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.