Buy Me

At some point, everyone works a shit job. Personally, the term shit job incorporates any place of employment where you must be the entertainment at bar mitzvahs, where you must clean other people (or up after them), at Hot Dog on a Stick, or at a women's clothing store.

The following four songs are notable for their high quality and presence on clothing store "soundtracks." These songs say "you look young at heart in that cardigan." These songs have not sold out despite this.

Match the A+ quality song with the store in which it has played. There may be a prize for correct guesses.

1. The Boy Least Likely To "Be Gentle With Me"
2. Justin Timberlake "Sexy Back"
3. Stevie Wonder "Sir Duke" (link to be fixed)
4. The Thrills "Say It Ain't So"
5. Blur "Boys & Girls"


a. Monk vintage clothing store on MacDougall
b. The Gap
c. Anthropologie
d. J. Crew
e. Forever 21

If you're sitting on your hands, read:
The New Yorker on the death of Musak
SF Gate on selling a lifestyle, because who wants a musak lifestyle these days?

Gangsta's Paradise

1982, a significant year for non-cinematic reasons, included the release of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," a film still as appealing as any individual aged 24.

Luckily for America, director Amy Heckerling had a few more tricks up her sleeve - namely the first two of the "Look Who's Talking" series: both regular and "...Too!" (Bruce Willis and Roseanne Barr as baby voices are indisputably frightening; not the point of this post.) Then, finally, Clueless.

Thank you, Amy, for returning to high-school movies. Clueless is still a blast. You directed Brittany Murphy to the best performance pre-8mm, including one profoundly tone-def rendition of Coolio's "Rollin With My Homies" after getting clocked in the head with a flying shoe at a valley party. Good scene. Great song. Too bad it doen't work out with Tai and El-on, but high school's a rough place.

Coolio "Rollin With My Homies"



ps Clueless also marked Donald Faison's introduction to showbiz as Dionne's sweet not-quite-a-scrub boyfriend. While Tai's singing to stay conscious in the next room, he's just "keepin it real" by getting his head shaved at the valley party mentioned above. Thanks for the good times, and keep up the good work, Turk.

Make it!

There will come a day when everything will change for you. When, after years of finely tuning your cynicism and sarcasm and disinterest, you will feel like you are falling apart. Something will probably set it off. Maybe you'll see horses and wonder what it means to be truly free. Maybe you'll watch the movie Tombstone and it will cause you to question the authenticity of your own existence. But you'll slowly realize that your list of things you dislike is a lot longer than the list of things you do like. You'll start to notice that its easier to pick something apart than to praise it. You will see how casual conversation effortlessly turns cynical and sarcastic and it always has but it never bothered you before but now it makes you feel kind of sick. But then, when you feel like you are going to bust, something will happen. Your heart will start beating so hard you'll remember that you have one and you'll grab your chest because you'll feel like you have to. You will be delivered. Old ideas will be fresh and tired advice will come back to life and food will even taste better for some reason and you'll see it all through these huge new eyes. You'll stop dissecting everything and start taking everything at face value. And when that finally happens, this is the song you'll listen to.

Mama Cass Elliot "Make Your Own Kind of Music"

A Secret History of the 20th Century

Over dinner a few days ago, Matt and I briefly debated the foibles of A People's History of the United States, my thoughts on which are essentially that it would make a very good supplementary text in a classroom setting, but otherwise its arguments are often convoluted and substantially misrepresent a lot of history [I pretty much think this: Michael Kazin on Zinn]. Anyway, I eventually got frustrated with Matt and sent him an e-mail that said, "I hope that you die, and your death will come soon, and all the money you made will never buy back your soul." [a misquote from Masters of War.]

Moving along here, I like Bob Dylan; evidence of this can be found in the above paragraph. The Basement Tapes, in my opinion, is not Bob Dylan's best album nor the Band's best album, but it is really great. My appreciation for the album was at first cursory and then was significantly informed by my reading of Greil Marcus' book The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes, which concerns itself with an expanded 5-disc version of the album and an old anthology of American folk music.

That all being said, here are two songs from standard issue of The Basement Tapes. Both are upbeat Bob songs; there are also subdued Bob songs, as well as songs that are much more The Band-y, and are neither really 'upbeat' nor 'subdued', just The Band-y. The album begins with some looser songs and then moves into more introspective territory; that is, you get to know the slower songs by hearing the faster ones first. Here we go:

Bob Dylan & the Band - Million Dollar Bash (from The Basement Tapes, 1975)
Bob Dylan & the Band - Please, Mrs. Henry (from The Basement Tapes, 1975)

heads up wednesday

please check out jason hare's "mellow gold" gem. this week's song is amazing, but also check out the archives - he features a new softie every wednesday.

tap that

(these are so nice. sold out.)

it might be a fun game to count how many other indie bands sound just like tap tap. it's a lot. arcade fire and man man and clap your hands and whatever else. they're not the most original thing since van gogh sent homegirl his ear. more enjoyable though.

when you're done frowning about how derivative bands are these days, notice that tap tap are sneakily catchy. the kind of band that every time you hear them, you wonder who this good band is (they sound familiar...), and then feel sheepish because you know exactly who it is, and you've heard the song several times, and they're featured on your playlist entitled "hella fresh hitzz." tap tap is not an acquired taste. they're the guy you meet at a party that's surprisingly easy to talk to right off the bat. that's not a bad thing.

probably the catchiest song (among those recently jacked from other blogs).
tap tap "100,000 thoughts"

this one is pretty conservative in terms of the lyrics. needless to say, "boy" must have done something pretty special.
tap tap "way to go boy"

you'll want one more. last but not least.
tap tap "the reason i'm here"

all tracks are from "lanzafame." i can't read this but i gather the author of this blog finds lanzafame the best cd of 2006.


ps for melissa and alex and anyone else who travels to music festivals, coachella looks really good. worth not taking a shower for (or was that bonnaroo?).

do you have a pulse

I started listening to Sleater-Kinney after stealing a burned copy of Dig Me Out from one of my roommates, a girl who worked at Other Music and would always complain that they'd tell her to shut up and make her work the register. I imagine Other Music to be a kind of cartoony place where everyone is jaded and annoyed but I've only been in there once. With Chris obviously. Anyway, I loved all of Dig Me Out right away, all the way through and lots of times every day, but my favorite song on the album was Dance Song '97. Listening to the album now, I like 2 or 3 other songs better, but good ol Dance Song will always have a special place in my heart.

Sleater-Kinney - Dance Song '97 (from Dig Me Out, 1997)

I call Sleater-Kinney my favorite band now, and this is my favorite song of theirs at the moment.

Sleater Kinney - "One Beat" (from One Beat, 2002)

I bought Morphine's The Night because it had a great cover and because I remembered reading the obituary for the band's lead singer and bassist, Mark Sandman, in Rolling Stone. My favorite band in high school was Soul Coughing, and I had read that Morphine opened for them on a tour once, so I came into the band wanting to like them. "The Night" is the first track on the album, and Sandman's voice is so low and moody and I want to be friends with him.

Morphine - The Night (from The Night, 2000)

soundtrack star

good soundtracks are so exciting, because they can go so wrong. obvi wes anderson does a great job, and it's can be nice when a good band goes all out for a soundtrack (simon and g-funkel for the graduate, cat stevens for harold and maude, belle and sebastian for storytelling, etc.). no example of a horrible soundtrack pops into my mind - the worst are usually part of bad movies, so the soundtrack becomes part of the whole unfortunate experience.

sometimes, and this really only happens in new york, the song on your ipod corresponds exactly to what you are doing as if it were made for the movie that is your life. like if james taylor's "walking man" were playing as you hoofed it to the subway, but more subtle. after watching bridget jones' diary, *a friend* would listen to that craig david song "fantastic bombastic" or something like that and really rock the sassy walk. anyway.

these two songs seem like they belong on soundtracks. come n get em, wes.

earlimart is notable for being obsessively compared to elliot smith. maybe, but there's something so much more personal about elliot's music, and elliot just packs more of a punch. that said, this song is on earlimart's upcoming cd and those violins rock. more can be found on pitchfork.

earlimart "don't think about me"


when countries submit their best movie for the foreign picture category in the oscars, there's so much - a whole country's cinematic production - riding on that film. it's charming, and probably the u.s. likes passing judgment on the art of albania based on one film. canada loves this band like their best nomination. it's a little philip glassish. it's not something you'll listen to all the time, but it might illustrate a scene where you're deciding between froot loops and peanut butter puffins (organic but damn they're good) at the grocery store.

final fantasy "he poos clouds"

“I'm dealing in rock'n'roll. I'm, like, I'm not a bona fide human being.”

Oh, Phil Spector, remember when you threatened to quit the music
business if we didnt all agree that this was the best song you'd ever
produced? Remember how much time and money you spent on this song?
Remember what you put Tina through? Even Ike thought it was excessive.
But you didn't care, you knew this song was your crowning achievement
and it was going to be the one that knocked all those bratty British
kids off the charts. And then remember when it didnt even break the
top 50? You closed your studio, Phil. We're sorry, Phil. It's
not your fault, we were just really excited about the Beatles.

Even without the British Invasion dominating the music charts, I can
still see why this song wouldn't be a pop hit. Even today, it sounds
like its from fucking outer space. Phil Spector's production never
had the urgency it has in this song. The wall of sound was never this
thick. Even Tina Turner gets swallowed by the insanity at times.
Everyone involved sounds like they are playing with a gun to their
head, which is entirely possible given Spector's history.

Ike & Tina Turner "River Deep - Mountain High.mp3

thank heaven

there's something really perfect about being a 20-something with a blog right now. it allows the writer the illusion of being heard out and maybe understood by a huge anonymous audience. you can cry and know nobody's laughing at you, make bad jokes and pretend everyone is now laughing, and generally get really into yourself. really, really into yourself.

before blogs, people had babies. but it's not really approp to be self-indulgent and morose in your twenties when you've got a bun in the oven or one thats freshly baked. so some people, thinking out of the box, adopted cats. more time to explore the emotions from the teenage years without having to be responsible or purchase creamed foods. even better, just write about yourself as a hobby. my point being that a blog is a modern version of a baby. this one's mine.

ps even hilary knows it takes a village to raise a child. if you want to write about music, talk to me please.

casiotone for the painfully alone was introduced to me recently. mr. tone writes the kind of sad music that you don't have to be sad to appreciate. this song sounds like when a kid hammers on the lowest keys of the piano and realizes that it sounds depressing and that this sound goes with the color blue (both conventions, no?). please listen to and read about casiotone's cover of graceland on said the gramophone. first listen to this.

casiotone for the painfully alone "i love creedence"


herman dune has been a favorite for a solid six months. that's one 20th of my 20s. his folk-y take on the doldrums (i cant come up with a more modern word) makes him sound like the kind of guy that doesn't get hung up on much. so he got dumped. so he's getting old. ok, whatever. he also wears unique hats, which you may choose to explore during your free time on youtube. herman is great; this song is nice, too. (or maybe you n dom agree.)

herman dune "not on top"