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Playlist #232

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Happy Monday, folks. It’s SAT week here in Fairfax County, so I get to help administer that test this Wednesday. Joy. I love testing. These songs will hopefully carry me through the week.

  1. Taylor Swift, “Wood”: Yes, there’s a new Taylor Swift album out, and it’s all anyone is talking about. While I enjoy this song, it’s also rather amusing to me. Hearing Taylor sing double entendres is like hearing your middle schooler try out the word “fuck”: it’s mildly adorable to hear them trying, even though it sounds kinda cringey.
  2. Rhett Miller, “The El”: This could’ve come off an Old 97s album, honestly, but I can’t blame Rhett for keeping it for this solo record. It’s a bop.
  3. Neko Case, “Dirty Knife”: What is this song about? I have no idea, but there’s mention of the titular knife and a chorus (?) sung in, I think, Latin. It’s great.
  4. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “California”: I’m just a sucker for the She’s the One soundtrack, as we are all well aware by now.
  5. The Raconteurs, “Intimate Secretary”: This just always seemed like an extremely fun band to be a part of, like these guys really synched up well and were all on the same page. This song is a perfect example of that chemistry.
  6. Robert Plant, “Chevrolet”: Robert Plant still makes pretty compelling music. His latest feels even more in line with the stuff he’s been making with Allison Krauss, even though she’s not even involved with the project.
  7. Spoon, “Chateau Blues”: A Spoon song that does and does not sound like a Spoon song is quite an accomplishment, but it’s one they pull off here.
  8. Lord Huron, “Meet Me in the Woods”: Still rather obsessed with Strange Trails. Will not apologize for that.
  9. Pearl Jam, “Hail, Hail”: When you need a little pick me up first thing in the morning, put it on this song and crank the volume. You’re welcome.
  10. John Prine, “Souvenirs”: And when you need someone to make you wistful and nostalgic and maybe just a little bit angry at the past, you could do much worse than Prine.

Playlist #230

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Happy Monday, folks. I’ve been a bit down the past few days, which may or may not have affected my choice in music. Let’s take a look at the playlist and see.

  1. Glen Campbell, “Wichita Lineman”: Heard this song last night and it made me cry.
  2. Counting Crows, “Holiday in Spain”: The saddest song about being on holiday in Spain I’ve ever heard. I would assume being on holiday in Spain is a joyous occasion, not one so somber.
  3. Genesis, “No Reply At All”: One of the most upbeat songs about getting ghosted I’ve ever heard.
  4. case/lang/veirs, “Atomic Number”: How can a song ostensibly about the periodic table feel so sad? There’s just so much longing and loss in this song that I can’t help but love it.
  5. The National, “Afraid Of Everyone”: “You’re an oasis, darling, in my soul soul soul soul” on repeat in my brain for the rest of the day.
  6. Van Morrison, “Not Supposed To Break Down”: A Van cast off that’s better than most bands’ best song.
  7. Spoon, “Everything Hits At Once”: It sure does, It sure does.
  8. Hem, “The Part Where You Let Go”: I love this band. They’re one of my go-tos when I’m feeling down. Very cinematic and widescreen in the best possible ways.
  9. Wilco, “Handshake Drugs”: Four-chord songs are fun to play sometimes. I love playing this one.
  10. The Rolling Stones, “19th Nervous Breakdown”: I dunno if it’s the nineteenth one or not, but I do feel like I narrowly avoided a breakdown last night. Why’s the world so overwhelming right now?

Playlist #227

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Happy Labor Day, folks! True to form, I came down sick over the long weekend, and still feel like ten miles ofd rough road. But the content mines wait for no man! So, here’s a playlist.

  1. Shocking Blue, “Venus”: Shocking no one (even the color blue), I prefer this version to the ’80s cover. I know, who could have guessed?
  2. Spoon, “Guess I’m Fallin In Love”: It’s a new Spoon song. At this point, you know what they sound like, you know what their songs are gonna do. You either dig it or you don’t. I dig it.
  3. Lord Huron, “La Belle Fleur Sauvage”: I need me some more atmospheric Americana. This hits that spot and scratches that itch.
  4. Anna Nalick, “Breathe (2 AM)”: It’s a very Lilith Faire circa 1998 sorta song, except it came out in 2004.
  5. The Narcissist Cookbook, “vs the Heat Death of the Universe!”: Strummy guitars, soft/loud dynamics, and shout-along choruses? This just ticks all the boxes, doesn’t it?
  6. Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”: It’s a good song. As good as the stuff off her last album? Maybe not. But she’s taking aim at dudes who need to be taken down a peg or two, so I’m here for it.
  7. Cross-Eyed Yeti, “I Don’t Need You”: We released the original Cross-Eyed Yeti tape last week! It’s…very rough, but has a certain homespun charm. This is one of our better early songs, played way slower than it would be in subsequent years.
  8. Cory Branan, “When In Rome, When In Memphis”: Conflating Rome, Memphis, and Asbury Park may be one of the ballsiest moves I’ve ever heard of, but damn if the guy doesn’t have at least a little bit of a point.
  9. Tom Petty, “Down South”: The tail end of August has been downright pleasant, temperature-wise, which is quite unusual for Virginia. I’m sure we’ll pay for it during the month of September. But hey, that’s the challenge of living in the South.
  10. Van Morrison, “Meet Me In The Indian Summer”: We are officially at the end of the summer season with Labor Day’s arrival, reaching what is often called “Indian Summer,” y’racists. We’ll accept it from Van this one time, ’cause that dude’s pretty fuckin’ irascible.

Playlist #211

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Happy Monday, folks. The school year is starting to wear thin. I know my niblings are all out soon, though Oklahoma always ends before Memorial Day (we’ve still got a whole month left here in Northern Virginia). Anyway, here’s some music to get us through another week.

  1. Counting Crows, “Virginia Through the Rain”: The latest Counting Crows album is…fine. It’s classic Counting Crows. Good melodies, excellent instrumentation, but I don’t really remember much of the song after it’s done playing. This one’s pretty nice, though.
  2. Fugees, “Ready or Not”: I listened to the Fugee’s album The Score over the weekend for the first time. I was already aware of “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” their breakout hit from this album, but this one is a pretty solid tune, too.
  3. The Grass Roots, “I’d Wait a Million Years”: Such a great song. The chorus is just a study in how to write a killer hook and deliver it with energy.
  4. Jefferson Airplane, “Volunteers”: Speaking of energy, this one’s full of it. And probably drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.
  5. Procol Harem, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”: Never really been sure what this song is about, though I’ve heard it’s about the negotiation of sex between a guy and a girl. I just know it always feels a bit melancholy and sad to me.
  6. Bob Dylan, “Boots of Spanish Leather”: Speaking of songs that make me feel sad, this one just hits in a strange way. Ostensibly a conversation between a couple about a souvenir from a trip to Spain, there’s more to it than that. Young me was obsessed with this one for a while, and older, theoretically wiser me still puts it on repeat sometimes.
  7. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, “Let It Ride”: Probably one of the better songs off Cold Roses, which I still argue is the best Ryan Adams album in his lengthy (possibly unwieldy) catalog.
  8. Electric Light Orchestra, “Long Black Road”: An ELO song I’d never heard? Apparently it was on the soundtrack to American Hustle back in 2001. Comes across as a song recorded especially for the movie. It’s classic Jeff Lynne.
  9. Macy Gray, “I Try”: Did you know she had not only other songs on the album this song came off of, but other albums, too? It’s wild!
  10. Spoon, “I Turn My Camera On”: Can you believe Gimme Fiction came out 20 years ago? It’s true. And now I feel like all my bones are turning to dust.

Playlist #172

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Happy Monday! We’re back in the school this morning, doing teacher in-service this week and we’ll have students next Monday. This will be my twentieth year of teaching. No, I’m not sure how I’ve been in it this long. Here’s some music.

  1. Jay-Z, “Public Service Announcement”: Didn’t expect me to put a Jay-Z song on here, did you? Hmm? Well, I did, so there! The fact that it features heavily in a commercial I’ve seen a few dozen times in the past two weeks has very little to do with it, honest.
  2. Langhorne Slim, “House of My Soul (You Light the Rooms)”: It’s just a damn fun sing-along song, y’know?
  3. Spoon, “New York Kiss”: They just released a deluxe version of this album with lots of demos, so you know I’m down for that.
  4. Paul McCartney/Wings, “Junior’s Farm”: From the One Hand Clapping collection that was recently released. Pretty good.
  5. Hank Williams, “Move It On Over”: I first heard this song back in the ’80s with the George Thorogood cover. This version is…much better.
  6. The Offspring, “Self Esteem”: La la, la la la, la la, la la.
  7. Old Crow Medicine Show, “Alabama High Test”: I could use a little of this this morning, whether it’s alcohol or meth. Either way, it’d make the faculty meetings more fun.
  8. Old 97s, “Streets of Where I’m From”: “I’ve been down, I’ve been down too far to care/I keep getting in my car, but I’m not going anywhere” is a great bit, and it does the thing where they say the name of the album in the song.
  9. Owen Danoff, “Never Been Kissed”: I just threw this one in here because I needed ten songs, not nine. It’s good, I just don’t have anything to say about it.
  10. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, “Shake Your Money Maker”: I need some Chicago blues today. We all do, I think. So here’s some.

Playlist #112

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Happy Wednesday, folks. I was at the beach on Monday with family, and spent yesterday recovering from the beach, so you get a playlist today and you’ll like it.

  1. Spoon, “Sugar Babies”: These guys manage to stay creative and innovative even a couple of decades into their careers. It’s inspiring and awesome.
  2. X Ambassadors, “Renegade”: I think I’ve been writing songs like this lately. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
  3. Tom Waits, “Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again”: You an’ me both, Tom.
  4. Kris Orlowski, “Go (featuring Glen Phillips)”: I am just a sucker for any song that features Glen Phillips.
  5. Them, “Gloria”: G. L. O. R. I. A.
  6. Jack Johnson, “If I Had Eyes”: What if a regular ol’ Jack Johnson song, but with an electric guitar instead of an acoustic?
  7. Jake Blount, “Didn’t It Rain”: A modern take on a classic number from ol’ Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The electric guitar in this one makes the song feel much more eerie than the original ever did.
  8. Counting Crows, “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby”: It’s epic in length and bittersweet in scope. It’s like the song was written just for me.
  9. Norah Jones, “Don’t Know Why”: How does Norah Jones crank out these beautiful little nuggets of pop brilliance?
  10. Drive-By Truckers, “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”: Cadillacs are made out of fiberglass now, so maybe it’s time to give it up.

Playlist #90

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Happy Monday, folks! As per usual, here’s a new playlist for your listening pleasure.

  1. Harry Styles, “Two Ghosts”: I think I might actually like Harry Styles? Is there a doctor I should see about this?
  2. Spoon, “I Can’t Give Everything Away”: The elusive piano-led Spoon song. It’s more downbeat than a lot of their stuff, but I like it.
  3. Jay Farrar, “Feel Free”: I’ve probably mentioned this before, but for the longest time I thought NPR stood for “Non-Profit Radio.” It does not.
  4. Louis Armstrong, “Mack The Knife”: As I said on Twitter the other day, there is no more baller moment in music than when Louis tosses it to himself for the trumpet solo at the end.
  5. Better Than Ezra, “At The Stars”: Always kinda feel like Better Than Ezra should’ve been bigger than they were, even though they’re really just a solid alternative band.
  6. Calexico, “Cumbia De Donde”: I really dig the way this band combines traditional Hispanic music with indie rock. It works really well.
  7. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Someday Never Comes”: Literally the only good song on Mardi Gras. But damn, what a song.
  8. Supertramp, “Goodbye Stranger”: Sorry, lady, I can’t be tied down. Gotta move on to the next chick. Real classy, guys.
  9. Santana, “The Game Of Love (Featuring Michelle Branch)”: Fun fact: the name “Branch” in Portuguese is “Branco,” so my wife’s name came up a lot in the Portuguese music press when this song came out. Strange but true.
  10. The Offspring, “The Kids Aren’t Alright”: 90s kids remember when these dudes were all the rage. I think the lead singer has a PhD? It’s weird.

Playlist #84: Covers!

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Happy Monday! It’s December now, somehow, and as usual I have a new playlist for you. But this one is all cover songs!

  1. The National, “Ashamed Of The Story I Told”: They don’t even really change all that much about the song, except the drum pattern is completely different and it somehow manages to totally change the feel and nature of the song.
  2. Johnny Cash, “Hurt”: It’s downbeat, somber, and a little harrowing. It’s also one of those covers that I would argue is better than the original.
  3. Old 97s, “Mama Tried”: The original Merle Haggard version is damn good (as are most Merle Haggard songs), but this one has the slightest edge on it, I think.
  4. The Byrds, “My Back Pages”: The Byrds could have easily just been a Bob Dylan cover band and I’d have been happy with that. They manage to transform every single Dylan tune they cover into a jangly, poppy slice of ’60s joy.
  5. Pomplamoose, “Maneater”: Watch out, boys, she’ll break your heart, huh? I’m more concerned with being eaten, personally.
  6. Spoon, “Held”: I just love the grit and thump of this song. So good.
  7. The Dirty Knobs, “Rumble”: Mike Campbell (formerly of the Heartbreakers) and some buddies got together to form this band, and they covered Link Wray’s ode to distortion and fuzz here. I love everything about the story of how this song got created, from Wray punching holes in his amplifier’s speaker with a pencil to radio stations refusing to play it because they thought it might incite juvenile delinquency.
  8. Jesse Malin, “You Can Make Them Like You”: Malin has been using this Hold Steady track as his closer for years, usually just him and an acoustic guitar. It’s pretty great.
  9. Tom Waits, “The Return of Jackie And Judy”: The Ramones were pretty ballsy. Case in point: they reference the two main characters in this song going to a Ramones show in the song. The chutzpah.
  10. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “I Put A Spell On You”: Fogerty and Co. had a good ear for an excellent cover song, and this rendition of the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic is no exception.

Playlist #80

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Good afternoon, guys, gals, and enby pals! It’s another week, so here’s another playlist.

  1. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “That’s All”: The woman who really ought to receive more credit for creating rock and roll.
  2. Spoon, “My Mathematical Mind”: Anyone who knows me knows my mind is not mathematical at all.
  3. Uncle Tupelo, “Moonshiner”: Never was a song about bootlegging and making your own whiskey up in a still in the woods so melancholy.
  4. Joe Walsh, “Rocky Mountain Way”: “And we don’t need the ladies/Crying ’cause the story’s sad.”
  5. Jesse Malin, “Addicted”: You gotta be real careful listening to this song while driving, or you’ll find yourself doing 90.
  6. Robert Johnson, “Cross Road Blues”: Does it get any better than Robert Johnson? No, it does not. This man was taken far too young.
  7. Chris Isaak, “We Let Her Down”: I played a song for my wife that I wrote and recorded the other day. “It sounds like Chris Isaak,” she said. And I agreed and was happy about that.
  8. The Minus 5, “Dear My Inspiration”: Had this song stuck in my head all morning. That’s not a bad thing. Scott McCaughey writes a damn catchy tune.
  9. T. Rex, “20th Century Boy”: C’mon, guys, it’s the 21st century now. Aren’t we due for an update?
  10. Townes Van Zandt, “Pancho And Lefty”: Is there a better story song about desperados trying their damnedest to escape their own sins, only to fail because of human frailty and the desire to get out a little bit ahead and yet still find yourself isolated and alone and incapable of feeling anything?

Playlist #69 (Nice)

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I was this close to just making it all songs about sex. But aren’t all songs about sex, when you get right down to it? Anyway, give me a follow on Patreon and support your local author/songwriter. Anyway, here’s the first playlist of the new school year!

  1. The Mountain Goats, “Training Montage”: “I’m doing this for revenge!” John Darnielle cries out at the start of the chorus, and damn if that isn’t just the best line in a song I’ve heard this year.
  2. Iggy Pop, “The Passenger”: Is it the most relentless chord progression you’ve ever heard? Maybe. Are Iggy and David Bowie’s yelped “la”s in the chorus earwormy? Definitely.
  3. Bruce Springsteen, “Ain’t Good Enough For You”: I’ve featured this song on a playlist before. It still slaps.
  4. Calexico, “Cumbia De Donde”: Did you know cumbia is a type of Latin American dance music that originated in Colombia? Because the guys in Calexico sure do, and they want you to know they do.
  5. Spoon, “Don’t Make Me A Target”: I don’t know what it is about the way this band breaks down a song and then rebuilds it using the same basic instruments as every single rock and roll band that has ever existed that kicks me in the ass every time, but it kicks me in the ass every time.
  6. ZZ Top, “La Grange”: Back when I worked at a private school, I taught one of my students how to play this on the bass (it’s only three notes that even I could figure out). It’s fun.
  7. Pearl Jam, “World Wide Suicide”: Even late into their career, Pearl Jam can still pull out all the stops and offer a rocker that rips the doors off.
  8. John Mellencamp, “Right Behind Me”: Meanwhile, John Mellencamp has resorted to recording in hotel rooms with equipment from the 1950s to get that sound just right.
  9. Jay Farrar, “Feel Free”: Jay Farrar’s songs have gotten more esoteric and inscrutable as time passes, but this one is still early enough in his solo career that the lyrics make some sense. And it references “non-profit radio,” which is what I thought NPR stood for for far longer than I’d care to admit.
  10. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Be Afraid”: “Be afraid, be very afraid/But do it anyway,” is just some of the best damn advice you can hear right now, I think.