Plus Ultra (March, 2009)

 

And here we are at the final (for now) entry. It’s been twenty-five years since the beginning of this story. I started out at age 17, in high school, living in the suburbs of New Orleans, barely having started dating. I’m now 41, gainfully employed in the same job for the past nine years, living in Massachusetts, happily married for 16 years. It’s been a long trip, though not a particularly strange one. The music I grew up with is now considered to be “oldies”, if it’s considered at all. I’ve watched bands I once adored fizzle into irrelevance.

I haven’t changed as much as the world around me has. Having become an adult during the rise of the Internet is something incredible. Though I am in actual contact with few to none of the people who were so close to me when I was young, things like Facebook and blogs and such have allowed me to remain tangential to them.

As I’ve grown older music has played less of a role in my life. I buy very few albums these days, content with hearing just a song or two from them. There are almost no bands I’d be willing to pay to see live these days. I don’t form the same kinds of attachments to music anymore. It happens.

I still have a TON of CDs from my heyday, though I’d happily get rid of most of them (I have them all backed up on hard drives.) Since I work from home, I’m by my computer most of the time and have all my music there, though admittedly, I seldom turn it on. When I’m in the car I more often listen to nothing than the radio or CDs. Even KEXP doesn’t get much listening from me these days. I keep a toe in the pool, but not much more than that. Quite honestly, I kind of got overwhelmed with choice not long ago and never fully recovered.

As is evidenced by the last few chapters, my life has settled down, and I am happy and comfortable with it. My job is such that I am done at 5:00 p.m. and don’t think about it until 8:30 the next morning, allowing me plenty of the most precious commodity on Earth, time, that I am free to spend with my wife, my friends, and my self.

I was hung up on my past for a long time — too long. The years I spent after college trying to figure out what I was supposed to do made me long for the days when I didn’t have to figure that out; things just happened to me. These days I look back on my youth with just a little bit of eye-rolling. I don’t cherish it uncritically, nor do I view it with disdain. It happened, it is who I was and what I did, and ultimately it all worked out. I wouldn’t go back to it for any price, not because it was any particular misery for me, but just because I’m not sure I’d want to be as clueless as I was again.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. It’s quite possible that I’ll be making more mixes in the future (perhaps one even fairly soon) and if I do I’ll be sure to update here.

You can always find me at my regular blog. Speaking of which, here’s the post where I started thinking about this mix:

Mix Madness

and here is the post announcing it:

Plus Ultra

Freezepop – Less Talk More Rokk Alphabeat – Fantastic 6 The Octopus Project – Truck Home Blitz – Hey! Be Your Own Pet – Becky Art Brut – Emily Kane The Magic Numbers – Love Me Like You Kaiser Chiefs – You Can Have it All The Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running John Vanderslice – Time to Go Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries The Black Angels – Doves Liars – Freak Out The Magnetic Fields – California Girls Gang Of Four – What We All Want Social X-Ray – Earthshake The Minders – 357 Helms – Satin Rules Flobots – Handlebars

Panda Bear – Bros (edit) They Might Be Giants – Seven Days Of The Week (I Never Go To Work) The Ting Tings – That’s Not my Name The Go! Team – The Wrath Of Marcie Triggers – Change It Up Fountains Of Wayne – Yolanda Hayes The Airborne Toxic Event – Does This Mean You’re Moving On Baltic Fleet – Black Lounge The Fiery Furnaces – The Old Hag Is Sleeping Cake – War Pigs Peter, Bjorn and John – Young Folks (featuring Victoria Bergsman) Camera Obscura – I Don’t Do Crowds Suzanne Vega – New York Is A Woman Beck – Think I’m In Love The Mountain Goats – Sax Rohmer #1 Yo La Tengo – Beanbag Chair Shriekback – God’s Gardenias Great Lake Swimmers – Put There by the Land The Decemberists – Sons And Daughters

Two years have passed since the previous mix, and once again the passage of time makes for better choices than if I had just banged another one out right away. Even the returning bands are mostly from new albums.

• Freezepop – Less Talk More Rokk

Here’s a new avenue for me to hear new-ish music. We started playing the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games which, in addition to having a lot of our old favorite songs on them, turned us on to new stuff. I had heard Freezepop before, but fell in love with this track.

• Alphabeat – Fantastic 6

No clue where I heard these folks.

• The Octopus Project – Truck
• Home Blitz – Hey!
• Great Lake Swimmers – Put There by the Land

I believe I first heard these bands on mp3 blogs. I bought the Octopus Project’s CD, which I like a lot, and I’d like to hear more of Home Blitz. I utterly love the “gum interlude” in this one.

• Be Your Own Pet – Becky
• Art Brut – Emily Kane
• Kaiser Chiefs – You Can Have it All
• Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries
• Peter, Bjorn and John – Young Folks (featuring Victoria Bergsman)
• Camera Obscura – I Don’t Do Crowds

Much fewer KEXP tunes on this one, as I wasn’t listening to it as much. I’m not sure why that is.

• The Magic Numbers – Love Me Like You

This is kind of a goofy song, but I kinda dig it.

• The Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running
• John Vanderslice – Time to Go
• Liars – Freak Out
• The Minders – 357
• They Might Be Giants – Seven Days Of The Week (I Never Go To Work)
• The Go! Team – The Wrath Of Marcie
• Fountains Of Wayne – Yolanda Hayes
• Cake – War Pigs
• Suzanne Vega – New York Is A Woman
• Beck – Think I’m In Love
• The Mountain Goats – Sax Rohmer #1
• Yo La Tengo – Beanbag Chair
• Shriekback – God’s Gardenias
• The Decemberists – Sons And Daughters

Quite a lot of returning bands here. Shriekback actually had another album out during this time, but it…oh, it’s not good. That’s new Mountain Goats, Liars, John Vanderslice and more. The Cake cover is okay, but I really could go for some new music from them.

• The Black Angels – Doves

A band James turned me on to.

• The Magnetic Fields – California Girls

I liked previous stuff from the Magnetic Fields, but it never made it onto a mix before. This sounds a lot like the Jesus and Mary Chain, as does the Liars tune. The funny thing is, the JAMC did have a new song out that was considered for this mix, but I didn’t like it as much as either of these.

• Gang Of Four – What We All Want

I don’t know how I never got into Gang of Four before, especially with Shriekback’s Dave Allen on bass. This song is great, and puts to shame all the bands who were trying to ape this sound at this time.

• Social X-Ray – Earthshake
• Triggers – Change It Up

Social X-Ray is my friend Dan’s band, which was playing live gigs at this time that we were going and seeing. At one of those shows there was also this band Triggers. I liked their sound a lot and bought the CD from them.

• Helms – Satin Rules

Heard these guys on an mp3 blog and fell for them hard, buying the album right away. It’s a great moody listen.

• Flobots – Handlebars

One of the rare times I was listening to the radio this song came on. It reminded me a lot of Cake, though I was pretty sure it wasn’t them — more like Cake, Jr. I love the buildup in it and the boasts (“Me and my friends saw a platypus!”)

• Panda Bear – Bros (edit)

Person Pitch is difficult to describe. It’s a breathtaking album from start to finish.

• The Ting Tings – That’s Not my Name

Goddamn I love this song.

• The Airborne Toxic Event – Does This Mean You’re Moving On

Becky heard these guys somewhere — KEXP? — and bought the CD. This song is exactly the kind of jaunty thing I go for.

• Baltic Fleet – Black Lounge

Another band that Andrew introduced me to.

• The Fiery Furnaces – The Old Hag Is Sleeping

I heard about this album on NPR. The whole thing is…well, it’s pretty intense, as you can imagine from this tune.

In 2008, to celebrate our 15th anniversary, Becky and I took a trip to Spain. “Plus Ultra” (“Further beyond”) was everywhere, and it stuck with us. It was especially apropos after nearly two years had passed since the previous mix.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

This Could Be a Little More Sonic (August, 2005)

 

No new developments again, but by this time my blog was in full swing. Here’s a post on it in which I’m trying to decide which songs to include:

Compilation Demonstration

and here is the post announcing it:

This Could Be a Little More Sonic!

Doctor Who – Ninth Doctor Theme The Go! Team – The Power Is On OK Go – What to Do And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Worlds Apart Beck – Girl Snow Patrol – Wow M.I.A. – 10 Dollar Kasabian – Processed Beats Phofo – I Love Meatballs Her Space Holiday – Something To Do With My Hands Joy Zipper – Baby You Should Know Echoboy – Comfort Of The Hum Brazilian Girls – Don’t Stop Stereo Total – J’aime l’Amour à Trois The Guild League – Animals Fountains Of Wayne – Supercollider Rilo Kiley – The Execution Of All Things Matthew Sweet – Push the Feelings The Metric Mile – How to Beat the SAT Nada Surf – Killian’s Red

Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out Interpol – Evil The Arcade Fire – Wake Up Ben Folds – There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You Of Montreal – Requiem For O.M.M.2 Graham Coxon – Bittersweet Bundle of Misery RJD2 – Ghostwriter Earlimart – 1st Instant/Last Report Splashdown – Mayan Pilot The Chemical Brothers – Marvo Ging The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist The Mountain Goats – The Young Thousands Built To Spill – You Were Right Weezer – Perfect Situation The Postal Service – Such Great Heights Vienna Teng – The Tower Cake – Palm of Your Hand Rogue Wave – Endgame

• Doctor Who – Ninth Doctor Theme

In 2005 one of my favorite shows, Doctor Who, made its return to TV after being off the air for years. I was wary of this new show, but it turned out to be fantastic, and the new version of the theme was just triumphant, so naturally I gave it the first spot on the mix.

• The Go! Team – The Power Is On

The Go! Team’s album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is in a class by itself. I’ve described it before as a 70s kung-fu movie soundtrack performed by the pep squad. This song encapsulates the album, but the whole thing is wonderful.

• OK Go – What to Do

This is a band that seemed pretty run-of-the-mill at first, but damned if they haven’t become a mighty pop juggernaut!

• And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Worlds Apart
• Kasabian – Processed Beats
• Joy Zipper – Baby You Should Know
• Echoboy – Comfort Of The Hum
• The Guild League – Animals
• The Metric Mile – How to Beat the SAT
• Of Montreal – Requiem For O.M.M.2
• Graham Coxon – Bittersweet Bundle of Misery
• RJD2 – Ghostwriter
• Earlimart – 1st Instant/Last Report
• The Chemical Brothers – Marvo Ging
• Built To Spill – You Were Right
• Rogue Wave – Endgame

KEXP stuff, all of it. RJD2 and Of Montreal we ended up buying CDs of. Graham Coxon was with Blur, a band I should have been listening to instead of all that crap in the 90s.

• Beck – Girl

Beck can always be counted on to put out some solid music. He’s an immense talent.

• Snow Patrol – Wow
• Fountains Of Wayne – Supercollider
• Matthew Sweet – Push the Feelings
• Nada Surf – Killian’s Red
• Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
• The Mountain Goats – The Young Thousands
• Weezer – Perfect Situation
• The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
• Cake – Palm of Your Hand

Just some follow-ups here. It’s worth pointing out that for both Snow Patrol and The Postal Service were on, I believe, track three from those albums and both are still really good. And the Nada Surf song is amazing.

• M.I.A. – 10 Dollar

I believe this may also be from KEXP, and this is a long I listened to over and over and over. Among my friends I can still ask what I can get for ten dolla and find out the answer is “anyting you wan”.

• Phofo – I Love Meatballs

Not sure where I heard about Phofo…possibly from a music blog? But how could I say no when he personally asked to have this song included on the mix.

• Her Space Holiday – Something To Do With My Hands

This reminds me. I have been meaning to buy this album for some time.

• Brazilian Girls – Don’t Stop
• Stereo Total – J’aime l’Amour à Trois

This is the sexy exotic portion of our program! C’est communist!

• Rilo Kiley – The Execution Of All Things

I like some of Rilo Kiley okay, like this song and a few others, but in general, neither the band nor Jenny Lewis by herself does a whole lot for me.

• Interpol – Evil

The problem with Interpol and their pals, Franz Ferdinand, is that I bought Entertainment! by Gang of Four around this time. Why drink Budweiser if you have Guinness available?

• The Arcade Fire – Wake Up

You’re not wrong. This song was included on the last mix. I’m not sure how this happened, but hey, it’s a pretty incredible song.

• Ben Folds – There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You

I’d gotten tired of Ben Folds by this point, but I couldn’t resist a song with lyrics like, “they’re into something that is to big to be expressed through their clothes.”

• Splashdown – Mayan Pilot

My friend Anna dug these folks and turned me onto them.

• The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist

There is nothing not to like about this song!

• Vienna Teng – The Tower

My friend TJ introduced me to her, and this song really grabbed me for some reason.

The title is a quote from the new Doctor Who series, where the Doctor explains to Jack Harkness that he has a sonic screwdriver. Jack replies, “Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ‘This could be a little more sonic!’?” It was perfect for the title. The back cover is meant to evoke chalk on blue-painted wood — i.e., the TARDIS.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

My Ninja Shoots Him in the Head 37 Times (July, 2003)

 

Gradually the people we knew from the U of I, who were all grad students, found jobs and went elsewhere. We remained one of the few original couples to be around, but that was changing. Becky had completed her dissertation and been on the job market now, and in early 2003 she was looking into offers from schools. It was clear that we were going to be moving, the only question was: where to? For a moment it looked like we would be going to Yankton, South Dakota, but then a college in Springfield, Massachusetts, made an offer and she accepted it. We were going to New England.

By this time Chris and Christine had left for South Carolina themselves, and I was mostly hanging with Dave, as well as two guys I met through him, Rob and Brian. I was running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign for them, and this news meant I would have to wrap it up. I was going to miss them, especially Dave who I’d gotten to be good friends with.

For my job, my boss agreed that I could stay on and work remotely, at least temporarily. This saved me the pressure of having to find a job immediately, so that was a relief. Nobody was really sure if working from home was going to be good for me; but it was only going to be for a short period.

We went to Springfield and did some house-hunting and stumbled into a really nice one purely by accident. We made an offer, it was accepted, and at the beginning of July we packed up all our things, bid farewell to Champaign-Urbana, and headed for Massachusetts.

(Incidentally, I had asked on a message board about Springfield and was told that I wasn’t really going to be living in Massachusetts, as I was in the Western part of the state. I was already used to this kind of foolishness, having spent the previous ten years living in the worthless part of Illinois that wasn’t Chicago.)

Becky sort of knew her colleagues, and it turned out that one couple we knew from Illinois was actually living nearby, but it was still a bit scary. Once again we were headed into the great unknown.

(This mix is posted about on my blog here.)

The Apples in Stereo – Go Fountains Of Wayne – Bright Future In Sales Dynamite Hack – Anyway Sun Sawed in Half – The Beholder and his Eye Foo Fighters – All My Life The Strokes – Someday Cracker – Shine Cake – Shadow Stabbing April March – Chick Habit Hooverphonic – Battersea Jimmy Eat World – The Authority Song Ryan Adams – New York, New York The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash – 440 Horses Chris Cornell – Can’t Change Me The Thorns – Runaway Feeling

Soul Coughing – Screenwriter’s Blues The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army Rooney – If It Were Up To Me Weezer – Keep Fishin’ They Might Be Giants – Yeh Yeh The Minders – Yeah Yeah Yeah Sum 41 – In Too Deep Dressy Bessy – If You Should Try To Kiss Her Suzanne Vega – Last Year’s Troubles Wilco – Kamera John Mayer – No Such Thing The Faint – Worked Up So Sexual Rhett Miller – This is What I Do Ben Folds – Annie Waits Beck – Lost Cause

After finally getting my groove back I sort of do a little backsliding here, once again including some top 40 schmaltz. The big influence is still Shasradio, though this is about the time it had to shut down.

• The Apples in Stereo – Go
• The Minders – Yeah Yeah Yeah
• Dressy Bessy – If You Should Try To Kiss Her

My newfound love of The Minders led me into the oddball world of the Elephant 6 music collective, of which they were a tangential part. This brought me to Apples in Stereo and Dressy Bessy (and eventually elsewhere). This seemed to be a group that was just putting out fun, catchy, and interesting pop music, and I was glad to find them.

• Fountains Of Wayne – Bright Future In Sales

FoW’s third album, Welcome Interstate Managers may go on for one or two songs too long, but it pretty much cemented their place in my heart. They finally found some mainstream success with “Stacy’s Mom” (which we’ll talk about later) but that song only hinted at the number of characters on the album having difficulty adjusting to “grown-up” life.

• Dynamite Hack – Anyway

I haven’t a clue where I heard about this song.

• Sun Sawed in Half – The Beholder and his Eye
• April March – Chick Habit
• Chris Cornell – Can’t Change Me
• The Faint – Worked Up So Sexual

All of these were popular tunes on Shasradio.

• Foo Fighters – All My Life
• The Strokes – Someday
• Cracker – Shine
• Cake – Shadow Stabbing
• Hooverphonic – Battersea
• Jimmy Eat World – The Authority Song
• Weezer – Keep Fishin’
• They Might Be Giants – Yeh Yeh
• Suzanne Vega – Last Year’s Troubles
• Wilco – Kamera
• Ben Folds – Annie Waits

More album mining here. The Jimmy Eat World song references the Jesus and Mary Chain, which I like.

• Ryan Adams – New York, New York

Ryan Adams was the talk of the indie rock scene for a while and I got hold of one of his CDs. It didn’t blow me away, and to be honest, I’m not sure why I even included this song here, because god knows we sure don’t need yet another song that’s a love letter to New York City.

• The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash – 440 Horses

I don’t know if this came from Shasradio or not. It could have come from “Paste” magazine, which we had started to get, and which featured indie rock of a folk/country/singer-songwriter bent.

• The Thorns – Runaway Feeling

In lieu of a new album, Matthew Sweet teamed up with Shawn Mullins and Pete Droge and put out an album of, well, kinda treacly Crosby, Stills, and Nash stuff.

• Soul Coughing – Screenwriter’s Blues

We finally got Soul Coughing’s first CD, Ruby Vroom, and this song just kicked my ass.

• The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

And speaking of ass-kicking songs. Honestly, the White Stripes don’t really do it for me, but I love this song.

• Rooney – If It Were Up To Me

Becky heard these guys somewhere and we got the CD. I liked some of it, but most of it just kind of flew past me.

• Sum 41 – In Too Deep

Okay, I have absolutely no idea where this came from. I don’t dislike it — it’s the kind of power-punk stuff I actually enjoy — but I don’t know where the hell I heard it, why I downloaded it, or how it made it here.

• John Mayer – No Such Thing

Yes, yes, I know. And I’m not going to deny this one — I liked the song, I added it by conscious choice. I had no idea at the time how overplayed it would be and how irritating this guy would be.

• Rhett Miller – This is What I Do

Remember Kelley, who I dated before Becky? She was big into the Dallas music scene and knew Rhett Miller. I had, somewhere, a tape of his early solo stuff, as well as the band that would eventually become the Old 97s, thanks to her. I hadn’t paid much attention to him or them (other than my co-worker John playing an Old 97′s CD and — every time — me asking, “Who is this?”) but I heard an interview with him on NPR and they played this song and that’s how it came to be here.

• Beck – Lost Cause

Beck’s Sea Change is a magnificent album. It details the dissolution of a relationship in stark, simplistic detail, and this song distills the entire thing down to one track.

Rob, one of the guys I was gaming with, claimed that he was in a game store one day where a role-playing session was taking place, and that one of the players announced this action. I think it’s one of the greatest phrases ever. For the cover, I used one of my own Lego ninjas, outfitting him with a pistol from some action figure. And on the back, the scene of the crime.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Planet of Sound (1998-2000, part two)

 

This is the second of three mixes pretending to have been made between 1997 and 2001. This one is a sort of tribute to the Planet, but I’ll get to that aspect of it later.

My new goal of becoming a high school math teacher took me to Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal. (For those keeping score, this is the fifth college I’ve attended.) This was an hour drive away, which I was making near-daily there and back. I did meet a guy named Scott who I carpooled with, but still this commute was taxing.

Academically, I was doing well — perfect, even — and any issues I had were more from being an older, more serious student than my colleagues. It shocked me to see how easy it was to become a bad high school teacher. I was also shocked at the disdain for which supposed professional education professors held the entire subject of Math.

Eventually I began my actual student teaching at Blue Ridge High School in Farmer City, Illinois. The experience was one of the worst of my life. It wasn’t the kids’ fault; they were kids. I was simply not the right person for this task. I was even prepared to go ahead and quit, taking whatever penalty would result, as I hated the job so much, but I ultimately stuck it out.

Meanwhile, all of this was putting stress on things at home. Becky was going through a difficult time with her studies, and my situation made things worse. It was a bit of touch and go for a while there. However, shortly after my student teaching ended I also went on antidepressants, which I had never tried, despite wrestling with depression all my life. It was also at this point that we lost Spud, the Chihuahua I had grown up with who we had taken ownership of from my folks when we got married. He succumbed to organ failure. Not long afterwards we got Beebo who, I am ashamed to admit, I really didn’t get along with at first.

My professors at ISU were happy to let me into the graduate Math program there, but there was just no way we could do it financially. Instead of continuing on that route I worked for a temp agency while I figured out what to do next.

Butthole Surfers – Pepper Manic Street Preachers – La Tristessa Durera (Scream to a Sigh) Econoline Crush – All That You Are Heather Nova – Walk this World Portishead – Sour Times Phish – Down With Disease Duncan Sheik – Barely Breathing The Rentals – Friends of P Dramarama – Work For Food Primitive Radio Gods – Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth… Stabbing Westward – Save Yourself Folk Implosion – Natural One Shawn Colvin – Sunny Came Home Loreena McKennitt – The Mummer’s Dance

The Charlatans – Can’t Get Out of Bed Republica – Ready To Go Magnapop – Slowly, Slowly Love Spit Love – Am I Wrong Big Head Todd and the Monsters – Bittersweet Freedy Johnston – Bad Reputation Donna Lewis – I Love You Always Forever Beck – Loser Prodigy – Firestarter Luscious Jackson – Ladyfingers Rancid – Time Bomb Stereo MCs – Connected Smashing Pumpkins – 1979 Mazzy Star – Fade Into You

I’ve given The Planet, Champaign-Urbana’s “Modern Rock” station, a hard time over the last few entries, a lot of which is well deserved. They really did devolve into the 24/7 Pearl Jam Experience in a short period of time. But in between grunge hits they did occasionally play some different stuff, and I wanted to use this mix to spotlight some of the things first heard there.

• Butthole Surfers – Pepper

I know that I was supposed to love the Surfers before this and hate this song, but I never really felt one way or the other about them. I like this song regardless of who’s doing it.

• Manic Street Preachers – La Tristessa Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

There was another MSP song the Planet played a lot of, but I’m not sure what it was. This is the one I really dug, though, and I have a feeling I’d like more of these guys.

• Econoline Crush – All That You Are

I find it hard to believe that there were that many one-song wonders floating around the airwaves, despite having grown up in the 80s. I suspect there was a single band putting this stuff out under a different name each time.

• Heather Nova – Walk this World

I think she’s singing about S-E-X, folks.

• Portishead – Sour Times

Genuinely creepy song, genuinely creepy video. This is a band I’m surprised I didn’t look more into.

• Phish – Down With Disease

Ha! Yes, Phish! I had no idea at the time that they were this big stupid stoner jam band, I just liked the oddballness of the song, and still do.

• Duncan Sheik – Barely Breathing

It’s true this one got overplayed and is a bit adult contemporary, but something about it appeals to me.

• The Rentals – Friends of P

You couldn’t grow up listening to the Buggles and not like this song!

• Dramarama – Work For Food

I liked Dramarama’s Vinyl album, but never got the follow-up, despite really liking this song off it.

• Primitive Radio Gods – Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth…

Word on the street is that this album was horrible save for this one song.

• Stabbing Westward – Save Yourself

Hahahaha…oh, my goodness.

• Folk Implosion – Natural One

See, this is another song done by that band I was talking about earlier, using a different name.

• Shawn Colvin – Sunny Came Home

I really like the contrast of the dark lyrics here with the whimsical melody. It kind of reminds me of Suzanne Vega.

• Loreena McKennitt – The Mummer’s Dance

I find this song really creepy.

• The Charlatans – Can’t Get Out of Bed

More Charlatans, whose album Some Friendly I enjoyed. Except here they sound more like That Band again, with another name change.

• Republica – Ready To Go

I effin’ love this song.

• Magnapop – Slowly, Slowly

You’re forgiven if you thought for a moment you were listening to Veruca Salt. This came out about the same time as “Seether” and I got them mixed up at first. Just goes to show how two bands can start at the same point and one can go nowhere while the other one gets to the suburbs of nowhere.

• Love Spit Love – Am I Wrong

The next project of Psychedelic Furs’ Richard Butler. In addition to this song, which I really like, their other notable song was the cover of “How Soon is Now” that served as the theme song for that show Charmed.

• Big Head Todd and the Monsters – Bittersweet
• Freedy Johnston – Bad Reputation

These songs both have a strange effect on me, the latter especially. I find them to be very haunting and to feel almost nostalgic, even though I’ve no actual memories associated with either of them. No other Freedy Johnston song I’ve heard has had any affect on me whatsoever, but this one grabs me in a way I just can’t explain.

• Donna Lewis – I Love You Always Forever

I guess I should just chalk this up to a guilty pleasure. It’s saccharine and twee but I just love it for some reason.

• Beck – Loser

Out of all these songs this is the one for which I actually owned (and still own) the album. This song really grabbed me, being so different from everything else, but it wasn’t until Odelay that I really jumped on the Beck train.

• Prodigy – Firestarter

This is the late 90s in a nutshell, right here. The Matrix came out around this time, didn’t it?

• Luscious Jackson – Ladyfingers

Another Luscious Jackson song. I tell you, I really wanted to get into them more than I was able to.

• Rancid – Time Bomb

This and “Ruby Soho” were big hits and I liked both of them just enough, but I got the idea that these two songs were about all the Rancid I needed.

• Stereo MCs – Connected

Oh look, it’s That Band again!

• Smashing Pumpkins – 1979

Yes, it’s the only Pumpkins song to ever make the cut. I like a few songs of their okay, but they were always a band I found more irritating than anything. This song is more subtle than their other stuff and I think that’s why it alone really appeals to me.

• Mazzy Star – Fade Into You

Come on, don’t you want to hear this song for the 447th time?

Not much to say about the title here; it’s pretty obvious. I do think the artwork I did is pretty nifty, no?

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)