march 2003
Sniff, sniff...the final mix.
If you've heard this month's mix, please leave a comment -- what you liked, what you didn't -- at the bottom of the page. Album links are to Amazon; if you like something, consider buying via that link so I get a cut.
Here are the disc's liner notes in PDF (83k), if you want to see things in color.
Hey, you! Want some new music? Check out this web site: Swappingtons. It's a place to give away the CDs, books, and DVDs you don't want any more and in turn get some new stuff you do want. I've gotten eight CDs this way, some of which ended up contributing tracks to mixes. It's all free, run by a good guy who's running it as a community service. So here's the favor I'm asking of all of you: Go sign up. And when you do, be sure to list me as the guy who referred you there (my username is jbenton). If you do, I get more CDs, and everybody wins. Merci beaucoup. On to the mix...
1. Best of My Love / The Emotions. On Boogie Nights: Music From The Original Motion Picture) (1997). The last mix starts off with disco power. I've been listening to the Boogie Nights soundtrack an awful lot lately. (By the way, boo hiss to some crappy Texas act stealing their name.)
2. If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart / Beulah. On When Your Heartstrings Break (1999). Beulah strictly adheres to the Songwriter's Principle No. 236: When in doubt, just put in more horns. Webcasts here.
3. Kung Fu Reference / Ass Ponys. On Lohio (2001). They're from Cincinnati (originally, at least). Used to hang with the Afghan Whigs. If the Barenaked Ladies were about 20 IQ points smarter and about 40 percent less annoying, they'd be the Ass Ponys, who stick their toes into the novelty pool but avoid getting soaked.
4. Everybody Lets Me Down / J Mascis + The Fog. On Free So Free (2002). If you would have told me 16 months ago that I would have found room to squeeze two J Mascis tracks onto these mixes, I would have slapped you silly. But true! MP3 here. Hilariously amateurish video here (6.8 meg version, 2.2 meg version). Get a haircut, J!
5. This is the Glam / New Wet Kojak. On This Is the Glamorous (2003). New Wet Kojak is the side project of several members of Girls Against Boys. They passed GVSB a couple albums ago; this jazz/electronic-influenced disc's terrific.
6. Brand New Colony / The Postal Service. On Give Up (2003). Couldn't have a final CDMOM mix without Ben Gibbard, could we? Ben's the leader of Death Cab for Cutie, and the Postal Service is his glitch-pop collaboration with Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello. For those scoring at home, this makes six Ben Gibbard tracks on CDMOM mixes -- four Death Cabs, one Dntel track, and this.)
7. Never Let You Live It Down / The Flashing Lights. On Where the Change Is (2000). First of four Canadian tracks on the final mix, in honor of this month's 17 Canadian traders. The Flashing Lights are led by Matt Murphy, ex-Super Friendz. They're great live, too -- loud and energetic in all the best ways. Not sure what's up with them, though, since the Super Friendz are evidently reuniting. (CanRock cred note: This song's a bonus track on the U.S. release. Native Nova Scotians and other owners of the original Canadian release will have to do what I did -- download it somewhere online.)
8. Oh My Soul! / Thrush Hermit. On Clayton Park (1999). Another of the great Nova Scotia bands of the mid-1990s. Lead singer Joel Plaskett now leads the Joel Plaskett Emergency. He recently sold his car online. This is not a cover of Big Star's "O My Soul."
9. Across the Wire / Calexico. On Feast of Wire (2003). Their new album. Their live presence, which borders on jaw-dropping, will always edge out their studio stuff for me. But it's a very solid disc. Lots of MP3s here. People ask me what new bands I discovered via CDMOM -- this is one that's soared to the top of my mental band list.
10. We've Been Had / The Walkmen. On Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone (2002). You probably recognize it as "that song from the Saturn Ion commercial." It's amazing how strange songs like this one can be judged worthy of commercials, but never ever get played on the radio. The Walkmen are all the members of Jonathan Fire Eater (minus the vocalist). They're a bunch of rich kids, so they own a studio in NYC -- which means they get to take all the time they want to play around with weird toy-piano samples like this song's hook. A gloriously strange album -- but glorious nonetheless.
11. Mr. Weatherman / Call & Response. On Call & Response (2001). "Come along! Let's welcome in the springtime together!" A happily seasonal song.
12. I'm Not Bitter / The Minus 5. On Down with Wilco (2003). My Scott McCaughey fandom has clearly grown in the last few months -- recent mixes have featured two tracks by his other band, the Young Fresh Fellows, and now this from the Minus 5. The 5 has a constantly rotating membership -- apparently it's now Peter Buck from R.E.M., all the members of Wilco, and Scott. (All of the above minus Buck are currently touring.) You can also find this (as I did) on the Yep Roc Records' "Fortune Cookie 2003" sampler, which retails for 99 cents in the stores I've seen and also features Caitlin Cary, Chris Stamey, Doyle Bramhall, the Sadies, Nick Lowe, and Los Strait Jackets.
13. Take Courage / Mark Eitzel. On The Ugly American (2003). (Notice the link is to amazon.co.uk -- they sell this a lot cheaper than the U.S. Amazon, even considering the extra postage.) This Europe-only release has Mark (ex-American Music Club) singing old AMC songs with a traditional Greek band. Lots of bouzoukis. It could have been awful; instead, it's my favorite Eitzel album in years. The original version of this song was actually a semi-rare Eitzel solo track, released in 1990 as a Matador 7". It's more often heard in the live version on Songs of Love Live (1991).
14. Everything Must Go! / The Weakerthans. On Left & Leaving (2000). I'm glad they've stepped back the Marxist rhetoric and started writing songs about actual human emotions. John K. Samson is a very literate rock star (well, if a guy from Winnipeg can be considered a rock star) -- his lyrics read better as prose than most.
15. Evil Thoughts / Jim Guthrie. On Morning Noon Night (2002). Guthrie's in Royal City, the epicenter of the (huge! gynormous! hugegantic!) scene in Guelph, Ontario. True fact: The basic tracks on this album were programmed using a Playstation.
16. Numbers / Smoke City. On Brasil 2mil (1999). Sounds like a Brazilian marching band to me. Love those drums and that serpentine bass.
17. Ed Ames / Pavement. On Slanted and Enchanted (1992). Pavement noir, I suppose -- the ghost of Philip Marlowe looms large. This is off the S+E two-disc reissue from last year, which (to repeat myself) every person reading this should own.
18. Shine On Me / The Wondermints. On Mind If We Make Love to You (2002). The Wondermints often serve as Brian Wilson's backing band on tour. So yes, they've got that sunny Beach Boys vibe you'd expect.
19. Uncontrollable Urge / Devo. On Urgh! A Music War (1981). When I was in a short-lived band a year ago -- so short-lived we never even bothered to come up with a name -- this was one of the first songs we played. Easy chords for a guitar neophyte like me.
20. Emergency / DJ Shadow Presents. On Schoolhouse Funk (2000). I'm sure DJ Shadow is breaking laws with this release, but who cares? This is from his compilation of '70s and '80s high school and college bands at traditionally black schools. Just raw, straight marching band funk. Absolute greatness. It was a limited edition release, so the only place I've ever seen it is on eMusic at the link above.
21. God Only Knows / The Beach Boys. On Pet Sounds (1966). I had to close with a classic. I hope it send good vibes to all of you. If you're ever in Dallas, the first beer's on me.
