II 10 2 Two

Shuffle-up two ! List, describe!

1. Santigold - Unstoppable. A techno-reggae-pop head-bobber. Very catchy.
2. Copeland - The Day I Lost My Voice. If you don't know these guys, but like Death Cab and/or Silversun Pickups, give this a listen. So very melodic.

Your turn.

Random one!

Shuffle up a single track. Tell us what it is!

1. Grateful Dead - Franklin's Tower

Your turn!

Random five, described!

1. 10ft Ganja Plant- Shine Dub. And why not start the week with a groovy instrumental reggae number ? Settle in, with your foot a-tappin.
2. The Hykkers - I Want A Break Thru. And a funky, psychedelic Nigerian guitar instrumental is the perfect follow-up.
3. Artie Shaw - Stardust. Another instrumental! This one, however, is completely lacking in funk, and has only the tiniest bit of groove. It could be pleasant, in a different context, I suppose.
4. St Vincent - Oh My God. A hazy, narcotic thing. Pretty, but hard to get a handle on. Disjoint.
5. Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire - Swedish Wedding March. Is this actually the Swedish wedding march? I wouldn't have thought such a thing would be in a minor key.

You do it!

Plain old random ten.

1. Robyn Hitchcock - Full Moon In My Soul
2. A Tribe Called Quest - Buggin Out
3. Leon Redbone - Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
4. Anita O'Day - Leave It To Me
5. Radiohead - Backdrifts
6. Cassandra Wilson - Poet
7. Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains (live)
8. Madeleine Peyroux - Homeless Happiness
9. Graham Coxon - November
10. Department Of Eagles - Balmy Night

Contribute?

OMG. Fuck DST.

Random ten. Then order them by preference - best first.

1. White Stripes - The Same Boy You've Always Known
2. The Horse Flies - Rub Alcohol Blues
3. Muddy Waters - Too Young To Know
4. No Knife - Minus One
5. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Fall Aside
6. U2 - A Sort Of Homecoming
7. Modern Jazz Quartet - Delaunay's Dilemma
8. Wes Montgomery - Four On Six
9. James Brown - Think (live)
10. Paul & Linda McCartney - Long Haired Lady

Now you do it.

Another Monday. They just keep coming, don't they...

Shuffle em up! Five, describe!

1. Radiohead - We Suck Young Blood. A dirge slowly swinging to and fro like a boat at sea. Thom sounds ill, exhausted, delirious. A spasm shudders through it about three minutes in, but quickly passes; what's left crawls on for another minute or so, then mournfully expires.
2. Graham Coxon - Tripping Over. I really like the toned-down lead guitar in this. The long, descending, descending, descending, melodic chord progression it floats over is nice, too. All that, and then the seagull slides at the end reminds me of early Fleetwood Mac.
3. Charlie Byrd & Stan Getz - Desafinado. A warm, pleasant, gentle bit of early 60's Latin jazz, from the album "Jazz Samba". The song won a Grammy (Best Jazz Performance, for Getz), in 63. Very nice stuff.
4. Broken Social Scene - Ibi Dreams Of Pavement. And I imagine the "Pavement" in the title is the band; the easy loping rhythm, the swirling waves of guitar noise which mask a sweet simple melody are all straight out of the Pavement manual. Good tune.
5. Buddy Guy - Look What All You Got. Man. That guy has just the rawest, meanest guitar tone ever: the sound of a Strat through a Fender-esque amp cranked all the way up - overdrive, not distortion - with a lot of reverb. Makes this twangy, barking, semi-hollow, slapping sound. It's not a pretty sound, but to my ears, it conveys a feeling of volume in a way that distortion just can't. Distortion is an effect; but overdrive sounds like something working really hard.

You? Workin hard?

Random five, described!

1. Digable Planets - Swoon Units. Minimalist, jazzy, swinging: as are all the best Digable Planets songs. Even though this isn't one of those...
2. New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno. Incredibly catchy: as are all the best New Porno songs. This one is one of the best.
3. Oxford Collapse - Molasses. One of this band's best. Not sure why these guys weren't more popular. Maybe they were just a few years late - they do have a bit of an early 90s sound. Archers, definitely.
4. Mos Def - New World Water. A lot tougher than the Digable Planets, but definitely mining the same vein: a simple drum track with some minimal space-jazz samples to set a mood. Nothing like mainstream rap - then or now.
5. Unrest - Teenage Suicide. It's based on a song from a fictional band in the movie "Heathers", but it's pure Unrest: catchy, blissful and dizzy. They're another overlooked treasure. Knowing how much I loved the band, my girlfriend forced me to have a beer with the singer before a show, many decades ago. He was nice, but I had nothing to say to him.

What you got?

Random ten.

Like this:

1. My Bloody Valentine - Is This And Yes
2. Elliott Smith - Everything Reminds Me Of Her
3. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Spider Monkey
4. Sunny Day Real Estate - Seven
5. Bad Company - Ready For Love
6. Beatles - Don't Let Me Down
7. The Budos Band - Ghost Walk
8. John Scofield - The Low Road
9. Replacements - Swingin Party
10. Uncle Tupelo - Moonshiner

Now you do!

Random five, one sentence description!

1. Shellac - A Minute. Standard Shellac skronk and crash.
2. U2 - The Unforgettable Fire. And yet such a forgettable song.
3. Paul Simon - Armistice Day. His best unknown song (that I know of).
4. Big Star - Don't Lie To Me. Not their best, not their worst.
5. Rokia Traore - Koronoko. Now that is some (awesome) African poly-rhythm!
   

Five alive, describe!

1. Husker Du - Standing In The Rain. Not quite the same story as Zeppelin's "Fool In The Rain" - in this one, he gets stood up for real, instead of just standing on the wrong corner. I don't like all Husker Du, but I like this one.
2. A Tribe Called Quest - What?. Q-Tip asks a series of "What's X without Y?" questions over a minimal (but still catchy) beat.
3. Pentangle - Light Flight. An almost-frantic poly-rhythmic English folk workout. Pretty impressive playing all around. There's a bit of a "Take Five" vibe buried in there. Just enough to feel familiar.
4. Erykah Badu - Telephone. Mellow and sultry. Not in any hurry to get anything done, it goes five minutes on the same simple groove, then adds a little kick for the next two, then spends close to a minute fading out. Not really a Monday AM kind of thing. More of a Saturday PM.
5. Pavement - Serpentine Pad. And this is a screaming shrieking mess.

What does your automated music selector select?