November ’04 Mix

November 30, 2004

1) If You Knew – The Tigers Have Spoken – Neko Case

Case’s new live album is a placeholder record, but it’s still a wonderful little listen. There’s one line towards the end where she really cuts it loose that comes from out of nowhere and disappears just about as fast.

2) Secretarial – The Slow Wonder – A.C. Newman

Newman opened his show with this jam, which seemed a bit unconventional. The Peter Gunn like bass line and the lilting e-bow line at the end of the chorus are the things that stick for me. Also, the high-part harmony that seems to only sing the last syllable of the word secretarial is pretty great too.

3) If You Want Me – Supernatural Equinox – Outrageous Cherry

Newman closed his show with this cover. I was positive that this power-pop gem was from one of those Nuggets box sets, so I was absolutely SHOCKED to see that this was from an album from 2003. SHOCKED, I say!

4) Vacation – You Know The Rules – The Gay

A.C. Newman’s bass player is in another band called THE GAY. I went and got some Gay just because the band name cracked me up. The band itself is pretty sharp, like Throwing Muses if they came at the songs with a Partridge Family singalong approach.

5) You Should Always Keep In Youch With Your Friends – Tommy – The Wedding Present

Here’s some ancient britpop from a band that rarely seems to be mentioned. The Wedding Present are reunited now too, along with seemingly everyone else.

6) Shake The Sheets – Shake The Sheets – Ted Leo/Pharmacists

Leo’s election anthem is a bit too on the nose at times, but anything that compares the presidential administration a bunch of shit throwing monkeys gets props from me. “How you gonna change the world when the world ain’t ready?”

7) Suspect Device – Inflammable Material – Stiff Little Fingers

Ever since the war started, it has been apparent that protest songs never get old, they just need history to cycle and become relevant again. Ted Leo covered this Stiff Little Fingers number and lyric snippets like “they take our freedom / in the name of liberty” jumped out and made me feel like I was in some kind of time machine.

8) Mystery – Is This Real? – The Wipers

The Wipers were known as a pretty hard band, but this track is their rare foray into poppiness, with reverbed guitars that sound as much like the Jam or the Undertones as anything else.

9) Not a Word – Some Nerve – The Cinema Eye

Robert Duffy told me that I had to listen to the Cinema Eye, that I would really love this band. I’ve only heard this one track, but I do love it. The Cinema Eye seems to have pulled from the exact same influences as Pretty Girls Make Graves, from the Avengers’ like vocals to the rough and tumble guitars and the wonky synth on the bridge. It’d be tempting to call them knockoffs if they weren’t contemporaries.

10) Have Love Will Travel – The Moan – The Black Keys

This is a live version of their Sonics’ cover, with a slightly cranked tempo that pushes out the blues drawl and amps up the boogie. It somehow manages to be 30 seconds shorter than the album version without dropping any verses.

11) Hide and Seek – Peel Sessions 1998 – Brian Jonestown Massacre

The documentary Dig! will try and convince you that the Brian Jonestown Massacre is completely genius, a retro band that pointed squarely to the future. Their live sound is a lot more convincing than their recordings, as the droning triple guitar action is downright tangible.

12) Wake Up – Funeral – The Arcade Fire

Warning: It Band.

13) The Infanta – B-Sides and Rarities – The Decemberists

Anybody that thought they were already too precious and fancilad would best avoid The Infanta, which is nothing but pomp and circumstance and royal tapestries and elephants. Yeah, ELEPHANTS.

14) Cut Your Hair – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain – Pavement

Forget the rest of the song, because all you’ll remember is whoo-ooh-oooh-oooh-ooh. There’s something about hair in there, I think.

15) Tomorrow – Annie – Rivers Cuomo

In case you forgot, Rivers is totally creepy.

Posted in Mixtape