iTunes Shuffle 12/27/13

1. Churches - "Katie"
2. Pomegranates - "50's"
3. Aimee Mann - "That's Just What You Are"
4. Jeff Buckley - "Dream Brother" (live at the Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans)
5. Florence + The Machine - "No Light, No Light"
6. Bush - "Swallowed"
7. Oh No Oh My - "Walking Into Me"
8. Jay Brannan - "Home"
9. Vashti Bunyan - "17 Pink Sugar Elephants"
10. Colorfeels - "Pushover"

Last shuffle of the year, and it's got some great stuff. Aimee Mann, Jeff Buckley, Florence, Bush -- all pretty well known stuff. The Aimee song is one of my favorites. The Churches song (as opposed to CHVRCHES, which is different) sounds like it was plucked out of 1994, which is a good thing in my opinion. The Pomegranates and Oh No Oh My songs are just solid, lovely indie rock. And Vashti Bunyan was one of the great undiscovered folk acts of the '60s, so undiscovered in fact that she basically went on a 50 year hiatus from the industry. Now people respect her.

Songs unavailable on Spotify are in YouTube or BandCamp form below, and also the playlist:

iTunes Shuffle 12/20/13

1. Nada Surf - "Waiting For Something"
2. Palenke Soultribe (ft. Sr. Mendez) - "Te Veo"
3. Vampire Weekend - "One (Blake's Got A New Face)"
4. Middle Brother - "Middle Brother"
5. Marissa Nadler - "Salutations In The Dark"
6. Death Cab For Cutie - "Cath"
7. Trick Pony - "Hillbilly Blues"
8. Dax Riggs - "Lungs"
9. Gardel / Le Pera (composers) - "Por una Cabeza" (dance mix) (Carlos Gardel cover)
10. Takka Takka - "You And Universe"

Another great, weird mix. Palenke Soultribe is Mexican indie music, Middle Brother is great country indie, Marissa Nadler is always wonderful, Death Cab makes me happy and the Dax Riggs cover is stunning. Songs not available on Spotify in YouTube form, then the Spotify playlist for the rest.

iTunes Shuffle 12/13/13

1. Black Fiction - "Let's Go Underground"
2. Tova Rinah and The Way Home - "Walkin' A Fine Line"
3. Marissa Nadler - "Diamond Heart"
4. Billie Holiday - "I Wished On The Moon"
5. The Laurels - "Traversing The Universe"
6. Dawn Landes - "The Loveliest Of Trees"
7. Bill Baird - "Death Suite"
8. Badar Ali Khan - "Black Night" (DJ Baba G & Dan The Automator Remix)
9. AlunaGeorge - "Your Drums, Your Love"
10. Richard Hawley - "Leave Your Body Behind You"

All over the place and all great. Highlights are the Marissa Nadler, the Billie Holiday, the AlunaGeorge and especially the Richard Hawley. The Bill Baird is mesmerizing. The Dawn Landes is beautiful. Really, all worth it. Things not available on Spotify in YouTube form...and that's a lot this time because this mix is fucking obscure.

iTunes Shuffle 12/6/13

1. Ani DiFranco - "Bliss Like This"
2. The Flying Burrito Brothers - "Juanita"
3. Fiona Apple - "Werewolf"
4. Anika - "Officer Officer"
5. The Twilight Sad - "That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy" (Recomposed By Ensemble)
6. Dom McLennon - "Vanessa"
7. Iron And Wine - "Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car"
8. Hoodie Allen - "Joy & Misery"
9. UNKLE ft. Gavin Clark - "Blade In The Back"
10. Cheyenne Marie Mize - "It Lingers"

What a great mix. Highlights: Ani DiFranco, Fiona Apple, the Twilight Sad, Iron and Wine, Cheyenne Marie Mize.

Spotify playlist below, but the two hip-hop tracks are not on Spotify, so they're in YouTube form below:

iTunes Shuffle 11/29/13

1. Beethoven: Symphony #2 In D, Op. 36 - 2. Larghetto (George Szell / Cleveland Orchestra)
2. Sons Of Fathers - "The Country"
3. The Besnard Lakes - "Albatross"
4. Arthur Russell - "Another Thought"
5. Lara Landon - "Falling"
6. Amy Stroup - "Quiet Hearts"
7. Andre Williams & The Goldstars - "Bacon Fat"
8. Oberhofer - "Away Frm U"
9. Atari Teenage Riot - "Too Dead For Me"
10. Anywhere ft. Rachel Fannan - "Rosa Rugosa"

A week behind, but what a mix. The Beethoven is perfect, The Besnard Lakes make beautiful, epic music. Amy Stroup is Katie Herzig but not. Oberhofer and Anywhere are lovely. The Atari Teenage Riot track I hated at first, but its noise grew on me. AND Lara Landon is one of those random Christian artists I somehow have in my iTunes, due to NoiseTrade, but it's not bad on balance.

Spotify playlist at the bottom, what's not available on Spotify is just below. I'm obsessed with this Arthur Russell song.

iTunes Shuffle 11/16/13

1. Jillette Johnson - "Pauvre Coeur"
2. British Sea Power - "We Are Sound"
3. Björk - "It's In Our Hands"
4. Serge Gainsbourg - "Melody" (Lulu Rouge Short Edit)
5. Cake - "Never There"
6. The A-Sides - "Sinking With The Ship"
7. Tori Amos - "Father Lucifer"
8. Christina Courtin - "Join Us Jackson"
9. Bush - "Cold Contagious"
10. The Unthanks - "Queen Of Hearts" (traditional)

This playlist rules. Start to finish.

iTunes Shuffle 11/8/13

1. Curves - "If Ever"
2. Van Morrison - "If I Ever Needed Someone"
3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Beat The Devil's Tattoo"
4. Fleet Foxes - "Mykonos"
5. Van Morrison - "Caravan"
6. Nancy Wilson - "Lucky Trumble"
7. George Jones & Willie Nelson - "I Gotta Get Drunk" (orig. Willie Nelson)
8. Himanshu (Heems) feat. Fat Tony & Big Baby Gandhi - "Bangles"
9. Joseph Arthur - "Mother Of Exiles"
10. The Tallest Man On Earth - "Into The Stream"

Not to be missed: Curves, Fleet Foxes and Joseph Arthur. The Curves and the Himanshu are not available on Spotify, so they are below in YouTube form. Spotify playlist below that:

iTunes Shuffle 11/1/13

1. Caveman - "Decide"
2. Craft Spells - "Party Talk"
3. Lonestar - "You Don't Know What Love Is"
4. James Brown - "Please, Please, Please"
5. The Band Of Heathens - "Free Again"
6. Björk - "Army Of Me"
7. Bob Dylan - "Desolation Row"
8. The Band - "It Makes No Difference"
9. Sandra McCracken - "Dynamite"
10. Tori Amos - "Tear In Your Hand" (live 4/25/05, Royce Hall, Los Angeles)

Highlights: Björk (of course), and the Tori live recording is lovely. Below is the Spotify playlist, but first, here's the Sandra McCracken song because it's one of the best things on there and it's not available on Spotify:

iTunes Shuffle 10/25/13

1. Shovels & Rope - "O' Be Joyful"
2. Callison Nash - "Forget Everything"
3. Metric - "Collect Call"
4. The London Souls - "I Think I Like It"
5. Sonic Youth - "Madonna, Sean, And Me (The Crucifixion Of Sean Penn)"
6. Janet Jackson - "Doesn't Really Matter"
7. Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - "We Almost Lost Detroit"
8. David Karsten Daniels - "American Pastime"
9. Superdrag - "Sucked Out"
10. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - "100 Days, 100 Nights"

Weird ass mix. But anything that starts with "O' Be Joyful" is gonna put you in the right mood. I also adore the Metric song.

iTunes Shuffle 10/18/13

1. Charlotte Gainsbourg ft. Beck - "IRM"
2. Curves - "Let it out"
3. Widespread Panic - "Surprise Valley"
4. Former Ghosts - "Dreams"
5. Silversun Pickups - "Three Seed"
6. BLK JKS - "Lakeside"
7. Vanessa Paradis - "Joe le taxi"
8. Friendly Fires - "Paris" (Aeroplane Remix)
9. James Brown - "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine"
10. Bach: Suite for solo cello No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008: Gigue (Mstislav Rostropovich, cello)

With a couple exceptions, a solid mix of strong, pretty indie rock.

Leave my head demagnetized
Tell me where the trauma lies
In the scan of pathogen
Or the shadow of my sin

We can set the night on fire
Tonight we will...
Let it out...

Fires dance the shadows
Winds whisper the trees
Mother talkin' the water's
Spirit moves, it moves through all things.

when the daylight seeps in through the blinds
I find you are never there
pack up all the night's dreams
only to drag them out again

in my favorite one there is a house we joked about
wooden floors and chandeliers
you once said you remembered
why is it so hard to stay away

so don't
just don't

[...]

do all these dreams only mean a thing to me?

there's the line that is leading clearly feeding all
the things I don't believe in but I'll step in once again
cut in line to get closer to the source of all the
things I'll never belong to
step it up and sign right in again

Happiness is near, and happiness is here

A French pop song about a cab driver. Because why not?

One day we're gonna live in Paris
I promise, I'm on it
I'll find you that French boy
You'll find me that French girl
I promise, I'm on it

Get on up and then shake your money maker...

And we finish like the cultured people we are, with exquisite Bach cello music. Sexy.

iTunes Shuffle 10/11/13

1. Björk - "Hollow"
2. Cass McCombs - "The Lonely Doll"
3. Kate Bush - "A Coral Room"
4. Echo & The Bunnymen - "Lips Like Sugar"
5. Cocteau Twins - "Beatrix"
6. Lucy Wainwright Roche - "Poison"
7. Marissa Nadler - "Thinking Of You"
8. Titus Andronicus - "Anxiety Block" (Television Personalities cover)
9. Emily Elbert - "Didn't It Rain" (trad. gospel song, made popular by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson)
10. Harmonia & Eno '76 - "Sometimes In Autumn" (Shackleton Remix)

As usual, I found treasures in my iTunes I didn't even know existed. For straight up beauty, the Lucy Wainwright Roche, the Kate Bush and the Marissa Nadler are divine. I used to hate that Björk song, but it grew on me this week. The Cass McCombs ballad is simple and lovely. Emily Elbert's take on "Didn't It Rain" is a nice surprise. And all the rest is cool too.

Hollow, my ancestors have access
Hollow, I'm falling down the abyss
Hollow, looking for some answers
Generations of mothers sailing in
...
I yearn to belong, let me belong, let me belong.

Though I was too drunk to make sense
I felt her Essence
The lonely doll
and turned to leave this pretense
for night, black and immense
The lonely doll

There's a city, draped in net
Fisherman net
And in the half light, in the half light
It looks like every tower
Is covered in webs
Moving and glistening and rocking
Its babies in rhythm
As the spider of time is climbing
Over the ruins

Just when you think she's yours
She's flown to other shores
To laugh at how you break
And melt into this lake

You'll flow down her river
But you'll never give her
Lips like sugar
Sugar kisses...

When he cared, when he did love
When he knew, when he'd fall
I hear she'd fall

I drank the poison
Straight from the warmth of the palm of your hand
And like ice in the morning
There's nothing much left here to hold or to have
In the end

Thinking of you
All through the morning
I'm thinking of you
All through the evening
I'm thinking of you
And the way that your holy water grew

A song about washing away your sorrows with pills.

Didn't it rain, children
Didn't it, didn't it rain?

And a nice peaceful instrumental from Brian Eno and friends, circa 1976.

iTunes Shuffle 10/4/13

1. Cate Le Bon - "The Eiggy Sea"
2. Jesse Malin & The St. Marks Social - "St. Marks Sunset"
3. The Drums - "Instruct Me"
4. Michael Kiwanuka - "May This Be Love (Waterfall)" (Jimi Hendrix Cover)
5. WU LYF - "We Bros"
6. Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett - "Your Light Is Spent"
7. Joseph Arthur - "Travel As Equals"
8. TOY - "Motoring"
9. Low - "Rope"
10. Ryan Adams - "Halloweenhead"

As usual, when I hit "shuffle," I find treasures in my music library I didn't even know were there. This week, I find the Michael Kiwanuka, the Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett), TOY and Low songs to be particularly special. And you can't go wrong with Ryan Adams, ever.

There is little you can say
To make the yearning fall away
Now the seeds have grown
...
In the morning I am gone...

On the off chance that we cross paths
And somehow it feels ok
You were all I ever wanted but the lights changed
And I walked away

All I can see is your beautiful lies
Take a deep breath with me

Waterfall
Nothing can harm me at all
My worries seem so very small
With my waterfall

This ship's set sail
sail on you and me
This ship's set sail
I just wanted to be free

So maybe we will fail
fail not to see
maybe we will fail
but at least we will be free...

Do not offer me a contract
Got no use for a house by the sea
All I ask is for a warm body
To keep this winter from killing me...

In the dark of graveyard chatter
In the light of freedom's call
In the heat of any matter
We travel as equals or not at all

I am breaking out to somewhere I can step outside myself...

You're gonna need more
Don't ask me to kick any chairs out from under you

I got a bad idea again
I got a Halloweenhead...

iTunes Shuffle 9/27/13

1. Astronautalis - "Lift The Curse"
2. Blessed Feathers - "Stinging Nettle, Honeysuckle"
3. Strange Mangers - "Handmaids"
4. Big Head Todd & The Monsters - "Cashbox"
5. Cowboy Junkies - "Walkin' After Midnight" (Patsy Cline cover)
6. Beck - "Profanity Prayers" (acoustic)
7. Robert Plant & Alexis Korner - "Operator"
8. Cults - "Abducted"
9. Bob Cheevers - "All I Want From Memphis"
10. Fanfarlo - "Finish Line"

Every time I do this shuffle, I find at least one song I've never heard that I find absolutely breathtaking. This time it's the very first song, from Astronautalis. Close runners up are the song from Blessed Feathers, Fanfarlo, and the Cowboy Junkies' Patsy Cline cover.

Everyone who's drinking is already drunk or sleeping
Everyone who isn't is just too political to talk to
Another summer evening and the city's barely breathing
Just ain't the same
Just ain't the same without you

There ain't no magic in materials, magic's in our words
That we whisper in each others' ears to make diamonds out of dirt
There ain't no glory in the silken things, glory's in the hurt
And can split your skin from end to end down the center of the earth

There's poison words just gurgling
At the base of your throat
You swallow them back down

You and yours they bring me down
With nails their grudging hammer falls
Not meant for wedding gowns

And though we won't be there's memories I'll still keep

You're holding hands with some new girl
You braid her hair into curls
Because I set you free

I hope you plan to speak to her
In the sweetest honeysuckle words
Stinging nettle though I'll be

I'm sorry dear with all my heart
With tears I broke your fragile heart
I opened up your cage

I hope you're well and doing fine
And found a love as pure as mine
We're on a brand new page

It doesn't make sense to me
I'm not listening 
Whatever
You seem to be all right...

You got love in the cashbox, baby
Now give it to me
You got diamonds on the dresser,
Bring 'em on here you see
Didn't your momma tell ya, it's better to give than receive...

I stop to see a weeping willow
Crying on his pillow
Maybe he's crying for me
And as the skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I'm lonesome as I can be

I go out walking after midnight
Out in the starlight
Just hoping you may be
Somewhere a-walking after midnight
Searching for me

Well you know how it looks
When you pull all your books from the table
And you stare into space
Trying to discern what to say now
And you wait at the light
And watch for a sign that you're breathing
'Cause you can't just live on air
And float to the ceiling

So many sad, sad, sad years, baby, but I've had a lot of fun
So many sad, sad, sad years, I've had my fun
But the day I met you, darling
All my troubles have begun...

I knew right then that I'd been abducted
I knew right then that he would be taking my heart
I knew right then no one was above him
I knew right then that he would be breaking my heart

He tore me apart because I really loved him
He took my heart away and left me to bleed out, bleed out
He broke my heart because I really loved him
He took it all away and left me to bleed out, bleed out

Just a cute little love song about loving someone in Memphis.

Last year was a good year, I beat myself to a bloody mess
But blue is the colour of the days I'm hoping for
What have you done to the mind you had
Out there somewhere is the finish line

iTunes Shuffle 9/20/13

1. Freelance Whales - "The Great Estates"
2. CSS ft. Ssion - "City Grrrl" (MEN Meets GRRRL RMX)
3. Belly - "Someone To Die For"
4. Paul McCartney & Wings - "Live And Let Die"
5. Micachu & The Shapes and the London Sinfonietta - "Everything"
6. Nirvana - "Something In The Way"
7. Das Racist ft. Despot - "Rooftop"
8. Tori Amos - "Beauty Queen" (live 6/5/05 Manchester, UK)
9. Pleyel: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 2, No. 3, Ben. 309: I. Adagio (John Holloway, violin)
10. The Clash - "Cheat"

All over the place. Freelance Whales is the kind of music I listen to in order to find peace. And the Micachu & The Shapes piece is absolutely astounding and mesmerizing.

We beg rebirth
to take us up
Parade our souls
out by the back gate
Some claw the ground
Some cut the air
Some warm the seas
But what will you be and when?

Something fun and dancy about not giving a shit.

Would you lay your body
Down on the tracks for her?
Stand on one tiptoe
In hell for her?
Don't you have someone
You'd die for?

...this ever-changin' world
in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and let die...

I don't believe in anything
So give me everything...

Underneath the bridge
The tarp has sprung a leak
And the animals I've trapped
Have all become my pets
And I'm living off of grass
And the drippings from the ceiling
But it's okay to eat fish
'Cause they don't have any feelings

Words. So many fun words. Das Racist rules.

she's a beauty queen
my sweet bean bag in the street
take it
down out to the laundry scene
don't know why she's in my head
can't figure what it is
but I lie again

How 'bout some nice classy-cal music?

I get violent when I'm fucked up
I get silent when I'm drugged up...

iTunes Shuffle 9/13/13

1. Lionel Richie - "All Night Long (All Night)"
2. Phish - "Faht"
3. Star & Micey - "Friend Again"
4. Paperclip People - "Throw"
5. Twin Sister - "All Around And Away We Go"
6. Denison Witmer - "How To Be Alone"
7. Radiohead - "Reckoner"
8. Foster The People - "Call It What You Want"
9. Throwing Muses - "Bluff / Blurry"
10. Amazing Baby - "Pump Yr Brakes"
11. Amazing Baby - "Bayonets"

This song makes me want to be on an island somewhere, and never come back.

An instrumental that somehow bridges from the first song back into real life.

When we get all alone
And all of the magic between us is gone
And you say we should quit
But I say no, 'cause you're my friend...

A really, really long, trance-inducing sort of electonic-y thing.

All around and away we go...
I'm smiling for two...

This is how you learn to be alone
Story of your life is mine to share
A pendulum that swings
You lost so many things
So you will always be the first to leave

You were not to blame for
Bittersweet detractors
Dare not speak his name
Did I cater to all you
All your needs?

We're locked up in ideas
We like to label everything
Well I'm just gonna do here what I gotta do here
'Cause I gotta keep myself free

I called your bluff...

You said you wouldn't leave me
But you left me alone
And now I sit here waiting for you, babe

You looking for a place to vent, you've been running on Jesus but it's not the same...

iTunes Shuffle 9/6/13

1. Foals - "Olympic Airways"
2. Pajama Club - "From A Friend To A Friend"
3. Admiral Radley - "I Heart California"
4. Dr. John & The Lower 911 - "Dream Warrior"
5. String Cheese Incident - "How Mountain Girls Can Love" (The Stanley Brothers cover)
6. Sufjan Stevens - "Happy Karma Christmas"
7. The Libertines - "Don't Look Back Into The Sun"
8. Beirut - "Scenic World"
9. Dr. Dog - "I Can't Fly"
10. Cale Parks - "Age Of Reform"

Well, this mix sure is odd. "Happy Karma Christmas" is a really good kind of break-up song, if you need that. Also, it's beautiful. Beirut's always great. The Dr. John song is stirring. Cale Parks is really pretty, and he makes pretty music. And other stuff.

Let's disappear till tomorrow...

the savior, is coming
the future, anonymous
the present, arriving
gift wrapped, from a friend to a friend...

This is just a song about hearting California.

"The dark, bluesy 'Dream Warrior' is a brilliantly-penned song with a deceptively understated soundtrack and pointed Dylanesque lyrics. John delivers his words with more venom than any half-dozen gangsta rappers, never getting angry but rather portraying a quiet rage against the injustices heaped upon New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. In his dreams, the singer fights against the hypocrisy that has left the city in ruins nearly three years after the storm."

Robert E. Lee
Stonewall Jackson
KKK is all back in action
So you tell your Miss Billie Holiday
Strange fruit good today...

Old bluegrass love song rendered well by the String Cheese Incident:

Would it have been best to forget you
Would it have been better for me
And if I could write off your intentions
Would you pretend you don't love me

And I wish you a happy karma Christmas
And I miss you my happy karma girl...

Don't look back into the sun
Now you know that the time has come
And they said it would never come for you...

The lights go on
The lights go off
When things don't feel right
I lie down like a tired dog
Licking his wounds in the shade

When I feel alive
I try to imagine a careless life
A scenic world where the sunsets are all
Breathtaking

I can't fly
Just look at me
It ain't even a goddamn possibility

Oh and I know that Saturdays, they are a bust
They're over when you wake up
And immediately you're drunk...

Pretty song, pretty man.

iTunes Shuffle 8/30/13

1. Sia - "Paranoid Android" (Radiohead cover)
2. Daddy Mack Blues Band with special guest Billy Gibson - "Honky Tonk Woman" (The Rolling Stones cover)
3. Chromeo - "Hot Mess" (Jokers Of The Scene Remix)
4. Here We Go Magic - "Only Pieces"
5. Beyoncé - "Kitty Kat"
6. Fuck Buttons - "The Lisbon Maru"
7. Field Music - "(I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing"
8. The Wipers - "Youth Of America"
9. boog - "Conqubine"
10. Mississippi John Hurt - "My Creole Belle"

When I am king, you will be first against the wall
With your opinion which is of no consequence at all

I met a gin-soaked bar-room queen in Memphis
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
Cause I just can't seem to drink her off my mind...

You're a hot mess
You act like you've got nothing to lose
But I've already lost my temper
I put my loving on the line for you, lady
But my spirits were low
I would have committed a crime for you, baby
Yeah, it got out of control

There are only pieces, pieces
Pieces of me
What's the use in dying, dying
If I cannot see?

I think it's time to go, let's go little kitty kat
He don't want no mo'...

Nine minutes of a long, slow crescendo...

The narratives are so familiar
A crush too much for pen and paper
A misquote from a science book
I can't accept your explanation
Blind page, blank cheque obfuscation
Played so dumb I can't bear to look

This Field Music song sounds so much like a Big Star song it's uncanny.

A ten minute punk anthem from an era when punk bands were recording thirteen-second songs.

Open up like a lowered fist
And let me love you.

And close out with some blues from Mississippi John Hurt.

iTunes Shuffle 8/23/13

1. Okkervil River - "April Anne" (John Phillips cover)
2. BT feat. Tori Amos - "Blue Skies (Paul Van Dyk's Erinnern Indigo Mix)"
3. Shania Twain - "I Won't Leave You Lonely"
4. Lucy Wainwright Roche ft. Colin Meloy - "Seek And Hide"
5. Greg Laswell - "The One I Love"
6. Freelance Whales - "Locked Out"
7. Tori Amos - "Precious Things"
8. José González - "Heartbeats" (The Knife cover)
9. Future Carnivores - "Twice"
10. A.A. Bondy - "A Slow Parade"

I think my iTunes was trying to prove just how much beautiful music it contains this week. Okkervil River is one of my favorite bands of the moment, as is Freelance Whales. The Lucy Wainwright Roche song and the Greg Laswell song are both breathtaking. Tori is just Tori, and she turned 50 yesterday, and both "Precious Things" and her collaboration with BT are among my favorite things. The José González and A.A. Bondy songs are just as pretty as the Okkervil River. And so on. Really a good mix.

she let an easy rider share her bed
but she chose the drunken gigolo instead...

i'm walking and
crawling and
so tired i'm insane

blue skies are in my head
blue skies are up ahead...

This song is a fish out of water among the others. It features Shania Twain mangling both French and Spanish pronunciations. Enjoy!

I fell in love last year
It's not a thing I do a lot
Pack up my lonely habits
And give it all I got

(...)

This little city has the winter on its side
Took one last chance to seek and hide
It's hiding still

And if you make it back to visit you will see
I will be waiting patiently
You know I will...

I'm all packed up now early in the morning
I'll take my leave
I'll bring your words along with me
Maybe one day they will mean something

For now they buzz and crumble down
A little bit too easily
From a time that I am not quite over
What the hell is wrong with me?

I might be gone a little while
I guess we'll see
I gotta make a home outta somewhere
And you're all over this city

And it'll take a flight to figure out
Where I'm gonna finally land
And the time it takes for me to get there
I'll be one to start again

But I should probably say that I'm unsure why I'm running
Running away from the only thing I want
Yeah, I should probably say that I'm unsure why I'm running
Running away from the one I love

oh my eyes are open so wide I can see the
stars connected in the sky animals running
through the emptiness they sprint
these melting creatures
bringing meaning from afar
like gems on pillows

these precious things
let them bleed
let them wash away
these precious things
let them break their hold over me

One night to be confused
One night to speed up truth
We had a promise made
Four hands and then away
Both under influence
We had divine scent
To know what to say
Mind is a razorblade

Twice now I've won you over
Twice now I've had to give you up
Three times is two too many
Can't make the same mistakes again...

The tide will bring and tide will take
Find another horse to break
Just a rider on a wheel
In a dream where love was real...

iTunes Shuffle 8/16/13

1. Tori Amos - "Pretty Good Year"
2. Blondie - "Call Me"
3. The Mumlers - "Whale Song"
4. Islands - "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby"
5. Rihanna - "Only Girl (In The World)"
6. Blonde Redhead - "23"
7. Keegan DeWitt - "Say La La"
8. Josh Ritter - "The Temptation Of Adam"
9. Adam Green - "Broadcast Beach"
10. Adam Green - "I Wanna Die"
11. Big Deal - "Homework"

The Tori Amos song has been on heavy rotation, as the last couple of years of my life definitely fit in with the song. The Mumlers song is just beautiful. Rihanna is an example of how good pop music has gotten. Blonde Redhead is epic. Josh Ritter, as usual, is one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking songs you'll ever hear. And the rest are good too.

tears on the sleeve of a man
don't wanna be a boy today
heard the eternal footman
bought himself a bike to race...

Blondie's always fun.

I wrote you a letter but I tore it up
For it rendered my intentions all wrong
Because honey I just want to cheer you up
So instead I wrote you this song

open your eyes look around you
fuck what you heard
you were lied to
sweetheart

Want you to take it like a thief in the night
Hold me like a pillow, make me feel right
Baby I'll tell you all my secrets what I'm keepin', you can come inside
And when you enter, you ain't leavin', be my prisoner for the night...

he was a son of god
he was a son of a gun...

We ran 'til we couldn't stand straight
No fear of each other
Kissed sad like sentimental lovers
Our truth undone

Oh Marie, there's something tells me things just won't work out above
That our love would live a half life on the surface
So at night while you are sleeping, I hold you closer just because
As our time grows short I get a little nervous

So I think about the big one, WWIII
Would we ever really care, the world had ended?
You could hold me here forever like you're holding me tonight
I think about that big red button and I'm tempted.

This song grew on me. Adam Green's lyrics are so off the wall, I love it.

This song didn't have to grow on me. Adam Green's lyrics are still off the wall.

We stay up way too late to pay our dues
I told you
Swollen eyes and tired tongues

Where have your clothes gone, why are you late
When you're not around, I suffocate
When all is hopeless, when all else fails
You've ruined my ending, it's ruined...

iTunes Shuffle 8/9/13

1. Allah-Las - "No Voodoo"
2. Arborea - "Black Is The Colour" (Trad. folk song)
3. Joshua James - "Daniel"
4. Teedra Moses ft. Lil Wayne - "You Already Know"
5. Young MC - "Know How"
6. Belle Mare - "Rehearsed Lines"
7. Sondre Lerche - "No One's Gonna Come"
8. Alex Winston - "Everlasting Light" (The Black Keys cover)
9. Pharoahe Monche - "Body Baby"
10. Michael Bublé - "Kissing A Fool" (George Michael cover)

Arborea's cover of "Black Is The Colour" is haunting. Alex Winston's cover of "Everlasting Light" is just freaking cool. Other highlights are Joshua James, Sondre Lerche and, of course, Michael Bublé, if you're into that sort of thing. Oh, and Belle Mare sounds a bit like Mazzy Star.

But I can see that you long for yourself
I can tell,
That you need to belong on a shelf
Time goes by,
As you sit here and waste in your room
I can feel
That you need someone's touch so soon

Done a lot for you...

Black is the colour of my true love's hair
His face is something wondrous, fair
The clearest eyes and the strongest hands
I love the ground whereon he stands

Tell my mother,
I'm buried down in the sand.
Tell my father,
I made it to the promised land.
Tell my brother, Daniel,
To forgive me if he can.
For claiming war, war, war,
War makes you a man.

Teedra Moses is the greatest R&B singer you've never heard of.

And Young MC is is just, well, Young MC, dammit.

No, no
Try harder
Don't run so far
Oh
I know
You're scared
It's okay you know I'm careful with the things I share.

If it's alright
I'd like to find
A suitable time
To let out all
My rehearsed lines
Hope they don't scare you.

You can just call
I will pretend not to care
You'll pretend all
And I'll pretend you called

Let me be your everlasting light
Your sun when there is none
I'm a shepherd for you
And I'll guide you through
Let me be your everlasting light

Let me be your everlasting light
Your home when there is cold
In me you can confide
When no one's by your side
Let me be your everlasting light

I've got just what you want
You've got just what I need...

You are far,
When I could have been your star
You listened to people
Who scared you to death and from my heart
Strange that you were strong enough
To even make a start
But you'll never find
Peace of mind
'Til you listen to your heart...

iTunes Shuffle 8/2/13

1. Nat King Cole - "Stardust" (Hoagy Carmichael cover)
2. Tori Amos - "Another Girl's Paradise"
3. Gang Gang Dance - "Sacer"
4. Daddy Mack Blues Band with special guest Billy Gibson - "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" (Paul Revere & The Raiders cover)
5. James Vincent McMorrow - "From The Woods!!"
6. Kaiser Chiefs - "I Predict A Riot"
7. Delicate Steve - "Afria Talks To You"
8. Paul McCartney & Wings - "Silly Love Songs"
9. Larkin Grimm - "Ride That Cyclone"
10. Nicki Minaj - "Roman In Moscow"

Fun mix. The first two songs work together beautifully. Other highlights are the enchanting music of Gang Gang Dance, the exquisitely beautiful James Vincent McMorrow, the haunting Larkin Grimm and, of course, the best Kaiser Chiefs song ever.

We'll start with one of the most beautiful songs of all time:

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.

Sometimes I wonder how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song...

"you have come to discover
what you want"
what I want is not to
want what isn't mine
"But I am Desire"

when it all is said
said and done
who can Love you and
still be standing
there's Mary calling
up a storm
can I take from you
and not keep taking
naked as day
Gemma follows him
Does it all come down to
the thing one girl fears
in the night
is another
girl's
paradise

Couldn't you have stayed just a little longer
Each night I pray, please ignite me stronger...

I'm not your stepping stone...

From the woods, from the woods
They are coming from the woods
Riding horses cloaked in gray
Make their way to my door
Lay their boots upon my floor
Wash their hands and start to pray
But I am gone, I am not there
I have followed mountain bears
To a cave of deepest tome
There I wait, by the mouth
As the smoke it flushes out
Then I'll slowly drag one home

All these things are ever lost
Stillness has brought my love to cost

I predict a riot.

A fun instrumental from Delicate Steve.

Pure cheese from Paul McCartney and Wings.

Ride that cyclone on and on
Ride it while I break your bones...

Ride that cyclone through the crack
Ride it while I ride your back...

This song is just Nicki Minaj yelling and cursing, but it has its charm.

iTunes Shuffle 7/26/13

1. Big Star - "Kanga Roo"
2. Talib Kweli & Z-Trip feat. Greg Nice, Styles P - "NY Shining"
3. Green Day - "Coming Clean"
4. Dawes - "When My Time Comes"
5. The Swell Season - "Fallen From The Sky"
6. Hammock - "Together Alone"
7. Tiësto feat. Tegan & Sara - "Feel It In My Bones"
8. De La Soul - "Me Myself And I"
9. Tori Amos - "Horses" (live 6/5/05 Manchester, UK)
10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Into My Arms"

The Swell Season is Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, and "Fallen From The Sky" was originally recorded by Glen for the Once Soundtrack. Moving forward:

I first saw you
You had on blue jeans
Your eyes couldn't hide anything
I saw you breathing
I saw you staring out in space

Soon you will see me shining...

Seventeen and coming clean for the first time
I finally figured out myself for the first time
I found out what it takes to be a man
Now mom and dad will never understand
What's happening to me

Had no idea that's what Green Day was up to when I was 14. I should have been playing closer attention.

So I took what I wanted and put it out of my reach
I wanted to pay for my successes with all of my defeats,
And if heaven was all that was promised to me
Why don't I pray for death?
And now it seems like the unraveling has started too soon
I am sleeping in hallways, tweaking perfume
And I'm speaking to mirrors and I'm howling at moons
While the worse and the worse that it gets.

Oh you can judge all the world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it's staring right back.

You must've fallen from the sky
You must've shattered on the runway
You brought so many to the light
And now you're by yourself...

Beautiful instrumental music from this group out of Nashville. If you like Explosions In The Sky, you'll like this.

I feel you in my bones
You're knockin' at my windows
You're slow to letting me go
And I know this feeling also
This feeling in my bones

It's just me myself and I...

I got me some horses
to ride on
to ride on
they say that your demons
can't go there
so I got me some horses
to ride on
to ride on
as long as your army
keeps perfectly still
...
you showed me the meadow
and Milkwood
and silkwood
and you would if I would
but you never would
so I chased down your posies
your pansies in my hosies
then opened my hands
and they were empty then
...
and if there is a way to find you
I will find you
but will you find me if Neil
makes me a tree
an afro a pharaoh
I can't go
you said so
and threads that are golden don't break easily

One of the most subtly meaningful songs Tori has ever written, in my opinion.

I don't believe in the existence of angels
Looking at you I wonder if that's true
But if I did I would summon them together
Ask them to watch over you
Oh, to each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms...

iTunes Shuffle 7/19/13

1. Incubus - "Under My Umbrella"
2. Neko Case - "Magpie To The Morning"
3. Bizet: Carmen: Act One - No. 3: "Choeur et Scene - Quand je vous aimerai?" - No. 4: "Havanaise - L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Carmen, sung by Jessye Norman)
4. Buddy Holly - "It Doesn't Matter Anymore"
5. Bob Dylan - "I Want You"
6. Jessie Ware - "Running" (Disclosure Remix)
7. Art Of Noise - "Beat Box (Diversion One)"
8. Yuck - "Sunday"
9. Phoenix - "Armistice" (RAC Remix)
10. Josh Ritter - "The Curse"

Well, that's a schizophrenic, weird mix.

If this is right, I'd rather be wrong
If this is sight, I'd rather be blind

don't let this fading summer pass you by

black hands held so high
the vulture wheels and dives
something on the thermals yanked his chain
he smelled your boring apex
rotting on the tracks
he laughed under his breath because you thought you could outrun sorrow

The great Jessye Norman giving a stunningly casual and beautiful rendition of the "Havanaise" from one of my very favorite operas.

Now you go your way and I'll go mine
now and forever 'til the end of time
and I'll find somebody new and baby, we'll say we're through
and you won't matter anymore

The guilty undertaker cries
the lonely organ grinder cries
The silver saxophones say I should refuse you.
The cracked bells and washed-out horns
Blow into my face with scorn,
But it's not that way,
I wasn't born to lose you.
I want you...

You keep me running...

New Wave, avant-garde synthpop, I think this was called in the '80s.

Cold winter months and I'm thinking of you
How you got me high
I used to choreograph the airplanes in the sky

Our daily compromise, it is
Written in your signed armistice

He opens his eyes, falls in love at first sight
With the girl in the doorway
What beautiful lines, how full of life
After thousands of years, what a face to wake up to

He holds back a sigh as she touches his arm
She dusts off the bed where till now he's been sleeping
Under miles of stone, the dried fig of his heart
Under scarab and bone starts back to its beating

iTunes Shuffle 7/12/13

1. James Brown - "Papa Don't Take No Mess, Pt. 1"
2. Alabama Shakes - "Hang Loose"
3. Josh Rouse - "I Will Live On Islands"
4. Lotus Plaza - "Come Back"
5. The Ting Tings - "Great DJ"
6. Jonny Lang - "Matchbox" (Ike Turner cover)
7. John Prine - "Please Don't Bury Me"
8. Bluff City Backsliders - ".44 Blues" (Roosevelt Sykes/Howlin' Wolf cover)
9. Shearwater - "Breaking The Yearlings"
10. Magazine - "I'm A Party"

Funky bluesy mix, starting with James Brown:

Don't worry, sweet baby
Don't you ever worry about a thing
Put your worries on a shelf
Learn to love yourself
Don't be your own worst enemy

I will live on islands and I will see the sun...

Come back...

Nine minutes of pretty loudness.

Imagine all the girls
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah
And the boys
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah
And the strings
Eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee

And the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums
the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the
drums, the drums...

Pure poetry.

Don't try to get me back now, baby
'Cause baby, I'm through
I got my clothes in a matchbox
Gonna forget about you

Please don't bury me
Down in the cold, cold ground
No I'd rather have 'em cut me up
And pass me all around
Throw my brain in a hurricane
And the blind can have my eyes
And the deaf can take both of my ears
If they don't mind the size.

More dirty blues. I had no idea I had this much blues on my hard drive.

Shearwater makes some of the most fucking gorgeous music I've ever heard.

I curl right back into the sound
I take one breath and spiral down
And you, not watching the road
Or watching the flood stage rise
We are yearlings
Now watching the tide run out
Till what the daylight hides
Is known

I will let you hurt me
Because I know it hurts you

iTunes Shuffle 7/5/13

Once a week I shuffle my iTunes and listen to the first ten songs that come up. Here's this week's:

1. Shabazz Palaces - "Swerve... The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)"
2. Chance McCoy and The Appalachian String Band - "Indian Ate A Woodchuck"
3. Tori Amos - "Jackie's Strength"
4. Les Savy Fav - "Poltergeist"
5. Tori Amos - "Silent All These Years" (live 3/15/92)
6. Janet Jackson feat. Carly Simon - "Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)"
7. Yeasayer - "Final Path"
8. Belly - "Stay"
9. Sinkane - "Runnin'"
10. Mogwai - "Rano Pano"

Shabazz Palaces = incredibly smart hip-hop for people who also like Björk.

Chance McCoy = bluegrass from one of the members of Old Crow Medicine Show.

make me laugh
say you know what you want
you said we were the real thing
so i show you some more and i learn
what black magic can do
make me laugh
say you know you can turn
me into the real thing
so i show you some more and i learn

Les Savy Fav = noisy. I like it.

"Silent All These Years" is my longstanding favorite song of all time. The live versions from the early years are particularly beautiful.

years go by will I still be waiting
for somebody else to understand
years go by if I'm stripped of my beauty
and the orange clouds raining in my head
years go by will I choke on my tears
till finally there is nothing left
one more casualty
you know we're too EASY easy easy

I'll never be your lover
I'd rather make you suffer
You stupid motherfucker

Nothing's gonna stop the sky from falling
Nothing's gonna stop the water rising
Nothing's gonna stop the sun from burning out

Stay.
It's not time for me to go.

I don't mean to let you down
Gotta keep on runnin'

And a nice noisy instrumental from Mogwai to finish up

The songs I can't stop listening to 6/28/13

1. Waterdeep - "Humming Along"
2. Port O'Brien - "The Rooftop Song"
3. The B-52's - "Quiche Lorraine"
4. Rodney Crowell - "The Rise And Fall Of Intelligent Design"
5. Okkervil River - "The President's Dead"
6. Apostle Of Hustle - "National Anthem Of Nowhere"
7. DIIV - "Follow"
8. Elton John - "Circle Of Life"
9. Holograms - "ABC City"
10. Cloud Nothings - "Leave You Forever"

Lovely mix. Waterdeep's songs just make me so happy and peaceful. Particularly awesome song for this week's SCOTUS rulings on marriage equality.

We're gonna get there, I know we're gonna get there
Soon enough.

Our love in the wind will blow...

Nothing like old B-52's to make you dance.

A truly incredible political song from Rodney Crowell:

it's no excuse to be a slick politician
When the whole of New Orleans is drowning in brine
I'm not mistaken it was Darwin's position
That the hole in the levee was caused by intelligent design.

A really cool song that captures the whole idea of "do you remember what you were doing when X happened?" For my generation it's 9/11. Okkervil River is quickly becoming one of my very favorite bands.

A song of the sea.

I'm putting it off
And I can't control fate
'Cause we're similar
I blame it on you
'Cause that side of me I hate
But you were never hurt.

What? The Lion King is awesome. It's good to listen to this song while you watch your pets kick bugs around in the backyard.

The last two songs are just fun punk-influenced songs. Holograms are from Sweden.

i could never leave you forever...

The songs I can't stop listening to 6/21/13

1. Flying Lotus - "Nicodin"
2. Little Tybee - "A Dog Waits In The Doorway"
3. Ki: Theory - "Holiday Heart"
4. The Seldom Scene - "Hobo On A Freight Train To Heaven"
5. Low - "Sunflower"
6. Tori Amos - "Juárez" (live 11/2/01, Austin, TX)
7. Ice-T - "New Jack Hustler (Ninio's Theme)"
8. Josh Rouse - "Simple Pleasure"
9. Arctic Monkeys - "Riot Van"

"Sunflower" is one of my all time favorite songs, and the live version of "Juárez" is so weird and stunning.

Flying Lotus:

Little Tybee:

Ki: Theory:

The Seldom Scene:

Low:

Tori Amos:

Ice-T:

Josh Rouse:

Arctic Monkeys:

The songs I can't stop listening to 6/14/13

1. Beethoven: Symphony #9 In D Minor, Op. 125, "Choral" - 1. Allegro Ma Non Troppo (Nicholas McGegan: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Lynne Dawson (soprano); Mary Phillips (mezzo soprano); Iain Paton (tenor); Andrew Foster-Williams (baritone); Philharmonia Chorale; San Francisco Choral Artists; U.C. Berkeley Chamber Chorus)
2. Beat Happening - "Indian Summer"
3. Blitzen Trapper - "Black River Killer"
4. Trick Pony - "A Boy Like You"
5. The Welcome Wagon - "Up On A Mountain"
6. Okkervil River - "Another Radio Song"
7. Silversun Pickups - "Panic Switch"
8. Foster The People - "Pumped Up Kicks" (Chrome Canyon Remix)
9. Forest Fire - "Future Shadows"
10. Imaginary Family - "The Bird Watcher"

This entire mix is incredible. The Trick Pony is just cheese country, but the rest of it is wow.

Every recording I have from the Philharmonia Baroque is stunning.

Cover me with rain
Walk me down the lane
I'll drink from your drain
We will never change
No matter what they say

We'll come back for Indian Summer...

Oh when, oh when
Will the spirit come a-calling for my soul to sin
Oh when, oh when
Will the keys to the kingdom be mine again

Just an amazing country murder ballad. God, what a song.

There's no limit to the trouble I could get into
With a boy like you...

It's true that you're not alone...

This is Sufjan Stevens' pastor and his wife. Proof that even dirty atheists will listen to your Christian music if it's good.

This infection gets stronger every year.
This seed in the water of your tear.
There is no escaping it.

This seed in the water of your tear.
The way an unborn baby's ear
unfolds in your belly.

This infection gets stronger every year.
this direction of a tear going down your cheek.
And there is no escaping it.
There is no escaping the thing that is making its home in your radio.

One of the most incredible songs I can remember hearing in the last few months...

I still sleep on the right side
But the white noise can't leave the scene behind

Could I be anything you want me to be?
If so is it meant to be seen?

This song is so ridiculously overplayed, but believe me when I say that I am in love with this remix.

I never knew volcanic love as true
As wildflowers mention...

Pick a card and hold it tightly
Figure out who you're supposed to be.

The songs I can't stop listening to 6/7/13

1. Little Joy - "Unattainable"
2. Cale Parks - "Age Of Reform"
3. Elastica - "Vaseline"
4. The Strokes - "Take It Or Leave It"
5. Green Day - "King For A Day"
6. The Drums - "Don't Be A Jerk, Jonny"
7. Cold War Kids - "Bullies Always Win"
8. Throwing Muses - "Sunray Venus"
9. BOY - "Railway"
10. Grizzly Bear - "Yellow House"

Best songs in the mix: Throwing Muses, BOY, Grizzly Bear, The Drums, Cale Parks, Little Joy...hell, these are all good.

Only when the goal is unattainable
do I start to feel like I'm losing myself
and this deep secret
that hasn't come out yet
is buried down deep with the rest

Cale Parks' music is preternaturally beautiful.

Elastica, because why not?

Oh, he's gonna let you down...

Kind of a revolutionary song about being gender non-conforming:

you used to be so pretty
now you're just tragic
believe in something
you're full of horseshit

I truly can't decide whether or not I like Cold War Kids. There's something about them, but I just don't know. I keep giving them chances, though. This song is really well done, though:

Open your mouth, you're blessed for the moment
Kisses all around
Sunray venus, crushed underfoot
and kisses all around

You're in my head
Only in my head
I'm waving goodbye
Only in my mind

Glass of gin and a folding chair.
Sifting out by the wading pool, chlorine blue.
Rush of wind passing over me.
Restless nights.
Chin up, cheer up.
My love's another kind.

The songs I can't stop listening to 5/31/13

1. Daft Punk - "Derezzed" (Rhythm Scholar Remix)
2. Kate Bush - "Waking The Witch"
3. The Weeknd - "Montreal"
4. Sébastien Tellier - "Fingers Of Steel" (Hypnolove Remix)
5. Zeus - "Are You Gonna Waste My Time?"
6. Catatonia - "Valerian"
7. Fake Problems - "5678"
8. Cake - "Never There"
9. Liechtenstein - "Heads On Golden Plates"
10. Incubus - "Are You In?"

Weird mix. Particularly beautiful: The Weeknd, Sébastien Tellier.

Start with Daft Punk.

Wake the witch.

Oui j'ai pleuré mais ce jour-là
Non, je ne pleurerai pas
Non, je ne pleurerai pas
Oui j'ai pleuré mais ce jour-là
Je ne pleurerai pas

Je ne pleurerai pas

[...]

Happiness exists when you don't know a thing
So I hope you don't think this song is about you...

I picture you sometimes
And imagine you alone...

Are you gonna waste my time?
Are you gonna be mine?

Never meant you no harm
Never spun you no yarn...

Don't let them in
They cannot be trusted.

A golden bird that flies away
A candle's fickle flame
To think I held you yesterday
Your love was just a game

This is just catchy.

Are you in?

The songs I can't stop listening to 5/24/13

1. Tapes 'n Tapes - "Badaboom"
2. Laura Veirs - "Sun Is King"
3. Grayson County Railsplitters - "Ain't That Trouble In Mind"
4. The National - "Mistaken For Strangers"
5. Tori Amos - "Little Earthquakes"
6. Reptile Youth - "Black Swan Born White"
7. The Phantom Band - "Walls"
8. Muddy Waters - "I've Got My Mojo Working"
9. Lotus Plaza - "Eveningness"
10. Marissa Nadler feat. Black Hole Infinity - "No Surprises" (Radiohead cover)

Pretty epic mix. Best tracks: The National, Tori Amos, The Phantom Band, Lotus Plaza, Marissa Nadler. And of course, Muddy Waters.

Man, you are the madness in my ear
I'll be alone tonight and I'll be in the clear
Take me for a night I said, take me for a year
I'll be your year, my dear

did you see the ice in his eye?
did you see the dagger caught in his smile?
innocent as a summer flower
with a serpent coiled under his collar

If trouble don't kill me
I'll live a long time
Ain't that trouble in mind?
Ain't that trouble in mind?

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night...

oh these little earthquakes
here we go again
these little earthquakes
doesn't take much to 
rip us in to pieces

i can't reach you
can't reach you
give me life
give me pain
give me myself again

I'm a black hole eating optimism
I'm a black swan born white
I'm a depression still under construction
But you can make it all, yeah you can make it all
Right tonight

walls will come down all around us...

Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you
I wanna love you so bad 'til I don't know what to do...

I've seen how you've changed...

A heart that's full up like a landfill
A job that slowly kills you
Bruises that won't heal
You look so tired - unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't, they don't speak for us
I'll take a quiet life
A handshake of carbon monoxide
With no alarms and no surprises...

The songs I can't stop listening to 5/17/13

1. Adventure - "Smoke And Mirrors"
2. Beyoncé - "If I Were A Boy"
3. Dirty Projectors - "Cannibal Resource"
4. Bush - "Body"
5. Indian Wars - "Tom Dula" (Neil Young/Kingston Trio cover)
6. The Wind - "Oh, Hadihu"
7. Ben Rector - "Dance With Me Baby"
8. Violens - "Violent Sensation Descends"
9. DIIV - "Earthboy"
10. Jeff Buckley - "Your Flesh Is So Nice"

The songs from The Wind and DIIV are particularly beautiful. And Dirty Projectors are always amazing. And oh, Ben Rector...

I know exactly where you're from
Southern lover come undone
There's something more to what they say
I guess I'll know another day

It's a little too late for you to come back
Say it's just a mistake, think I'd forgive you like that;
If you thought I would wait for you, you thought wrong...

Look around at everyone
Everyone looks alive and waiting
The wind is up, the stars out
The sun is calm, the light is fading
But we are

Still counting on cannibal resource...

Tongue tied and a visceral third degree
Feel warm, center of gravity
Wash us all away
Body never lies...

A great cover of Neil Young's version of the Kingston Trio version of the old North Carolina folk song:

You are sunborn, sacred, gentle
You are kindness' reminder to the world
A bird in the sky that sings just to bless life

And I find that I am divided between here and there
And them and you and me
And I know this dream that I am chasing
Can very well go and be the death of me
So darling, don't you worry
I'll be there before you can close your eyes
I'll be there to kiss my baby
And dance with you until the morning light

A sudden violent sensation descends
It may be aimed at you
Cause baby
I've learned what I could never do

If I'm alone and you're free now we know nothing's ever meant to be
But come along with me and by my secret side that no one sees
I built a throne from a burden of need
Earth boy gets harvested or else recedes so while you're cold
Numb my dream and I'll chew rocks and splinters
Sob and scream earth boy on your throne
You sit alone

Your flesh is nice
Let me take a bite.