Random dopiness

01. Jim White, “Sleepy Town”
I whisper beautiful secrets into the drainpipe at night. I think Jim White is probably one of the most acquired tastes ever, but I’ve done it. Sort of. I get the feeling I said the exact same thing the last time one of his songs came up. 7/10

02. Joe Jackson, “Get that Girl”
Soon, if I’m lucky! This is a great, exuberant song. 9/10

03. Milkcan, “Radio Signal Jam”
Insane Um Jammer Lammy-related nonsense. It’s not a song, but it’s entertaining. 7/10

04. Buck 65, “Riverbed 4”
Attempted suicide on a houseboat. Atmospheric.. 8/10

05. XTC, “Rocket from a Bottle”
Have I mentioned that I like XTC a lot less than I feel like I ought to? I mean, this song is okay, but eh…6/10

06. Gordon Bok, “Mr. Eneos”
I’m positive this song has come up before, but we’ll let that pass because it’s so darn great. Is the title character a Christ figure? 10/10

07. Kimagure Orange Road, “Look Back My Darling”
There are a lot of great tunes from this show, but I’m more or less indifferent to this one. 5/10

08. Dust Rhinos, “Big Man Sylvest”
Or something. It’s fast and fun. 7/10

09. Suede, “Astrogirl”
Apparently, I have a Suede completist (per Word, “completist” is not a word) compulsion, ‘cause otherwise why the hell would I have A New Morning on my ipod? This song…um. It has notes. It uses musical instruments of some sort. What more can be said? 4/10

10. The Undertones, “The Positive Touch”
It takes a positive touch! Er…exclamation points notwithstanding, this isn’t the world’s best Undertones song by any stretch. 6/10

Randumb ten

This is what I do when I can't think of anything else to post.

01. Bok, Muir, & Trickett, "Julian of Norwich"
I know I'm prone to hyperbole, and thus should probably not be trusted, but I'll say it anyway: this may be the most sublime recording I've ever heard. 10/10

02. 16 Horsepower, "Neck on the New Blade"
A stark, plaintive little number. And how many other Christian bands use the word "fucking?" I haven't done a study, but my guess is: not many. 8/10

03. The The, "Armageddon Days Are Here (again)
Unsubtle, yet justified, religion-baiting from Mr. Johnson. 8/10

04. Yoko Shimamura, "Silent Labyrinth"
Welp--it's a track from Live-A-Live, a game which you should totally play. This song is from...a labyrinth. Presumably. Although not a silent one. Okay, so I can't connect every song with every area. The game has a LOT of 'em. But this is, like, atmospheric and stuff. It doesn't work perfectly on its own, but it does what it does well. 7/10

05. Johnny Dowd, "Just like a Dog"
Nice claustrophobic desperation. Like a needle in a junkie's arm/like a blanket keeping this baby warm. Fun stuff. 8/10

06. Echo & the Bunnymen, "Altamont"
I can't say as much for their other reunion albums, but I'll admit it: Evergreen is pretty good. So is this song. 7/10

07. The Handsome Family, "The Snow White Diner"
Guy sits in a diner while outside a woman has driven her car into a river, drowning herself and her children. The Handsome Family is one of the most literary bands I know. 8/10

08. Dresden Dolls, "672"
Not much of a song. The number in question is repeated a number of times. A cursory google search reveals no definitive meaning for this. It's certainly not MEANT to be a full-fledged song, but, well...it's not. 5/10

09. Emmylou Harris, "Like Strangers"
This is the kind of thing you'd expect to hear on A Prairie Home Companion. Take that for what you will. 7/10

10. Blondie, "Rip Her to Shreds"
Debbie Harry's vocal stylings are always entertaining, even if this doesn't rank among my favorite Blondie songs. 6/10

Random NINJA SCHOOL WILL HELP YOU

You know what I like? When people on the itunes network have their libraries limited to five users a day or, better yet, password-protected. Oooh, yeah, better be careful, 'cause I'm sure there's sooooo much demand for your awesome collection of four or five hundred songs INVARIABLY involving Blink 182, Coldplay, John Mayer, and Panic! at the Disco. Seriously, every single person has the EXACT SAME COLLECTION. Also, an inflated sense of self-worth. Anyway.

01. Cowboy Bebop, "Ask DNA"
From the (somewhat overrated) movie. But this is pleasingly funky. 8/10

02. Elvis Costello, "You Belong to Me"
Well, it's not my favorite from This Year's Model, but that's okay. I like the organ in the background. 7/10

03. Pulp, "The Night that Minnie Timperley Died"
Classic Pulp. It was great to hear that Jarvis was still up to things like this after the murkiness of This Is Hardcore. 9/10

04. They Might Be Giants, "For Science"
A brief slip of a song, but highly entertaining. Let's get those missiles ready to DESTROY THE UNIVERSE! 8/10

05. Echo and the Bunnymen, "No Dark Things"
One of the best things from Heaven Up Here. But still not great. Sounds kind of like a poor man's Joy Division. 6/10

06. Tom Waits, "King Kong"
A cover of a song by this Daniel Johnston fellow, who appears to be, at any rate, mildly mentally retarded. Or twelve. But I like it quite a bit. It features Waits' human beatboxing in the background. Good times. 7/10

07. Oasis, "Cigarettes and Alcohol"
Imagina-shee-un! Sun-shee-ine! I wouldn't say this is the best thing on Definitely Maybe, but still--their sorry latter-day career makes ALL their early stuff look like genius. 8/10

08. Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, "Jerusalem"
It's kinda difficult not to giggle a bit at this after that one Monty Python episode ("Yes, you know, it's a man's life in England's mountains green")--but I like it anyway. 7/10

09. Depeche Mode, "Master and Servant"
Ooh, aren't we transgressive. How can anyone possibly take the "it's a lot (it's a lot) it's a lot (it's a lot) it's a lot (it's a lot) it's a lot like life" refrain seriously? It certainly has some inintentional humor value, however. 4/10

10. Mary Gauthier, "Evangeline"
A painful love song to a stripper. I think it would be a good one for crying into your beer to, if you were in such a mood. 9/10

Update: JESUS CHRIST, how many typos did I make in this damn post? Hopefully, they're all fixed. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Random ten: making up for lost time

01. Emmylou Harris, "I'll Go Stepping too"
I like this one a whole lot. Nice, mischievously feminist lyrics. And dig those fiddles! 9/10

02. Blood or Whiskey, "Shattered Dreams"
For gods' sake, why are the lyrics shoved so far back in the mix? This is pretty good, but it could have been really good with better production. 6/10

03. Nick Cave, "The Mercy Seat"
This song has a very simple melody that can be kind of numbing, but I think that's intentional, and given the subject matter, it works. For my money, it doesn't quite rank up there with Cave's best scary, driving, deranged work (e.g., "Tupelo," "Papa Won't Leave You Henry," "Do You Love me?," "Up Jumped the Devil"), but it's still quite good. 7/10

04. 16 Horsepower, "Black Soul Choir"
Every man is evil yeah every man a liar, unashamed with the wicked tongues sing in the black soul choir. One of their most fire-and-brimstoney songs. I hope DEE isn't upset that irreligious people like me enjoy his music without feeling the faintest impulse to engage in any sort of soul-searching. Then again, I guess I don't much care. Regardless, this is pretty fucking great. 9/10

05. Kimagure Orange Road, "Night of Summerside"
I have the sense that this one might have come up before, but I care not. It's a j-pop classic. Great show, too. 10/10

06. Kula Shaker, "Magic Theatre"
Definitely one of the lesser songs from K, but come right down to it, it's not that bad. It just disappoints compared to the full on neo-psychedelic rockage of classics like "Hey Dude," "Knight on the Town," and "Govinda." 5/10

07. Jethro Tull, "Inside"
Okay if unexceptional rocking from Ian and company. 6/10

08. Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi"
They paved paradise etcetera. I feel like kind of a fraud: I'm not a real Mitchell fan; I only have this 'cause it's famous. But I like it! Goddamnit. 8/10

09. Calexico, "Losing Hand"
Some sort of obscure live thing I got somewhere. Did I mention that I saw Calexico live this past Summer? With Kate! That was great; this song is just pretty okay. 6/10

10. The Handsome Family, "Far from Any Road"
Rennie sings! And not in a jokey way like in "Down in the Ground," but dramatically, making for one of the band's best songs. 9/10

Random ten: it's back!

You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you? Well all I have to say to that is, more fool you. More. Fool. You.

01. Steeleye Span, “Following Me”
Horrifically cheesy. The fact that it was the eighties is no excuse. Okay as unintentional comedy, but otherwise, man…3/10

02. McCarthy, “Kill Kill Kill Kill”
Yeah, the only reason I ever looked into this band at all was because I liked the Manic Street Preachers’ cover of “We Are All Bourgeois Now.” They’re really pretty minor. Pleasant yet forgettable jangly pop, notwithstanding the revolutionary sensibility. 4/10

03. Gordon Bok, “All My Friends”
Huh. Hadn’t really listened to this before, but it’s quite good, if a touch short of classic. 7/10

04. Salty Dog, “Fogarty’s Cove”
I like this song. And it reminds me of being in Montreal where I heard this band and got this album. So that’s also good. 8/10

05. The Zombies, “Beechwood Park”
Very, very sixties. But not in an insufferable way. Very atmospheric/bittersweet/melancholy; one of the band’s best. 8/10

06. Dust Rhinos, “One More Ale Before We Go”
Sort of sloppily sentimental in a bleary-eyed kind of way. But I like it. 7/10

07. The 101ers, “Motor Boys Motor”
Pre-Clash Joe Strummer! Fast, energetic fun. 7/10

08. Mary Gauthier, “The Ledge”
Driving. Dramatic. Aweseome. 10/10

09. Suede, “Daddy’s Speeding”
Broken glass and teenage boys, trapped in steel and celluloid. As with most of Dog Man Star, this is pretty much a classic. 9/10

10. Meat Loaf, “Good Girls Go to Heaven (bad girls go everywhere)”
I won’t apologize for liking this. Everyone’s music library has a place for some histrionic melodrama, especially when it’s done this well. 8/10

Random fucking blah

What do you fucking people want? Will you never be sated?

01. Salty Dog, “Welcome Paddy Home”
Pretty. Sappy, some might say, but whatever. I like it. 7/10

02. Slim Cessna's Auto Club, “Cranston”
This is a good song to stomp up and down to. 8/10

03. Buck 65, “Phil”
A quite good love song, actually. I don't know what the title has to do with anything. 8/10

04. The Beatles, “Yesterday”
Oh fucking fuck, man. Maybe this was a good song at one point, but now it's just fucking undifferentiated grey cultural mush. And Paul McCartney is a fucking prat. I'd be fucking overjoyed if I never heard this fucking song again in my fucking life. Fuck it. 3/10

05. Steeleye Span, “White Cliffs of Dover”
Sort of new-agey-sounding. Not exactly what you would expect--or want--from this band. I'm afraid I'll have to pass. 5/10

06. Joe Jackson, “Baby Stick Around”
Someone's telling me we're made of scandals. someone's stepping on my plastic sandals. This song is very, very...good. 8/10

07. Led Zeppelin, “When the Levee Breaks”
I heard a version of this sung in a play I saw recently, which really made me appreciate it. I dunno; the Zeppelin version is pretty good. 7/10

08. XTC, “Ball and Chain”
I feel as if I ought to like XTC more than I actually do. Certainly I should have during my anglophilia period. And I do like some of their stuff, but I dunno, man...this is okay. 6/10

09. Roxy Music, “Bittersweet”
Very majestic, imposing, Weimar Republic-sounding stuff. And you have to love Brian Ferry singing in German. 9/10

10. ABBA, “Honey Honey”
Ha ha. It doesn't get much more uncool than this. Yes, ABBA is kitschy, but at their best they're majestically kitschy. This is just bubblegum. 3/10

Random *ten*

Given the mass panic, chaos, looting, and strongly-worded letters to the editor that ensued when I tried including eleven songs, we are now going back to the usual ten. It looks like there are some things humanity just isn't yet evolved enough to accept.

01. DeVotchKa, “Commerce City Sister”
Kind of good gypsy-ish thing. 7/10

02. Futurama, “My Broken Friend”
That robot’s name I never told you—you could not foresee! I think this is hilarious, but non-fans of the show may not be so taken. 8/10

03. Graylightning, “Final Fantasy 4 Phoenix Symphonic”
To my mild shame, I can’t quite figure out what actual FFIV tune this is based on. It’s okay. Very slick and professional-sounding, but I don’t love it. 6/10

04. Squeeze, “Vicky Verky”
Seriously, this may be Squeeze’s best song. Really unbelievably catchy and poignant. 10/10

05. Stan Ridgway, “Valerie Is Sleeping”
One night we walked into a field; behind the trailer park she kneeled. The moon was hanging like a mask. I lost my temper for the last time then. My life went wrong when I met Valerie. Oh yeah. 9/10

06. Gordon Lightfoot, “Old Dan’s Records”
Ha! I loved this song when I was small. And you can see why. It’s, like, good. And stuff. 8/10

07. Bit Shifter, “Hexadecimal Genome”
Even if you don’t like this retro-bleepy stuff in general, you might enjoy Bit Shifter’s latest release, which is, simply, really catchy and fun. 8/10

08. Tom Waits, “Telephone Call from Istanbul”
Never trust a man in a blue trenchcoat; never drive a car when you’re dead. This clanks along quite nicely. 8/10

09. Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows”
Everybody knows that you’re in trouble, everybody knows what you’ve been through, from the bloody cross on top of Calvary to the beach of Malibu. I sort of feel like this deserves a ten, but…oh, what the hell. 10/10

10. Benefit, “Warp to World 6-9”
Gawd. I have no idea where or when or why I got this. It’s an incredibly asinine Mario-themed rap about how Mario’s reason for wanting to rescue the princess is…fergawdsake, must I really spell it out? The rapper (“Benefit,” I assume) actually has pretty good flow, but I really don’t like it. 2/10

Random ELEVEN!!!!!1111one1

'Cause it's time to shake things up a bit!

01. Mazedude, “Rygar on Rhodopa Mountain”
Anybody who’s ever played Rygar must surely remember the epic tune from the first section. This is a remix of that, and it’s pretty great. 8/10

02. Blood or Whiskey, “Stuck Together”
BoW is definitely a very minor force in Celtic punk. Still. I feel like a more forceful production could have improved this one (as with a lot of their stuff), but it’s not bad. 7/10

03. Johnny Dowd, “Brother Jim”
Meh. Dowd kinda lost me after The Pawnbroker’s Wife. I can see the appeal here, but it doesn’t excite me too much. 5/10

04. The Stone Roses, “All Across the Sands”
Early thing from before they really got their act together; not bad, but not notably fantastic. 5/10

05. Roxy Music, “More than This”
I don’t love Roxy Music, but this is a kind of good torch song. 7/10

06. Tom Waits, “Long Way Home”
From some soundtrack. Subdued and poignant. 8/10

07. The Clash, “London Calling”
Now get this! 10/10

08. The Velvet Underground, “European Son”
I must admit, I find the atonal cacophony strangely magnetic. 7/10

09. 16 Horsepower, “Bad Moon Rising”
As you’d expect from 16HP, this CCR cover is suitably ominous and apocalyptic. 9/10

10. Aesop Rock, “Alchemy”
I like Aesop Rock. His vocal mannerisms and stream-of-consciousness lyrics make for a very atmospheric mix. Yeah. This one is good. 8/10

11. Squeeze, “Is that Love?”
There’s no denying that Squeeze have produced some of the most infectious pop tunes around. And this is one of them. 8/10

Le dix au hasard

My first-ever one, I believe. And from an artist I love, no less. Sorry, Leonard, but it's for your own good.

01. Elvis Costello, “Pump It Up”
She’s been a bad girl! She’s like a chemical! Though you try to stop it! She’s like a narcotic! Yup. What more can be said? 9/10

02. Suede, “Down”
Say what you like about post-Bernard Suede: taken on its own merits, this is a bloody good song. Very poignant. 8/10

03. Gordon Lightfoot, “Song for a Winter’s Night”
Not his best, but good. 7/10

04. Saint Bushmill’s Choir, “Sam Hall”
My name it is Sam Hall and I hate you one and all. Cheers. There are loads of variations to this song, and he’s not always named “Sam.” I prefer the Prodigals’ “Jackie Hall,” but this is pretty good. 7/10

05. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Sad Waters”
I’m afraid that M. Cave has recorded a lot of really, really average songs, and this is one of them. 4/10

06. The Doors, “My Eyes Have Seen You”
I badly want to hate this song, but I am forced to admit that the tune kinda sorta makes up for the lyrics. I think I’d like the Doors more if I didn’t understand English. 6/10

07. Leonard Cohen, “A Singer Must Die”
And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty, you keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty, your vision is right, my vision is wrong, I’m sorry for smudging the air with my song…Jesus fucking CHRIST, Saint Leonard, get off the goddamn cross already. I’m sorry: the man has written some of the world’s most sublime songs, but this is fucking dire. 1/10

08. Steeleye Span, “Dance with Me”
Spoiler: he dies at the end. Great tune. 8/10

09. Space, “Money”
Say what you will; at their best, Space could be pretty glorious. This is one of those times. 8/10

10. Elvis Costello, “Pretty Words”
Bookending the list with Elvis. Curiosity couldn’t kill the cat; it was a poison pen. Guh? Not as good as “Pump It Up” by a long shot, but I still like it. 7/10

Ten is the randomest number that you'll ever do

Sing along! Ten is the randomest number, ten is the randomest number, TEEEEN is the randomest number that you'll ever doooo! Another set of embarrassingly positive judgments. Maybe I just don't have all that much music that I hate?

01. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Nobody’s Baby Now”
Not bad, but one of the weaker tracks from Let Love In. The dress/best/breast rhyme makes me cringe a little. 6/10

02. Reverend Glasseye, “Penitentiary Highball”
Polly pretty Polly won’t you stay the night with me? We’ll climb upon the highway and we’ll climb the old birch tree. Well I never met no one sweeter more persistent or more fair. Polly jumped he flipped her down—with those beads wrapped in her hair. A perversely beautiful murder ballad. 9/10

03. Manic Street Preachers, “Black Garden”
Swallows crowding the sky and slowly dying and whatnot. Pretty great. 8/10

04. Joy Division, “Digital”
Day in! Day out! Day in! Day out! Scary desperation. 8/10

05. Calexico, “The Book and the Canal”
Atmospheric little instrumental. Works best in the context of the album. 6/10

06. The Smiths, “Girl Afraid”
The best part is in the middle where he sings the refrain slowly: no I’ll never maa-ake that mistake again. Great song. 8/10

07. David Bowie, “Lady Grinning Soul”
A gorgeous one-night-stand song. 9/10

08. Madness, “The Rise and Fall”
Kinksesque nostalgia. Possibly the band’s best non-single. 8/10

09. Maddy Prior & June Tabor, “The Game of Cards”
Quite unreasonably pretty duet. Why can’t they ever get singers like this on American Idol? 8/10

10. Tom Waits, “You Can’t Unring a Bell”
Oh just watch me. I think if I can unplow a field and unpublish a book, unringing a bell shouldn’t present much difficulty. 8/10

Random blah

01. Leonard Cohen, “I’m Your Man”
But a man never got a woman back, not by begging on his knees. Or I’d crawl to you baby and I’d fall and your feet and I’d howl at your beauty like a dog in heat and I’d claw and your heart and I’d tear at your sheet I’d say please please…I’m your man. Yup, that’s the stuff. 10/10

02. Calexico, “Alone Again Or”
I don’t particularly care for Love, the band…but I do care for Calexico, and, yeah, it’s a decent song and they do a decent version of it. So. Yeah. 7/10

03. Ian Dury, “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick”
Highly entertaining. You could try to not like this song, but it probably wouldn’t work very well. 9/10

04. Snoopdroop, “Jelly Monster Attacks the Town”
Selective appeal, but I like it. The fruit-themed title gives it (as all the tracks on the album in question) an enjoyably goofy Saturday morning cartoon feel. 7/10

05. Steeleye Span, “Tonight’s the Night”
An extremely bland drinking song. In the best of all possible words, that would be an oxymoron. But, sadly, in this one, it apparently isn’t. 3/10

06. Gordon Bok, “The Death Ship” Not his best, but still quite good, and it always puts me in mind of the “Black Freighter” segments in Watchmen. 7/10

07. Johnny Dowd, “The Similarity of Opposites”
Discordant music as Dowd moans vaguely in the background. Hey, it was a small self-released album. It wasn’t designed for people to like it. But still. 3/10

08. Pulp, “She’s a Lady”
Over-the-top lyrical bathos, music blatantly ripped off from “I Will Survive”—what’s not to like? 7/10

09. The Teardrop Explodes, “Sleeping Gas”
But you can watch Rafferty turn into a serial...what does it mean? We may never know. But we love it anyway. Great, hypnotic neo-psychedelia. 9/10

10. Tom Waits, “Swordfishtrombone”
Confounding shaggy-dog lyrics. But isn't that why we love him? Right. 8/10

Blah random blahdy fucking blah

I don't hate any of the songs on today's list, which makes it kind of boring. But do I let that stop me? I do not.

01. Blur, “Pressure on Julian”
I sure do dig the magical transit children. Stylishly angular pop-punk, and guess how much I care that that description is a big fat heap of clichés? 8/10

02. Dead Can Dance, “Towards the Within”
Pretty, ethereal, etc. Everything you’d expect from a DCD song. Not that I’m trying to devalue that. I enjoy them very much. Had my schedule been slightly different, I would have been able to see them on their reunion tour. Ah well. 7/10

03. The Decemberists, “On the Bus Mall”
Gritty bittersweet nostalgia. Occasionally a little precious, maybe, but Decemberist lyrics are generally pretty great. 8/10

04. Nick Cave, “The Weeping Song”
One of his best songs, with Blixa Bargeld effectively singing the “father” bits. 9/10

05. The Doors, “Alabama Song”
Bop bom bopbop, bop bom bopbop…there’s no point in pretending to like The Doors at all if you can’t find some pleasure in this. 8/10

06. Elvis Presley, “Blue Moon of Kentucky”
This was used to good effect in Mystery Train, which is one of my favorite movies ever. So…yeah. 7/10

07. Kula Shaker, “Raggy One (waiting for tomorrow)”
Have I ever mentioned how much I fucking LOVE Kula Shaker? ‘Cause I do. And that includes this song. 9/10

08. Joy Division, “Day of the Lords”
Where will it end? That one answered itself pretty quickly. 7/10

09. Elvis Costello, “Less than Zero”
I feel like maybe if I were smarter, I’d have some idea what he’s going on about here. But I like it anyway. 7/10

10. David Bowie, “Teenage Wildlife”
He queens it up amusingly enough, but really, Scary Monsters ain’t no Ziggy Stardust. 6/10

Son of Random Ten Battles the Molemen

I have an ipod now. Which changes Everything.

01. Manic Street Preachers, “Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning)”
This was never my favorite song from Everything Must Go, but listening to it now, I really do like it a lot, even if I don’t really understand what if anything it’s trying to convey. 8/10

02. Joe Jackson, “The Band Wore Blue Shirts”
I just don’t like this song. I find it silly, and not in a good way. 4/10

03. AmIEviL, “Blaster Master DancerMaster”
Yes, a remix of a song from Blaster Master. When I was small, I only played it a few times at a friend’s house, but I still developed kind of a nostalgic attachment. This is a quality track; good tune, hard-rocking. 7/10

04. Steeleye Span, “Treadmill Song”
Excellent. My understanding is that at some point in English history, convicts were in fact required to basically walk on treadmills. That’s what ultimately did in Oscar Wilde, I believe. The melody really evokes the idea of grim, repetitive labor. Compelling. 9/10

05. Tom Waits, “Broken Bicycles”
Summer is gone…our love will remain. Like old broken bicycles out in the rain…The highlight of the One from the Heart soundtrack. Very haunting. 9/10

06. The Beatles, “Long, Long, Long”
Blah, blah, blah. Why did I rip this tripe? 3/10

07. The 101ers, “Sweety of the St. Moritz”
The 101ers being Joe Strummer’s pre-Clash band, of course. Pretty straightforward rocking. 7/10

08. James, “Say Something”
What to say? This may be one of the lesser songs from Laid, but it’s still a song from Laid. 7/10

09. Joe Strummer, “Smash Everything”
You know, in case saying something doesn’t work. An instrumental from the Walker soundtrack; not as ferocious as the title would imply, unfortunately. 6/10

10. 16 Horsepower, “Single Girl”
Yee haw! 8/10

Random Ten

Waiting so long, as Berserk's closing theme so adroitly puts it.

01. The Doors, “Moonlight Drive”
Um…I find myself getting more and more embarrassed by these Doors songs. If pressed, I would still defend the merits of some of their stuff. But it would be a very half-hearted defense. 5/10

02. Calexico, “Guero Canelo”
Nice quasi-instrumental. 7/10

03. The Clash, “Deny”
Not, to my mind, one of their more impressive efforts. 5/10

04. Manic Street Preachers, “Locust Valley”
I can’t help noticing that most of the best songs from the Know Your Enemy period (which, I must again note, should not exist, since theyshouldvebrokenupafterthisismytruthdammit) seem to have been relegated to b-side status: this, “Just a Kid” “Pedestal,” “Ballad of the Bangkok Novotel,” “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?”…how can we explain this? 7/10

05. Saint Bushmill’s Choir, “Three Polkas”
Man, I sure wish they’d do another album. This little instrumental kicks a lot of ass. It includes “A Drunken Sailor” and other stuff that I’d probably recognize if I were more musically literate. 9/10

06. Blondie, “Dreaming”
It’s free, you know. 7/10

07. 16 Horsepower, “Blessed Persistence”
Purgatory’s favorite alt-country band. I love this stuff. 8/10

08. Emmylou Harris, “Save the Last Dance for Me”
Stately and elegant. 8/10

09. DJ Signify, “Meditations”
See, this is why I find so much underground hip hop annoying. This doesn’t have much of a hook; it’s just dense and boring. 2/10

10. Tom Waits, “That’s the Way”
The Black Rider has some really great tunes, like “November,” “Just the Right Bullets,” “Flash Pan Hunter”…but it also has far too much pointless silliness like this. Highly vexing. 4/10

Random Ten

Yes, the long hard cold generally unpleasant wait is over.

01. Reverend Glasseye, “Sleep Sweet Countrymen”
This isn’t a band you’d expect to hear social commentary from, but this song seems to be a thinly-veiled attack on Bush’s war. It’s not my favorite of theirs, but it’s pretty good, and it gets points just for that. Why does the Good Reverend hate America? 7/10

02. Gordon Bok, “Harp Song of the Dane Women”
Great melody, great singing. 9/10

03. Joe Jackson, “Right and Wrong”
Night and Day, Body and Soul, Heaven and Hell, Laughter and Lust…okay, that last one isn’t really a dichotomy. At least I hope not, as it would represent a rather depressing view of human nature. But the pattern is clear. This is an all right song, but nothing to kill yourself over. As with most of Big World. 6/10

04. Buckner & Garcia, “Pac-Man Fever”
Well, you see, they’ve got Pac-Man Fever. And it’s driving them CRAZY. Sort of cheesily amusing, but really not much cop. There are better songs from the album, even. 4/10

05. mp, “Final Fantasy 6 Engineer Cid (factory)”
Eh, it’s okay. Certainly not the highlight of remixdom, but…okay. 5/10

06. The Pogues, “Worms”
Their sepulchral take on the popular children’s rhyme (the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out). Cute, but it would be better if they’d included all the words. 5/10

07. The Decemberists, “We Both Go Down Together”
Fantastic. Pure melodrama. I love when it rhymes “Miranda” with “veranda.” 10/10

08. Johnny Dowd, “Betrayal”
This is from Down In the Valley, his perversely anti-commercial, only-available-at-concerts-or-through-the-website EP. This track is mostly ambient sound-effects as he drawls, you sold me out, ya little weasel, and things of that nature. I like it, but I’m probably in the distinct minority here. 7/10

09. Nathalie Khoriaty, “Red Is the Rose”
Pretty traditional song. Nice singing. 7/10

10. Ian McCulloch, “Dug for Love”
Easy to like this one, unless you’re some kind of big fat JERK. 7/10

Random Ten

Cominatcha.

01. Cleaners from Venus, “Summer in a Small Town”
Those crazy kids, what will they do, they're not a bit like me and you, with that crypto-punky-psychobilly beat. They took your sacred rock and roll, they stripped it down and they left a hole, then they filled it up with anger from the street. They rap in this one, which sounds alarming, but it's actually one of my favorite Cleaners songs. 9/10

02. Dead Can Dance, “Devorzhum”
The usual swirly atmospheric thing, with pleasing vocals from Ms. Gerard. I've never been able to figure out whether she's singing in some arcane language, or if it's just evocative gibberish. Either way, I like it. 7/10

03. The Monkees, “Do You Believe In Magic”
About the most gormless thing ever, but I can't claim to completely hate it. 5/10

04. Flogging Molly, “Whistles the Wind”
Not my favorite FM, but still rather poignant. 8/10

05. Manic Street Preachers, “Of Walking Abortion”
Who's responsible? All together now...YOU FUCKING ARE! 10/10

06. Manic Street Preachers, “Repeat” (UK)
Useless generation! Dumb flag scum! Honestly, I can't help giggling a bit at this, but it does perfectly embody the early Manics ethos. 8/10

07. The Prodigals, “Boru's Marches”
Rousing instrumental. 8/10

08. Belle and Sebastian, “Ease Your Feet In the Sea”
I hate a lot of Belle and Sebastian, but somehow, I love their entire third album. Though this may not be the high point. 7/10

09. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Foi Na Cruz”
The lyrics (some of them) are in some sort of bizarre foreign tongue. But I like the song. 7/10

10. The Pogues, “Whiskey You're the Devil”
Basically what you'd expect. Which isn't such a bad thing. 6/10

Random Ten

For "your" "entertainment." Now in addition to the songs being random, it's random when or if I'll even post it at all! Sweet!

01. The Tossers, “Altercation”
The lyrics are very hard to understand, but it appears to be one of their awful stabs at social commentary. Tune’s all right, though. 5/10

02. Commie64, “Hate”
Short but sweet; pretty much gets the theme across, although that’s probably largely because of the title...7/10

03. Ennio Morricone, “A Fistful of Dollars Suite”
Long, thirteen-and-a-half-minute medley of music from the film. Great stuff. 9/10

04. They Might Be Giants, “Boat of Car”
I took my boat for a car. I took that car for a ride. I was trying to get somewhere but now I’m following the traces of your fingernails that run along the windshield on the boat of car. Early TMBG stuff could be creepy as well as just weird. 8/10

05. Primus, “Coattails of a Dead Man”
I only got this from somewhere because it has guest lyrics from Tom Waits. I’d love to hear him sing the whole song, but it’s quite good in any case. 8/10

06. Echo and the Bunnymen, “Blue Blue Ocean”
This one’s good. Nice and atmospheric. 8/10

07. Leonard Cohen, “I Tried to Leave You”
Surprisingly bland little number from the Bard. 4/10

08. Emerson Lake and Palmer, “Karn Evil, 3rd Impression”
I’m not claiming to be too cool to like this. Just that the computer voice—along with much else—is too cheesy for words. You might be better off sticking with “1st Impression, part 2,” which is the “welcome back my friends the show that never ends” bit. I do like that one. 5/10

09. Joy Division, “I Remember Nothing”
Man, it would’ve been more surprising if he hadn’t killed himself. 9/10

10. Pulp, “Death II”
I wish I would actually hear this at a discotheque sometime, because I’d love to shake along to it.. Don’t quote me on this, but I think that “Death I” might be an alternate title for “Countdown.” Or possibly “Death Goes to the Disco.” 9/10

Random Ten

Because people were literally breaking down my door demanding further installments. Really: literally. They smashed an enormous hole in my door. It was a bad scene.

01. Ceili Moss, “Hot Asphalt”
I have trouble Understanding the lyrics, but it’s super-infectious. 8/10

02. Echo and the Bunnymen, “My White Devil”
Don’t say it’s life! On the barrier! I don’t know what it means, but I’ve always enjoyed this one. 8/10

03. ABBA, “The Day Before You Came”
Um, yeah. An ABBA song without a chorus. Whose brilliant idea was that? 4/10

04. Joe Strummer, “It’s a Rockin’ World”
From some sort of South Park CD, bizarrely enough. But it is indeed rockin.’ 8/10

05. Pulp, “Disco 2000”
I don’t suppose this requires much comment. 8/10

06. The Skels, “The Rain Came Pissin’ Down”
I can’t say I have a great deal of respect for this band, artistically speaking, but yeah, they have some pretty fun songs, and this is one. 8/10

07. Echo and the Bunnymen, “Nocturnal Me”
This is in the top-tier of Bunnymen songs. The gypsy-esque beat is really great. 9/10

08. Manic Street Preachers, “Mr. Carbohydrate”
This is the one that goes, “They call me a boring fuckhead/Say I might as well work in a bank. You have to love that. 7/10

09. Blood or Whiskey, “Chloe”
Lyrics on the crass side, but not bad. 6/10

10.Suede, “The Two of Us”
Breathtaking. 10/10