20 Songs I Dig Right Now

1. Cinderella - Aqualung: If you're ever looking to start an awesome mix cd, you could do worse than this song. It has an explosively beautiful opening and it maintains a pretty otherworldly feel throughout. It's got that sort of U2-esque transcendentalism feeling without Bono yelling at you.

2. Stuck On You - Failure: This is, for all intents and purposes, a generic alternative rock song from the mid-nineties. Lately, though, it's gotten under my skin. It might nostalgia or the spacemen on the album's cover. Either way, it's a great time capsule song and deserves to be dredged up. If you listen to it, you'll probably be all like, "Oh yeah... I sort of remember this one."

3. Creeper - Islands: I found this song instantly catchy... like from the first few notes on. That always impresses me. Add in lyrics about being stabbed in the heart, and you can't lose.

4. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon: Spoon's Britt Daniel describes their music solely as "rock and roll," and that's very fitting, especially on the songs from "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga." "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb," is my current favorite track from that record, although I've vacillated between it, "The Underdog," "Rhthm & Soul," and "Don't You Evah."

5. Once A Glimpse - Maximo Park: A nice, strong propulsive song with a singalong chorus that never lets up for a second. It's all anxiety and nervous energy.

6. The Female Of The Species - Space: More 90's alterna-rock, this one from fairly obscure band Space. This one has xylophones, though. It's kind of like Edwyn Collins' "A Girl Like You," although I can't adequately explain why. It's more fun, though. On account of the xylophones.

7. She Got Dressed - Fleet Foxes: I could pretty much put an Fleet Foxes song on here and it'd be ok. This one has struck me lately. This one reminds me of the best possible outcome of a Brian Wilson/Stereolab collaboration.

8. The Good That Won't Come Out - Rilo Kiley: This one's a little bit older, but I sort of rediscovered it recently. It's one of those indie rock songs that starts out mopey and muted and eventually explodes with rage and anxiety. And it's got one of my favorite couplets: "I do this thing where I think I'm real sick, but I won't go to the doctor to find out about it."

9. Hold On, Hold On - Neko Case: Neko Case's songs barely have song structures anymore... it's a pretty big departure from her alternative country stuff with Her Boyfriends. Somewhere along the way, she just shifted into a sultry, almost unnerving film noir songstress. There's a very haunting quality to her music, now, and it sort of sticks to you even after it's done playing.

10. Disintegration - Jimmy Eat World: This song is nearly eight minutes, but it doesn't get tiresome. It's a fairly miserable affair, one of the darkest songs from a unusually optimistic band. It's hard not to picture your worst relationship with this in the background... The slow build to its big crescendo almost catches you off guard the first time 'round.

11. Crown Of Thorns - Mother Love Bone: This is epic pre-grunge... I don't know if Mother Love Bone were ever embraced by the mainstream. I never heard them on the radio, but I graduated to modern rock after Andrew Wood was already dead. I absolutely love this song, though... it's the type of music that led me away from classic rock and forced me to stop dismissing 90's bands as retreads of great 70's artists. Not that they aren't, but when they made music this cool, what's the difference?

12. Plasticities - Andrew Bird: From Bird's "Armchair Apocrypha," "Plasticities" mixes tempos and moods in a lovely, pleasantly jarring way. I have no idea what the lyrics are about, but it seems very important and very stirring. It also makes a great streetlight song... the type of music you want on while driving down a lit, empty city street at, like, 3 am.

13. At The Wake - The Format: I think this song should be in every indie film ever, because it perfectly captures the feeling of suburban isolation, loneliness, powerlessness and restlessness. I might be reading too much into it.

14. Samson - Regina Spektor: This song just breaks my heart. I don't even understand how that works.

15. Move Away & Shine - The Polyphonic Spree: from the "Thumbsucker" soundtrack, this is just a typical freakishly inspirational, hook-laden Polyphonic Spree song. I don't know how they manage to actually capture so much uplift, but it's so bizarrely powerful. It's probably the happiest thing I like.

16. The Perptual Self Or What Would Saul Alinsky Do - Sufjan Stevens: There's not much that really gets me on board with the whole... uh... God thing, but Sufjan Stevens does. His faith is infectious, not obnoxious, and it makes me really want to believe in something that I do really want to believe in even if I can't really (usually) believe in.

17. Who Is It - Bjork: I prefer the Bell Choir mix from the single to the version on Medulla, but either way it's wonderful. There's something very affecting about this song, something ineffably gut wrenching. The bell choir version is especially urgent sounding... like one of the hymns in church I actually look forward to singing.

18. Take Care Of All Of My Children - Tom Waits: Speaking of hymns, this Tom Waits' song plays out like an antique spiritual, complete with warbling trumpet and old vinyl hiss. One of my favorite things about Tom Waits is his ability to make music that sounds like it could have originated at any point in time... there's no indication of its origin. It's like an artifact, something unearthed and discovered. This song is on his "Orphans" collection.

19. Dust Of Ages - Eels: Continuing a hymn-like theme, this little tune from "Blinking Lights And Other Revelations" has a church song simplicity... it reminds me of something that would have been in an early 70's Christian Claymation show... except for the vulgarity.

20. Last Flowers - Radiohead: This is from the bonus disc of "In Rainbows" material. I think it's the best song from both discs, which is a pretty big feat. This song has been floating around since "OK Computer" days, when it was called "Last Flowers Till The Hospital" (I like that version of the title better). It's very pretty, very unsettling and it should have been on the main release.

Monday's Playlist: Black

So, last week I dug into my depresso music and pulled out one of my mix-CD's that really made me feel like shite. Things continue to look bleak on my horizon, so I've gone even further back, digging into my old cassettes to find this miserable masterpiece from 1999. It's another tour de force of sadness, this time clinging to some grunge stalwarts and other alt-rockers. I literally listened to this tape until it snapped. And when that happened, I remade it and nearly wore it out again. Enjoy!

1. Mess - Ben Folds Five (from "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner")
2. Still Remains - Stone Temple Pilots (from "Purple")
3. Head - Meat Puppets (from "No Joke")
4. Sober - Tool (from "Undertow")
5. Ugly - The Smashing Pumpkins (from "1979")
6. Three Speed - Eels (from "Electro-Shock Blues")
7. Doughnut Song - Tori Amos (from "Boys For Pele")
8. Softer, Softest - Hole (from "Live Through This")
9. Medication - Garbage (from "Version 2.0")
10. Pillar of Davidson - Live (from "Throwing Copper")
11. Something In The Way - Nirvana (from "Nevermind")
12. Immortality - Pearl Jam (from "Vitalogy")
13. Zero Chance - Soundgarden (from "Down On The Upside")
14. Nutshell - Alice In Chains (from "Jar of Flies")
15. Miller's Angels - Counting Crows (from "Recovering The Satellites")
16. Breaking The Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers (from "Bloodsugarsexmagik")
17. Roseblood - Mazzy Star (from "Among My Swan")
18. Falls To Climb - R.E.M. (from "Up")
19. Bullet Proof.. I Wish I Was - Radiohead (from "The Bends")
20. Bizarre Love Triangle - Frente (from "Marvin The Album")

Monday's Playlist: Film Gris

This week's playlist is another soundtrack to a non-existent movie... "Film Gris" is my imaginary Tanantino/Ritchie-esque tale of hyper-vocal gangsters, Mexican werewolf smugglers, corrupt FBI agents, a desperate Texas ranger and a mysteriously dark femme fatale all looking for the same big score just north of the Tijuana border. It's not quit a film noir, so I thought "Film Gris" fit the bill a little better. All of the songs have a kind of timeless quality to them... whether they're dark ballads (like the Richard Buckner and Nick Cave songs), subversive spy anthems (a la Radiohead and Portishead) or neo-psychedelic garage rock (as with The Bees and The Coral). "Close Behind" by Calexico makes the perfect closing credits to the unseen narrative that winds its way from the frenetic opener to the southern twinged latter half of the soundtrack.

1. Chicken Payback - The Bees (from "Free The Bees")
2. How Indiscreet - Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire (from "The Swimming Hour")
3. Honey White - Morphine (from "Yes")
4. Big Exit - P.J. Harvey (from "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea")
5. Another Man's Vine - Tom Waits (from "Blood Money")
6. Shadows Fall - The Coral (from "The Coral")
7. Bright Blue Tie - The Fiery Furnaces (from "Gallowsbird Bark")
8. Lyrics of Fury - Tricky (from "Pre-Millennium Tension")
9. Half Day Closing - Portishead (from "Portishead")
10. Paperbag Writer - Radiohead (from "There There")
11. Fried Neckbones & Some Home Fries (Dan The Automator remix) - Willie Bobo (from "Verve Remixed 2")
12. Boys, The Night Will Bury You - Richard Buckner (from "Since")
13. Tumbling Down - Allison Moorer (from "Miss Fortune")
14. Cada Beijo - Bebel Gilberto (from "Bebel Gilberto")
15. The Guns of Brixton - Nouvelle Vague (from "Nouvelle Vague")
16. Latin Simone - Gorillaz (from "Tomorrow Comes Today")
17. Where The Wild Roses Grow - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (from "Murder Ballads")
18. Blacklisted - Neko Case (from "Blacklisted")
19. El Payande - Lhasa (from "La Llorona")
20. Close Behind - Calexico (from "Feast of Wire")

Monday's Playlist: Lonely Ghosts

"Lonely Ghosts" is my soundtrack to an indie movie that doesn't exist. I've had variations on this, but this is the tracklist that I think fits the imaginary movie best. I always picture this fake film taking place in the spring, with a lot of lush twilight shots and, I don't know... a lot of decrepit strip malls with space age architecture. I'm not sure what the story is, exactly, but I'm sure it's melancholy and full of lots of mopey, psuedo-philosophical dialogue.

1. Song To Sing When I'm Lonely - John Frusciante (from Shadows Collide With People)
2. Coffee & TV - Blur (from 13)
3. The Movement Of A Hand - Bright Eyes (from Fevers And Mirrors)
4. Ghost Of His Smile - Sparklehorse (from Good Morning Spider)
5. Dear Mr. Supercomputer - Sufjan Stevens (from The Avalanche)
6. Proofs - Mates Of State (from My Solo Project)
7. Your Cover's Blown - Belle & Sebastian (from Books)
8. Dead Red Eyes - Archers Of Loaf (from White Trash Heroes)
9. Even Now - The Owls (from Our Hopes And Dreams)
10. Since K Got Over Me - The Clientele (from Strange Geometry)
11. Wedding Cake - Damien Jurado (from Waters Ave S.)
12. Ill Advised - +/- (from Self Titled Long Playing Debut Album)
13. Fashionably Uninvited - Mellowdrone (from A Demonstration Of Intellectual Property)
14. All The Photos - The Sea And Cake (from Oui)
15. Friendship Spelled Backwards Is Pihsdneirf - You Were Spiraling (from Delusions Of Grandeur)
16. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service (from Give Up)
17. Distortions - Clinic (from Internal Wrangler)
18. Left And Leaving - The Weakerthans (from Left And Leaving)
19. Pen And Notebook - Camera Obscura (from Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi)
20. Heartless Romantic - The Dears (from End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story)