Playlist #73

First, news! I published a new short story that you can buy, right now! It’s a Halloween-themed Eddie Hazzard short story where he hunts a werewolf and is generally a curmudgeon about things. Go check it out! Without further ado, here’s this week’s playlist.

  1. Donovan Woods, “Lonely People”: “Lonely people/Wrote every song you ever loved.”
  2. Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Take My Hand”: Sometimes, you need a gospel-tinged get-down. This song won’t disappoint.
  3. The Black Keys, “Burn The Damn Thing Down”: “She said, ‘I hate my job, I’m gonna burn this place down!’ And I said, ‘You better not!'” “She said it was an electrical fire.” “Oh.”
  4. Radiohead, “Lotus Flower”: Included mostly because I find Thom Yorke’s dance in the video hilarious.
  5. Tom Waits, “Down, Down, Down”: Do I feel a certain way this week? I dunno, maybe. Music can be a reflection of one’s feelings at the time. That’s a disconcerting thought, if this song is any indication, thoguh.
  6. The Gaslight Anthem, “Mama’s Boys”: “‘Cause there’s no room in heaven/For New York girls or mama’s boys.”
  7. Neko Case, “Hold On, Hold On”: First Neko Case song I ever fell in love with, but far from the last.
  8. Parker Millsap, “Truck Stop Gospel”: Reminds me of home and I-40. Doesn’t hurt that Millsap is an Okie.
  9. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, “Man On Fire”: Please, if you see me caught on fire, put out the fire. I do not enjoy being on fire. No one should.
  10. Eklipse, “Cry Me A River”: For the life of me, I cannot remember where I originally heard this song, but I Shazam’d it and it downloaded onto my phone without me even knowing that’s what Shazam was doing (it’s not a big deal, but a heads up would’ve been nice, Shazam). It’s good. Has a dark edge to it that I don’t usually associate with orchestral music.

Playlist #25

Happy Monday, folks. Here’s a new set of tunes to carry you through the week:

  1. Ben Caplan, “Southbound”: My friend Brandon got me into this guy a while back. It’s a weird mish-mash of folk, singer-songwriter, and klezmer music, and it oddly works.
  2. Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Well, Well, Well”: I’m a sucker for Gospel-inflected harmonies, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (all of whom are, quite literally, blind old dudes) do it better than anyone else. And it’s a Dylan tune, too.
  3. Taylor Swift, “exile (feat. Bon Iver)”: A “he said/she said” song featuring the guy from Bon Iver. It’s pretty damn good.
  4. Zager & Evans, “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)”: Fantasy space opera nonsense about the far-flung year 2525. Futurama used it to great effect in one of their time traveling episodes.
  5. Young Dubliners, “Last House On The Street”: My uncle’s band, the Regular Joes, used to play this song at shows. I always enjoyed hearing them play it, and I finally tracked down the (tremendously hard to find) EP that it’s on and listen to…well, pretty much just that song over and over again.
  6. Stephen Stills, “Wooden Ships (Demo)”: I love this demo. If they’d released the demo as the finished version of the song, I think it would’ve been one of the best studio tracks ever.
  7. Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, “No Diggity (feat. Ariana Savalas)”: I dig me some ’40s-style, and I dig me the song “No Diggity.” Putting them together? *chef’s kiss*
  8. Robert Randolph & The Family Band, “Why Should I Feel Lonely”: If you ever wanna hear a guy just absolutely go to town on pedal steel guitar, Robert Randolph is your man.
  9. The Police, “Canary In A Coalmine”: There’s really not a bad song on Zenyatta Mondatta, is there? No, there is not.
  10. Jennifer Paige, “Crush”: For years, there was a song that came out back in like summer of ’98 that I heard on the radio over and over again that summer, and then…I forgot about it. And then I tried to find it again for years. I think this is it? I’m pretty sure this is it. It’s a great little pop song.