Let’s try a slightly different format this month…
- The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother
- The Strokes – Juicebox
- Mindless Self Indulgence – Mark David Chapman
- The Bug – Poison Dart (Stampin feat. Flowdan)
- Beastie Boys – Alive
- The Prodigy – Run With the Wolves
- Muse – Supermassive Black Hole
- Franz Ferdinand – Ulysses
- Beck – Profanity Prayers
- The Strokes – Red Light
- Shout Out Louds – Impossible
- Four Tet – Smile Around the Face
- Beck – Sexx Laws
- Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks
- The Knife – Heartbeats
- Faded Paper Figures – The Persuaded
- The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
- Animal Collective – My Girls
- Passion Pit – Little Secrets
I actually preferred to put The Dead Weather’s cover of “Forever My Queen”, but I think they’ve only performed that live, and I usually don’t put live tracks on mix discs. How many super-groups can Jack White form during his musical career? Is he like Johnny Appleseed but with rock groups instead of apple trees?
The Stampin feat. Flowdan version of “Poison Dart” is far superior to the original due mainly to Flowdan’s deep, growling vocals. The lyrics for “Poison Dart” are equally incomprehensible to my lyrical-understanding sensibilities to “Skeng”, but they seem to have a little more depth. Basically, “Poison Dart” seems to mention a wider variety of weapons and “military headgear, gloves, and a mask” than “Skeng”. We follow that up with the best Jewish rappers from Brooklyn. I like how they still rap about who they are and the fact that they are, indeed, rapping. Very old skool hip hop.
I may have mentioned it before, but I don’t “get” Muse. I’m not taking the “they ripped off early Radiohead” thing, no. I just don’t understand their wide appeal. I mean, they aren’t bad or anything. They’re technically competent, they come up with decent melodies and such, but I still feel like I’m missing some key ingredient.
I have decided that I like The Strokes. I’m a bit late to that party, but I’ll deal with it.
The Studio remix of Shout Out Louds’ “Impossible” is still better, but the original still has some fun hooks and interesting composition. Surprisingly, the original clocks in at almost 7 minutes, longer than the danceable remix. Not usually the way it works. This fades into “Smile Around the Face”, which I think I like mostly because it sounds like Passion Pit.
I need to listen to more of The Knife. They are special. Another special band? Faded Paper Figures. I found them on Pandora and bought them on CDBaby. This is the internet music scene in action.
I appreciate “Such Great Heights” more with every listen. The interplay between all of the tinkly melodies is entrancing. Similarly hypnotic are the arpeggios on “My Girls”. The unrelenting chants, the sparse percussion, the perpetual build-up, the urgency in tone, and the patience in composition. There’s a lot going on here, and I can see why it took Paul Shirley so many listens.
Arbitrary song of the day: Circulation – Turquoise (differentGear Mix)
