Saturday, December 11, 2010

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 17 - The "Hey, There's a Christmas Tree in the Background!" Edition


My iTunes library, as of December 11, 2010, has 21, 2154songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the seventeenth in at least a 4,000 part series.


Song #1 - "Ambling Alp" - Yeasayer

Embarrassed to say i got this from eMusic months ago and still haven't listened. I loved their first record, but heard that this one, ODD BLOOD, was quite different. So maybe out of fear i'd hate it, i've avoided it. But this is really fun. This sounds like if Yeasayer was covered by a synth-pop band, with some bizarre interludes. Parts of this remind me of Hall and Oates, and i mean that as a very big complement. This might be my cleaning the kitchen soundtrack later on today...

Song #2 - "Why Midnight Walked In But Didn't Ring Her Bell" - Liars

Less than a minute, just a transitional piece. From They Threw Us All In a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top.

Song #3 - "The Letter" - Andre 3000

A skit from The Love Below. Again, under a minute.

Song #4 - "Minute by Minute" - Girl Talk

I've been on a major Girl Talk kick lately. This is from Night Ripper, the first album of his i bought. It is funny that i enjoy his records so much because, for the most part, i don't know/recognize/like a lot of the hip hop on it. I like hip hop, but i'm not a big fan of the misogyny/violence that so much mainstream hip hop produces. But i guess having the sentiment disembodied from track makes it more digestible for me. It is hard to be offended by 2-3 lines over a Violent Femmes sample. I guess that is the lesson to be learned here. Plus, a Better Than Ezra sample is a thing of beauty.

Song #5 - "Breaking the Choke Hold" - Mike Watt

Watt is one of my heroes. An ethically upstanding member of the punk rock community who does whatever the fuck he sees fit, and plays some of the best bass this side of Paul McCartney. This is from his first rock opera, Contemplating the Engine Room, which compares his time in the Minutemen with his dad's time in the Navy. The record is so its own thing that it is almost hard to put it into context with the greater musical world. It also features beautiful guitar work from Nels Cline, late of Wilco. Do yourself a favor and take a listen - it is simultaneously melodic, daring, nautical, operatic (not in its vocals, but in its recurring motifs and themes), peaceful, fiery and beautiful.

'Til next time (and hopefully lighter on the interludes),
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16

No comments:

Post a Comment