School's In

1. Sparta - Hiss The Villain
2. Spoon - Johnathan Fisk
3. The Impossibles - Connecticut
4. Jawbreaker - I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both
5. Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Save The Best For Last
6. Thrice - All That's Left
7. Saves The Day - Anywhere With You
8. Adair - Alone In The City of Robots
9. The Get Up Kids - Martyr Me
10. Cursive - A Gentleman Caller
11. Ryan Adams - Wish You Were Here
12. Vinnie & The Stardust - Quesadilla/Walk Around Naked
13. Rhett Miller - World Inside The World
14. Glassjaw - Trailer Park Jesus
15. Prince - Dear Mr. Man
16. Elliott Smith - Single File
17. Kenna - Sunday After You
18. Le Tigre - Eau de Bedroom Dancing
19. Self - Rusted & Used
20. Metric - Siamese Cities
21. The Black Box - The Art of Driving
22. Beastie Boys - Hey F*** You!
23. J. Live - School's In

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An old mix from about 2004, showcasing some of the "new" sounds I was into then. A nice time capsule from that period - Prince's Musicology had just come out, Glassjaw hadn't quite broken up yet, Self was still going to release Ornament and Crime, Elliott Smith had just died ... these things happen, I guess.

Sparta!! The brawny rock side to The Mars Volta's proggy freakouts, Texas rock band Sparta start us off with one of the best tracks on Porcelain, their 2nd album.

An unreleased Spoon track, via a b-side for a single that didn't go anywhere, "Johnathan Fisk" pumps along at a chugging pace, with wicked little lyrical barbs like, "religion don't mean a thing / it's just another way to be right wing"

The Impossibles used to be the 2nd cousin to Voodoo Glow Skulls. Then, on their 2nd album, Enter/Return, they decided they wanted to be Weezer instead. Not a bad idea, as tracks like "Connecticut" prove - they've got the chops and the 'tude.

Emo legends Jawbreaker were on my mind at the time, having just heard Dear You for the first time. "I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both" is one of the greatest songs about a love/hate relationship written in the 90s.

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, the world's best cover band, take on Vanessa Williams' tepid ballad by throttling up the guitars and jokingly opening with a Sex Pistols riff. "Save The Best For Last" was a huge radio hit when I was a teen and I'm glad someone had the balls to fulfill its potential. Off the album Take A Break, their collection of songs written by black folks.

I was really impressed when I first saw Thrice, opening for Dashboard Confessional (?). The hype was big at the time and the album The Artist In The Ambulance did some huge numbers for their 2nd or 3rd record. "All That's Left" is proof that sometimes hype is right on the money.

Saves The Day had just delivered a sub-par CD, In Reverie, whose songs were blander, but more adult than their previous 2 albums, Through Being Cool and Stay What You Are. But the lead off track, "Anywhere With You" still rocks the house.

Adair used to be Disturbing The Peace, before Ludacris' lawyers got a hold of them. Turns out Luda and friends wanted to start a rap clique called Disturbing Tha Peace, so the St. Louis natives were shit out of luck. They released their first EP,The Permanent Bruise, which features 5 awesome tracks, including "Alone In The City Of The Robots".

The Get-Up Kids had just released Guilt Show, what would become their final album. People who loved the 16-year-old teens who wrote Four Minute Mile were out of touch with the adults who wrote this album and songs like "Martyr Me." Which is a damn shame. As far as final albums go, it's a killer.

Omaha, NE had been blowing up lately : The Faint got to tour with No Doubt, Bright Eyes was being touted as the next Dylan, Rilo Kiley were getting national props. Cursive refined their Fugazi-meets-Jawbreaker aesthetic by adding classical instrumentation like pianos, violins and cellos to their album The Ugly Organ. "A Gentleman Caller", whose title refers to a section in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie", is a noisy blast of angst.

The album lloR n kcoR (known to some as Rock n Roll) had just been put out and Ryan Adams was on everyone's mind. "Wish You Were Here" is a simple, foul-mouthed rock number - count the times he says "fuck" - with a heart of gold.

I had just re-discovered the joy of the bargain bin. For a mere $5, I picked up the first (and only, I believe) album from Vinnie and The Stardusters, Novelty Music For Casual Sex. At the time, I described them as the "punk-rock Weird Al", which may or may not be true. What is true is that, "Quesadilla/Walk Around Naked", this riffing on the timeless "Que Sera Sera" and The Beatles' minor hit "Paperback Writer", is a goofy, fun sing-along.

Apparently, Rhett Miller wasn't writing the songs he wanted to write. As lead singer of alt-country stalwarts Old 97s, Rhett crafted pretty, heartbreaking songs of lust and remorse. Strangely enough, on his first solo album The Instigator, he does exactly the same thing. Weird, huh? "World Inside The World" is one of the only songs I know of to reference Dom DeLilo's genius novel "Underworld".

I had seen Glassjaw a few years previous with Deftones. Even though the mic was cutting out, lead singer Daryl Palumbo was a ball of furious anger - whipping himself with the microphone at one point. But what I didn't realize is the doped-out flipside to that energy. There's a few tracks on their 2nd album Worship and Tribute that sound like this : heavy, dripping with atmosphere and lyrical barbs.


Musicology was on everyone's Top 10 lists in '03 and for reasons like this. Prince was enjoying his re-naming after the many years of being The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, his popularity was at an upswing and his last tour had just sold out every date. True to form, nothing could stop him, not even figuring out how to make an anti-war song funky as hell. "Dear Mr. Man" is just that song, boiling hot guitar solo and all.

Elliott Smith had died the year before and mix tapes were constantly referencing his catalog. This exemplary track comes from Elliott Smith, one of my favorite albums and the first I'd ever bought. "Single File" is his condemnation of the 'normal' people that he felt apart from.

My friend Ken told me that Kenna would be huge. It still hasn't happened yet, but his debut album is a riot of sound. Produced by members of hitmakers The Neptunes, it should have been a huge smash. Legal troubles, label politics and many other problems plagued the album until it was all but forgotten by the music press. Which is a shame because New Sacred Cow is a revelation. "Sunday After You" with its squeaky beat and funky sound is a distillation of that album's feel.

Ah, electroclash. A movement that never went anywhere, with the exception of Peaches, who just had a guest spot on a Pink album... For Kathleen Hanna bouncing from hardcore riotgrrl punk (Bikini Kill) to electroclash (Le Tigre) may not seem like a logical step, but it is. Something about electroclash was totally DIY and right up a young punk's alley. The self-titled debut on Hanna's own label, Mr. Lady, is a bouncy, thrashy funhouse. "Eau De Bedroom Dancing" is the archetype of the Le Tigre sound.

Comin' straight outta Tennessee, Matt Mahaffey, A.K.A. Self, is a one-man music machine. He creates these bizarre pop tunes out of things that should not be pop music. An unreleased single, "Rusted & Used" comes to us from his fansite (which used to be selfies.net, but is now mattmahaffey.com).


Someone please give Emily Haines a medal for being awesome. As lead singer for Metric, she belts out these wicked songs that grab you and take your brains through your ears. Lyrically, she's all that & some chips, too. Sample lyric from "Siamese Cities" : "When you walk, you move like Moses / When you look, you look like Red Roses." This comes via an early EP called Static Anonymity.

I don't remember who Black Box Recorder (listed on the enclosed CoverArt files, incorrectly, as The Black Box) are, but someone told me if I liked Human League that I would love them. I do like Human League (almost to a fault), but they never scored any points with me. With one exception - this, the bracingly tender "The Art of Driving" from the album The Facts of Life.

[Note : Sometimes songs appear on a list I wrote by hand a handful of years ago and so it goes on the website "as is". I make no guarantees to accuracy until I start writing the track-by-track reviews/overviews. Be warned!]

From the 5 Boroughs, the second New York namecheck album from The Beastie Boys didn't quite take off like Paul's Boutique did. But that's OK, because their goofy rhymes and funky sounds make for a delicious standard - their rapping, especially on "Hey Fuck You", is like Mac N Cheese, which is not the most complex or tasty dish, but it's comforting and dependable. (I also am in love with the cringe-worthy line "Which one of you schnooks took my rhyme book?")

J. Live is rap's Rodney Dangerfield. He can't seem to get respect from the backpackers, who think he's too thug and he can't get no props from the thugs who think he's holier-than-thou. The split is readily apparent on "School's In" the last half of the first disk in the 2-part collection Always Has Been/Always Will Be, which is a genius blending of the two sub-cultures in hip-hop. Sure, he writes some cheeseball lines ("write a jam that you can swerve ta / over tracks so fat the nickname Big Bertha") but he also delivers some real zingers ("cuz when a mouthfull don't equal an eyefull, an earfull sound awful") that make you wonder... what if?