These Days (Day 108)

James - "Low Clouds"
Um...err...wha? Had to take a look at the iPod to see what was going on here as 4 seconds of the sound of wind blowing in my ears. Oh, right, James' Wah Wah. This odd album from 1994 was the experimental work that resulted from the band's pairing with knob twiddler Brian Eno. Together they made a commercial record (1993's Laid) and then this oh-so-not commercial one. It's actually pretty cool, and definitely a little ahead of it's time - - especially considering all the praise heaped upon current wunderkinds like Animal Collective. FYI: This is actually the shortest "song" on my iPod (not including a few blank tracks that are really just breaks between songs).
Wilco - "The Thanks I Get" (live)
Recorded during the Sky Blue Sky sessions, this song didn't make the record, but was made available as a download. It also showed up here.



Well, you can't expect to make a living just being an amazing rock band, can you?
Damien Rice - "9 Lives"
Sam Prekop - "Something"
Vetiver - "Without A Song"
Destroyer - "Death On The Festival Circuit"
Joy Division - "These Days"
Nurse & Soldier - "In The Dark"
The Elected - "Would You Come With Me"
Aimee Mann - "Medicine Wheel"
Vetiver - "I Must Be In A Good Place Now"
Two from Vetiver today. I've talked them up before. They're a very cool ambient folk band and this track is from the record of obscure covers they put out earlier this year. It's fun to listen to...and fun to figure out where the heck the songs came from. This one was originally written and recorded in 1972 by Bobby Charles. Who's Bobby Charles you're wondering? Why he's a progenitor of Louisiana-influenced rhythm and blues, of course! In fact, he wrote this seminal rock song:



Actually that's Bill Haley who scored a hit with the song doing the singing. (The clip is from the 1956 movie Rock Around The Clock - - and it's pretty hilarious.) Anyhoo, after writing hits for others, including Fats Domino, Bobby finally got around to putting out his own record. And who did he hook up with? The Band! Yes, his eponymous album (on which appears "I Must Be In A Good Place Now") was produced by Rick Danko and most of The Band backs him up. The record is described as sounding like what it might be like if Randy Newman actually fronted The Band. I'm intrigued, thanks Vetiver.
Elliott Smith - "Speed Trials"
Bowerbirds - "La Denigracion"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 13
Total minutes of music (approx.): 45
Song with the most previous plays: "These Days" - 11
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Today's Olympics fun fact: Controversy! Michael Phelps is sponsored by the same company (Omega) that is the official timekeeper at the Beijing games! And...

Phelps was involved in a disputed race last Saturday. Omega has declined to release underwater video images showing conclusively that Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly by a hundredth of a second over Milorad Cavic of Serbia, saying that swimming’s world governing body, FINA, made the decision.

There's more.

Shortly after Saturday’s disputed race, Alina Ivanescu, a spokeswoman for Omega, told The New York Times that the company would soon forward the video images to the news media. Later Saturday, though, Ivanescu sent an e-mail message saying that FINA decided not to release any timekeeping images to the news media.

What do you think, conspiracy theorists?