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.)

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.)

U R NOT MY APPLE CAKE (July, 2004)

 

This mix came only a few months after the previous one, so not a lot had changed since then. I had now met Mike, who I was playing boardgames with, and had moved away from RPGs to boardgames regularly. I had found a good comics store, one that actually paid attention to books that didn’t feature people in capes, so I was enjoying comics again. Other than those things, everything else was the same.

In fact, although there are a few more mixes to go, the story is essentially over at this part — or, at least, we’ve caught up to just about the present. I’m all grows up, I’m married, live in a house, have a pretty steady job, good friends, interesting hobbies, in good health. I’m pretty much where I wanted to be back when this whole mess started in 1985, though it took the usual twists and turns to get there.

From here out there really isn’t much to say, story-wise. I may make a few comments here and there, but it’s mostly about the music.

Snow Patrol – How To Be Dead Piebald – Karate Chops for Everyone But Me Weezer – Knock-down Drag-out Guster – Amsterdam Elf Power – Embrace the Crimson Tide Owsley – Coming Up Roses Foo Fighters – Generator Maroon 5 – Harder to Breathe Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Love Burns Delirium – Euphoria (Firefly) Hooverphonic – 2Wicky Pendulum – Broadcast Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps Jimmy Eat World – If You Don’t Don’t The New Pornographers – The Electric Version Grandaddy – The Group Who Couldn’t Say Phantom Planet – California Air – Playground Love

Modest Mouse – Float On The Vines – Ride Hot Hot Heat – Oh, Goddamnit Robyn Hitchcock – Viva! Sea-Tac The Apples in Stereo – Please Camera Obscura – Teenager Cake – Ruby Sees All Fountains Of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom The Benjamins – Wonderful Thee Spivies – Holly They Might Be Giants – Damm Good Times Caesar’s Palace – Jerk It Out Jem – Just A Ride Mirah – Cold Cold Water Mellowdrone – Fashionably Uninvited The Shins – New Slang The Minders – Tearaway South – Loosen Your Hold The Postal Service – Brand New Colony Puracane – Big Day The Polyphonic Spree – Section 12 (Hold Me Now)

There are two major developments here. The first is, notice how many songs are on each side. Since Crusade and Jihad I had been making these mixes on CDs, not tapes. CDs caused a problem because, at about 75 minutes, they’re much longer than a tape side but much shorter than two tape sides (remember, I had been using 100-minute tapes.) So do I continue to make each “side” 50 minutes, or do I take advantage of the extra legroom? I had started doing the former, but here I switched to the latter.

The effect is, in retrospect, a case of diminishing returns. Having so many songs on a “side” pretty much diluted the effect of any individual song. Whereas before if a side had only four or five really standout tracks, that was fine, here, they just get swallowed up among the others. (It also didn’t help that increasing the number of songs meant not having to have as high standards, though I’ll admit that some previous tapes bring doubt to the idea that there were standards anyway.) For future mixes, I may go back to a more reasonable amount.

The second major development is KEXP, a Seattle radio station that streams online. I started listening to it on my computer and immediately found about a dozen songs I liked.

• Snow Patrol – How To Be Dead

This was a KEXP song that I absolutely fell in love with and listened to over and over. Probably the first album I bought strictly due to KEXP.

• Piebald – Karate Chops for Everyone But Me
• Weezer – Knock-down Drag-out
• The Benjamins – Wonderful

These songs came from Dan, who had a much more solid grasp on what was going on in music than I did. He was also a huge Weezer fan at the time, so I was hearing a lot more of them than I might have been otherwise.

• Guster – Amsterdam

I don’t think I heard these guys on KEXP first, but it seemed like they were filling the top40-friendly jangle band niche vacated by the Gin Blossoms.

• Elf Power – Embrace the Crimson Tide
• The Apples in Stereo – Please
• The Minders – Tearaway

Elf Power was another Elephant 6 band, and since I liked other bands in the group, such as The Minders and The Apples in Stereo (and Dressy Bessy, taking a break here, I guess) I checked them out. For some reason they didn’t really grab me as much as the others, but I liked this tune.

• Owsley – Coming Up Roses

I had read about Owsley somewhere and the absolutely perfect pop music he was making. I like this song a lot, but none of the others I heard made much of an impression on me.

• Foo Fighters – Generator

At this point, this may be the band on this mix that’s been included the longest, but I’m pretty sure it’s the end of the road for them.

• Maroon 5 – Harder to Breathe

I haven’t the slightest clue where I heard these guys or why I included this. I mean, I don’t dislike it, but I don’t have the foggiest notion where it came from.

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Love Burns
• Hooverphonic – 2Wicky
• Jimmy Eat World – If You Don’t Don’t
• The New Pornographers – The Electric Version
• Grandaddy – The Group Who Couldn’t Say
• Phantom Planet – California
• They Might Be Giants – Damm Good Times
• The Polyphonic Spree – Section 12 (Hold Me Now)

Return performers from previous mixes.

• Delerium – Euphoria (Firefly)

I had had this song as an mp3 for ages and have no idea where I had originally heard it, or why it suddenly shows up here.

• Pendulum – Broadcast
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
• Air – Playground Love
• Modest Mouse – Float On
• The Vines – Ride
• Hot Hot Heat – Oh, Goddamnit
• Robyn Hitchcock – Viva! Sea-Tac
• Camera Obscura – Teenager
• Caesar’s Palace – Jerk It Out
• Mirah – Cold Cold Water
• Mellowdrone – Fashionably Uninvited
• South – Loosen Your Hold
• The Postal Service – Brand New Colony
• Puracane – Big Day

All of these came from KEXP. For many of them I can’t tell you anything about the band or anything else they’ve done; I just heard the songs on KEXP and liked them. In fact, only one of these resulted in an album purchase (The Postal Service), though I’ve been meaning to get a few of the others. Obviously a couple of them (“Maps”, “Float On”) were much more well-known than the others, but for me they all came from the same place and had the same weight.

I mentioned last time my confusion about “Surfing on a Rocket” by Air being on that mix. The album that’s from, Talkie Walkie was THE talk of KEXP when I first started listening, and that’s where I first heard them, yet none of the other KEXP songs were on that mix. A MYSTERY INDEED.

• Cake – Ruby Sees All

While waiting for a new Cake album I decided to go back to their first one, since I had jumped on the Cake album after that.

• Fountains Of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom

The song that would make — and, it looks like, break — Fountains of Wayne. “Stacy’s Mom” got tons of airplay, and had a well-known video, but didn’t really rise above the ranks of “summer novelty hit”. I can’t even argue that it’s nothing like their other songs — it’s not that different from a lot of them — but it clearly didn’t have anything that made anyone want to look further into this incredibly talented band, which is a damn shame. If that isn’t bad enough, I forgot this song on the CD cover I made.

• Thee Spivies – Holly

I’ve known a lot of fellows named Chris in my life, and this song came from Chris G.

• Jem – Just A Ride

Pretty sure she got a fair amount of airplay, and I think Becky got the CD.

• The Shins – New Slang

Though The Shins were also loved by KEXP, I first heard them on the Garden State soundtrack. I heard other bits of this album and Chutes Too Narrow and wasn’t much taken by anything else, even though it seemed they were wowing everyone else.

The title comes from a post on IMDB that was picked up by the humor site Something Awful. Dan and I saw it and LAUGHED AND LAUGHED.

Your next question is: Why is the cover so crappy? It’s a good question. The answer is because it was the first cover I made. In fact, it was supposed to just be temporary. It wasn’t until afterwards that I went back and made the other covers, and I improved my Paint Shop Pro technique as I went along. I really should make a better one for this mix, especially since I omitted a song on the back.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)