iTunes Shuffle 5/30/14

1. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Everything With You"
2. Amy Grant - "That's What Love Is For"
3. Christina Aguilera - "Cruz"
4. Woods - "Skull"
5. Puro Instinct - "Lost At Sea"
6. Common Loon - "Automatic Skin"
7. Pictureplane - "Beyond Fantasy"
8. The Knife - "Pass This On"
9. Children Of The Night - "Manischewitz"
10. Graham Colton - "1981" (live)

Yeah, that is Amy Grant coming directly after The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Such is my music collection. And oh, The Knife. The Pictureplane song, which heavily samples Baby D's "Let Me Be Your Fantasy," but sped up, is ridiculously good. Finally, the Graham Colton might make ya weep.

iTunes Shuffle 5/23/14

1. Nurses - "Caterpillar Playground"
2. Chelsea Wolfe - "Feral Love"
3. Ari Hest - "Something To Look Forward To"
4. Miguel Migs feat. Lisa Shaw - "Lose Control"
5. Sarah McLachlan - "Vox"
6. The Dead Trees - "D.R.C. 1991"
7. Dengue Fever - "Cement Slippers"
8. Neon Trees - "Everybody Talks"
9. Lichens - "Bune"
10. Van Morrison - "Brown Eyed Girl"

Chelsea Wolfe, Chelsea Wolfe, Chelsea Wolfe. That is all. Oh, and the Ari Hest made me misty.

iTunes Shuffle 5/16/14

1. Wilco - "The Late Greats"
2. Foals - "This Orient"
3. Howlin' Rain - "Dancers At The End Of Time"
4. A B & The Sea - "In And Out"
5. Natalie Merchant - "Life Is Sweet"
6. The Boxing Lesson - "Age Of Consent" (New Order cover)
7. Tool - "Parabol"
8. Tori Amos - "Humpty Dumpty"
9. Danielson - "Grow Up"

There are only nine songs this week, because occasionally I find something in my ridiculously large music collection that's so horrendous that I can't bear to have it taking up space on my hard drive. So, it got deleted, both from my library and from this list. The rest is pretty great, especially Wilco, Foals, The Boxing Lesson and of course the old school Tori Amos, which provides an interesting counterpoint to her new record, out this week.

iTunes Shuffle 5/9/14

1. Grace Jones - "Williams' Blood" (Aeroplane remix)
2. Coldplay - "Hurts Like Heaven"
3. Blitzen Trapper - "Sleepytime In The Western World"
4. Juana Molina - "Bicho Auto"
5. Moonface with Siinai - "Teary Eyes And Bloody Lips"
6. Robin Pecknold ft. Ed Droste - "I'm Losing Myself"
7. Waterdeep - "We Already Got It"
8. Corinne Bailey Rae - "I Would Like To Call It Beauty"
9. Basia Bulat - "Touch The Hem Of His Garment" (Sam Cooke cover)
10. Phantogram - "Celebrating Nothing"

What an incredible mix. The Grace Jones has given me encouragement this week. I don't know the exact corollary in my life, but the story of the song "Williams' Blood" makes sense to me. It's not on Spotify, but it's worth listening to about a million times. The Coldplay song -- and I'm not usually that enthusiastic about Coldplay -- is incredibly relatable for me as well. The Blitzen Trapper quite frankly feels like my life right now.Juana Molina is an Argentinian artist who sounds like a mix between Björk and Beth Orton. "Teary eyes and bloody lips make you look like Stevie Nicks." Enough said. Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) and Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear) together is a bit breathtaking.

I could go on. This mix is phenomenal. The only song I can take or leave is the Waterdeep. Every other song is just stellar.

iTunes Shuffle 5/2/14

1. Yo La Tengo - "I Feel Like Going Home"
2. Ancient Mariner - "Acedia"
3. The Roadside Graves - "Tuff Hair"
4. Antenna Shoes - "T New"
5. Cave Painting - "Leaf"
6. Haley Bonar - "Anyway, Rattlesnake"
7. Mos Def - "Quiet Dog"
8. Usher feat. Rick Ross - "Lemme See"
9. Brendan Benson - "Sucked Out" (Superdrag cover)
10. The Life And Times - "Day Eight"

Start to finish, this mix is STELLAR. Things not to miss under any circumstances:  Yo La Tengo, Ancient Mariner, Antenna Shoes, Cave Painting, Haley Bonar. Yes, there are that many high points.