January ’05 Mix

January 30, 2005

1) Romantic Rights – You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine – Death From Above 1979

With just a drummer and a bassist, DFA1979 sounds a like Lightning Bolt if they decided to be a disco band. It works, although if I go a year without hearing hyperactive hihats, it will not be long enough.

2) Frug – Initial Friend EP – Rilo Kiley

The first song from the first Rilo Kiley ep is so cute it’s almost a novelty track. For the record: I cannot do the frug, freddy or smurf, but I can do the robocop.

3) This Isn’t It – Lemona – Giant Drag

I’ve heard Annie Hardy throws a fit if you compare her to Kim Deal… so I won’t.

4) Everyone Comes Here – Demo EP – Vagenius

With a keytar and high spiky hair, I think Vagenius might be too 80′s at times. This track is vaguely Metric-ish, and suitably nails down the LA dream: “I want to be a star, like my friends all are.”

5) All Grown Up – Bespoke Songs, Lost Dogs, Detours and Rendesvouz – Tasmin Archer

Elvis Costello’s songwriting sometimes outstrips his vocal talent, so it’s nice to hear someone like Tasmin Archer give a torchy reading to some of Costello’s greatest lines. “You see, you’re still so young / you haven’t the earned the weariness / that sounds so jaded on your tongue.”

6) Humming One of Your Songs – Independent Sweden – Ane Brun

This was one of Duffy’s picks when we did our joint podcast. It’s a tad repetitive but it does have a creepy knack for getting in my head.

7) Eli, The Barrow Boy – Picaresque – The Decemberists

Eli’s the track that connects the Decemberists in my head to the early southern gothic tunes of R.E.M. It’s sort of a combo of Wendell Gee and Swan Swan H, except that you can understand the words.

8) Intervention – Morning Becomes Eclectic – The Arcade Fire

Since this was performed on MBE, it’s acoustic and spare… I’d imagine the eventual album version to have that built-up wall of noise that the Arcade Fire has done so well.

9) Jack the Ripper – Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey – Colin Meloy

The admittedly self-indulgent “Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey” EP plays better than you would think. I’ve never even heard the original, but at the solo show, Meloy’s reading of “Your face is as mean / as your life has been” just reached out and slapped me.

10) Don’t Wanna Be Like That – I’m the Man – Joe Jackson