Category Archives: Start Your iPods

Start Your iPods

Random three. Come on iPod, make em a good three!

  1. The Cars - Shake It Up. Not my favorite Cars song: it's right on the border of being kicked off the iPod. But, I do like "don't let nobody pick your bong" and the guitar solo is hot (as always).
  2. Sunny Day Real Estate - 9. This is a bonus track from the remaster of "Diary". It's a heavy, fast, loud, rocking tune that doesn't quite fit the "Diary" vibe, but would've been right at home on their later records.
  3. Sea And Cake - Sporting Life. First track on their fourth album, "The Fawn". This was a big change in sound for them: keyboards dominate (I don't think there's a guitar in here anywhere), the bass is up-front and driving. 1997 was also the year that Yo La Tengo really embraced keyboards ("I Can Hear The Heart Beating..."), when I first heard Stereolab, and it's when we moved to NC - 17 years ago next month. And all of that comes as a package, in my head.

Can you stir up three, for me?

Start Your iPods

Random ... six!

  1. Erykah Badu - Umm Hmm. Very retro.
  2. Guns n Roses - Reckless Life (live). Did not know I had this.
  3. Benny Goodman Trio - China Boy. The video... hah. Gene Krupa on drums grinnin like a fiend.
  4. Flamin Groovies - Please Please Girl. Anachronistic!
  5. Stephen Malkmus - Pink India. Supposed to see him tonight. But Snowpacalypse 3 might prevent that.
  6. Black Keys - She's Long Gone. The unmistakable Black Keys.

You?

Start Your iPods

Random three, described.

  1. Guided By Voices - Motor Away. A great band. This song is one of many on its album which make you think that these guys can toss out these ridiculously great pop songs which would all be top-40 hits in a sane and just world. Except that they've recorded the songs to sound as radio-unfriendly as possible, because Fuck The System! or Artistic Vision! something, so they linger in obscurity by their own choice because Gimmie Indie Rock! or whatever. But then, their later albums are as slick as possible (produced by people like Ric Ocasek!), and the songs just as good; and the albums went nowhere.
  2. Sonic Youth - The Sprawl. The "Sprawl"? No. This will always be the "Come on down to the store" song.
  3. The Men - Oscillation. A nice indie rock jam. Reminds me of early Feelies, or Yo La Tengo, or even fieldfresh.

Play along, if you dare.

Start Your iPods

Five, described.

  1. Gillian Welch - The Way The Whole Thing Ends. A slow sleepy tune. It's nice, pleasant. Maybe a touch long.
  2. Grateful Dead - Ripple. A slow sleepy tune. It's nice, pleasant. Maybe a touch long.
  3. David Grisman & Tony Rice - Wildwood Flower. Bluegrass standard, instrumental. Not found on YouTube.
  4. Bill Monroe et al - I Saw The Light. Another bluegrass/gospel standard. Though it's a Hank Williams tune, for me, this is the definitive version.
  5. Jungle Brothers - Straight Out of The Jungle. I was a little worried that my latest sync had somehow filled my iPod with country music.

Is there anything you'd like to share with the class?

Start Your iPods

This week, using the full iTunes repository...

  1. Broken Social Scene - Ibi Dreams Of Pavement. Aptly named, since the song does sound a lot like S&E-era Pavement - lurching, cacophonous, dizzy, etc.. Fittingly: even though iTunes and YouTube were playing this song at the same time, about 15 seconds out of sync, it took me 30 seconds or so to realize that something wasn't quite right.
  2. Screaming Females - Leave It Up To Me. The Smashing Pumpkins-style guitar lead is fun, but the singer's voice hurts me - even though she sounds pretty close (at times) to classic Kristin Hersh, who I don't mind. Music is complicated.
  3. Portishead - Over. This is a great one, as are most of the tunes from their first two records.
  4. Soul Miner's Daughter - Hallelujah. While I guess Sugarland probably pays more and better bills, I prefer Jennifer Nettles doing this southern soulful blues/rock stuff.
  5. Evanescence - Whisper. Never heard this one before. I'd lose the background choir, replace the keyboards/strings background sound with a fuzzed guitar and turn the compression way down. But that's me.

You can play too!

Start Your iPods

Random five! Described!

  1. The Modern Jazz Quartet - Milano. Named after my second favorite Pepperidge Farm cookie, because of the way the chocolatey middle is just a little too thin and the cookies are a little too dry.
  2. Led Zeppelin - You Shook Me. Written by Gladys Messner the morning after the great San Francisco earthquake of 1952. Her bird, which normally both whistled and sang the whole day long, was mysteriously silent the day before the quake. This alerted Mrs Messner to the upcoming tremblor, at least subconsciously, and so she took an extra sleeping pill that evening, leaving her dazed and blissfully confused, while she shook all night long.
  3. Tortoise - Cornpone Brunch. Originally a children's song used by teachers to teach the days of the week, it was reworked by Tortoise, on commission, into the background music for the slide show at a local bank's semi-annual half-day conference and leadership seminar.
  4. Vampire Weekend - Everlasting Arms. The Everlasting Arms is a prison in the west of Scotland, permanent home to the worst criminals the northern UK can produce. Bloody Face, from the entertaining-but-crazy second season of American Horror Story, is reportedly based on one of the inmates held there.
  5. Benny Goodman Trio - At Sundown. This song does not actually exist (which you can confirm for yourself by searching for it on YouTube). It was added to the disc's playlist as a copyright trap after a rash of bootleg Benny Goodman albums nearly destroyed the market. Sounds like every other mid-tempo Benny Goodman tune.

Are you up to the task?