the narcissist cookbook

Playlist #233

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

Happy Indigenous People’s Day, folks! We don’t talk about that other guy.

  1. Redbone, “Wovoka”: As the best Native American rock band of the 1970s, Redbone put a fascinating wrinkle on rock and roll. Nice native rhythms.
  2. Counting Crows, “1492”: Why does this song spend a whole verse talking about Christopher Columbus? What does this have to do with literally anything else in this song?
  3. The Narcissist Cookbook, “The Simplest Words”: Sometimes, your brain goes all dribbly, and this guy gets it.
  4. Phoebe Bridgers, “It’ll All Work Out”: A Tom Petty cover? In this economy? It’s slowed way down but beautiful.
  5. Alan Jackson, “Chattahoochee”: A song that understands consent better than the President of the United States.
  6. Rhett Miller, “A Little Song”: A beautiful little song off his new album, one made apparently while he was waiting to get surgery done on his vocal chords (he had a polyp and a cyst on them!) and was in danger of never being able to sing again if things went wrong. They went right, though, which is good for all of us.
  7. Rilo Kiley, “Does He Love You?”: Still one of the bitterest love songs I’ve ever heard.
  8. Seven Mary Three, “Water’s Edge”: Look, ma, we’ve got Richard Marx in the ’90s!
  9. Passenger, “Let Her Go”: What if Cat Stevens got his start in the 2010s?
  10. Matt Berninger, “Little By Little”: Still a damn good song that I just keep going back to again and again.

Playlist #227

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

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.