1) Then He Kissed Me – The Best of the Crystals – The Crystals

I could go on and on about pop music in movies, but the really embarrassing thing is that I don’t automatically connect this song to the bravura Copacabana tracking shot in Goodfellas. Nope. This song actually always reminds me of Elisabeth Shue dancing on her bed in the opening scene of Adventures in Babysitting.. There was probably a time where I could recite like 75% of the dialogue from that movie.

2) Send Me a Postcard – Best of Shocking Blue – Shocking Blue

I know virtually nothing of Shocking Blue, other than they were responsible for the original “Venus.” I snagged a copy of this sometime last year because Carrie Brownstein put it on her custom mixtape in Bust magazine, and it’s a total killer. A psychedelic guitar line, crazy bongo breaks and an insanely strong vocal.

3) Train From Kansas City – The Tigers Have Spoken – Neko Case

Case speeds up and countrifies this Shangri-La’s song, giving the train a whole lot of chug and a little bit of choo-choo. I have no idea what that means, but it read pretty well as I typed it, so I’m leaving it in. The song totally rocks though, and as a train song, I’d say it’s better than The Quad City DJ’s “Come On and Ride It (The Train)” but not quite as good as the Monkees “Last Train to Clarksville.”

4) Does He Love You? – More Adventurous – Rilo Kiley

The thing that always blows me away about Jenny Lewis’s singing is her ability to convey serious sadness and longing. Even without the lyrics, you can sense the doom in the song, a love triangle that will end badly for everyone involved. With the lyrics, it’s an absolutely heartstopping ballad of the other woman, from her own tear-drenched point of view.

5) Entertain – Live – Sleater-Kinney

This is actually a repeat from earlier in the year that I’m putting up again because I finally got a decent copy of this song. As far as I can tell, this is a bit of a diss record to rockers that no longer use their position to push progressive politics, becoming mere entertainers. In contrast, our heroes stand defiant and tell the audience if that’s what they want then they can fuck off too. At least, that’s as much as I can tell because Carrie’s straight spitting and Corin’s Stipe-level unintelligible except for a few key phrases.

6) I Can See For Miles – The Who Sell Out – Petra Haden

Yet more Petra Haden this month. If you’ve heard any of Haden’s other 8-track recorder a cappella stuff this won’t surprise you. The awesome parts of this cover are that bizarre low end thrum that she generates and the playful “chk-a-chug” she sings to simulate Pete Townshend’s windmill riffing.

7) L-O-V-E – Good Morning Beautiful – Irving

Earlier I gave Irving the “Bridesmaid Award” since they opened up for both Franz Ferdinand and Arcade Fire for their ridiculously packed Los Angeles debuts. It’s too bad, because they’re a pretty decent band in their own right, and with “L-O-V-E” they do a great job knocking off that old Twist-N-Shout era Beatles formula. The chorus is the kind that you will find yourself humming to yourself despite your best efforts, mostly because spelling in songs is strangely addicting (c.f. Supersonic/JJ Fad).

8) This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) – Radio 3 Session – The Arcade Fire

Speaking of everyone’s New Favorite Band, the Arcade Fire’s standard cover these days is this Talking Heads song. It’s a pretty brave statement to cover the Heads, since everyone thinks they sound like them anyway. Win Butler twists his voice into a pretty close David Byrne impersonation but Regine Chassagne whips out the steel drum for that island feel and the Arcade Fire thankfully subsitute out the original’s date synths for some plinking xylophone punctuated with some sly stringwork.

9) Before Too Long – Complete Recordings – The Donner Party

As far as old Sam Coomes bands go, I dig on the Donner Party a whole lot more than Heatmiser, which I think is contrary to popular opinion. Popular being a pretty forgiving term, as the number of folks that have listened to Donner Party/Heatmiser/Quasi is maybe a thousand? Anyhow, the first song published Donner Party song ever is my favorite, because it sounds like Reckoning-era R.E.M., all jangly and incomprehensible.

10) Homemade Bombs In The Afternoon – Matador at 15 – A.C. Newman

Compared to the rest of Slow Wonder, this track really does feel like a B-Side, lacking the polish that Newman’s songs generally have. Still, there’s lots of great ideas going on, from Newman’s falsetto to that weird buzzing noise that sounds like a backwards-masked guitar line and that little section in the pre-bridge where the drums lock in with the start and stop melody.

11) I’ve Been Thinking – White People – Handsome Boy Modeling School w/Cat Power

If you’ve heard Cat Power ever do her Mary J Blige cover or see her do “The Real Slimshady” at karaoke, you know that Chan Marshall’s got a little hip-hop in her, slinking below the surface of all that sadcore. Given a chance, Marshall totally knocks it out of the park with a smoky performance that burns like a slow drink of whiskey. The middle section where she talks and sorta raps is probably pushing the boundaries of her street cred, though. Caveat: the rest of this album really blows. Sorry Automator, Sorry Mr. Paul.

12) 1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Two Letter Words – Richard Thompson

This is my favorite Richard Thompson song, probably one of my favorite songs by anybody, really. First off, the guitar playing is otherworldly, especially live, where Thompson plays the song at a quicker pace and never hits a bum note. And yes, that is one guitar, fingerpicked to an inch of its life. Besides the magnificent playing, there’s a wonderful ballad here; a heartbreaking story of love and loss for star-crossed motorcycle riders, James and Red Molly, Shakespearean tragedy in black leather.

13) Sing For Me – EP – Fiery Furnaces

The dude in Fiery Furnaces (Matt Friedberger) sings… FOR ME! OK, not quite for me. I do wish he would sing more though, as his solo work here has a wonderfully casual appeal wrapped around the musicbox piano work and the lullaby of a melody.

14) The Way I Feel Inside – The Life Aquatic – The Zombies

When this song plays during the [PIVOTAL PLOT POINT] scene in The Life Aquatic I thought it was a Nico song. Which is pretty funny when you realize the Zombies are a bunch of dudes. It is beautifully used in the film, but I can’t really talk about it without getting tons and tons of hate mail for those people that haven’t seen it.

15) The Spirit of Radio – Morning Sedition – Ted Leo

I just tacked this on because it really made me laugh. Ted Leo’s actually pretty good at this Rush cover, but he’s also pretty bad in some parts and the whole of it is kind of hilarious.

Posted in Mixtape 2 Comments »

Yup. I saw Life Aquatic and you didn’t. It was great too. The only bad thing was that I didn’t win one of them snazzy red Zissou beanies. The all-acoustic David Bowie in Portuguese soundtrack is particularly perfect.

The only other movie I’ve seen this year that I liked as much was Sideways, the bachelor road trip comedy that takes all the wrong turns for its protagonists. I’m not a big oenophile but I don’t think it matters when Paul Giamatti’s ranting and raving and guzzling spittoons full of merlot. Sideways also sports the best use of male full-frontal nudity in a film.

In terms of lesser lights, House of Flying Daggers was probably the biggest disappointment this year. The first hour is a wondrous pageant of iron and silk and then it really falls apart. It was like flipping on the international channel and seeing dudes with swords and pajamas and thinking there’s going to be this awesome fight sequence but they really just stand around and talk because it’s a low-budget soap opera. Then you’re just left sitting there saying “man, fuck the international channel.”

What else? Um, Incredibles was rad but not as good as Iron Giant, which is one of maybe five films that actually make me cry. National Treasure isn’t as bad as you think but it’s still pretty damn awful.

I’m heading to an Arcade Fire show tonight but the only thing I can think about is that I’m going to miss Amazing Race because I’ll be TiVoing Veronica Mars instead. How’s that for TV anxiety?

Posted in Moving Pictures 5 Comments »