Category Archives: Start Your iPods

Start Your iPods

Random five, with optional accompanying text descriptions!

  1. The Cure - Pornography. The Cure had gloomier songs, and sadder songs, but this is probably their angriest. Tough way to start a week.
  2. Neil Young - Oh, Lonesome Me. Oh, lonesome you.
  3. Tanya Donelly - Wrap-Around Skirt. It's been a while since I have been able to find a song on YouTube. Odd that this isn't there. It's a perfectly fine song, from a good album by the great Tanya Donnely.
  4. Jimi Hendrix - Ain't No Telling. A funky thing.
  5. No Knife - Under The Moon. It's a shame this band didn't get more attention when it was still around. They were pretty great.

Start Your iPods

Five, describe!

  1. Robyn Hitchcock - Glass Hotel. My favorite RH song. Though I think the live version on "Storefront Hitchcock" is a bit better. It's also an instance of the class of airy, acoustic tunes which are my favorite of RH's modes.
  2. Radiohead - My Iron Lung. I dig the ring modulated guitar. Good song, too. I think I prefer the old, rockier Radiohead to the new, electronic Radiohead. In general.
  3. The Breeders - Iris. This is a great one. Took me a long while to get into their first record, since it has so little of that goofy poppy charm of "Last Splash". But I'm over the lack of "Divine Hammer", and now I wish "Last Splash" had more of "Pod"s sneer. For many years, I only knew the live version from the "No Alternative" compilation, which is also fantastic.
  4. Benny Goodman Trio - Rose Room. A perfectly pleasant bit of softly-swingin' clarinet jazz. For about three bars towards the end, the piano player plays with something approaching urgency, and then it's over.
  5. Hector - Drag.

    This is one of my post-college bands. Love the song. I always liked playing this one. For some reason, I came up with a fairly busy part for myself. Maybe a little too busy. I might be stepping on the vocals a bit. Plus, I'm about as sloppy as could be. Though that was acceptable, back in 94, for a bunch of Pavement fans, it's a little embarrassing today.

Show us your random five!

Start your iPods

Random. 12!

  1. miles Davis - mr pastorius
  2. stones - jiving sister fanny
  3. John mayall - what'd I say
  4. the cure - the funeral party (live)
  5. spoon - the actualization of written in reverse
  6. Neko case - the tornado loves you
  7. the Antlers - prologue
  8. Acdc the jack (live)
  9. marah - Jesus in the temple
  10. vampire weekend - cape cod kwasa kwasa
  11. Robyn Hitchcock - sounds great when you're dead
  12. wilco - company in my back

!
You?

Start Your iPods

Random Six!

Link the one you think needs hearing.

  1. Janelle Monae - Suite III Overture
  2. Graham Coxon - Ooh, Yeh Yeh
  3. Nora - Needle.
  4. John Mayall - Hideaway
  5. REM - Stumble
  6. Throwing Muses - America

Participate?

Start Your iPods

This week, you're shuffling through a shopping mall, trying to find presents for people. All the stores are playing their own music - luckily, Christmas music is not mandatory at this mall. As you walk past each store, you hear a different song, and the song somehow fits the store.

Shuffle-up five songs: describe the stores.

  1. Death Cab For Cutie - We Looked Like Giants. This is coming from a trendy clothing store for high school kids. Most of the merchandise is t-shirts styled to look like they were possibly made in 1980: lots of goth and metal, horror movie stuff. It's retro, but updated just enough to be cool to kids who would be embarrassed to actually wear their parents' clothes.
  2. New Pornographers - Broken Breads. It's a GAP. Jeans, shirts, dresses for your whole family - if your whole family wants to dress like a 22 year old.
  3. Buddy Guy - It's A Jungle Out There. It's a Memphis-style BBQ restaurant, blues themed - "B.B. Q's" or some such. Lots of framed LPs on the walls, neon signs, pictures of happy pigs. Red vinyl booths. Smells good, but it's a little too loud.
  4. West Montgomery - West Coast Blues. A book store. They play classic jazz, for that sophisticated vibe. But they pick tunes that are just a little bit jumpy and fast-paced, played a bit too loudly, so as to discourage people from wanting to sit down and read. 'Buy it or leave', is their subliminal message.
  5. Cowboy Junkies - I Saw Your Shoes. The fastest song the Junkies ever played is coming from the back of a used sporting goods store. The store is actually a money laundering front, so the clerks getting high in the back room don't much care if the customers like the squealing rowdy song or not.

What's in your mall?

Start Your iPods

Five, describe!

  1. Vetiver - Down From Above. A sleepy folk drone, from Vetiver? No way! A nice enough way to start the day, though.
  2. Janelle Monae - Faster. A sparkly thing. Sounds like Culture Club or Katrina & The Waves - very 80s. She's a great performer (check out that video), I want to like her music better. Working on it.
  3. Hank Williams - So Lonesome I Could Cry. I've heard so many versions of this that really wallow in the lyrics' sentiment that this one, with its springy beat, fiddle, and general down-home feel, just feels light. Not bad, just light.
  4. Wilco - At Least That's What You Said (live). Starts out slow, progresses into a screechy, noisy, guitar jam. You know: Wilco.
  5. Tortoise - Tin Cans & Twine. That tight snare, the snappy bass, the spacey electronics, the super-clean sharp sound: A perfect Tortoise song.

You?

Start Your iPods

Five, describe!

  1. Smaller Animals - the first decision. Me again. When I was making this tape, I was messing around with drop-D tuning, and found a riff that I liked. I liked it so much I ended up writing three different tunes based on it. This is the first of them.

  2. Replacements - Mr Whirly. A crazy little blend of "The Twist" and "Oh! Darling".
  3. Polvo - Titan Up. This one's not on YouTube, so, this link is to a different tune, also from the "This Eclipse" EP. It's classic grindy, twisty Polvo.
  4. Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick. On the other side of the noise rock niche, avoiding all of the pretty stuff that Polvo incorporated: The Jesus Lizard. I can appreciate them, but I'm not liable to sit down and listen to a whole album's worth of them. A little goes a long way.
  5. Buddy & Julie Miller - Holding Up The Sky. A pretty tune. He's a Nashville session pro and she's a prolific singer/songwriter. Mrs and I learned this once, played it twice, and forgot about it.

What you got?

Start Your iPods

  1. Miles Davis - Boplicity
  2. T-Rex - 20th Century Boy
  3. Lightnin' Hopkins - Have You Ever Loved A Woman
  4. Bill Monroe - I Saw The Light
  5. Van Halen - Pretty Woman
  6. Radiohead - Pyramid Song
  7. Robyn Hitchcock- Linctus House
  8. The Pogues - Planxty Noel Hill
  9. Sonic Youth - Hey Joni
  10. Vladimir Ashkenazy - Chopin Nocturne #7 in C#m. (no link to Ashkenazy, so here's an 8-year old girl)

"Hey Joni" is my favorite of this bunch. It might be my favorite of all Lee Ranaldo's SY songs. Maybe. Definitely top 3.