This mix goes to eleven.
1. New #1 — Bob Mould
Post-Elvis Costello, few people have done guilt and recrimination better than Bob Mould. Listening to his enormous - and generally wonderful - catalogue of music, you'd come to the conclusion that this is a guy who's been screwed over more times than three seasons' worth of Rock of Love contestants. This song, taken from Mould's outstanding The Last Dog and Pony Show, comes at the problem from an interesting perspective: someone in a relationship where things are going okay... but who is so scarred and damaged by previous emotional train wrecks that he not only dreads the day when things fall apart, but is in fact terrified that he'll be the one to sabotage it. Over the course of the song, he portrays himself as someone both desperate for love ("I need you more than you will ever comprehend") and possibly too broken to ever hold onto it ("If I lose control, don't leave me, you've got to be here...").
Good times.
2. Cut #2 — Adorable
Where's the love for Adorable? Oh, right — it's in 1992 London, at the heart of the shoegaze explosion that brought the world My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride... basically, the formative music of my youth. And while Adorable might not have the same name recognition of those other bands, their debut Against Perfection was nonetheless a high-water mark for the genre: a powerhouse wall of sound from start to finish, with soaring, echoing melodies, memorable choruses and a strong undercurrent of melancholy that adds shades of grey to even their brightest, warmest, loudest and most frenetic songs. (Can you tell I love this album?)
3. Measure 3 — Matt Pond, PA
Where's the love for Matt Pond, PA? It baffles me that these guys aren't huge and globally beloved. Why? Okay, yes... Last Light was pretty lackluster. But leading up to that you've got several albums worth of top-notch songwriting, sublime musicianship and songs you're almost guaranteed to find yourself humming for days. Each album is littered with a handful of small gems — glittering, wonderful three-to-five minute pieces of music that remind you of why you loved music in the first place. Measure 3 fits that description perfectly: the song opens with a little violin, then a strummed guitar, then the cello weighs in and by the time Matt Pond begins laying his soothing, melancholy vocals and thoughtful lyrics ("I'll stop thinking: I will be ordinary") over it all... you're hooked. And by you, I mean me.
(By the way: download Matt Pond PA's Free EP for free here. Seriously.)
4. 4 Men — Kitchens of Distinction
Remember what I just said about Adorable? Of course you do. Well, here's the thing: I forgot to mention Kitchens of Distinction as a part of the shoegaze pantheon, and for that I deserve to be beaten. Seriously. It's an unforgivable crime, considering that they're one of my three or four favorite bands of all time. Nobody - by which I mean: nobody - ever created a heaven-spiraling wall of guitar sound from a single instrument (and a zillion pedals) like Julian Swales, and Patrick Fitzgerald's vivid, often-heartbreaking songs of longing and passion and loss transcended homoeroticism (see: this song's "Here I'd lie between your thighs, looking up into your eyes, wondering if this is allowed...") to create songs that energized and saddened and moved you. Songs that soared.
5. Chanel No. 5 — American Music Club
This is American Music Club in a nutshell: over gently-strummed guitar, the softest brush of drums and the mournful wash of pedal steel, Mark Eitzel sings about a hooker walking alone down the side of a highway... and it destroys you.
Look: music this dark isn't for everyone. I get that. But to me, this is more than music. This is writing on a par with the poetry of Bukowski, the stories of Carver and the novels of Russell Banks. Writing that looks into the abyss, and never blinks when the abyss looks back.
6. Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean — Explosions in the Sky
Then again... sometimes lyrics are overrated.
7. 7 Years — Love Spit Love
Yeah, I love me some Richard Butler. And why not? He's got one of the best voices of all time, and even these days - after all those years with the Furs and then Love Spit Love and now, finally, on his own - it's still a supple and effective instrument, capable of catching your ear and introducing some murmured, accent-inflected, half-understood snippit of pseudowisdom that makes you think and hum and tap your toes happily in time. Which, really, is one of the things that music is supposed to do.
8. 8:02 PM — For Squirrels
Few songs make me feel more energized and ready to grab the world by the throat and shake than this one. It's a legitimate powerhouse of a song: overflowing with passion and speed and life. I've probably listened to it a thousand times, and each time I love it just as much as the first time I slipped the CD into my stereo and hit "play." Each time, it sends me into a frenzy of movement — my head bobbing in time, my hands punching the air. And each time, I stop dead in my tracks when I hit the lyrics "Gone... but not forgotten."
8:02pm is the opener from For Squirrels' debut Example, which was just starting to get airplay (remember this?) when they played a triumphant showcase at CMJ in September 1995. On their way home to Florida from New York, a tire on their van blew out. It flipped over... and instantly, bassist Bill White and singer/guitarist Jack Vigliatura were dead.
"Gone... but not forgotten." This is not a song. This is a reminder: take the world by the throat. Shake it. Do. Not. Wait.
9. Leave By Nine — Matt Bartram
I was going to say that you probably know Matt Bartram as the main guy from Air Formation, but let's be realistic: nobody here but me knows who Air Formation is. Which is a crime, because they're f@#$ing incredible. Their last album Daylight Storms is one of my favorite releases of the past three years, and while Bartram's more recent solo debut Arundel (apparently now out of stock @ both Amazon and ToneVendor) may not quite live up to that standard... it's still quite lovely.
That being said, I'm not going to ask that you make Air Formation a part of your life. I'm going to demand it. In fact, I'm on my way over to your house right now to force you to listen to Daylight Storms. I hope you have snacks ready, 'cos I'm going to be there for a while.
10. Tell Me Ten Words — Idlewild
You know Idlewild, right? Because they're one of the biggest bands on the planet, right? Because after Coldplay dissolved into a puddle of stupidly-uniformed, Gwneyth-inspired goo and Bono and the U2s were laughed out of the business following that horrible No Line on the Horizon album, there was a void... and shazam! In stepped Idlewild, a badass Scottish band with serious lyrical and musical chops, ready to get the masses swaying and singing and dancing the way the masses want to sway and sing and dance. Remember that? Wasn't that awesome?
11. Eleven To Your Seven — Hey Mercedes
It's got a groove and you can dance to it. Hell, even I can dance to it, and I can't dance to anything. Just ask TheWife.
Me: Hey, can I dance?
TheWife: No, you suck at dancing. Although you are spectacularly handsome and have great hair. Also, you are brilliant and wise and funny as hell. And sexy. Did I mention sexy?
Me: You didn't. I should point out, however, that I can dance to that Hey Mercedes song Eleven To Your Seven.
TheWife: And thus, you have attained perfection. I stand here in wonder before you, gazing with infinite affection and appreciation at the glory that is you.
And there you have it: even I can dance to this song.
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(Before I forget, allow me to point you toward the brilliant and sexy - and now! dance-capable! - post I wrote for DadCentric last week. In case you missed it.)
