Shuffled No.5

I’m up to 14,700 songs, and it’s been about a month since my last effort, so it feels like as good a time as any for another edition of Shuffled. Plug in my headphones to the ol’ iPod and press play.

Travis, “Tied to the ’90s”

This is from their first album, which I never really got into. Truthfully, I kind of lost track of them after The Invisible Band. I heard their last record was particularly good, but I never got around to listening to it. Given the more dour turn they started to take on their turn-of-the-century albums, I really like this jaunty number. It’s got a nice little bar-band thing going for it.

Matt Costa, “Trying to Lose My Mind”

I downloaded this track recently for a themed mix about mental instability. I wouldn’t normally go out and get a Matt Costa record, but this is a fun little tune, and amazingly works quite well as a follow up to that Travis song. Matt Costa’s part of the Jack Johnson/Brushfire crew now, which for most people gives him an immediate black mark, but having really liked Jack at one time, I won’t hold that against him. I will say that his music is pleasant, if mildly forgettable.

Elliott Smith, “Pretty (Ugly Before)”

I didn’t even know I had this, actually. I still don’t have the entirety of From a Basement on the Hill, for whatever reason, so it always comes as a surprise to hear a song from this album pop up on the shuffler. I was never a huge Smith disciple, having discovered him “late” via Good Will Hunting, but I find myself listening to his records more and more as the years roll by.

Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Driving South (Live)”

I got this BBC Sessions thing at Costco years back, mostly because it was there and I had money to burn. Before then (and since), the only Hendrix I ever owned was the hits collection The Ultimate Experience. It’s a shame, really, cause Jimi wrote some of my favorite music from the sixties. I keep telling myself I’ll get the full Are You Experienced or Axis: Bold as Love, but I’ve never gotten around to it. I’m too busy listening to what I’ve already got, which is a bunch of great songs that have stood the test of time.

The Beatles, “Get Back”

I think I bought Let It Be for just this one song. Yes, of course it’s got all those other great songs on it, but this was the one. I’m not sure why. It’s recorded so haphazardly that it’s almost an afterthought. Maybe that’s what I like about it. After years of such pristine, wall-of-sound production, here are the Beatles playing it loose. I’ve been buying a lot of late ’60s and early ’70s music in the past couple years, and that might be my favorite thing about these albums, hearing that transition from studio masterworks to looser, live-in-studio recordings that capture a moment.

Driving Blind, “Hypnotized”

I may have heard this song on the radio once or twice back in the day, but I’m pretty certain this is one of my old Tower listening station purchases. This is the sound of my music back in high school: breezy, fine-tuned acoustic pop layered with other elements. This band, if I remember right, used to be (or once included members of) another, lesser known band called Monkey Walk. As Driving Blind, I think they might have put out a second record, but I never came across it… or maybe I grew out of this sound by then, who knows. Either way, this is still a great album for a summer afternoon.

Wilco, “Sky Blue Sky”

Speaking of summer afternoons… the shuffler’s doing a good job of pairing up tracks today. Wilco has, over the past five years or so, become one of my favorite bands. Sky Blue Sky, whether you were a longtime fan or not, took a little getting used to, but now I love it for its sun-drenched, lazy country. Of course, it ups the tempo here and there, but mostly it works as a mood piece for early summer mornings and dog day afternoons.

Okkervil River, “John Allyn Smith Sails”

There’s something about this band I find endlessly appealing. They’re country, but not. They’re rock, but not. They’re literate, but not. They’re loud and in your face, but not. Mostly Will Sheff and co. just tell great stories with great melodies that stick in your head. I think I liked Black Sheep Boy a little better start to finish than The Stage Names, but this is still one of the better southern gothic folk records you’ll hear.

Johnny Cash, “Before My Time”

It’s a bit of a cliché these days to say you like Johnny Cash, especially when most of the albums you have come from his American Recordings days, but, to my credit, I also like early Sun Records-era Cash. There’s something about his voice that carries through even though it changed so much in the intervening years. No matter what age he’s singing from, you can always hear the truth in his voice.

Janet Jackson, “That’s the Way Love Goes”

So much for the little country kick from the shuffler. How about a little ’90s R&B? Man, did I love Janet Jackson from 1990 to about 1995. Much of that can be attributed to the fact that I was a teenage boy, but you know what, she also put out some great records in that period. This song, which I probably haven’t heard in about 5 years, still works. The production, while reminiscent of the ’90s sound, isn’t nearly as dated as her hits from the ’80s. It has a much more timeless quality. As I’ve grown older, I’ve moved largely away from R&B, but that’s mostly because I haven’t found as much in the current scene that’s as engaging as a song like this one.

Lou Barlow, “Puzzle”

I kind of bought Emoh on a lark. I’ve always fancied myself a Lou Barlow fan, having grown up on some alternative hits from the likes of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and Folk Implosion, but I never would’ve taken myself for the kind of fan that would pick up a Lou Barlow solo record. And yet I did, and I was pleasantly surprised. It sounds nothing like those other bands, and yet it’s distinctly Lou. Having always sided with the more straightforward, emotional songwriting from a band like Sebadoh (as opposed to their more experimental, noisy side), there’s an intimacy and immediacy to these songs that I really enjoy.

Josh Rouse, “Sunshine (Come On Lady)”

Josh following Lou has a nice Sunday morning flow to it. This comes from Josh’s AM-radio inspired 1972, an album that was a bit of a departure from his standard country-tinged pop songwriting. There are so many songs on here that exemplify sunshine that it’s funny he explicitly wrote a song about that. The whole album gets by on this glimmering air, but it never feels slight. Josh really knows how to write a pop record. I may not listen to this album as much as some of his other work, but it remains a high point in his catalog.

Stars, “Ageless Beauty”

I’ve never really been able to get into this band, but I really, really love this song. It shimmers in the chorus and has a great, driving drum line that carries the song to “can’t get out of my head” status. The shuffler wasn’t quite as schizophrenic today as it so often can be, for this is both a fantastic follow-up to Josh Rouse and a nearly perfect closer to the 13-song set. The entirety of this random collection has a wonderfully spring air to it, fitting considering the date. Hooray for randomness.