What a difference a day makes. Maybe it was just my mood, but today's playlist was so solid it felt like there was no way it could truly be random. The songs were all great and they flowed seamlessly. Kicking it off was this very Beatle-esque Wilco tune from Summer Teeth.
Deadboy And Elephant - "Walking Stick"
Who knew this band, which normally hits you over the head like any good garage band, actually has a more mellow moment? This is it...and another nice song to start my morning.
Belle & Sebastian - "To Be Myself Completely"
While it's Stuart Murdoch's band, this is a nice vocal turn by Stevie Jackson that revs things up a little bit in that swinging B&S way.
Low - "Walk Into The Sea"
Can a song be mellow and rock at the same time? Yes, says Low - - again and again.
Dirty Three - "Hope"
The highlight of today's set by far. It could be that I haven't really listened to this Australian trio in a while, but it really was great to hear this AM. If you don't know Dirty Three, they're pretty unique. A guitarist, drummer and violinist create these really cool, and mostly mournful-sounding instrumentals, which, although downbeat, seem to pick me up. Horse Stories from 1996 is a great album to start with... if you're interested.
Sufjan Stevens - "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!"
Great song from Come On Feel The Illionoise, it has a kind of disco feel. Seriously. Anybody else hear the similarities with Go To Heaven era Grateful Dead? Oh wait, did I just write that?
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - "If You Want Me"
Yes, I liked the movie. Yes, I like the songs. How can you not?
Devendra Banhart - "Heard Somebody Say"
Say what you will about Devendra (and I too have described him as annoying), but this is a pretty beautiful song. And that line "I heard somebody say // that the war ended today // but everybody knows it's going still," is a ripped-from-the-headlines heartbreaker.
Pavement - "Frontwards" (live)
This is the one song that didn't seem to fit in stylistically with the rest of today's set, but you know what? It doesn't matter, because it's "Frontwards"! By Pavement. One. Of. The. Best. Songs. Ever.
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 9
Total minutes of music (approx.): 33
Song with the most previous plays: "Waling Stick" - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 8
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Okay, if you love baseball (like me!) and arcane baseball stories (me too!), do yourself a favor and read this article from today's NY Times. Need some incentive to click that link. Okay, here's one graph:
On the afternoon of Oct. 8, an enormous crowd engulfed the Polo Grounds, willing to do anything to see a game that would decide the pennant. They teetered along Coogan’s Bluff above the ballpark; climbed up on the grandstand roof; perched on the elevated train viaduct out past left field. One man fell to his death from the el; another fell from a telegraph pole and broke his neck. A wedge of fans broke through a wooden fence into the outfield and had to be pushed back by mounted police. Later, they tried setting the fence on fire.
4 comments:
Wow, that's a really great bunch of songs today. (And a few words for each? Beeeaaauutiful!)
I love baseball stories...if I could have majored in baseball history, I would have. When I made jewelry and had my own shop, I had a framed picture of Shoeless Joe above my craftin' desk. (I come from a family of baseball geeks. My grandparents have an attic full of Reds junk.) Note: The Negro League Hall of Fame was briefly located in (and played reunion games in) my hometown of Ashland, KY. It was hard to believe, but there it was. I was too young to appreciate it, but the people there who remember the stuff...boxes and boxes of stuff, just stacked around...had some great stories to tell.
Oh! And my parents' first home was a house owned by Don Gullett. Does anyone remember him? Maybe I do just because we lived in his house. Huh. Anyway, it had mice in the basement, and a huge back yard. That's all I know about it.
(Terrific, now I'm on a Wikipedia rampage.)
This is an interesting answer to your short commutes. I like the comments after every song. Now, can you keep this momentum going?
Sure! DOn Gullett pitched for the Yankees in 77 and 78 (the year I fell in love with the Yanks -- sorry GE). I still have his baseball card somewhere...
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