Random five, described!
- Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Phantasies. I didn't care for this record at the time, but it's grown on me over the years. It was hard to let him do anything outside of Pavement.
- Nick Drake - Hazy Jane II. From whence sprung Belle & Sebastian. That's Richard Thompson on lead guitar.
- Harlem - Scare You. A snappy Flamin Groovies-style rocker.
- Paul Simon - Kodachrome. Crazy catchy song, despite the questionable chorus.
- Blue Sky Boys - Dust On The Bible. A cautionary tale about letting your Bible go unread. One of many maudlin Jesus-centered songs from these guys.
Oh yeah.
J.S. Bach – Cello Suite #5 in C Minor, I. Prelude (Lynn Harrell [link is Rostropovich])
There is no other instrument I would rather hear played solo, and no more essential vehicle for it than Bach’s suites. Lynn Harrell is a great player with a really resonant tone and who never goes too fast.
Lila Downs – La Sandunga
Title song from her first album. The instrumental arrangement is sparce but pretty pleasant and traditional-sounding, better after the guitar enters. Her vocals sound a littel unrefined as if she is still finding her voice.
Vivaldi – Concerto in D Minor for Lute RV 93, I. Allegro (Eliot Fisk)
A delightful, breezy movement, prelude to a famous, haunting Largo.
Florence + The Machine – Dog Days are Over
I love this one, unironically, overplay be damned. I love the way the guitar is mixed between speakers, and the overwhelming drums sweep me away. This one and the punk-like “Kiss with a Fist” were the reason I bought both albums, and frankly none of the other songs quite live up to the promise of those two tracks. (Not to put it too strongly, though — I really enjoy the entirety of Lungs, and Ceremonials is listenable if overwrought.) Anyway, I still turn up the volume for this one, and it’s kind of a nice follow to the mellow of the previous three in this shuffle.
Frank Zappa – Florentine Pogen
This is what I consider Zappa at his best: just standard-rock-sounding enough to be accessible, but scattered with musical surprises, bits of virtuosity, peculiar instrumentation, and nonsense lyrics. (Arf arf arf.)
I really really need to re-populate my iPod. 1,894 songs just isn’t that many; too many of the same faces keep popping up in shuffle.
Rostropovich – and here am i with my arthritic thumb… at only 41
I’m doing a shuffle of everything I have in my main digital collection, 73,000+ songs.
1. The Doors – Light My Fire
What is there to say about this? The Doors have never been my favorite “classic” rock band but they are ok. I like the organ workout in the middle of this song.
2. Days of Fate – Homemade Cake of the Day
I couldn’t find this song on Youtube (go figure…) but this song by these guys who I do not know approximates what it sounds like. This was a random track on a synthpop sampler I got from an online forum. Fairly boring Depeche Mode/Erasure imitators.
3. Dave Matthews Band – Stay (Wasting Time)
I quite like Dave Matthews Band, live particularly. Half of my love for them is in the drummer who just kicks all kinds of butt. This is not the best song though. Interesting to note that in Europe DMB is virtually unknown.
4. Unsane – Get Away
Early track from the noise-rock group. As always, pretty brutal and nasty. Kind of reminds me of early Swans but at lightning speed in comparison.
5. Bloc Party – Helicopter
Really like this song. Frenetic and somehow very British, but I am not even sure why. Just can’t see an American band sounding like this.
That was…all over the place.