible error.  Rancid - Bob is not the song of the day.  That spot goes to Ryan Adams.  Sing along.

"Oh one day when you're lookin back, you were young and man you were sad."  Yep, thanks for the perspective Mr. Adams.  Now, you need to make an album as good as Heartbreaker again and you'll be a superhero.

Ryan Adams - To Be Young

Rancid - Bob

If it hadn't been 2am, I would have thought I was consistently mishearing the song.  Nope.  It's just that sloppy of a cover.  It sounded a lot like the last time I heard NOFX slobbering all over a microphone.

Rancid - Bob

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up the Gun

4/20/11

"I see you shine in your way, go on, go on, go on."

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up the Gun

Wolf Parade - This Heart's On Fire

04/19/11

Mixed up the dates with 04/18/11.  I tell you, blog reader, because I'm certain you want precision.

This was a very near tie, but the video the YouTube poster made to go with the song made it pull in a nose ahead of several other songs.  Good song for a rainy drive getting lost in a town where I should know where I'm going at 2am.  Oh, perhaps that would make that a song for Tuesday and not Monday.  Time to stop typing.

Wolf Parade - This Heart's On Fire

Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel #2

04/18/11

Nothing will ever top this song from the Cohen songbook.

"that was called love for the workers in song."

Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel #2

M. Ward - I'll Be Yr Bird

04/17/2011

Coming across a song like this makes me reconsider not following up on more music from a performer.  I have kept this on my iPod for years, along with "Helicopter," but I have never looked for more music beyond the one album I have.  I think that will change tomorrow.

It's nice to find a video on YouTube that someone did more for than just inserting a picture of the album; curious that she's billed as "hot clown."

"I'm the tiger you never had.  I'm not the first hit when you got it bad.  I'm not your second.  I'm not your third, but I'll be your bird."

M. Ward - I'll Be yr Bird

Morrissey - Let the Right One Slip In

04/16/11

"What kept you so long?"

Morrissey - Let the Right One Slip In

Wolf Parade - Shine a Light

4/15/11

It's a long ride in traffic on a road that is closed up ahead for no apparent reason.

"Some folks float and some are buried alive
With our little boots, we built another world
Gonna chain, chain, chain, chain, chain, chain to the light
That's fine our blood is alive."

Wolf Parade - Shine a Light

The Thermals - Pillar of Salt

Another band that I first heard after an impulse purchase at Newbury Comics on a snowy Boston night several years ago.  Within two weeks of buying the album, I received two mix cds that had their songs on them, which was a nice coincidence.

The Thermals came at the break of a lull I found with music lacking the exuberance that I remembered from years prior.  So much that I was finding seemed passive or indifferent, missing the intensity of feeling that I needed to hear.

"We don't carry dead weight long."

The Thermals - Pillar of Salt

Spiderbait - Black Betty

04/13/11

I have no idea how I ever first stumbled upon Spiderbait.  Also, I have no idea what it is with Australians and this song.

Black Betty seems to be a few different things depending on the intentions of the performer.  Whip, vehicle, and a wedding race to a bottle of whiskey...perhaps it's the whiskey race, leading to the vehicle that takes you to prison, where you are then whipped is the progression of getting to know Black Betty.  I don't pretend to have done any research on my own for the list of possible definitions; wikipedia helped my laziness with that one.

Bam ba lam!

Spiderbait - Black Betty

Hot Water Music - Turnstile

"I must always remember: there's no point in surrender."

Unless it's time for sleeping, then hell yes, surrender away.

Hot Water Music - Turnstile

Mike Doughty - Fort Hood

The borrowing of the chorus from Hair, a musical that I found incredibly boring, initially irritated me a lot.  Each time I heard the song, it grew on me.  There are a few great moments, and some parts seem to reference the general themes of Hair, which weren't bad.

Even the not so exciting Doughty releases are something I look forward to.  Recording with Dave Matthews was nauseating, but hey, if that brought him a bigger audience, good for him.

Mike Doughty - Fort Hood

"You should be getting stoned with a prom-dressed girl; you should still believe in an endless world."

Get Up Kids - Campfire Kansas

04/10/11

This song and two others are all that remains from The Get Up Kids that I won't skip past when it comes up on random.  Perhaps there's just a point where much music from years ago should just stay with those years.

"Never trust a man with food, change of clothes, and a drink in his hand."

Get Up Kids - Campfire Kansas

Architecture In Helsinki - Escapee

Song for 4/9/11

I really liked the first two albums from Architecture In Helsinki, but I'm not sure what to think about the newest.  This song stood out, but I don't think the album overall was that enjoyable.  It's too clean and processed, and it doesn't have the playfulness of the previous albums.

Architecture In Helsinki - Escapee

Caithlin De Marrais - Carefully

It has been more than five years since I have heard new music from Caithlin De Marrais, formerly of Rainer Maria. I was expecting more from this solo album, but five years plus of expectation is a hard thing to match.

 It isn't much like Rainer Maria: quiet and forward looking, it was good for a rainy morning.  Since I've also picked up another Rainer Maria survivor's solo album, I wouldn't be too surprised if one of his tracks sneaks in at some point in the next week or so.

Caithlin De Marrais - Carefully

Imaginary Cities - Temporary Resident

As the day ticked over into the 7th, I picked up this album.  Travel, travel, still trying to find the rest and recover part.  I hope my next trip back to LA involves much less use of crosstown buses.

"I'm just a temporary resident, looking out my window. I'll be home again."

I like this version of the song better than the album version.

Imaginary Cities - Temporary Resident

Neko Case - People Got a Lot of Nerve

Finally current.

I mixed up this post with yesterday's, although that doesn't matter a whole lot.  There was no dodging this song this week apparently.  I just spoke about this song with a friend the other day, heard it Monday while on the way back to Chicago, then heard it over the store speakers while sitting in Starbucks.  


It made my 15 minutes of peace while in between jobs for the day much better.


It does seem that another recurring theme among the Songs of 2011 is that via randomness, they stalk me until I admit that they should have already been represented.  Very true.


"They walked over the ocean 
And their dreams they dreamed awake 
Until the lights grew dim 
Until the cop cars came."

Neko Case - People Got a Lot of Nerve

Arthur Alexander - In the Middle of It All

4/5/11

I love the piano.

I stumbled upon this song after the third jump from a link to a song I looked up.  The first thing I thought of, after the greatness of the piano, was the Dismemberment Plan line from The Ice of Boston:

"Oh Gladys, girl I love you, but oh: get a life!"

I empathize, Arthur, really, but all I had tonight for this is a big shrug.  Better to be in the middle of it all than buried underneath it.

Arthur Alexander - In the Middle of It All

Junior Walker - Way Back Home

4/4/11

Coincidentally, I was on my way back home when I heard this song.  I got a nice nap in before getting to LAX on the Big Blue Bus.  I didn't find any honeysuckle growing on a backyard fence though.

Junior Walker - Way Back Home

The Lawrence Arms - The Redness In the West

4/3/11

At this point of my week in Los Angeles, my hand is swollen to twice its normal size from some spider bite.  I'm tired from riding the bus all night.  I'm tired from a week of walking hours a day.  I'm looking forward to sleeping off the Benadryl, having a drink on a rooftop with California's jewel, Saint Monica, and can't wait to put my bags down and collapse.

A good week on all accounts.

The Lawrence Arms - The Redness In the West

"The last goodbye is simple and true."

Not the greatest recording, true.  The other posts don't seem to have survived youtube.

Forgetters - The Night Accelerates

4/2/11

It seems that this EP is making a really strong showing this year.  Oh well, I'm running with whatever I hear that day that goes the best for that day.

Forgetters - The Night Accelerates

This song reminds me of a rewritten Accident Prone that hides the melancholy by speeding relentlessly onward.


"The mind is a battlefield
But the heart is a surgeon
And we are between them
And we are uncertain"


Move past the uncertainty. 

The Blow - Parentheses

4/1/11

I hadn't heard this song for a really long time after a harddrive disaster.  I may have listened to this song four times in a row on the 1st.  That's it, no story this time.  Cheers to the other bus riders who gave me weird looks for smiling and nodding along.

The Blow - Parentheses

"If something in the deli aisle makes you cry, of course I'll put my arm around you and walk you outside."

Standard Fare - Nuit Avec Une Ami

3/31/11

Nodding off on a crosstown bus, I got really excited thinking this was the beginning of one of those innumerable Kinsella tracks ranging from Cap'n Jazz to whatever he's doing these days.  Then, I got the great surprise of the playful back and forth of Standard Fare.  I had never heard of Standard Fare before a recommendation of my friend Cheryl a few months ago.

"Would it be wrong if I didn't go along with it?"

No, not at all.  Not at all.  However, 'let's not and say we did' is worth cringing at.

Standard Fare - Nuit Avec Une Ami

Eels - What's a Fella Gotta Do

3/30/11

I like this song a lot as one of the more hopeful Eels songs (at least once you deal with the grit before the chorus), and it was prescient as I walked in a door that led to a really long, great conversation.  Much, much better than the long walk through skid row, from Union Station, at night.

Yes, if you've read more than three posts from the blog you probably know this:  I don't care how depressing a song sounds, there's a gap.  That's where the sunlight gets in.


The sunlight comes in three brief lines:


"What I'd like
After close inspection
Is for you to look in my direction"


and that light can be bright.


Eels - What's a Fella Gotta Do

Belle and Sebastian - This is Just a Modern Rock Song

3/29/11

This is another point where the lyrics strike hard after spacing out and picking the song for the day.  Yeah, it's B&S, shoegazing, self-deprecating, etc.  etc.

Oh, well, it's chosen, launched!

Belle and Sebastian - This Is Just a Modern Rock Song

This is just a modern rock song,
This is just a tender affair,
I count "three, four" and then we start to slow,
Because a song has got to stop somewhere.

Mirah - Don't Die In Me

Song for 3/28/11

I suppose that having both the remix and original of this song coming up from a full random of 20k songs was the first sign that this song would make the top spot for the day.

Next, it's Mirah.

Lastly:
"Now here's an apple with a tougher skin
While you've got your pretty scales and fins you say
See all the things that i can do
So perfectly my body grew."

Mirah - Don't Die In Me

Tegan & Sara - Come On Kids

Hey!  A Tegan & Sara song that doesn't pull on your shirtsleeve to tell you things are bad!

Song for 3/27

"We've got cities to visit; we've got trees to live in."

Tegan & Sara - Come On Kids

The Beatles - I've Just Seen a Face

I'm at O'Hare and my phone isn't special enough to have two browsers open. Until I get to a computer, hearing this song is a DIY project for you. Get to it.

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Sundowner - As the Crow Flies

I was hoping for so much more from the newest Sundowner, but this song made the album.  To be fair, tonight was the first time I listened to the album, and dozens of my favorite albums didn't make me think, 'I have to listen to this album again as soon as it's over!'  So, out of rotation it will go to sweeten.

"I think I can make a song somehow."

Sundowner - As the Crow Flies

3/24/2011

Mirah - The Dogs of B.A.

This was the first Mirah song I ever heard, and it remains my favorite of hers.  It came up while wandering into a bookstore today and gave me an idea.  It looks completely possible to spend a week in B.A. and Montevideo for $200.  Looks like I have some further work to do.

Mirah - The Dogs of B.A.

3/24

Phantogram - When I'm Small

Heard the album on the recommendation of a friend and it came out on top.  Wait for the punchline, it's delivered with, what sounds like glee and violins.

Phantogram - When I'm Small

3/22/2011

You know, if I had a smarter phone I'd get posts in on the day they should be.

Jawbreaker - Jet Black

This song is so irritatingly passive aggressive.  That isn't totally outside the average for Jawbreaker, and Dear You is a manic album of hope and dregs.  With Dear You, I think there's no other artist that I listen to regularly that was so close to tremendous success, but walked out a door and fell a dozen stories.  I didn't hear this album until 1999; it was out of print for such a long time and really hard to find.

Yet again, a song that is so far from how I've felt during the day cinches the spot.  Wash your hands of it all, already!

"This is the part.  I wouldn't show you; the part where you say, 'I don't even know you.'  This is your cue, be glad that it's through."

P.S.  The recorded speech at the beginning and end is from Annie Hall.  I saw Annie Hall years after I had first heard this song, and even if the movie would not have been great, that made a rainy Boston Valentine's day bright.

Pairing this song with Joan of Arc clips is brilliant, and puts a totally different perspective to the lyrics.  Especially the quoted lyrics above.  A sad song is martyrdom, I suppose.  Cheers Jeanne!

Jawbreaker - Jet Black

Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl

Two A.M. Sunday morning, 3/20/2011.

It was a playlist I wasn't planning on making, and it was running into its eighth hour.  The chili cook off was a good time, with far, far too many drinks.

Unrelated to the song, but I always thought the cover of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere looked like he was standing on one of the dog's hind legs so it wouldn't run off before the picture was taken.

Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl

N*E*R*D* - Things Are Getting Better

My favorite track by N*E*R*D*, this is a song that always puts a smile on my face.  Soundtrack to thawed streets and a big stupid grin.

N*E*R*D* - Things Are Getting Better 

song for 3/19/2011

Mark Kozelek - Walk All Over You

Since I never listened to much AC/DC, I had no idea this wasn't an original at first.  It makes some sense, since it is so opposite much of Kozelek's own writing.  This song didn't win today solely on its own merit.  I listened to all the Kozelek that I owned today, and the sentiment of the Red House Painters wasn't really catching me.  The opposition this song puts toward all the other songs on the Mark Kozelek solo album is what won the top spot.

Mark Kozelek - Walk All Over You

The Dead Milkmen - Beach Party Vietnam

Song for 3/17

Cook your hotdogs with napalm.

The Dead Milkmen - Beach Party Vietnam

Idlewild - Love Steals Us From Loneliness

The Idlewild song I was looking for wasn't on YouTube.  I had completely forgotten the album that the selected song came from existed.  I know I owned it; I know I listend to it many times when I first bought it.  Worst of all, this was one of those CDs that had DRM and could not be ripped by iTunes or the other media player I was using at the time.

The album probably went 5 years from being played last, and only ended up here due to technicality.  "You and I Are Both Away" was the winner by a slim margin.  Like many Idlewild songs it seems unnecessarily depressing, but damn he has such a great voice.

I never looked up any Idlewild videos before, perhaps I should have.

Idlewild - Love Steals Us From Loneliness

Jenny Owen Youngs - Voice On Tape

3/15 post delayed due to not being indoors for hours:

I don't really enjoy the rest of this album.  I saw Jenny Owen Youngs on the recommendation of a friend a few years ago.  There may have been ten people at Schubas, and that would be generous on the high end of estimating.  The show was enjoyable, but never really felt like listing to the album I picked up.

In case you were wondering, yes, she is one of the people responsible for that surge of terrible rap covers that the world suffered through in 2001-2007.

Jenny Owen Youngs - Voice On Tape

Tchaikovsky - Old French Song

This has always been one of my favorite songs to play on the piano.  Above all other classical pieces, I think this is the most calming.  I'm not sure what's going on with the blue hands in the video.  If you prefer, you can just search the song and watch any number of 5-8 year olds playing it.

Tchaikovsky - Old French Song

Soul Coughing - Screenwriter's Blues

This was the first song chosen randomly after Free Fallin had finished playing on the radio.  These happen to be the only songs I know of that reference Reseda, CA.  This coincidence made me put both of these songs head to head, and I preferred Soul Coughing this morning, as I cruised past the 3 separate police blockades that did not seem interested in pulling anyone over.

"It is 5 am, and you are listening to Los Angeles...It is a beautiful night out there, and the radio man says rock and roll lives."

Soul Coughing - Screenwriter's Blues

Alkaline Trio - Jaked On Green Beers

On the way to the Union Station we passed the dyed green Chicago river.  As I was running through the station to catch my train I nearly ran into a few different couples that were having arguments at different stages of violence.

One man looked shocked, like he'd just been slapped or given some kind of awful news; the woman nearest him kept screaming.  As I ran past them, he started screaming back.  The other couple was pushing each other; it really looked like a competition to see who was going to fall first.  It might have started out as a joke but they were pushing each other harder and harder; neither of them were smiling, and she looked incredibly angry.  Another couple further down looked thrilled to be with one another; one was slumped to the ground with his head between his knees and she glared into the distance with her arms crossed.

I made it to my train two minutes before it left.

This song celebrating your dislike for each other is for you, people dressed up in green, trying to win your battles in the tunnels below Union Station.

If you must dye your beer green, start with a decent brew.

Alkaline Trio - Jaked On Green Beers

Snowden - Between the Rent and Me

I wasn't home yesterday, so here's another late delivery.

Snowden - Between the Rent and Me

Years ago this was also a purchase from a Boston bargain bin.  I remember listening to this song on repeat for at least twenty minutes one night, huddled in a doorway waiting for the rain to at least let up enough to see more than 20 feet ahead of me on a walk home from Allston to Jamaica Plain.

This is where I realize my trouble comes with bluest eyes, oh...

Song for 3/11/11.

Against Me! - Thrash Unreal

From another band, this song would have seemed crass.  The video doesn't really add to the song though; I just keep using YouTube links to avoid those popups on Mog and other sites.

This song is from the first album I picked up from Against Me!.  It was on one of the sale spinners at Newbury Comics, and I had heard some good things, so I took it home with my other purchases.

They don't know nothing about redemption.  They don't know nothing about recovery.

Take nothing back.

Against Me! - Thrash Unreal

Morrissey - Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself

Morrissey will always wait to bushwhack you with some sort of maudlin as you go about your life.  Out of all the musicians I listen to, I most empathize with disagreements on all points Morrissey.  However, there's something wonderful in his stubborn refusal to be anything more than a 50 year old man in a seventeen year old's mind.  That is a very smart, world weary,  and spiteful teenager, mind you.

I do wish Morrissey was my androgynous, cynical, vegan, and creepy uncle.  Imagine the possibilities at holidays.

What do you think about the chances this year for the Cubs?  "Don't rake up my mistakes, I know exactly what they are."  Sure, but how do you think they'll do?  "The sanest days are mad."  Interesting.  Do you think they'll at least edge out the Pirates?  "Long may it last.  Why don't you find out for yourself?  Then you'll see the glass hidden in the grass."  Yeah, Merry Christmas.  "Sink down to my heart, that's just the way it goes."  And a happy New Year.

Ugh, work starts in 5 hours.

Morrissey - Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself

Iron & Wine - Each Coming Night

This was really tough to choose today.  I listened to three Iron & Wine albums in the usual full random selection.  Our Endless Numbered Days is an album I have too long neglected.  I remember it was one of the last albums I purchased from Record Breakers in Arlington Heights, a store where I found many new bands and spent thousands of dollars in.

Now I have to listen to the whole album again to make a choice.  Back with that later.

After a long walk in the rain, I came to the decision of Each Coming Night.  All the other songs on the album fell very close to the mark, but this was a perfect balance.  Equal parts remembrance, looking forward, and salvation make a scene that is without regret, hopeful, and without enough details to make you think this is for something ended or something eternal and bright.

Iron & Wine - Each Coming Night

Light strikes a deal with the coming night.

Girl Talk - What If...

I can't find the track anywhere, since Sony yanked the one youtube link.  However, you'll catch the drift of Girl Talk from the other link below.

Often grating to the point of irritation, but a track at a time could pull you back to long drives scanning for the radio for something you wanted to listen to, bouncing back and forth among different stations for a distraction.

Girl Talk - Some festival

The sample intro to What If made me wonder who sneaked "What If God Was One of Us" onto one of my hard drives.  As Soon as I heard, "What if God [skip/beat] is a project bitch?" I was able to smile and go back to my reading.

Lali Puna - Faking the Books

Along the lines of yesterday's post.  This is a track and and artist that is often ambivalent.  I never viewed this song as pessimistic until I read the lyrics.  I wouldn't say Lali Puna is an incredibly upbeat band, largely due to the instrumentation.


Sure, from one slant, it isn't heaven, there's faking, there's going through sharing how much it isn't heaven. BUT! 


We’ve been wrong before
There is a lot that we survived

I think that can go with the rest of the song.  Perhaps wrong, wrong, wrong again.  Regardless, her voice is beautiful, and she needs to dip into some stronger solo work that doesn't rely on well crafted beats.

Lali Puna - Faking the Books

Azure Ray - Nothing Like a Song

I first found Azure Ray on a mix cd a friend made me in 2003.  Very few of their songs and the songs of their subsequent solo projects are particularly uplifting, but the voices of Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor are both haunting.  Like Morrissey, Nico, and the Eels, perhaps the part of their songs that are uplifting is the remove that you can experience their lyrics as:

It is not your life, therefore, sing a different song.

Azure Ray - Nothing Like a Song

I'm not what you write in your books, no, I'm nothing like a song.

Underworld - Luetin

Underworld is a band whose albums I can rarely listen to straight through.  I'm rarely patient enough for electronic tracks that go on for more than seven minutes.  This song and occasionally Born Slippy are two that I do come back to fairly regularly.

song for 3/5/2011

Underworld - Luetin

Mike Doughty - Your Misfortune

I can be the right notion in the meantime, warm you like the sunshine.

Song for 3/4/11

Don't forget to stand in the light.

Mike Doughty - Your Misfortune

Eels - The Mansions of Los Feliz

It's just me, myself, and the secrets that live inside the walls of the mansions of Los Feliz.

Eels - The Mansions of Los Feliz

Xiu Xiu - Hello From Eau Claire

I'll get back on schedule someday.  Song for 3/2.

Xiu Xiu - Hello From Eau Claire

Sebadoh - Together or Alone

I don't know that I've listened to a whole Sebadoh album in years.  I should fix that tomorrow.

This was part of a string of early 90s that my iPod landed on out of 20,000 tracks on random this evening.  PPPantless by Don Cabellero was runner up.

Sebadoh - Together or Alone

Motorhead - Ace of Spades

Bringing the blog fully up to date.  I overheard this song from the headphones of someone else on the shuttle bus from the Blue Line Airport station on the T.

Motorhead - Ace of Spades

The Faint - Paranoiattack

Song for Sunday 2/27: PARANOIA!

The Faint - Paranoiattack

They Might Be Giants - New York City

Was in Boston all weekend: song for Saturday.

Everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty.

They Might Be Giants - New York City

The Magnetic Fields - I Wish I Had an Evil Twin

Today will be all airports and drinking, so I'm going to post this now.

Sometimes the good life wears thin.

The Magnetic Fields - I Wish I Had an Evil Twin

Mum - Venus on the Forehead

Late again.  No video for this one.  It isn't the most exciting song in the world, but it fit my drive home well.

Mum - Venus on the Forehead

Gruff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters

It's just the way the sunlight catches your hair.

Gruff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters

Russian Futurists - Sentiment vs. Syllables

I can't find a whole track anywhere, so I guess that's all there is.

Damn, this song sounded pretty upbeat on first listen, but the lyrics aren't that at all.

Yes, late again.  Song for Tuesday, 2/22.

Gutter Twins - Duchess

Cover of a Scott Walker Song... oh, and then there's a Neko Case version.

Light up your candles for me.
2/21 song.

Gutter Twins - Duchess

Aimee Mann - Pavlov's Bell

A day late, but here's Sunday.

Aimee Mann - Pavlov's Bell

The Twilight Singers - Teenage Wristband

I love this song's lift from Teenage Wasteland.

Time comes to get gone.  Said good morning to another sort of creature.

The Twilight Singers - Teenage Wristband

Radiohead - Codex

The water's clear and innocent.

Track for 2/18

Radiohead - Codex

Christine Fellows - Bird as Prophet

Fevered was the night you first appeared.

While the two albums of hers I have aren't great as a whole, there are 4+ really good songs.

2/17 song.

Christine Fellows - Bird as Prophet

Of Montreal - The Past Is a Grotesque Animal

Oh Bataille.

It's rare when I want to hear an 11+ minute song right after it has played through.

Of Montreal - The Past Is a Grotesque Animal

Bill Callahan - Jim Cain

I'm not a huge fan of the rest of the album on the first listen, but this song decompressed my week.

"Something too big to be seen was passing over and over me."

Bill Callahan - Jim Cain

Nick Cave - Love Letter

So, this came up right after 12:00a on Valentine's Day.  I doubt anything will top it, so here it is, song 45 of 2011.

Happy V-Day to everyone, especially the person in Denmark who checks in on the blog.  Say hi sometime.

Nick Cave - Love Letter

Burning Airlines - Escape Engine

Make the ending as good as the show; burn as you go.

song for 2/13/11

Burning Airlines - Escape Engine

Jesu - Silver

I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have given Jesu a second listen if I had heard this album when it was released.  Besides My Bloody Valentine, it took a lot for a band that included so much extended instrumental parts in their music to hook me.

Jesu - Silver

Chuck Berry - Maybelline

You started back doing those things you used to do.

Song for 2/11/11

Chuck Berry - Maybelline

Detroit Cobras - Cha Cha Twist

We're gonna tear this house down.

Detroit Cobras - Cha Cha Twist

Coralie Clement - Ça valait la peine

I have some doubts about Google Translator on this one.  It's also a little sad that the only link to the full song was someone's video from a bar, featuring his friends.

Coralie Clement - Ça valait la peine

The Do - On My Shoulders

You know I've never been familiar with orders.

The Do - On My Shoulders

Hank Williams - Fly Trouble

There's a fly that's living right.

song for 2/7

Hank Williams - Fly Trouble

Lee "Scratch" Perry - X-Perry-Ment

He's a weird dude, but that makes for some interesting songs.

Lee "Scratch" Perry - X-Perry-Ment

Modest Mouse - Bury Me With It

Sure as planets come, I know that they end.  If I'm here when that happens, promise me this my friend...I just don't need none of that Mad Max bullshit.

Cheers, happy Saturday.

Modest Mouse - Bury Me With It

Yelle - Je veux te voir

Her cousin can perform like an olympian, but alas...

pouvre fille. 

Yelle - Je Veux te Voir

Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up Look Sharp

Sweet like tropicana, your head splits like banana.

Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp

Hot Chip - Over and Over

Spent most of the day shoveling and watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  I only listened to a handful of tracks, and this was one.

The joy of repetition really is in you.

Hot Chip - Over and Over

The Knife - Is It Medicine

I never could understand all the lyrics to this song.  The first few times I heard it, I thought it was:  "illicit medicine, the social skill."

Way to start the month posting 22 minutes late.

2/1/2011.

The Knife - Is It Medicine

Tapes 'n Tapes - Badaboom

I am liking the newest album a lot more than their last.  It's a good close to the month.


I'll be your upstart cowboy...or maybe it's "hot star cowboy."  whatever, it's a cowboy; bedtime.

enjoy: Tapes 'n Tapes - Badaboom

Bill Withers - Lean On Me

Mr. Withers blew everything else out of the water today.  Random didn't serve up a whole lot of good stuff.

Bill Withers - Lean On Me

Spoon - Anything You Want

This song led me to purchase everything Spoon had recorded up to 2008 after I heard it the first time.

Spoon - Anything You Want

Throwing Muses - Shimmer

There's no sound at the computer I'm at right now, so I'm hoping this is the song I remember from today.

Throwing Muses - Shimmer

Laura Veirs - Don't Lose Yourself

Don't let yourself be lost.


Laura Veirs - Don't Lose Yourself

The Beatles - Things We Said Today

This is no where near the best Beatles song, but there wasn't a lot that I listened to today that was very good.

If I was cheating, I would put "I've Just Seen a Face" here, but I didn't listen to that today.  Perhaps another day.

The Beatles - Things We Said Today

Ben Gibbard - All Is Full of Love

Twist your head around; it's all around you.

It isn't laziness that brings a Bjork song back within the same month.  This song gave me chills today.  I'm tired and don't feel like looking for the solo Gibbard version that I heard today, so here's Death Cab doing it.

Death Cab for Cutie - All Is Full of Love

Forgetters - Too Small to Fail

I just heard the EP that this song is from; I haven't been so excited about an EP since high school, when I picked up the Tuesday and Alkaline Trio EPs.

I don't mean to imply that it's groundbreaking, but it goes back to good memories of long drives, and long walks in Chicago listening to Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil.

Forgetters - Too Small to Fail

Luna - Sweet Child of Mine

It was a close one, between this and another cover.

Luna - Sweet Child of Mine

song for 1/23

Nick Cave - Dead Man in My Bed

She breathed in the future by breathing out the past; the die is done, the die is shook, the die is duly cast.

Nick Cave - Dead Man in My Bed

Alkaline Trio - Armageddon

Armageddon, let the light in.

Alkaline Trio - Armageddon

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hysteric

The cinders, the cinders, they light the path.

This song sounds amazing if played in a round with multiple browser windows.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hysteric

Stars - This Charming Man

I hadn't heard this cover in a long time.  This is 1/19/11's song.

It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care.

Stars - This Charming Man

White Lies - Strangers

I only listened to new music today.  The songs at the top were by Tapes n Tapes and White Lies.  Second listens to the top tracks had White Lies come out ahead.

The song isn't listed anywhere to preview right now.  There was a YouTube link, but it has since died at the request of the user.

This link doesn't work, but perhaps it will soon.

White Lies - Strangers

The Clash - Straight to Hell

Clear as winter ice, this is your paradise.

I believe sampling this song is 95% of the reason why MIA's Paper Planes sounded great.

The iPod has been serving this one up recently, and got me driving home in the snow tonight.

The Clash - Straight to Hell

Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

Yep.  Trans Europe Express.  Deal with it. TEE!!

Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

Backdate this to yesterday; again out all day.

The National - Abel

Abel come on man, gimmie the keys man.  Everything has all gone down wrong.
The National - Abel

Buddy Holly -- Not Fade Away

Can't go wrong with mr Holly.

 Buddy Holly - Not Fade Away

Mark Eitzel - Proclaim Your Joy

It is important throughout your life to proclaim your joy.


Mark Eitzel - Proclaim Your Joy

This is actually the song for 1/13/11.  I've been out of the house since 6 am and just got home.

The first several times I heard this song I misheard the chorus as:
"Easy boy, turn out your light to proclaim your joy."

Hüsker Dü - Books About UFOs

She tells the same old story to everyone that she knows
She's just sitting in her room reading books about UFOs


This song has come up through random twice in less than a day.  Pretty remarkable, considering the iPod was pulling from 20,000 songs.


Husker Du - Books About UFOs

Tori Amos - Time

The Tori Amos version of "Time" is one of very few Waits covers that come very close to surpassing the original.  This was one of the first songs that I heard that got me interested in checking out more Amos.  For your listening pleasure, here are both versions.

Tom Waits - Time

Tori Amos - Time

The things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget that history puts a saint in every dream.

Red House Painters - Michigan

They're true, all the good things you say.

Red House Painters - Michigan

Explosions In the Sky - Remember Me as a Time of Day

Explosions in the Sky was one of those bands that I really just didn't get.  I saw them years ago at the Fireside Bowl and was bored out of my mind.  I found one of their discs super cheap at Newbury Comics in 2006 and gave them another chance.  Again I wasn't too excited about it.

Recently, several of their tracks have come up and I have not wanted to skip past them.  I think I really need a break from music with vocals, and they do fit that bill.

Explosions in the Sky - Remember Me as a Time of Day

Pretty Girls Make Graves - This Is Our Emergency

When you're lost, someone else is always found.


This Is Our Emergency

Bruce Springsteen - Hungry Heart

Everybody needs a place to rest.
Everybody wants to have a home.

I usually have a problem with backup singers outside of Motown tracks, but they fit here.

Bruce Springsteen - Hungry heart

Erin Mckeown - Fast As I Can

You're gonna make it, gonna make it, gonna make it girl.

Erin Mckeown - Fast As I Can

Japandroids - Sovereignty

Oh it's raining in Vancouver.

Coltrane should probably have rights to the top song of the day, but I snoozed to almost all of the 6 hours of Coltrane that played this morning.

Japandroids - Sovereignty

Architecture In Helsinki - Maybe You Can Owe Me

I thought today's song was going to come down to sending Ane Brun and Solomon Burke into the Thunderdome, where two enter, but one leaves.  Right before that showdown, Maybe You Can Owe Me came up.

and, here it is:

Maybe You Can Owe Me

Okkervil River - Plus Ones

This pulled me wide awake out of the random tide of music on my computer, turning up the brightness on my laptop, and doing all the hard work required to generate a link.

I listened to this album very little when I received it years ago, but each time one of the songs comes up on random I want to listen to the whole thing.

Okkervil River - Plus Ones

Nearly a four way tie

Today's best all came in a big chunk while I was trying to find the motivation to keep going past mile 5.  I didn't really want or need to break that barrier, since there's no marathon any time soon that I'll be running in.  Doing 10 mile runs is somewhat counter productive.

So for a view of the contenders (song titles will not be disclosed, since they still have a chance to win the day in the future):

Big Bill Broonzy
Elvis Costello
LCD Soundsystem
The Supremes

The only connection I found among 3/4ths of those songs for today was that they were longer than they needed to be, but didn't get boring.  The Costello song should have been boring by all rights, considering there are no new lyrics once you're 40 seconds into the song and there are no significant changes past that point either.

I'm listening to all the songs again to make a final call.

Big Bill, you win big.  Here's your e-laurels.
Careless Love

Damien Jurado - Medication

Medication
Pre-dawn may jump the gun on the song of the day, but I'm already two hours into listening for the day.  If something outshines this song, I'll call it a tie.

This song led me to purchase everything Damien Jurado has ever recorded.  As a free promo that we wouldn't buy at the used shop I worked at in 2001, this album is one of my favorites that I never paid for.

There are so many chilling points in this song that resonate.  I always think of a small town with nothing but bars for a main street, a gas station, a grocery store, and dirt roads when I hear this song.  The first and last lines bookend each other so well.

"It just so happens I have many concerns."

Bjork - Bachelorette

On a cold night driving around Elgin, this won the day.

Bachelorette

365 songs of 2011

All songs selected will be chosen from a random selection played during that day.  I won't be looking for a specific song, ever.

So, from the average of 50-100 songs heard per day, I will put up a link to the one that is perfect for me on that day.