MMJ Six Pack

credits: Liliana for the artwork, which I think looks like the Rolling Stones hot lips, and me for drinking the beer

1. From the Air – Laurie Anderson

I heard this tune last summer and tagged it right away as the opener to my first cd. I was wearing headphones and the volume was pretty high, I still think that’s the best way to hear it. Very hypnotic, very 80s. In that subliminal messages telling us to wear leg warmers sort of way. Laurie Anderson has some wacky musical methods, like running a violin bow across magnetic tape and playing it back like a cassette. I can’t hear that particular trick on this song, but I’m told that it’s there.

2. Wish I Could – The Jesus and Mary Chain

I’m about 15 years late getting to know this band.

3. Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks – The Rapture

They say behind every good dj, there’s a better dj. Or at least, that’s what the dj behind me says. She got me into The Rapture. Apparently it’s a crazy, heart-thumping dance fest whenever they play a small venue, and you can hear why.

4. Free Money – Patti Smith

About a year ago I finally got around to listening to Patti Smith. I respected the music but I didn’t like a lot of it, except this tune survived and keeps growing on me. I love the way it builds, it’s like a horse picking up speed for 4 straight minutes.

5. Paper Thin Walls – Modest Mouse

In my first job after undergrad I worked with this guy Kit who had great taste in music. He used to play Modest Mouse at breakfast, when we’d be cooking for 12 guys with developmental disabilities who were trying to eat quickly and get out the door to work. This was a crowd favorite, and it’s the first Modest Mouse track I remember hearing.

6. Loud Pipes – Ratatat

Another 2007 discovery for me. These guys are basically guitar driven instrumental hip hop theme music. A few hours of Ratatat Therapy have been known to rhythmize even the squarest of djs, like dj pants.

7. Just Because I Do – My Morning Jacket

Ok, a word of explanation. I realize that I’m in violation of a group rule here, playing six straight songs by a single band. But it’s for a good cause. I wanted this cd to have a heart, something that really holds it all together, so I settled on a pack of songs from a single artist. And My Morning Jacket has stormed up to be one of my all-time favorites in just a couple of years, so I wanted to give them a proper introduction. I first heard a cd of theirs in 2005 at Filter, in Chicago, right around the time that salt-type visited and we hung out there. I saw them live in 2006 and in 2007 I started obsessing. I like this tune as a starter, since they don’t waste any time but just start yelling.

8. Bermuda Highway – My Morning Jacket

Absolutely haunting, this is my current favorite.

9. Golden – My Morning Jacket

First MMJ track I heard, I asked the guy behind the counter what was on and bought it that day.

10. Evelyn is Not Real – My Morning Jacket

Starts to show the diversity in what they can do. Tunes like this are why they’re one of the greatest Alt Country bands ever. And the genre is, what, 20 years old. So that's saying a lot.

11. Knot Comes Loose – My Morning Jacket

Stretches out a sound that's somewhat similar to Bermuda Highway, and plays around with it a bit. This was the last track I put on, I considered at least 10 other MMJ tunes for this slot (If you're interested: Mahgeetah, Dancefloors, One Big Holiday and Death is the Easy Way were finalists). Give me two more days and I would’ve swapped in something else – but I still love this one.

12. Off the Record – My Morning Jacket

I wanted to end the MMJ section an upnote. What I love about this song is that the first two minutes are really catchy, in a style different from their usual. Then halfway through, they seem to realize that this song is way too poppy for a bunch of long-bearded alt country jammers, so they set off for a couple minutes of winsome noodling. I love both parts, and I particularly love that they make a single song.

13. New Madrid – Uncle Tupelo

This is vintage for me. The most played song on my Itunes, by a wide margin. Uncle Tupelo broke up in the mid 90s, spawning Son Volt, Wilco and a few other alt country get-ups. Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar were kind of the John and Paul of alt country, they were writing beautiful tunes about the Depression and working class America when they were in their late teens, and putting a hard edge on country music that essentially gave birth to a new genre. This song's about a massive 1812 earthquake on the New Madrid fault line, south of St Louis. I learned that from an on-line forum discussion between screennames "DustyMurphy" and "crazybilly", which pretty much says it all.

14. Walking Through the Snow (Acoustic) – The Samples

The Samples can be a little too whiney for me at times, and sometimes they just go limp. But this song is beautiful.

15. Nothing Comes to Rest – Unbunny

I thought this one would wear off quickly, but I’ve listened to it a lot over the last couple of months and I still love it. This trio seems to be on the rise.

16. Speedy Marie – Frank Black

In case you haven’t caught up with Black Francis since he left the Pixies – he’s kind of sounding like Wolf Parade.

17. Hurley – Pinback

This is another one that I picked up from Liliana. I don’t really know anything about Pinback, I haven’t even googled them. But this tune is pretty representative of the one cd I have. In the words of a-funk, it’s a grower.

18. He Hit Me – Grizzly Bear

This song is about spousal abuse. The disturbition is intentional (nope, not a word). The Crystals recorded this song in 1963, with, ironically, Phil Spector producing, and it didn’t last a week on the radio. Grizzly Bear just redid it. The words, the sound, the whole thing is a bit fucked up in a way that I like. I thought this song was a really eclectic find, and then the other day I saw Grizzly Bear on Rolling Stone’s college radio top 10 list. Oh well.

19. 10 Commandments – Lee Scratch Perry

I think I first stole a bit of Lee Perry from salt-type, when we shared an office. This is a track I heard last year, it’s good intro material but I decided to place it at the end for a little swinging finish.

20. The Weather – Built To Spill

And then I kill the swinging reggae bit with another of my Itunes top plays. I absolutely love this song. It's the last track off one of my Desert Island Discs, and if it’s a good enough finish for Built to Spill then it’ll do fine for me.