do the shuffle.

on my way to/from the post office this afternoon my dj iPod was totally playing some good tunes. i realize that all the music in my iPod is mine - but sometimes i'm like "seriously, dj iPod - are you gonna play paul mccartney & wings AGAIN?!? "...some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs..."

break it down.

some girls - "just like the first time"


if i ever have a band, i want to cover this song. some girls only released one album (update! they have a new one that came out in july! yay!), which i think is a damn shame. the all-girl band is made up of two former blake babies, freda love and juliana hatfield (also of the lemonheads), and heidi gluck (the pieces). i loves me some juliana hatfield - her babyish voice but rockin' attitude?!? killer. remember that j.hatfield song from back in the early 90's - "universal heartbeat"? sooooo good. but wait, this diatribe is not about that song! anyway, "just like the first time" is so catchy & groovy & hooky. it has a pretty sweet bass line too, which always stands out to me considering i'm a sucker for a disco break. heh.

INXS - "not enough time"



omg I LOVE INXS! not INXS now, with that stupid canadian in it. INXS back in the day with sexxxxy mcsexerson & aussie michael hutchence. c'mon people, admit it, INXS was a good band! are you with me?!? m. hutchence has this lazy vocal delivery that is both super seductive and frustrating. it's like he's feigning indifference and interest while at the same time pouring his heart out. it's not like he's not really feeling what he's singing, but he doesn't want to fully commit to it - like that boy who is totally aloof but whom you know is still interested? yeah, that's him.

gemma hayes - "ran for miles"


i'm a big gemma hayes fan and i feel like i'm the only one! yes, i'm a girl! i like sappy, girlie, omg you broke my heart and now you must pay for it by listening to how much you hurt me in song, music sometimes! but with some edge! so sue me! her debut album, night on my side, is still in heavy rotation in my collection, but her follow up hasn't even been released in the US yet. poo. i was heavily into my shoegazer period when i stumbled upon her (at the suggestion of my then-boyfriend - the one good attribute he did have was his taste in music!) and she definitely has those shoegazer, heavy-on-the-effects-pedals (distortion alert!), dream pop tendencies in some of her more up tempo songs. this is a sweet acoustic guitar ballad though - with lyrics like "today i ran for miles, just to see what i was made of..." and "wanna tell you just how hard it's been, trying to talk myself out of jumping". hi, sadness! i also love her voice - kinda of raspy at times, but still delicate and earnest, bittersweet. (see also: z berg from the like, harriet wheeler from the sundays)

aberdeen city - "god is going to get sick of me"


we were just talking about this band, and specifically this song, on sunday at the park because i could not get it out of my head. they've re-released the freezing atlantic (#20 in my top 25 of 2005) on a bigger label and re-recorded some tracks, including this one. of course i'm partial to the version that i've been listening to for the last year or so, but whatevs - a good song is a good song. is a good song. i am way into the angular, yet circular guitar melody in this song. that's probably not the best way to describe it, but oh well! plus, my pretend, rock star, future boyfriend is in this band. yum.

faith no more - "epic"


omg - how much does this song ROCK?!? alot. i love mike patton - even when he had that stupid shaved-underneath-but-long-on-top hairstyle. i remember when the video to this song came out, i was sad for the little fishy that was flailing about at the end, gasping for...um, water? whatevs. this was the precursor/predecessor to all of those rap-rock bands (whose names i will not even utter, the horror! make it stop, make it stop!) but it was done right. funky, crunchy, m.patton's outrageously awesome vocals - good times my friends, good times.