As I said before, there aren’t many changes, story-wise, from here on out. For me, January of 2005 wasn’t overly different from January of 2004.
I apologize for this anti-climactic turn of events.
This mix (and the previous one) appears on my blog here.
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There’s a LOT of KEXP stuff here. More importantly, there’s some stuff here that went on to become some of my favorite music of the decade.
- U2 – Vertigo
Yes, yes, I’m a sucker for some of U2′s more egregious pop.
- Sahara Hotnights – Hot Night Crash
I don’t think I heard of this band from KEXP. I started following music blogs at this point and it’s possible I heard about them from one of those.
- All-American Rejects – Swing Swing
Heard on the radio, downloaded. I don’t much like this song anymore.
- Jonathan Rundman – Smart Girls
We were getting Paste magazine at this point, but I had grown tired of its singer-songwriter-folk-rock angle. This song, though, from one of their sampler CDs, amused me.
- The Mountain Goats – Letter From Belgium
Another KEXP band that eventually became a favorite. This album, We Shall All Be Healed, is one of my favorites.
- The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done
I like this song a lot, but nothing else of theirs has done a damn thing for me.
- Elliot Smith – Memory Lane
I really don’t have much patience for the Tweemo of Elliot Smith and his ilk, but I like this song well enough.
- Audio Ninja – Fault
Remember my friend Dan? This is his band! He wrote this and is singing it! At the time they were called Audio Ninja, but they later became Social X-Ray. I’m not just including this because he’s a pal; I really dig the song.
- Jimmy Eat World – Jenny
As much as I love Bleed American (and, to a lesser extent, Clarity), their follow-ups just lost me. This is actually an earlier song, I think.
- Dressy Bessy – Just Once More
- Snow Patrol – Spitting Games
- Fountains Of Wayne – Mexican Wine
- The Postal Service – Sleeping In
- They Might Be Giants – Experimental Film
- The Raveonettes – Remember
Nothing much to say about these. They’re followups from previous albums or bands.
- The Secret Machines – Nowhere Again
I know I heard this song on a music blog and loved it. I sampled a few other songs of theirs and this was the only one I really liked. Eventually I would just grab songs and not worry about if there were any others by that band I liked.
- Nellie McKay – David
Nellie McKay’s debut double album would have made a great single album. There’s a lot of clever stuff on it, but a lot of it is not nearly as clever as it seems to think. I don’t think either of us was much blown away by the follow-up, another double album.
- Goldenboy – Sing Another Song For The Winterlong
Dan introduced us to these guys, and we ended up seeing them perform in Northampton. The album this is from, Underneath the Radio is pretty good, if you like this tune.
- Zero 7 – In The Waiting Line
Another one from the Garden State soundtrack.
- Sleeping Flies – Feel Like Movin’ On
- Rogue Wave – Kicking The Heart Out
- The Elected – Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
- The Von Bondies – Cmon Cmon
- The Delays – Hey Now Girl
- The Jayhawks – Save it for a Rainy Day
- Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Mona Lisa
- Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Apples & Oranges
- Flunk – Blind My Mind
- Olympic Hopefuls – Holiday
These are all KEXP bands.
- John Vanderslice – Up Above The Sea
This WOULD have been just another KEXP band, except for the album he was about to release.
- Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
Becky got hipped to this, and I like a lot of it fine, but most of it is a bit too showtuney to me, meaning that it sounds like songs excerpted from musicals, which I can take some of, but not one after another.
- The Trash Can Sinatras – Welcome Back
I loved the TCS’s Cake album way back when, but hadn’t followed them much since then, having found the followup to be disappointing. This release, Weightlifting, was much praised as a return to form for the band, but once again I was just not blown away.
- Paul Oakenfold – Ready Steady Go
From the Collateral soundtrack, yeah.
- Smoosh – Massive Cure
I had heard about Smoosh somewhere, this crazy band made up from two little girls who rocked the hell out of it. The music did not disappoint.
- Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams
I was just as surprised as anyone when I started hearing that Green Day was a band we were now supposed to take seriously, but damn if I wasn’t impressed by American Idiot.
- Cake – Wheels
Cake finally followed up the amazing Comfort Eagle with Pressure Chief which, perhaps inevitably, was a bit of a disappointment. A lot of the energy seemed to be missing, though the songs aren’t bad.
- Franz Ferdinand – The Dark Of The Matinée
I listened to this song about a dozen times trying to figure out if I liked it or not. I eventually decided I did. The rest of the album wasn’t bad, but wore out its welcome pretty quickly.
- The Arcade Fire – Wake Up
It took me a few listens to really appreciate this album, but once I did, it blew me away. This is possibly my vote for best album of the decade.
- Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow
And here’s Matthew Sweet, still plugging away. The guy may not be as notable as he used to, but he can still put out a fine pop song.
Here’s the story of the title. We were out at karaoke night, looking for a song to sing. We came across a song called something like, “You Can’t Surprise Jesus” and Becky said, “You’ll never see Jesus doing this:” and then made a “surprised” face. We laughed ourselves silly. It’s possible we’d been drinking.
This is another early cover, which explains the no-frills nature of it, but I actually like the front. The back is boring, though.
Click on the player below to listen to this mix!
(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)
