Single of the Week - The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Do Your Thing

OK, things have been slow over the holiday season, and this feature has been more like Single of the Month. I'll get back to it in the new year. In the mean time, enjoy this jam from L.A.'s best 70's funk band.

Songs of the Season, Part 20

Flagpole, the local free alternative weekly in Athens, GA, used to put these Christmas compilation cassettes out of local bands doing Christmas songs. There was a lot of neat stuff on them, and probably the most creative was this song that Porn Orchard recorded called "This Holiday Season." It's a spoof of the David Bowie/Bing Crosby duet, imagining a similar scenario involving Tom Waits and Peter Murphy (with an echo on "Peter Murphy's" voice the whole time). For some reason, whomever uploaded this to YouTube chose to leave off the skit that leads into it, so you only get half the joke here, but it's still pretty funny. And they get the guitar sound from Waits' 80's albums exactly right. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Single of the Week - The Hassles

The Hassles - Four O'Clock in the Morning

I bought this one just because I thought the name of the band was kinda funny, but this is a great British Invasion style pop tune propelled by a tick-tock beat. That's a pretty neat idea: making the whole song a sort of aural pun, or a sound effect to illustrate the lyrics. And the end, where it goes into overdrive, almost sounds like it's not a clock, but a ticking timebomb fixing to go off! Hopefully someone out there has there Google alert set for "The Hassles," and will tell us all about the history of this band in the comments section.

Songs of the Season, Part 19

Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum - Hot Buttered Rum
Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum - Wintergrace

This sort of pretty Appalachian folk music with warm, sweet harmonies is not exactly the kind of stuff I listen to a lot of, but during the holidays it does make the house feel all warm and cozy. This is a nice album of Christmas songs and not-quite-Christmas songs. The two examples I posted are just songs about Winter. "Hot Buttered Rum" is particularly a favorite. There's also a great rendition of "The Wassail Song." We need more holiday songs about rum and spiced beer. On the negative, there are not one but two songs about Christmas miracles, and they're both pretty grating, but I like pretty much everything else. The cover of Merle Haggard's "If We Make it Through December" is a nice touch. And the "Bonus Track" at the end is an instrumental version of "Sleigh Ride."

The CD is out of print, but you can download the whole thing from Amazon for 10 measly bucks.

They Might Be Wrong

Surely the true measure of a band's worth is their willingness to admit when they are wrong. I would be totally behind Sammy Hagar if he put out a song called "Turns Out There are Two or Three Ways to Rock." Or if Alice Cooper's Killer album included a song called "OK, Now I'm 19." Or if The Who had released "On Second Thought, Getting Old Might Not Be So Bad."

Also, Craig Ferguson is really the funniest of the network late-night hosts. This is the first time since my 7 weeks unemployed a decade ago that I've been able to watch late night talk shows, so I'm still getting used to the terrain.

Best of the 00's Mix Tape, Side 2

Yesterday I said this half was going to be more rock-oriented. It is in the beginning and end, but it does have this weird disco set in the middle. A few of these songs are actually from '99, but I figure we can get a little poetic license on this stuff.

The Drive-By Truckers - Where the Devil Don't Stay
Ween - It's Gonna Be a Long Night
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Lightning Bolt - Forcefield/Thirteen Monsters
Le Tigre - Bang!Bang!
Marnie Stern - Transformer
Deerhoof - Snoopy Waves
Sleater-Kinney - Step Aside
The Gossip - Listen Up!
Of Montreal - Gallery Piece
bis - Action and Drama
Lady Sovereign - Blah Blah Blah (Cadence Weapon Mix)
Amy Winehouse w/Ghostface Killer - You Know That I'm No Good (Remix)
The Dresden Dolls - My Alcoholic Friends
Matthew Herbert Big Band - The Yesness
Li'l Wayne w/Pharrel - Yes!
Outkast w/Erykah Badu - Humble Mumble
Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity - Macumba
Blacrock - Coochie (featuring O.D.B. and Ludacris)
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Beck - Strange Apparition
Royal Trux - Stop
The White Stripes - Ball and Biscuit
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Old School
Tom Waits - Home I'll Never Be
The Drive-By Truckers - Let There Be Rock
The Drive-By Truckers - Outfit
David Banner - Cadillacs on 22's
Joe Henry - Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation
Radiohead - Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Drive-By Truckers - Where the Devil Don't Stay
Trying to pick a favorite Mike Cooley song is like trying to choose a favorite square inch of Salma Hayek. The guy is just incredibly consistent. I went with this one purely out of utility: it's a great opening track. From their best album, The Dirty South.
Ween - It's Gonna Be a Long Night
The best song Motorhead never wrote. Quebec.
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
When The White Stripes first hit with the great single "Fell in Love With a Girl," critics lumped them in with bands like The Vines and The Strokes as part of a garage rock revival, even though none of those bands sound anything alike, and most of them sucked. For once, history has sided with me, and those other bands have been completely forgotten, while The White Stripes emerged as the biggest rock stars of the decade. Even though I had pretty much quit listening to the radio at all by 2004, it always made me happy that there was a huge band that I actually liked. I was originally going to put this right after "Where the Devil Don't Stay," since they both have that icky bass drum thump, but they actually sounded too much alike, so I stuck another song in between.

Lightning Bolt - Forcefield/Thirteen Monsters
I bought Mastodon's album Leviathan, and I kinda liked it. I mean, it's a metal album about Moby Dick--fried crack for English majors, right? But I'm never really in the mood to listen to it, which is basically my attitude toward metal since about the time I turned 20: I like it, it's just never what I want to hear at that particular moment.

Lightning Bolt are more my style. Apparantly, the lead guitar is played on a bass, which is just awesome. Their songs run a little long, and I can't make it through a whole album, but in small doses they're pretty rad. I couldn't find "Forcefield" on YouTube, but I really liked the video someone made for "2 Moro Moro Land," so I linked to that instead. "Forcefield" and "13 Monsters" are both from their first album, Ride the Skies, "2 Moro Moro Land" is from Hypermagic Mountain, which has a slightly more conventional metal sound.
Le Tigre - Bang!Bang!
Like "13 Monsters," "Bang! Bang!" features a counting off chant, a la The Ramones (you know, like "1-2-3-4, Cretins want to hop some more"). But here, the chant actually serves a purpose: hammering home how unbelievable it is that NYPD "accidentally" pumped 41 bullets into an unarmed black man reaching for his wallet. From the Desk of Mr. Lady.
Marnie Stern - Transformer
Are you interested in hearing some high-energy indie rock fronted by a cute blonde doing Eddie Van Halen hammer-ons through the entire song? Than this is for you! Seriuosly, this girl and her band sound like nobody else, and ROCK like a motherfucker! This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That
Deerhoof - Snoopy Waves
"Experimental noise bands" are a tricky lot. Most of them are completely unapealing, but the ones that manage to hit the sweet spot are able to create my favorite music in the universe. Deerhoof manage that difficult balance of sounding like nothing you've ever heard, while still having enjoyable hooks and a bit of personality to their music. My first exposure to this band was early in the decade, when I heard the song "Sealed With a Kiss," probably on WFMU or KEXP. The structure is nothing like a conventional rock song: it builds over a simple four-note bass thump, adding more elements as it goes. As the decade progressed, they made more accessible music, producing memorable songs like "Milkman" and "Sirius Star" (there's no video of Sirius Star on YouTube? Siriusly?). My favorite Deerhoof song, "Snoopy Waves," comes from their last album, Offend Maggie. It rocks, it's catchy, it sounds like nothing else you've ever heard.
Sleater-Kinney - Step Aside
One Beat is an album loaded with great songs, and I really spent a lot of time trying to decide between this one, "Oh," and "One Beat," but even in a field that strong, "Step Aside" stands out, with Corrine Tucker's voice bellowing like a hurricane, and those wicked Stax horns (shame on every critic who referred to them as "Motown horns," which they assuredly are not, in their reviews) backing her up. Proof that for a too-brief period of time, they were the World's Greatest Rock-n-Roll Band.
The Gossip - Listen Up!
If anyone can match Corrine Tucker, it's Beth Ditto. There's a "radio edit" of this song (I'm pretty sure it's a completely different recording) that's a bit more upbeat and danceable, but I like the album version. It's a little slower, but it gets across the slinky, funky feel of "Chain of Fools" or the original "You're No Good." Standing in the Way of Control.
Of Montreal - Gallery Piece
On the one hand, the character singing this song is projecting a lot onto the object of his desire. Nothing about her (or him) in the song, just what he wants to do to her. The subject is literally objectified, a "gallery piece." On the other hand, it works as a great invocation of hysterical infatuation. I always hate those know-it-alls who make a big deal out of knowing that "Every Breath You Take" isn't romantic, or "Born in the USA" isn't patriotic. Songs mean whatever each listener decides they mean. This is from Skeletal Lamping, which I actually like a little better than Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
bis - Action and Drama
The last show I saw at the 40 Watt before moving to L.A. was Cibo Mato. The opening band was some very young guys from Chicago called The Pulsars. They played what could only be described as 80's pop. New wave. It wasn't even the cool new wave, like B-52's or Adam and the Ants. It was more like the stuff that was on MTV c. 1982-83. I have trouble even remembering what it sounded like, but I remember that I (and my friends who were there with me) was just infuriated by it. In 1997, I was still having a hard time looking at the 80's, or the mainstream music of the 80's, as anything but an oppressive monstrosity to be rebeled against. And I think, in the back of my mind, I knew what I was hearing was the next generation. I was hearing the end of my time. These kids had a different interpretation of the world that I had known, and I was angry that someone else saw these things--in this case, the pop bands of the early 80's--completely differently from me, and were expressing their view.

It was about the same time that I read about a young Scottish band called bis, who had just been signed to the Beastie Boys' Grand Royale records. Bis, at the time, were playing basic, Ramones-y punk, but with a bit of the influence of 80's pop and disco. They put out the awesome This is Teen-C Power EP, and the New Transistor Heroes LP, and in late 1999, Social Dancing. But I'm going to count it as the 00's, because I think it has a lot of the qualities that I associate with this decade of music. By this time, their sound had shifted a bit, so that they sound sort of like Depeche Mode or The Pet Shop Boys, only cool. I can't tell you why they're cool, or why The Pet Shop Boys aren't (to my ears), just like I can't really explain why I'm so nuts about the Drive-By Truckers when I don't really care for Lynyrd Skynyrd that much. It just is. Anyway, this song is a manifesto of what they think dance music should be, of why 80's pop is awesome, and a critique of techno not from some rock dinosaur like me who thinks all techno is a bunch of shit anyway, but by "a techno-disco lover." It's like a blueprint for the next decade of indie pop.
Lady Sovereign - Blah Blah Blah (Cadence Weapon Mix)
Like a lot of these songs, I came across this one on Fluxblog. I'm especially grateful for this one, because I'm not really one to seek out remixes, but this is one of those remixes (like Fatboy Slim's take on the Beastie's "Body Movin'") that really pushes the song into being a better song than it started out as.
Amy Winehouse w/Ghostface Killer - You Know That I'm No Good (Remix)
Yes, I will go to the mat for Amy Winehouse. That voice is incredible, not so much for it's technical aspects as for how clearly it expresses her personality. She sings like a drunk, her voice sliding from note to note like an overlubricated trombone. Listen to how her voice staggers through the phrase "and sniffed me out." Note also her frustrating coolness, the way she perversely refuses to work up a sweat, the nonchalance with which she delivers "I cry for you on the bedroom floor" even as the band is hammering the accents behind her. And then there's the arrangement, as slick and smooth as an old James Bond theme, and Ghostface's incredibly hot verse tacked onto the remix. Damn. You already know what album this is from.
The Dresden Dolls - My Alcoholic Friends
Almost a random choice: every song on this album is great.
Matthew Herbert Big Band - The Yesness
Swingin'!
Li'l Wayne w/Pharrel - Yes!
I have to admit, I don't really like most of Lil Wayne's stuff. But this one, for some reason, just works for me. Maybe it's the overly busy production that puts Wayne's ridiculous rhymes into perspective. This actually makes a line about (metaphorical) rape sound fucking great to me! I don't think this ever got an official release, but it's pretty easy to find floating around the internet.
Outkast w/Erykah Badu - Humble Mumble
One of the weirder songs on Stankonia, but notice that it sounds a lot like the blueprint for Erykah Badu's Amerykahn Promise album.
Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity - Macumba
I was going to put this right after the MIA song, which would have been a hot mix, but I think it serves the overall mix better to have it here. Ancients Speak.
Blacrock - Coochie (featuring O.D.B. and Ludacris)
That they could uncover two ODB verses this incredible this long after his death is just mind-boggling. In case you don't know, this is The Black Keys' side project, and the whole thing is pretty cool, but this track really shines over everything else.
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Damn, that tempo change in the middle just SLAYS me!
Beck - Strange Apparition
Someday, I will crack The Information. As it stands, I've never quite been able to wrap my head around most of it. But this track...anyone who says Beck got no soul needs to listen to this one.
Royal Trux - Stop
Kind of an atypical Royal Trux song, but on the other hand, it's sort of the quintessential Royal Trux song: like classic rock played with the lo-fi sensibility. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have included this one except that it sounds so good after the Beck song. From Veterans of Disorder, which I just discovered is from 1999, but whatever.
The White Stripes - Ball and Biscuit
Jack and Meg gettin' the Led out.
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Old School
This one is actually from late 1999 as well, but it's one of my favorite pieces of music. This 12 MINUTE MONSTER JAM rocks and sways like a party boat, conjuring images of Mardi Gras revelers dancing drunk and sweaty in the streets. From Buck Jump, produced by John Medeski.
Tom Waits - Home I'll Never Be
According to Tom Waits, this is a cover of a song Jack Keuroack adlibbed into a tape recorder at a party one night. Buried on the third disc of his rarities collection Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards.
The Drive-By Truckers - Let There Be Rock
As perfect an anthem for my generation as exists. From Southern Rock Opera, their concept album about Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Drive-By Truckers - Outfit
And since I included a Patterson Hood song and a Mike Cooley song, I might as well throw in a Jason Isbell song.
Don't worry 'bout losin' your accent
A Southern man tells better jokes
From Decoration Day
David Banner - Cadillacs on 22's
Banner expresses the same dilemna that haunted Jerry Lee Lewis: "I know I should be singing the Lord's music, but DAMN it feels good to be a gangsta!" I first heard this one on The Oxford American's Southern Music Issue CD two years ago. Hey, their annual music issue is out now, why don't you go pick up a copy? Mississippi: The Album.
Joe Henry - Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation
Epilogue: Richard Pryor died December 10, 2005. George Carlin, the man whose face must be carved next to Richard's on comedy's Mt. Rushmore, joined him on June 22, 2008. This sad, yearning song is either Pryor, as the voice of Black America, addressing the American dream, or Pryor, as the entertainer, despairing of ever catching that dragon of acceptance that performers chase every time they take the stage, or both, or something more. Scar.
Radiohead - Motion Picture Soundtrack
Roll Credits.

Best of the 00's Mix Tape, Side 1

At some point, I'm going to put together a long, multi-part post trying to sum up the last decade, and it will include my top 10 albums, but in the meantime I wanted to do something a little broader about my favorite music of the decade. I couldn't figure out exactly how to do it, then I decided to take some inspiration from Chris at Locust Street, and put together a two-part mixtape of my favorite tracks of The Double-Aughts (that's what I've been calling 'em). For me, this is an iTunes playlist that I've been fiddling with for weeks now, but for the purposes of the blog, each song is a link to the YouTube video, except in a few cases where I couldn't find one for that song, so I've either linked to a similar song from the same artist, or posted the mp3. This is in no way meant to be a definitive list of the best of the decade. In fact, it might not even be a definitive list of my favorites, but it's a great mix of music I've really loved over the past 10 years.

Nortec Collective - Tijuana Bass
Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away
Gogol Bordelo - I Would Never Want to Be Young Again
King Kahn and the Shrines - Land of the Freak
The Polysics - I My Me Mine
Gravytrain - Sippin' 40z
Messer Chups - Au Men
Messer Fur Frau Muller - Funny Man
Coconut Monkeyrocket - The Fad Machine
M.I.A. - Bird Flu
Busdriver - Befriend the Friendless Friendster
Princess Superstar - We Got Panache
Dr. Dre w/Eminem - Forgot About Dre
Aesop Rock - Number 9
The Coup - Cars 'n Shoes
The People Under the Stairs - The L.A. Song
The Heliocentrics - Distant Star w/Percee P and MF Doom
Amon Tobin w/Quadraceptor- Precursor
Madvillain - Strange Ways
Beastie Boys - Oh, Word?
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Parts 1 & 2
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes
The Fiery Furnaces - Up in the North
Beck - Earthquake Weather
Common w/The Last Poets - The Corner
Kanye West - Jesus Walks
Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks

Nortec Collective - Tijuana Bass
The fanfare. Some of Nortec's stuff reminds me of Coconut Monkeyrocket, with the clattering drums and big, colorful samples, except that their samples all come from Mexican music. The Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3
Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away
The mission statement. I thought about starting off with "Fuck or Die" (possibly preceded by this Patton Oswalt routine), but that "Impeach [my] Bush" schtick is kinda dated. And I thought about "Two Guys for Every Girl," but this one seemed like a good party starter. The Teaches of Peaches.
Gogol Bordelo - I Would Never Want to Be Young Again
Well, I've never been checked for fleas at the gates of embassies, but I can relate to the general sentiment: being a grownup is way underrated. Gypsy Punks.
King Kahn and the Shrines - Land of the Freak
If we've learned one thing from this decade, it should be that bad things happen when we let patriotism be conflated with nationalism, militarism, authoritariansim and religious fanaticism. Similarly, why should we let patriotic music be defined by crimes against the earhole like "Proud to be an American," "God Bless the USA" [EDIT: Looking for YouTube links, I just realized those are the same song!], or whatever shit is spewing out of Toby Keith's mouth. Here's a song that celebrates the noncomformist spirit that made our country great. The Supreme Genius of...
The Polysics - I My Me Mine The Polysics are sort of a retro-tribute to early new wave bands like DEVO, but, in the same way that there aren't any rockabilly records that sound like The Cramps, there really isn't anything from the early 80's that sounds much like The Polysics. Their sound is a fetishized idea of what new wave SHOULD sound like, by kids whom I imagine grew up in the 90's, and filtered through the aesthetic of punk rock. These guys are very prolific, but few of their releases are available in the U.S. I got this off the compilation Polysics or Die!, of which there are a couple different versions.
Gravytrain - Sippin' 40z Shame on me! I downloaded this tune off the Kill Rock Stars website long ago, and LOVED IT, but never went back and bought the album, as we all always say we will. It's raunchy and unprofessional in the way that the best rock-n-roll always is, even though it's played on a Cassio keyboard and a cheap drum machine, it mixes punk rock with synth-pop as easily as it mixes gangsta rap lingo with lesbian trash talk, and it's as catchy as all get out. It's on The Menz EP, which appears to be out of print.
Messer Chups - Au Men
Messer Fur Frau Muller - Funny Man
Jason turned me on to these two interconnected Russian bands who explore the same territory as he does with his Coconut Monkeyrocket (although the Messers employ some live instrumentation, usually resembling cheesy surf music, so they're sort of a cross between Coconut Monkeyrocket and Man...Or Astroman?). These guys are ridiculously prolific. They've got a ton of albums, in fact they have a shitload of videos, all in the same "house style," on YouTube. I couldn't find "Au Men" on YouTube, so I linked to "Super Megera" instead, which is just as great. "Funny Man" is less frantic than some of their songs, but so catchy, and definitely their best video. I can't seem to find what album "Au Men" is on, but "Super Megera" is from Vamp Babes, and"Funny Man" is on the out-of-print Devil, Dot & Triangle.
Coconut Monkeyrocket - The Fad Machine
Couldn't find "The Fad Machine" out there, so the video is "Shopping for Explosives." A good song, but not nearly as crazy as something like "The Fad Machine" or "Juicy Jungle" (I chose the former because the bird calls make it a good mix into the next song). If you dig this stuff, please buy the CD from my high school chum and former bandmate Jason Emmett.
M.I.A. - Bird Flu
Once upon a time (starting in the early 90's and continuing to the present), rock critics were predicting that music was about to become more global, and that we would here fusions of international styles bumping from every club DJ. M.I.A. seems to have been created as the fulfillment of these writers' collective fantasies. Obviously, this isn't her most famous song, but I think it's the one that most clearly represents what makes M.I.A. M.I.A. Kala.
Busdriver Befriend the Friendless Friendster
This isn't really my favorite song from this album ("Unemployed Black Astronaut" is much better), but the frantic rapping and gameshow theme beat really work for me. Fear of a Black Tangent.
Princess Superstar - We Got Panache
At the risk of oversharing, this CD has been my go-to disc for gettin' busy for the better part of the decade, so much so that it's actually a little weird to hear it outside the bedroom now. Princess Superstar's sexual politics aren't quite as radical as those of Peaches (in fact, her sex rhymes aren't really any more racy than, say, Missy Elliot's "Work It"), but what she does have that Peaches doesn't is genuine mic skills. I picked this tune over the more obvious choice of "Wet, Wet, Wet" because I love the hook, but also because her rhymes here are just amazing--check out that second verse:
On the case like Steve Case estates like Oprah's place
Savoir faire and grace every hair in place here's a taste no time to waste
Do my makeup in the mirror while I sit up on your face
We paid great and when we don't got dates dig in the crates eat steak and masturbate
Spin wax make tracks we laid laid back, ladies get laid and stay up late at that
Now we getting critical mass sass pinnacle like the citadel not minimal we hospitable
Mad kissable it's difficult aristicral princess for instance we invincible never divisible make
you invisible
Kit in each car Kittens with Kit Kat bars kickin etiquette from Connecticut to Zanzibar
Strip malls to big balls 'n concert halls New York Dolls taggin up bathroom stalls
We All-Stars make folly North down to Raleigh
Follow me suck lollys down in Bali all enthralled dollies arty as Dali
And when Mr. Rodgers calls me? We allowed on his trolley.
Princess Superstar Is...
Dr. Dre w/Eminem - Forgot About Dre
If there's one song that has achieved pop culture immortality this decade, it's not something like "Crazy" or "Hey Ya" or "Single Ladies" or "Hot in Herre". It's not even "Seven Nation Army." It's Eminem's "Lose Yourself," and for a damn good reason. As tedious as Em can be when he's trying to play the character of "Eminem," he can always redeem himself on those rare occasions where he just grabs the mic and starts flowing. His handling of the tongue-twister hook here is a prime example, although I don't want to make it all about Em--Dre absolutely smokes him on his verses. 2001.
Aesop Rock - Number 9
Aesop Rock has one of the most insane and complex rhyme styles I've ever heard. I'm not even sure this is the best example, but I love that jittery beat. Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives.
The Coup - Cars 'n Shoes
Not the most politically radical of their tracks, but it displays the two aspects that really make The Coup special: Boots Riley's sense of humor, and Pam the Funkstress' incredibly funky, wah-wah-smeared beats. Steal This Album.
The People Under the Stairs - The L.A. Song
Cause alot of cats are implants
Claimin' L.A. with something to say and something to prove and
At the shows with the flows and they think the crowds groovin'
Its like the 405 at 5:30: nobodys movin'
Original Sound Tracks.
The Heliocentrics - Distant Star w/Percee P and MF Doom
Percee P is a killer from the golden age who never quite got his props. He recorded a great album this decade with Madlib manning the helm, and here he's paired with the wacked-out Doom to rap over an instrumental cut from the space funk band Heliocentrics. The instro version is on their album Out There, this version can be found on their collection Fallen Angels.
Amon Tobin w/Quadraceptor - Precursor
I think of Amon Tobin as the next step after DJ Shadow, mixing atmospheric hip hop and drum-n-bass sounds with weird jazz and Zappa-esque freakiness. This gurgling cauldron of a song reminds me of a funked-up version of Pink Floyd's "Several Species of Small, Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict."
Madvillain - Strange Ways I'm told that when I was a baby, I couldn't pronounce "triangle." I said "tringle trangle." So for a while, I thought the vocal sample on this song was singing "My heart, my soul, my tringle-trangle." Now I've settled on "My heart could use a swig," but I'm not sure if that's right either. Madvillainy.
Beastie Boys - Oh, Word?
I don't care what you heard
Don't care what you seen
I swear it wasn't me in Bear magazine
Because I'm not that hairy
Au contrary
I go with the flow though the tempo varies
I was disapointed by the delay of Hot Sauce Committee. My favorite band never really hit one out of the park in this decade, but they had some solid base hits on both the instrumental album The Mix-Up and the hip hop album To the Five Boroughs. I never could figure out what that title meant (I know William S. and Edgar Rice, but who are the other three?), but there's the retro-electro sound on this one suits them quite well.
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Parts 1 & 2
The first half of this diptych describes a fantasy where Yoshimi (the female drummer from the Japanese noise band The Boredoms) is a Buffy Summers/Sara Connor figure hired by the city of Tokyo to repel an onslaught of killer robots. The second half is an instrumental score for the battle itself that conjures images of Yoshimi doing flips to avoid the blows of the smashing robot fists!
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes
I'm sure if I devoted the time to listening to this album, eventually the more subtle songs would reveal themselves to me, but I don't really have the patience. The only songs I can really hear are this one, "Brother Sport" and "My Girls," and that last one actually annoys the hell out of me. But this song is just amazing, the way it conjures a restless night brought on by oppressive summer heat, and the way the club-footed iambic pentameter of that hook sinks into your brain. The Fiery Furnaces - Up in the North
There are earworms, and there are Earworms. This is the kind of song that can be stuck in my head for the rest of my life without ever annoying me. Gallowsbird's Bark.
Beck - Earthquake Weather
OK, I've recycled my old post about this song twice now, so I guess I need to come up with something new. I put this and the Common song back to back on a party mix when they came out, and they just flowed so nice. I'm pretty sure they have the same drum sample. Guero.
Common w/The Last Poets - The Corner
We used to roll in an Olds with windows that don't roll
Now we roll in a Rolls suffocating in stoles
OK, that's not actually the line, but wouldn't that be a great concept for a bling video? Common driving a Rolls through Chicago wearing, like, 20 mink stoles?
Kanye West - Jesus Walks
If I had to pick just one, I'd say this is my favorite track of the decade. Everything about it works so well: the marshall beat, punctuated by the three-note vocal hook, the way the gospel vocals drive the rhythm as it builds up to that self-fulfilling wish to hear the track played at the clubs (at least, I assume that wish has been fulfilled--when the fuck have I ever been to a dance club?). The College Dropout.
Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks
And to top it off, here's a nice bit of sampledelia, a bit more laid back than the ones at the front of this mix. Lost Horizons.
I'll post the other half, which is a bit more rock-oriented, tomorrow.

Songs of the (Cold and Flu) Season, Part 18

Pretty much how I feel today.