Monday, June 8, 2009

sys54 :: HUMAN WAS THE MUSIC


Playboy raves, "Smart, sexy, funny and provocative!" (Too bad they weren't talking about this here awesome mix tape series....)



1. Creeper Lagoon - "Big Money Struggle"
I'm not usually a lyrics guy, but the "Please give me something that will make me dream all day" line from this song really struck a chord with me.

2. Blur - "M.O.R." [Road Version]
Collecting Blur's million-and-a-half singles is a passion of mine, so expect many more selections like this in the next couple months.

3. Spiritualized - "Hold On"
How have I lived so long without Spiritualized in my life? During a (scheduled) break at Job No. 2, I literally kept this track on repeat until it was time to clock back in. Like the majority of songs on the Flaming Lips masterpiece "Clouds Taste Metallic," this one's utterly heartbreaking.

4. Damien Rice - "Creep/The Blower's Daughter" [Live Medley]
Man, that was one lucky Glastonbury audience back in '04: a nearly pitch-perfect cover of Radiohead's first single lends itself to Rice's own haunting anthem (which was, if you'll remember, used to perfection in "Closer").

5. Bishop Allen - "Things are What You Make of Them"
Most teenyboppers know this as the group with the cameo in "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" (playing themselves -- not "Where's Fluffy?"!), but don't hold that against them. This is undeniably catchy.

6. Soul Position - "Hand-Me-Downs"
Things do go better with "RJ" and "AL." (That's RJD2 and Blueprint, "for those of you without any game." Ha!)

7. The Coup - "5 Million Ways to Kill a C.E.O."
And then there's this militant-rap classic, which juxtaposes nicely against all of Soul Position's positive, anti-cliche messages....

8. Flickerstick - "Chloroform the One You Love"
Speaking of juxtapositions, how about this one? Flickerstick manages to pair one of the most gorgeous backing tracks with a shifty allusion to the disgusting modern-day equivalent of caveman clubbing their female counterparts over the head and dragging them back to their meager dwellings. Still, the song works.

9. The Deathray Davies - "She Can Play Me Like a Drum Machine"
She can, she will and she won't stop.*

10. The Dust Brothers - "Stealing Fat"
Don't recognize this song? Its second half is that amazing piece of music that opens up "Fight Club."

David Fincher, you know what you're doing.

11. Grandaddy - "Pull the Curtains"
... As does Grandaddy mastermind Jason Lytle, who just released a triumphant solo album, "Yours Truly, The Commuter" -- which I should probably get around to reviewing for the Budgeteer.

12. Rob Crow - "Over Your Heart"
Speaking of ubiquitous masterminds, this guy's in at least a dozen bands -- all good (Pinback and Heavy Vegetable being two of my favorites) -- and he still has time to release instantly enjoyable solo records. What's up with the self-loathing, Rob Crow? We could never hate you.

13. Fig Dish - "I Just Want What You Want"
If it's a houseful of Chihuahuas, then this song was definitely written about me and my better half!

14. Pearl Jam - "Go" [Live]
From the somewhat-rare "Dissident" EP series -- which, if you collect all three, nets you an entire set of "Ten" and "Vs." favorites recorded live in Atlanta in the early '90s.

15. Robert Pollard - "Lightshow"
I'm tempted to write that this song is reminiscent of Pearl Jam's glorious "No Code" album, but that's not really fair to the prolific former Guided by Voices frontman -- or to Neil Young, who was obviously a huge influence on both of those legendary groups.

16. The Posies - "Conversations"
Speaking of inspiration, the Posies sound more and more like Big Star and/or the Zombies with every subsequent release.

17. Wilco - "You Never Know"
What a Wilco (The World) we live in: Pretty soon Wilco (The Band) will release "Wilco (The Album)" and, for those lucky Wilco (The Fans) who preordered it on Wilco (The Web site), they were also able to pick up Wilco (The Totebag) and ... OK, I'll stop. But, just for the record, considering how genius the members of Wilco are, they have no right to be so f------ funny!

18. Madness - "You Keep Me Hanging On"
I love this song in all of its myriad incarnations, and Madness' reggae version is definitely no exception.

19. Detroit Grand PuBahs - "Sandwiches" [Live Remix by the Avalanches]
This track alone justifies my ordering the Avalanches' extremely-hard-to-find/wholly illegal live record "When I Met You" off of Amazon's UK site.

Yep, that's me. I'm addicted to CDs.

20. Eminem - "3 a.m."
I was never a huge fan of Marshall Mathers, but a drunken evening on Tower Avenue totally changed my mind. (Thanks to the traditionally d-bag youngsters at Lord Stanley's for playing this one!)

21. Beck - "Halo of Gold" [Skip Spence cover]
Well worth seeking out. (Yes, as was the case with Blur, Beck's singles are fun to collect; again, I have what my wife calls a "sickness"....)

22. Sleeper - "Spies"
How was this slowdanceantheminwaiting passed up by the "Dawson's Creek" soundtrack curators?**

23. Oasis - "Songbird"
For my former Budgeteer colleague Suoja, who is a bona fide Gallagher bros. superfan.

*I'm not speaking too cryptically, am I? (I have a feeling I'm good at that....)

**Strangely, it almost sounds as if Michelle Williams is singing on this one.

Thus concludes your fifty-fourth dose of SHAKE*YOUR*SHORES, the awesome mix tape series formerly known as "Don't Tell a Soul."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

a classic return to form! thanks for all the mixes