October 31, 20071) Polite Dance Song - Please Clap Your Hands - The Bird And The Bee
This track skirts the edge of novelty with Inara George chanting out every dance floor cliche in a dreamy pop backdrop, like Zero 7 doing a booty anthem. It’s funny and charming but also slyly sensual.
2) Roman Statues - Fables - Immaculate Machine
Kathryn Calder’s vocal star again for Immaculate Machine, but bandmate Brooke Gallupe gets the best line, “Sell off your statues under the table / let all your stories turn in to fables…” The Immaculate Machine only achieves greatness occassionally, but they reach for it often.
3) Black - Black Sheep Boy - Okkervil River
Wow. Passive listens at Okkervil River really don’t do the lyrical work any justice. In “Black,” the singer tries to get through to a child abduction survivor, promising bloody revenge and only getting a blank stare in return. Will Scheff sing lines like “Though I tell you, like before, that you should wreck his life the way that he wrecked yours, you want no part of his life anymore” until his throat is completely raw.
4) You Don’t Know Me At All - The Scene of the Crime - Bettye Lavette
Lavette’s soulful sass makes even Don Henley songs sound rough and tough.
5) Highway 61 Revisited - I’m Not There - Karen O & The Million Dollar Bashers
It’s less intense and more whimsical than PJ Harvey’s landmark take, and a totally rollicking good time. The Million Dollar Bashers (Nels Cline, Lee Renaldo, Steve Shelley, Tony Garnier, John Medeski and Smokey Hormel) are a a ridiculously good house band.
6) Hard Sun - Music for the Motion Picture Into the Wild - Eddie Vedder
Pretty standard Eddie Vedder cover song, but check out Corin Tucker on backing vocals.
7) Life And How To Live It (Live) - And I Feel Fine - R.E.M.
Stashed away on the 2nd disc of their IRS years retrospective, this live track captures the band in fine mid 80’s form, including one of my favorite pre-song anecdotes. Mysterious, enigmatic and absolutely entrancing… and man, Bill Berry sounds good behind the kit.
8) Marry Song - Cease To Begin - Band Of Horses
I can’t imagine this song anywhere near a wedding anywhere. I can’t quite make out the lyrics but I’d say it’s 50/50 that it’s about stabing someone.
9) All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth - Challengers - New Pornographers
This is one of those New Pornographers where they pretty much toss all their paint on the wall and see what shakes out. It’s an absolute cacophony, with little bits of melody peeking from under the covers. Those last few sentences were written by my Mixed Metaphor Machine. Thanks!
10) Bleeding Powers - Shake the Sheets - Ted Leo / Pharmacists
I think it’s really funny when Ted Leo sings in falsetto.
11) Eve of Destruction - Charm School - Bishop Allen
“And I tell you over and over and over again, my friend
That I’m down with you, even on the eve of destruction.” The indie apocalypse will end with awkwardly appropriated slang.
12) Girls In Their Summer Clothes - Magic - Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen doesn’t wow me much anymore, but there is something comforting about his ability to create an instantly nostalgic sense of time and place. One listen through and you can visualize every single lyric.
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