november 2002
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 and keep the mix club going.
1. 1000 Times / Tahiti 80. On Wallpaper for the Soul (2002). I love these guys -- terrific '60s/psych-influenced guys from France. Great concert (9/10/00) of theirs streaming from DCN. Someone once tried to slag them in a review as "the French version of the Cardigans" -- as if that wouldn't be the best thing in the world!
2. Bandages / Hot Hot Heat. On Make Up the Breakdown (2002). The latest hot New York City scene band -- er, except they're from Vancouver. It's nice to hear a band be excited about bringing the rock.
3. Shoot The Singer (1 Sick Verse) / Pavement. On Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe & Redux (2002). Here's a must have, even if you have the original album from 1992. This is the 10-year-anniversary reissue, with a mind-bending 34 bonus tracks on 2 CDs. And the outtakes are really strong -- often better than the main CD, which is saying something, since it's one of the acknowledged classics of the '90s. (Plus, you can't beat the $13 price for two great discs.) "Shoot the Singer" originally appeared on the Watery, Domestic EP in 1992.
4. A Year Ahead)...& A Light / Richard Buckner. On Impasse (2002). From his new album, which is so-so. I think Since, his classic, has ruined me for future releases. Concert highlight of the recent past: seeing a drunken Buckner get on stage with Calexico and play a cover of Tom Petty's The Waiting ("The waaaaaayyy-tin' is the hardest part").
5. Jungle Gym / Dealership. On Secret American Livingroom (1998). They're a happy little cuddlecore band from San Francisco.
6. I Have the Password to Your Shell Account / Barcelona. On Zero One Infinity (2000). Even Unix geeks need a little pop sensation now and then. The heartwarming tale of a spurned girl using her hacker skillz to get back at a boy.
7. Worked Up So Sexual / The Faint. On Blank-wave Arcade (1999). Omaha's new wave bootyshakers.
8. Pounding / Doves. On The Last Broadcast (2002). I didn't get as into these guys as some of the Doves millennialists did, but there's plenty of talent here.
9. Sometimes / James. On The Best of James (1998). Never as big in the USofA as Mother England, but that's really our loss. You may remember the quasi-novelty hit "Laid" from a few years back. A very worthwhile compilation.
10. Hypnotist / Lullaby For the Working Class. On I Never Even Asked for Light (1997). I first heard about them when I saw them compared to American Music Club. Another Nebraska band -- two on one mix, a new record!
11. 405 (Acoustic) / Death Cab For Cutie. On Forbidden Love EP (2000). I typically avoid repeating artists from month to month, but I've been on a Death Cab binge of late. ("Photobooth," also from this EP, led off last month's mix.) The original version of the track is on the excellent We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes.
12. The Ballad of El Goodo / Evan Dando. On Empire Records Soundtrack (1995). This mix was feeling a little too contemporary, so here's a seven-year-old cover of a 30-year-old song, by seminal power-poppers Big Star. If you don't have it already, #1 Record/Radio City, the reissue of Big Star's first two albums, is another must own.
13. If You're Feeling Sinister / Belle & Sebastian. On If You're Feeling Sinister (1999). Annoying in large doses, great in gelcap form.
14. Accident / Clem Snide. On You Were a Diamond (2002). This song wasn't actually on the original release of the album, but it's a bonus track on the reissue. (Lots of reissues this month, it seems.) A great example of Eef Barzelay's brand of tragic Southern gothic, made all the more amusing by the band's Brooklyn Zip code.
15. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction / Cat Power. On The Covers Record (2000). Chan Marshall's one-woman band. The Rolling Stones did the original, of course.
16. Cape Canaveral / American Music Club. On San Francisco (1994). The final album before the breakup. It's mostly too polished and commercialized for my tastes, but this is such a great, dark torch song. Such great lyrics: "Like the hunger that you always have to feed / Like when Don Rickles' spotlight goes blue."
17. Caspian Can Wait / The Velvet Teen. On Out of the Fierce Parade (2002). Don't know much about 'em -- from San Francisco. And produced by Chris Walla, guitarist of...the ubiquitous Death Cab for Cutie!
18. Ms. Fat Booty / Mos Def. On Black on Both Sides (1999). I keep waiting for the followup album. Of course, Mighty Mos has been busy, getting rave reviews acting in one of Broadway's hottest tickets.
19. Sandwiches (Krafty Kuts Toasted Mix) / Detroit Grand Pubahs. On Sandwiches (2000). For a laugh.
20. You're Pretty Good Looking / The White Stripes. Originally on De Stijl (2000); recorded live at Ireland's Witness Festival, August 5, 2001. The sort of stripped-down propulsion the Stripes are best at.
21. (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan / Dntel. On Life is Full of Possibilities (2001). Dntel is Jimmy Tamborello's glitch electronic project, which the critics looooved, but I found a little underwhelming. This track, though, is great. Who's that guest vocalist? Oh my, it's Ben Gibbard, vocalist and songwriter for Death Cab for Cutie! (Those who like this will probably enjoy The Postal Service, a Tamborello/Gibbard project set to drop in February.)
