1. Chromeo - Momma's Boy
2. Nellie McKay - Mother of Pearl
3. The Fratellis - Flathead
4. Afghan Whigs - My Enemy
5. Motion City Soundtrack - Last Night
6. Dashboard Confessional - Fever Dreams
7. Stars - Bitches In Tokyo
8. Against Me! - Stop!
9. Aesop Rock - Coffee (feat. John Darnelle of the Mountain Goats)
10. Rilo Kiley - The Moneymaker
11. Minus The Bear - Knights
12. Men, Women & Children - Vowels (AEIOU Nothing)
13. Better Than Ezra - r3wind
14. The Sounds - Ego
15. Amy Winehouse - Me & Mr. Jones
16. Styles of Beyond - Be Your Dog
17. Spoon - You Got Yr Cherry Bomb
18. Mika - Grace Kelly
19. Flyleaf - Cassie
20. Elvis Costello - 20% Amnesia
21. Lawrence Arms - Overheated
22. Plastilina Mosh - Millionare
23. Straylight Run - The Miracle That Never Came
24. Pink - Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)
25. They Might Be Giants - The Cap'm
Whew. A 25 track mix that took quite some trimming, might I add. It was originally 2 discs... I don't like uploading that much at once, so some songs had to go. I tried to make the mix live up to its name : each song had to be infectious and memorable. Also, I placed a limit : each song had to be uploaded into my iTunes from the last 2 months. Here's what I came out with...
We kick things off with Canadian weirdos Chromeo and a song about Oedipal obsessions (and Elektra obessions, too...). On the album Fancy Footwork, these guys really bring the 80s back in the worst and best ways.
Genius songstress Nellie McKay returns to form with an intro to a musical that never came to be, entitled Obligatory Villagers. "Mother of Pearl" is a sarcastic bitchslap to proto-feminist detractors who didn't care for McKay's first album and it's blatant misogyny.
My friend Amy introduced me to the old-school sound of The Fratellis and I thank her for that. The album Costello Music is full of the shout-along kind of music The Faces and The Kinks used to make.
Listening to Afghan Whigs' Black Love almost 13 years after its release doesn't lessen its power. I was initially going to review this for my other music blog, but I left it in the hands of a new member. But the album returned to my iTunes and I've gotten obsessed again. "My Enemy" is but one hook-laden example of the Whigs' musical style.
Continuing their neo-emo/new-wave journey with the album Even If It Kills Me, Motion City Soundtrack lay down some wild tracks into musical territory they haven't yet covered. "Last Night" follows some of the old MCS formula, but pushes the boundaries.
Dashboard Confessional had a bad two years. Dusk and Summer proved too emo for the hardcore fans (like me). So they return to their acoustic guitar, one-man act with the new album The Shade of Poison Trees. Glorious sing-alongs like "Fever Dreams" punctuate the classic Dashboard style.
Stars are from Canada. They are weird. This is not abnormal for Canadian bands. The last 2 albums, Heart and Set Yourself On Fire were critical successes, but were a bit byzantine for some music fans (unlike me). In Your Bedroom After The War brings things to a more pop-based stance, which suits them well.
Against Me! make use of punctuation in their name, but came way before Panic! At The Disco and right after Godspeed! You Black Emperor. Their album New Wave is getting huge critical love and is at the top of many critics' "Best of '07" lists. And rightly so. Classic stomping songs like "Stop!" and others bring the punk excitement of their live show to the record.
John Darnelle is the name of the guy who calls himself Mountain Goats. Aesop Rock is... well, Aesop Rock. Together, they mash out one of the best (and last) tracks on Aes' exemplary None Shall Pass album. "Coffee" is a paranoid mess, perfect for Monday mornings.
At first, I was going to make a Fleetwood Mac about Rilo Kiley, but then I realized that several magazines had already done it. But that doesn't make it any less true. Under The Blacklight, the new album, ditches the tried-and-true Rilo Kiley sound, which buried itself in alt-country twang, and replaces it with pop music. Quite a turnaround, but somehow it works. "The Moneymaker" shines above the rest as an instant classic.
One of my favorites from 2005, Minus The Bear return with their new album Planet of Ice. They've ditched the goofy song titles and stick to their guitar/keyboard tricks. "Knights" has the clicky awesomeness of a Thom Yorke solo track but with the trademark Minus The Bear swelling guitars. Classic.
Men Women & Children are a disco/new-wave band from New York (though Nick is from St. Louis!). My band, The Orbz, opened for them at Pop's in St. Louis and I went out the next day to buy their self-titled album. "Vowels" is an awesome song, the last one on the album and it includes the best shout-along chorus on this whole mix.
Taking myself on a trip back to 1998, when my Mazda 323's tape deck was all I had. I had 3 tapes, Less Than Jake's Losing Streak, Paul Simon's Graceland and Better Than Ezra's Friction, Baby. This song, "r3wind", rocks in a way Better Than Ezra haven't done in a while. Annoying that they went pop and got a hit and then never returned to the guitar-based jangle that makes songs like this work.
Swedish new-wavers The Sounds can't decide wether they want to ABBA or Blondie. Splitting the difference between the two, "Ego" from the album Dying To Say This To You, brings it all home.
Ah, Amy Winehouse. What can be said about her fucked up personal life that hasn't been splashed across the tabloids already? Aside from her coked-out nightmare life, her album is an amazing neo-soul discovery. I hope she stays alive long enough to make another album like Back to Black and another song like "Me & Mr. Jones"
Linkin Park rapper Mike Shinoda, via his hip-hop alter ego Fort Minor, introduced me to Styles of Beyond. He's a quality rapper with one hell of a flow and a big musical background. "Be Your Dog" (which samples The Stooges song of the same name) from the album Megadef is a monster track that demands your head-nodding attention.
Spoon! No longer just the battle cry of comic book superhero The Tick, Spoon the band became huge this past year after the soundtrack to the film "Stranger Than Fiction", which contained instrumental versions of Spoon tracks, was released. The new album, titled Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, shows off Spoon's wide musical talents. On "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb", they rock a straightforward number into the ground.
The spiritual cousin to neo-disco artists like Scissor Sisters (even going so far as to open for them on their US tour), Mika flashes and flairs his way through his debut, Life In Cartoon Motion with awesome songs like the lead-off "Grace Kelly"
My co-worker Matt had been blasting Flyleaf's self-titled debut album for weeks before I realized they were more than an Evanescence rip-off. "Cassie" is especially banging, a bass-heavy metal song that grabs your ears, due to the unique verbal mannerism of their lead singer.
Of the many hats Elvis Costello has worn over the years, none fits better than aggravated rocker. On Brutal Youth, an early-90s record, he brings the heat on songs like "20 % Amnesia" ... a seemingly direct response to peoples' hatred of his more experimental albums.
Chicago punk rockers Lawrence Arms are often overlooked in favor of scene stalwarts like Alkaline Trio and Fall Out Boy, but they do the same rockin' job. "Overheated", with its drink-up chorus, echoes similar sentiments that are all over the album Cocktails & Dreams.
Ok, what the christ is up with Plastilina Mosh? I've had their album Tasty for only a month or so now, but I'm still trying to figure out exactly what they are. Half-singing, half-rapping, half-English, half-Spanish ... bizarre-o stuff, brothers. "Millionare" is one of the more straight-forward tracks contained therein.
Straylight Run, named after a chapter in a William Gibson novel, are the side project of a guy from Taking Back Sunday. Replacing the bracing grit and emo screams of that band with piano ballads and beautiful songs, The Needles, The Space, their 2nd album, makes pretty music out of desperation. "The Miracle That Never Came" is an up-tempo example of this phenomenon.
Don't hate on me because I like Pink. Her songwriters are good, her songs have pop venom and her lyrics are funny. "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" from I'm Not Dead is just another example of why I'm digging it. Take it or leave it, this song will bury itself in your brain.
And finally, They Might Be Giants suddenly foudn themselves rocking like the John Henry days on their new album The Else. "The Cap'm" brings the usual; goofy lyrics, high-energy songs and lots of fun.
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