may 2002
If you're here, you must have a copy of my May mix. Please leave your comment on the mix -- 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 and keep the mix club going.
1. Metal Fingers In My Body / Add N to (X). On Avant Hard (1999). The most rockish track from this analog electronic act from the U.K. They've got a great web site (nice use of Flash, for a change); you can check out this song's video there (click on the hexagon, then on Archives). Warning: the video is involves robot-human sex, so it probably shouldn't be viewed at work.
2. Nicholas Ray / Sea Ray. On Reveal EP (2002). Sea Ray is an unsigned Brooklyn band; I knew two of its members in college. You'll be hearing more from them soon enough. Buy their EP; it's only $6. (If you're cheap, you can download all the MP3s of the EP on their site. But come on! Support indie rock! Yo!)
3. The Guestlist/The Execution / Spoon. On A Series of Sneaks (1998). I got the track name wrong on the CDs I sent out; so sue me. A fun track from a great album; this and (especially) their followup Girls Can Tell should be in any good record collection. The best band in Texas today.
4. Mais Feliz (Monoaural remix) / Bebel Gilberto. On Tanto Tempo Remixes (2001). Purchased at a sketchy store in Japan. Bebel's the daughter of bossa nova kind Joao Gilberto; Monoaural is a Brazilian producing duo.
5. The Curse of Having It All / Quasi. On The Sword of God (2001). A nice indie-rock duo from Oregon; she (Janet Weiss) is also the drummer for Sleater-Kinney. (They're also ex-husband-and-wife.)
6. Artificial Light / Rainer Maria. On A Better Version of Me (2001). Man, if I were still in college, I would have such a crush on Caithlin de Marrais, the bassist/vocalist. Cute, talented, Indie Rock with a Capital I-R, and just a wee bit too intellectual (come on, who names a rock band for a wussy Austro-Hungarian poet?)
7. Sir Prize / The Starlight Mints. On The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of (2001). Orchestral-pop band from Oklahoma.
8. Come Clean / The Super Friendz. On Mock Up/Scale Down (1997). When future cultural historians sift through the detritus of the 20th century, one of the era's great black marks will be that this fine, fine band of Nova Scotians never got the proper attention they deserved. This is a great, great album, all sunny hooks and fun guitars. It just makes me happy every time I give it a listen. (Ex-Super Friendz are now in the Flashing Lights [woo hoo!] and Neusiland [eh].)
9. Hewlett's Daughter / Grandaddy. On The Sophtware Slump (2000). Grandaddy is the most overhyped, overrated indie phenomenon in years. They're terribly boring. That said, I like this and one other track on the album ("The Crystal Lake") quite a bit.
10. Penthouse in the Woods / Scud Mountain Boys. On Massachusetts (1996). If you like alt-country, this album's another must-have. If the lead singer seems familiar to repeat CD Mix traders, it's Joe Pernice, who had a solo track on the April mix.
11. Your Retro Career Melted / The Faint. On Danse Macabre (2001). I feel a little bad for liking these guys so much, but their neo-new-wave makes me wish I was old enough to go out dancing in 1983. From Omaha, of all places. I think they're going to blow up big after their current tour opening for No Doubt (of all people). They're brutal and amazing live.
12. Black Champagne / Luna. On Romantica (2002). I didn't think he had it in him, but lead Luna Dean Wareham has put together another very strong album. (The first three Luna albums, Lunapark, Bewitched, and Penthouse, are absolute classics. They lost their way a bit after that, but this is a return to form.)
13. Ditch Digger / Anne Summers. On Very Classy (2000). Come on -- $4 on Amazon. This D.C. band seems to have died without a trace, but I like their old-school Elvis Costello sound. Another album with a high fun quotient.
14. Waiting By the Phone / Baby Lemonade. On Exploring Music (1998). I actually called these guys "the best young pop band in America" in a published review once. (I used to be very liberal with my praise.) It's still a pretty good disc if you like your power-pop uncut.
15. A Love From Outer Space / Tahiti 80. On Extra Pieces (2001). Now this is a band I can get behind. They're French, which is why the lead singer Xavier Boyer can get away with sounding like the world's most naive 12-year-old. It's an utterly charming schtick, though, and this EP and the preceding album Puzzle (get it? Extra pieces? Puzzle? heh) are pointing toward greatness.
16. Exit Music (For a Film) / Brad Meldau. On KCRW: Morning Becomes Eclectic (1999). A live version from a radio show. Indisputably the best solo-piano cover of a Radiohead song.
17. Give It Up Turn It Loose / James Brown. On 20 All-Time Greatest Hits! (1991). Do you realize what a genius this man is? A damned genius, I tell you. I saw a review online that compared this song to Stravinsky; we're talking that level of genius. Once in a while, sit down in a comfy chair, close your eyes, and just contemplate the genius of James Brown. You'll wake up refreshed.
18. Mashin' On the Motorway / DJ Shadow. On Private Press (2002). The CD hasn't been released yet, but it sounds...okay. Not as as great as Endtroducing... (1996), which I'd rank in the top 10 of the 1990s, but okay. That's Blackalicious' Gift of Gab on vocals. (Blackalicious' new album is better than Shadow's. So was their last one.)
19. Talk About the Passion / Samson & the Philistines. On Surprise Your Pig (1992). Because every once in a while, you just need an R.E.M. classic sung in Italian. From the bizarre tribute album Surprise Your Pig, which features some pretty good bands (Jawbox, Vic Chestnutt, Gumball) and a lot of crap. It's worth tracking down, though, just for the Tesco Vee's Hate Police death metal cover of "Losing My Religion."
