october 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. Photobooth / Death Cab For Cutie. On Forbidden Love EP (2000). Since I mentioned Death Cab in my email to this month's avalanche of new signees, I might as well start off with a track from the favorite sons of Bellingham, Wash. Love that Casio drum track.
2. Pillow / Capitol K. On Island Row (2002). Another damned Brit knob-twiddler...I swear, if those techno freaks keep making records, they're going to take all the jobs away from good, honest, guitar-slinging Yanks. Still, he sure twiddles those knobs all purty-like.
3. Set It Off / Strafe. On The Perfect Beats, Volume 2 (1998). If you like early-80s electro dance music -- and seriously, who doesn't? -- I can't recommend The Perfect Beats four-disc set highly enough. You can almost smell the cocaine on every track! Those of us too young to be dancing in Midtown in 1982 probably know this song best for inspiring those classic C+C Music Factory lines: "Let's get this party started, right? Let's get this party started quickly -- right?"
4. PDA / Interpol. On Turn On the Bright Lights (2002). From the early 1980s NYC underground to the early 2000s NYC underground. It's easy to dismiss these guys as Joy Division wannabes, as the music press seems to be doing, but this is a worthy album -- perhaps my favorite of the current NYC bunch.
5. The First Big Weekend / Arab Strap. On The Week Never Starts Round Here (1997). Everybody needs a little Scottish monologue once in a while.
6. Feel This Flow / Golden. On Apollo Stars (2002). Golden features members of Trans Am and Six Finger Satellite, among others. I saw someone describe this as a mix of Afro-beat and Southern boogie, like Fela and ZZ Top playing together. Sounds about right to me.
7. Natural Disasters / Enon. On High Society (2002). Enon sprung from the remnants of Ohio's Brainiac. Always worth seeing live if you get a chance.
8. Stray / Calexico. On Scraping (2002). If you have not yet been converted to the faith of Calexico, get thee to the proverbial nunnery! The best thing to come out of Tucson since, well, whatever was the previous best thing to come out of Tucson. This tour-only CD can be ordered from their web site.
9. Mr. Spaceman / Velvet Crush. On A Single Odessey (2001). Great cover of the Byrds classic by Providence's finest. And yeah, they know the album title's misspelled.
10. Friction / Television. On Marquee Moon (1977). While we're talking NYC underground, might as well bring up these CBGB vets.
11. Thought I Was / Rainer Maria. On A Better Version Of Me (2001). I bought this in Toronto a couple months ago and listened to it on the drive from there to Detroit Rock City. As a result, this song will always evoke endless flat Ontarian plains for me.
12. Lafitte, Don't Fail Me Now / Spoon. On Rarities Disc 2 (2001). Austin's best band. This is a semi-rarity, from the Saddle Creek single that came out between the classic A Series of Sneaks and the classic Girls Can Tell, both of which should be in your record collection. The single's two songs (this and "The Agony of Lafitte") were both aimed at Elektra A&R man Ron Lafitte, who apparently screwed the boys over. (This is from a rarites comp put together by the Spoon Yahoo group.)
13. The Empty Page / Sonic Youth. On Murray Street (2002). Lots of New York City on this mix, if you hadn't noticed. All those Daily Candy readers must be subliminally influencing me. Scary.
14. Revelry / Sea Ray. On Revelry EP (2002). I've hyped up these guys before, but I'm telling you: they are the future. NYC listeners, go to their shows. Sea Ray makes beautiful music, and I'm not just saying that because I went to college with a couple of its members. MP3s available at their web site.
15. Field Of Fire / For Stars. On For Stars (1998). San Francisco weepies in the classic Low/Spain mold. Rest of the album's pretty weak.
16. Section 9 / The Polyphonic Spree. On The Beginning Stages Of... (2002). It's been a while since any band from Dallas earned even a sliver of the national spotlight. The Old 97s don't really count; Bedhead never got past the Inner Critical Circle. What, Drowning Pool? The Toadies? Anyway, the Spree's Jim Jones-style symphonic pop seems to have pleased the critical powers that be -- we'll see if it gets beyond that. Bonus CD Mix of the Month Club note: many of the songs featured on this and other mixes were purchased at Good Records, the record shop owned by the Spree and Spree-aligned forces.
17. Sunkeneyed Girl / Mike Doughty. On Smofe + Stang (2002). A live album from the former Soul Coughing frontman (available from his web site -- limited quantities, people, order now!). Doughty proves himself a quick acoustic wit, with a particularly memorable riff on what his episode of MTV Cribs will be like.
18. Man In a Suitcase / The Police. On Zenyatta Mondatta (1980). Remember how good this album was? It's still that damned good.
19. Strawberry Letter 23 / Shuggie Otis. On Inspiration Information (1971). A forgotten soul classic, currently being revived by a global hipster cartel.
