You’ll Never See Jesus Doing This (January, 2005)

 

As I said before, there aren’t many changes, story-wise, from here on out. For me, January of 2005 wasn’t overly different from January of 2004.

I apologize for this anti-climactic turn of events.

This mix (and the previous one) appears on my blog here.

U2 – Vertigo Sahara Hotnights – Hot Night Crash All-American Rejects – Swing Swing Jonathan Rundman – Smart Girls The Mountain Goats – Letter From Belgium The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done Elliot Smith – Memory Lane Audio Ninja – Fault Jimmy Eat World – Jenny Dressy Bessy – Just Once More The Secret Machines – Nowhere Again Nellie McKay – David Snow Patrol – Spitting Games Goldenboy – Sing Another Song For The Winterlong Zero 7 – In The Waiting Line Sleeping Flies – Feel Like Movin’ On John Vanderslice – Up Above The Sea Rogue Wave – Kicking The Heart Out Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

The Trash Can Sinatras – Welcome Back Fountains Of Wayne – Mexican Wine The Elected – Don’t Get Your Hopes Up The Von Bondies – Cmon Cmon Paul Oakenfold – Ready Steady Go The Delays – Hey Now Girl Smoosh – Massive Cure The Postal Service – Sleeping In The Jayhawks – Save it for a Rainy Day Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Mona Lisa Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams Cake – Wheels Franz Ferdinand – The Dark Of The Matinée Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Apples & Oranges They Might Be Giants – Experimental Film Flunk – Blind My Mind Olympic Hopefuls – Holiday The Raveonettes – Remember The Arcade Fire – Wake Up Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow

There’s a LOT of KEXP stuff here. More importantly, there’s some stuff here that went on to become some of my favorite music of the decade.

• U2 – Vertigo

Yes, yes, I’m a sucker for some of U2′s more egregious pop.

• Sahara Hotnights – Hot Night Crash

I don’t think I heard of this band from KEXP. I started following music blogs at this point and it’s possible I heard about them from one of those.

• All-American Rejects – Swing Swing

Heard on the radio, downloaded. I don’t much like this song anymore.

• Jonathan Rundman – Smart Girls

We were getting Paste magazine at this point, but I had grown tired of its singer-songwriter-folk-rock angle. This song, though, from one of their sampler CDs, amused me.

• The Mountain Goats – Letter From Belgium

Another KEXP band that eventually became a favorite. This album, We Shall All Be Healed, is one of my favorites.

• The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done

I like this song a lot, but nothing else of theirs has done a damn thing for me.

• Elliot Smith – Memory Lane

I really don’t have much patience for the Tweemo of Elliot Smith and his ilk, but I like this song well enough.

• Audio Ninja – Fault

Remember my friend Dan? This is his band! He wrote this and is singing it! At the time they were called Audio Ninja, but they later became Social X-Ray. I’m not just including this because he’s a pal; I really dig the song.

• Jimmy Eat World – Jenny

As much as I love Bleed American (and, to a lesser extent, Clarity), their follow-ups just lost me. This is actually an earlier song, I think.

• Dressy Bessy – Just Once More
• Snow Patrol – Spitting Games
• Fountains Of Wayne – Mexican Wine
• The Postal Service – Sleeping In
• They Might Be Giants – Experimental Film
• The Raveonettes – Remember

Nothing much to say about these. They’re followups from previous albums or bands.

• The Secret Machines – Nowhere Again

I know I heard this song on a music blog and loved it. I sampled a few other songs of theirs and this was the only one I really liked. Eventually I would just grab songs and not worry about if there were any others by that band I liked.

• Nellie McKay – David

Nellie McKay’s debut double album would have made a great single album. There’s a lot of clever stuff on it, but a lot of it is not nearly as clever as it seems to think. I don’t think either of us was much blown away by the follow-up, another double album.

• Goldenboy – Sing Another Song For The Winterlong

Dan introduced us to these guys, and we ended up seeing them perform in Northampton. The album this is from, Underneath the Radio is pretty good, if you like this tune.

• Zero 7 – In The Waiting Line

Another one from the Garden State soundtrack.

• Sleeping Flies – Feel Like Movin’ On
• Rogue Wave – Kicking The Heart Out
• The Elected – Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
• The Von Bondies – Cmon Cmon
• The Delays – Hey Now Girl
• The Jayhawks – Save it for a Rainy Day
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Mona Lisa
• Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Apples & Oranges
• Flunk – Blind My Mind
• Olympic Hopefuls – Holiday

These are all KEXP bands.

• John Vanderslice – Up Above The Sea

This WOULD have been just another KEXP band, except for the album he was about to release.

• Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

Becky got hipped to this, and I like a lot of it fine, but most of it is a bit too showtuney to me, meaning that it sounds like songs excerpted from musicals, which I can take some of, but not one after another.

• The Trash Can Sinatras – Welcome Back

I loved the TCS’s Cake album way back when, but hadn’t followed them much since then, having found the followup to be disappointing. This release, Weightlifting, was much praised as a return to form for the band, but once again I was just not blown away.

• Paul Oakenfold – Ready Steady Go

From the Collateral soundtrack, yeah.

• Smoosh – Massive Cure

I had heard about Smoosh somewhere, this crazy band made up from two little girls who rocked the hell out of it. The music did not disappoint.

• Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams

I was just as surprised as anyone when I started hearing that Green Day was a band we were now supposed to take seriously, but damn if I wasn’t impressed by American Idiot.

• Cake – Wheels

Cake finally followed up the amazing Comfort Eagle with Pressure Chief which, perhaps inevitably, was a bit of a disappointment. A lot of the energy seemed to be missing, though the songs aren’t bad.

• Franz Ferdinand – The Dark Of The Matinée

I listened to this song about a dozen times trying to figure out if I liked it or not. I eventually decided I did. The rest of the album wasn’t bad, but wore out its welcome pretty quickly.

• The Arcade Fire – Wake Up

It took me a few listens to really appreciate this album, but once I did, it blew me away. This is possibly my vote for best album of the decade.

• Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow

And here’s Matthew Sweet, still plugging away. The guy may not be as notable as he used to, but he can still put out a fine pop song.

Here’s the story of the title. We were out at karaoke night, looking for a song to sing. We came across a song called something like, “You Can’t Surprise Jesus” and Becky said, “You’ll never see Jesus doing this:” and then made a “surprised” face. We laughed ourselves silly. It’s possible we’d been drinking.

This is another early cover, which explains the no-frills nature of it, but I actually like the front. The back is boring, though.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Maybe You Can Live on the Moon in Next Century (March, 2004)

 

By March, 2004, when this disc was made, we had settled in pretty well in Massachusetts. Becky was busy with her new job, but getting to know her colleagues and become friends with them. For me, who was now working from home, it seemed that making friends would be more difficult, but I was wrong.

I had placed ads up in various game stores and forums looking for a new D&D group. (Actually, I was hoping to play something other than D&D, as I was pretty tired of it by this point.) Soon I got in touch with two people. TJ had an RPG group that I was welcome to join, and Dan was looking for someone to game with, though he was more into boardgames. I ended up becoming fast friends with both of them and other folks through them, and before long I was doing just fine.

Before all this it was just the two of us, however, and we spent a lot of time learning the area, as well as entertaining ourselves with card games and the PS2. It felt a lot like those early days back in Champaign when we were first married.

Speaking of which, we’d also had our tenth anniversary, and the gift we gave ourselves was a trip to London. We’d been out of the country before (twice to Austria to see Becky’s sister) but this was the first time we’d done so completely on our own, and we had a great time.

If it seems like not a lot was going on, remember that we moved here in July, and the next few months were spent settling in. Then the New England winter hit, in which we mostly stayed indoors, cocooned. By the time I made this mix, I’d just started venturing outdoors again.

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

The Polyphonic Spree – Section 9 (Light & Day/Reach for the Sun) The Apples in Stereo – That’s Something I Do Superchic – Big Star Machine The Raveonettes – That Great Love Sound Blue Man Group + Tracey Bonham – Up to the Roof Nada Surf – The Way You Wear Your Head R.E.M. – Bad Day Wilco – Box Full of Letters No Doubt – It’s My Life Weezer – Photograph Tatu – All the Things She Said Rooney – Blueside Grandaddy – El Caminos In The West Erin McKeown – An Innocent Fiction Fountains Of Wayne – All Kinds Of Time

Dressy Bessy – Georgie Blue Phantom Planet – Hey Now Girl The Minders – Right as Rain Foo Fighters – Times Like These Jimmy Eat World – A Praise Chorus The New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Stop Smile Empty Soul – This is War Thievery Corporation – The Mirror Conspiracy Air – Surfing On A Rocket Prince of Persia – Time Only Knows Hooverphonic – Renaissance Affair They Might Be Giants – Bed Bed Bed

Working from home, I didn’t get much opportunity to hear new stuff through the radio or other people, so I turned to the Internet instead, finding out about new bands by reading about them online.

• The Polyphonic Spree – Section 9 (Light & Day/Reach for the Sun)

This isn’t the first song I tracked down because I heard it in a Volkswagen commercial.

• The Apples in Stereo – That’s Something I Do
• Weezer – Photograph
• Rooney – Blueside
• Dressy Bessy – Georgie Blue
• The Minders – Right as Rain
• Foo Fighters – Times Like These
• Jimmy Eat World – A Praise Chorus
• Hooverphonic – Renaissance Affair

Less album mining than last time. At this point I was starting to focus more on songs than albums, and it’s only going to get more pronounced as we go on.

• Superchic – Big Star Machine

I think John first played this for me. I remember some debate about whether or not the band’s name has a “k” on it.

• The Raveonettes – That Great Love Sound
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Stop

Two bands showed up suddenly, both sounding a lot like the Jesus and Mary Chain. (That’s okay, the JAMC wasn’t using that sound anymore anyway.) Naturally, I was interested. The Raveonettes were a touch more interesting than the BRMC, since they were also hitting a sort of Phil Spector sound.

• Blue Man Group + Tracey Bonham – Up to the Roof
• Smile Empty Soul – This is War

Shasradio tunes are still drifting in here, even though the site itself was defunct by this point.

• Nada Surf – The Way You Wear Your Head

Remember Nada Surf and “Popular”? Most people had written them off as one hit wonders by this point, but Dan pointed us towards their album Let Go, which is really, really good and got a lot of play from us. I recommend it.

• R.E.M. – Bad Day

This is, to date, the last R.E.M. song to make it on to one of my mixes, and it’s pretty much an obvious b-side remake of “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”. I think it was on one of the many greatest hits compilations, but it’s neither particularly great nor a hit. Around the Sun would be released later in the year and would pretty much indicate that I was utterly done with R.E.M. Considering what was going on politically in the country at the time, to hear a band that had previously so proudly worn its lefty heart on its sleeve bleating out direct-to-adult-contemporary fluff was absurd.

• Wilco – Box Full of Letters

After being wowed by Yankee Hotel Foxtrot we visited the earlier Wilco catalog. It’s not bad, but this is not a band I would have otherwise fallen for, as I was kind of done with this kind of stuff by now.

• No Doubt – It’s My Life

Oh god, I am so…so…sorry.

• Tatu – All the Things She Said

But I’m NOT apologizing for this! (Actually, it was just included as a joke for Dan, but I don’t remember the details of the joke.)

• Grandaddy – El Caminos In The West

Not sure where I first heard of these guys, but I really fell for Sumday hard.

• Erin McKeown – An Innocent Fiction

Erin’s a local gal, and we saw her play at Pearl Street up in Northampton. This is from her album Grand, which I really recommend, even if it doesn’t include her cover of “Rhode Island is Famous for You” by Blossom Dearie. If you have a chance to see Erin play, do so. You won’t be disappointed.

• Fountains Of Wayne – All Kinds Of Time

I could not care less about sports in general or football in particular but this song is absolutely amazing, perfectly capturing a single golden moment of satori.

• Phantom Planet – Hey Now Girl

I’m a big Wes Anderson movie fan, and loved Rushmore, so there was no question I’d check out that band that Jason Schwartzman is in. I wasn’t wowed, but I dig this song.

• The New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed

I tried to stick with Neko Case through her transition from bluegrass to chanteuse but nothing really grabbed me. On the way, though, I found her stuff with the New Pornographers and came to really like Electric Version.

• Thievery Corporation – The Mirror Conspiracy

Pretty sure this came from the same message board thread where I got The Minders (the album this is from came out in 2000). We discovered a great used CD store in Northampton (Turn It Up) and bought The Mirror Conspiracy there, and I totally dig it.

• Air – Surfing On A Rocket

This one confuses me because I associate it with something that I’ll talk about more on the next mix. If I didn’t get it from there, then I’m not sure where I got it.

• Prince of Persia – Time Only Knows

Yeah, I played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on the PS2 and yeah, I liked the end credits song and yeah I found it online and yeah I put it on a mix CD. Your point?

• They Might Be Giants – Bed Bed Bed

TMBG finally cut out the middleman and went straight to kids for this album. In some ways it’s more interesting than their “adult” music at the time.

A fortune I got from a fortune cookie:

Note that I got this in the year 2004. So the plan is:
Step One: Make it to next century.
Step Two: Live on the moon! (maybe)

The cover art is some pixel art I found online.

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.)