That's a condiment cup

Doin' o.k.

"Bruises" by Chairlift

"Middle Distance Runner" by Sea Wolf

"Riches and Wonders" by The Mountain Goats

"Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ" by Titus Andronicus

"Punk Rock Girl" by The Dead Milkmen

"Can't Tell Me Nothing" by Kanye West

"Party and Bullshit" by Notorious B.I.G.

-S

I don't do too much talking

First day of college is done-and I am tired as shit. I won't get in to it too much as I have been away for the whole summer (those playlists don't really count in my book as posts). The only note is that the girl down the hall listens to Tegan and Sara, Death Cab, and The Mountain Goats so that could be a goldmine of new music but I assume the radio station will afford me the same opportunity.

Some may say I've already posted this song but I could not pass up an opportunity to post this version. I promise I am not obsessed with the song, I just think it has really stood the test of time.

I guess the first post to kick off the summer will be ripped straight from one of the blogs that I read. This comes straight from DailyBeatz (its ok to repost one of their songs considering they scooped me by only a few hours on some song a couple months back.) The song is a remix of a Nico song (of Andy Warhol superstar "fame"). I first heard her music in the movie The Royal Tenenbaums, the song was These Days, the cinematography was great, and more so I found Nico's voice haunting. So as you can assume I was excited to see someone had remixed the song. In this case by Japanese Electro/Acid-Jazz artist Shinichi Osawa.

The song begins the same with the same iconic rhythm guitar but then quickly diverges into an entirely different experience that runs rampant with vamping and excessive loops. For the most part that is the only change but a tiny change like that coupled with the drum beat and a few synth affects turns the song into another genre and another league. It is with this that I think a song can be given a face-lift to go better with the times. By no means is this a club beat and remix, but it gives it a fresh feel with a song that after a while sounds a little dated. Enjoy the track and be sure (if you haven't already) to listen to the original.

"These Days" by Nico remixed by Shinichi Osawa

(I could not find it on YouTube but here is the link to the DailyBeatz post)

"These Days" by Nico from Chelsea Girl 1967

-S

Fun Fact: The song was originally written by Jackson Browne and done by Gregg Allman and Elliot Smith as well (all three versions are very different interpretations)

You're a crisis, you're an icicle

There have been many bands that I missed the boat for. These are bands or musicians that I hear of long past their prime, not because I missed them due to age, but because I remained in the dark even during their prime years (see: Jay Reatard). One such artists, I would have for certain missed their prime if they had lived to see it.

In 2003, Elliot Smith committed suicide in his LA apartment, he was seemingly still on his way to the peak of his career. How can I make this conjecture you ask? At the time of his death he was working on a multitude of new tracks (most of which are still trickling to the surface posthumously.


Those are not some of the tracks that I am writing about though. The song is off of Smith's freshman effort Roman Candle. "Last Call" is a classic indie rock song with my beloved lo-fi sounds (I will always love you Mountain Goats).

The first time I heard a Elliot Smith song was on the soundtrack of one of my favorite movies, The Royal Tennenbaums, since then I have alway adored his song writing abilities especially when coupled with his simplistic electric guitar melodies that really give his music incredible character. Like most of Smith's songs, the lyrics are incredibly sad and filled with pain, "Last Call" being no exception as Smith's final refrain reads: "I wanted her to tell me that she would never wake me, I'm lying here waiting for sleep to overtake me." Not only can you hear the pain in his lyrics, but you can hear it in his voice and in his sad guitar style. It was a great loss to the music world.

"Last Call" by Elliot Smith from Roman Candle (2004) (Re-Released In 2007)

-S

Don't waste your words I don't need anything from you

So oddly enough I stumbled upon this absolute gem just around Easter. I know I'm a little late jumping on the bandwagon, but I have fallen in love with "I Am The Resurrection" by The Stone Roses. This song really rocks.

You get classic British indie in the beginning of this eight or so minute ballad with a pounding drum beat and a soulful guitar riff that flows throughout. Around 2:45 the guitar kicks it up a notch to lead the song bravely in to a seemingly endless instrumental around 3:30.

This has nothing to do with the Stone Roses or even Jesus for that matter

The instrumental starts a little like Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" and the comparisons end there.

It sounds great with a gleaming sound that echos throughout. There is nothing you can really do to stop yourself from getting lost in this song. John Squire (aptly named of course) really just kills this song setting it apart from some of the other music of the time (some of my favorites of 92': Pavement and The Mountain Goats, at least in terms of Indie Rock).

Anyway this song is just amazing and should definitely be a staple in any sweet playlist you might be working on. For some reason listening to the 4ish minute outro just gets me going.

"I Am The Resurrection" by The Stone Roses from I Am The Resurrection (1992)

-S

When your around me I'm someone else

Once in a while I come across a band that I am surprised not to have heard about. I recently started listening to Pavement at the suggestion of my high school English teacher. He's a huge fan and is even going to their reunion show in New York this September.

Regardless, they were a whole section of indie music that I had not heard influencing bands such as The White Stripes and Modest Mouse (a couple of my favorites). Recently though, I stumbled upon Guided By Voices led by singer/songwriter Robert Pollard.

The band from Dayton, OH, started up in 1983 and recently broke up in 2004 (I guess '04 was a bad year for bands, Dispatch and Phish broke up that year too). Regardless, you can here the song writing of Pavement and the guitar tones familiar to Modest Mouse and The Mountain Goats in Pollard's songs (of which he has claimed over 1,300 to his name). Pollard brings 'it' with the catchy lyrical structure and the punchy guitar that I love so much.

"Teenage FBI" by Guided By Voices from Do The Collapse (1999)

"I Am A Scientist" by Guided By Voices from Bee Thousand (1994)

"My Valuable Hunting Knife" by Guided By Voices from Alien Lanes (1995)

-S

P.S. Fun Fact: Guided By Voices basically released an album every year while active from '83-'04. They also used the same Lo-Fi style that John Darnielle loves to use with The Mountain Goats.

Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks

You know those bands that grow on you? For me, no band personifies this change better than The Mountain Goats. I started listening to them in 7th grade, and only to a measly three songs. I'm not sure how I heard about them or what drew me in but something just held me.

The first song I ever heard by them was "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton". For the most part this song is pretty representative of the band. Lead singer John Darnielle started the band in the early 90's, recording with a very lo-fi sound (That he used up until 2002ish). I knew when I heard this song that this band was something special but I don't think I had the capacity to understand this at the time. When I was in 7th grade it was 2005 and The Mountain Goats had come a long way from the Lo-fi sound that I was used to, but I was a little behind the times.

I'm not sure I understood "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton" at the time, all I knew was that it was the story of a high school metal band and that it ends with the lyrics "Hail Satan" (Not sure why but this felt so scandalous when I first listened to it).

The main message of the song is that when someone has a dream, you can't stop it by putting it down, our dreams live on no matter what. "When you punish a person for dreaming his dream don't expect him to thank or forgive you," Darnielle says it better wouldn't you say?

Anyway, here's the song, I won't tell you much more about the band because I want people to discover this band for themselves, they are truly amazing and definitely worth exploring more. I'll start you off a little though...

"The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton" by The Mountain Goats from All Hail West Texas (2002)

"This Year" by The Mountain Goats from The Sunset Tree (2005)

"Color In Your Cheeks" by The Mountain Goats from All Hail West Texas (2002)

— S