For Jason

J-
I tried not to worry about what artists/songs you might have heard of (although, like you, I did leave out Radiohead and the Beatles; otherwise we'd be here for days). I decided just to list all of my favorite songs in the hopes that, even if you've heard them before, you'll approach them with a new perspective knowing that I like them so much. Hopefully that made sense. Enjoy.
-K

• μ-ziq
  • Phiescope
  
  
• Tori Amos
  • Wednesday - I'm not a big fan of hers, really, but I love this one because of the melody, the funk guitar, and the mandolin (or is it an acoustic guitar?).
  
  
• Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire
  • 11:11 - Probably my favorite song ever. I love the lush instrumentation. The backup singer [Nora O'Connor] is awesome and I've been looking for some of her stuff for a while now.
  
  
• The Beach Boys
  • God Only Knows - I love the chorale bit. I could listen to it over and over. You might also Google Petra Haden; on her website she has an a capella cover of this that I like just as much as the original.
  
  
• Belle & Sebastian
  • White Collar Boy
  
  
• Ben Folds Five
  • Smoke
  
  
• Better Than Ezra
  • At the Stars
  • Particle - "Mediocrity's rewarded/Set your standards low" -- possibly my favorite lyric ever, because it's applicable in so many situations.
  
  
• Andrew Bird - I pretty much love everything by Andrew Bird.
  • A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
  • Don't Be Scared
  • Fake Palindromes
  
  
• Björk
  • New World
  • Cvalda
  • In the Musicals
  • Bachelorette
  • Frosti - This one reminds me of my dad because he has a music box Christmas record that he plays every winter.
  
  
• Blind Melon
  • No Rain
  
  
• Jon Brion
  • Knock Yourself Out
  
  
• Steve Burns - He used to host a children's show (Blue's Clues -- Wikipedia says the UK gets it on Nick Jr.)
  • Mighty Little Man
  
  
• Camera Obscura
  • Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken
  
  
• Neko Case - I absolutely love Fox Confessor, though Blacklisted and The Tigers Have Spoken don't do as much for me.
  • Margaret vs. Pauline
  • Star Witness
  • Hold On, Hold On
  • Dirty Knife
  
  
• Eagle Eye Cherry
  • Save Tonight
  
  
• The Church
  • Under the Milky Way Tonight - More songs should have bagpipe solos
  
  
• Cibo Matto
  • Sugar Water - I really like the video for this one; it's done by Michel Gondry, whom I fully intend to marry one day.
  
  
• Clem Snide
  • End of Love - "But guess what? Your pain's been done/to perfection by everyone/and the first thing every killer reads is/Catcher in the Rye" -- I love the lyrics
  
  
• Coldplay
  • Shiver - Unfortunately, this song will be forever linked with this regrettable guy I dated. Coldplay is one of those bands that just writes the same song over and over, but sometimes I like generic beauty. I really like the multiple tracks--how the sound really fills the space. I describe it as a musical hug, and it's one of the qualities that I really look for and value in music.
  
  
• Danielson
  • Did I Step on Your Trumpet
  
  
• The Decemberists
  • The Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel the Drowning - An instant favorite. I particularly like "The Landlord's Daughter" segment. My friend said it reminded him of Yes and I feel that comparison is apt.
  
  
• DeVotchKa
  • Charlotte Mittnacht (The Fabulous Destiny of) - I love how this sounds indistinguishable from Yann Tiersen's stuff; like Coldplay, ol' Yann just composes the same song over and over again, but it's beautiful, so he gets a pass.
  
  
• Bob Dylan
  • Wigwam
  
  
• The English Beat
  • Save it for Later - I love the strings in the chorus.
  
  
• Enon
  • Old Domination - I like the very beginning of this song. After 30 seconds or so, I don't care for it.
  
  
• Ben Folds
  • You to Thank
  
  
• The Fruit Bats
  • The Wind that Blew my Heart Away
  • Legs of Bees
  
  
• Marvin Gaye
  • Ain't That Peculiar - I wish I had intelligent things to say on this song. I just love it.
  
  
• Gogol Bordello
  • Bublitschki
  • Passport
  • Sally
  
  
• Grandaddy
  • Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)
  • Summer Here Kids
  • OK with my Decay
  
  
• Colin Hay
  • Overkill
  
  
• Elton John
  • Holiday Inn
  • This Song Has No Title
  • My Father's Gun
  • Amoreena
  
  
• Jump, Little Children
  • Cathedrals
  
  
• Kaki King - Percussive.
  • Playing with Pink Noise
  • Doing the Wrong Thing
  
  
• Kings of Convenience
  • I'd Rather Dance with You
  • The Weight of My Words
  
  
• The Kinks - I love the British Invasion
  • Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
  • Till the End of the Day
  • You Do Something to Me
  
  
• Led Zeppelin
  • Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
  • Friends
  • Over the Hills and Far Away
  
  
• Jens Lekman
  • A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill
  • Julie
  • Black Cab - This one sounds a lot like Belle & Sebastian, and actually the harpsichord intro fools me about half of the time.
  
  
• Sean Lennon
  • Queue
  • Part One of the Cowboy Trilogy
  • Dead Meat
  • Friendly Fire
  • Wait for Me
  • Tomorrow - So beautiful. And the lyrics are so depressing.
  
  
• Sondre Lerche
  • Two Way Monologue
  • Honolulu
  
  
• Margot and the Nuclear So-and-so's
  • Skeleton Key - The band name is unnecessarily emo, but I like a lot of their music. The night after I bought this CD, this song was featured prominently in my dream.
  
  
• Maritime
  • Calm
  • Tearing Up the Oxygen
  • German Engineering - This song makes me want to jump around and shake my ass in a carefree manner.
  • Twins
  
  
• The Microphones
  • I Want Wind to Blow
  
  
• Van Morrison
  • Everyone - More songs should have a harpsichord.
  
  
• Mark Mothersbaugh
  • Sonata for Cello and Piano in f minor
  
  
• Múm
  • Don't Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed
  • Green Grass Tunnel
  
  
• NERD
  • She Wants to Move - God, this is such a sexy song.
  
  
• Neko Case and Her Boyfriends
  • Thrice All-American - Tacoma is located just south of Seattle. I've passed through it. You don't have to care.
  
  
• A.C. Newman - The other lead singer from the New Pornographers
  • 35 in the Shade
  
  
• Nickel Creek
  • Helena
  • Somebody More Like You
  
  
• Okkervil River
  • For Real - I like the punctuation the guitar and drums give in the chorus. This song is otherwise unremarkable in my opinion.
  
  
• Pilate
  • Fairytale of New York - I love how the melody of the second verse is kind of Irish-y. (I love Irish music.)
  
  
• R.E.M.
  • Crazy
  
  
• Rogue Wave - I love everything by them.
  • 10:1
  • Catform
  • Salesman at the Day of the Parade
  
  
• Simon & Garfunkel
  • America - This belongs to a category I like to call "Obsessed & Depressed"; something in those songs makes me terribly depressed, but I can't help but listen to each one 20 times in a row. It makes America seem mysterious and beautiful, which is a rarity in these days and thus refreshing for me.
  • Save the Life of my Child - The gospel vocals are realllllllllllllly cool. And haunting.
  
  
• Regina Spektor
  • Better
  • Us
  
  
• The Rolling Stones
  • She's a Rainbow - The Beatles sing backup!
  • Let's Spend the Night Together
  • I Am Waiting - This one is very sweet.
  
  
• Sigur Rós
  • Starálfur - This one always gets me thanks to the climax of The Life Aquatic.
  
  
• Smoking Popes
  • I Know That You Love Me - It's simple, it's repetitive, but I like it anyway.
  • Rubella - Fantastic lyrics: "And the heart she has stolen has now swollen to twice its natural size/I've lost six pounds since I laid eyes on her/Rubella." I adore the melody that accompanies those particular lyrics as well.
  
  
• Stereolab
  • Brigitte
  • Transporte Sans Bouger
  • Cybele's Rêverie
  
  
• The Strokes
  • Ask Me Anything - I like when the instruments and the vocals each do their own thing but it somehow matches up.
  
  
• Sun Kil Moon
  • Si Paloma
  • Pancho Villa
  
  
• Sufjan Stevens
  • Chicago - I like most of Sufjan Stevens' stuff, but the studio musicians he gets (mainly the strings) suck--they don't match their intonation or style. As a former violinist, this really grates on me. It's so egotistical (not to mention just plain stupid musically) not to match with your fellow ensemble members.
  • The Henney Buggy Band
  • He Woke Me Up Again
  
  
• Swim - The quality of the vocals is a large factor in whether I like a band or not (even though I rarely pay attention to lyrics). The lead singer, Joshua Koback, sang on Broadway in Rent. I really love how clear and pure his voice is.
  • Sailing Over the Ocean
  • Music
  • I'm Sorry
  
  
• Thicke
  • When I Get You Alone - A sexy, soulful song that incorporates A Fifth of Beethoven--what's not to love?
  
  
• Tilly and the Wall
  • Rainbows in the Dark - Happy-go-lucky pop, not unlike the New Pornographers. They have a tap-dancer instead of a drummer.
  
  
• Toadies
  • Possum Kingdom
  
  
• Unit 4+2
  • Concrete & Clay
  
  
• John Vanderslice
  • Coming and Going on Easy Terms
  • Promising Actress
  • Radiant with Terror
  • Exodus Damage
  
  
• Rufus Wainwright - I love almost all of his stuff.
  • Sonnet 29
  • Gay Messiah
  • The One You Love
  • Beautiful Child
  
  
• The White Stripes
  • You're Pretty Good Looking (for a Girl)
  • Hotel Yorba
  • Little Ghost
  • My Doorbell
  • The Denial Twist
  
  
• The Wrens
  • This Boy is Exhausted
  
  
• Rachael Yamagata
  • I Want You - I hate the growly thing she does with her voice when she sings "no one", but I love the klezmer clarinet.
  
  
• The Zombies
  • The Way I Feel Inside
  
  

Stuff I've been really getting into lately: Ampop, Balkan Beat Box, Gotan Project Mogwai, Saint Etienne, Yo La Tengo...

For Zeb

Disc 1

1. Phiescope - μ-ziq
   
2. Playing with Pink Noise - Kaki King
   
3. New Wave - Common featuring Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab
        Golfy McStarbucks was really into Kanye West. We listened to his CDs a lot and I got hooked. Common is one of Kanye's buddies. Whether you like hip hop or not, this song is awesome because of Laetitia Sadier.
   
4. The Henney Buggy Band - Sufjan Stevens
   
5. In the Musicals - Björk
        This is from Dancer in the Dark. I really like the use of the basketball sound effects at the beginning. I am also a sucker for extravagant musical numbers.
   
6. Save it for Later - The English Beat
        I love the strings that come in for the chorus. It softens up what would otherwise be an average rock song.
   
7. Such a Lovely Thing - DeVotchKa
        They describe their genre as "Eastern Bloc Indie Rock".
   
8. Drop - Cornelius
   
9. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
   
10. Improvisation on the First Movement of the Concerto in d minor by J.S. Bach - Django Reinhardt
         Every classically-trained violinist knows both parts of the Bach Double. I'm sick of it, but I love this interpretation. Django Reinhardt's an interesting guy; he was a Belgian gypsy whose hands were deformed in a fire. He only had the use of two fingers on his left hand, yet he still went on to play a mean guitar. His music almost always cheers me up.
    
11. The Wind That Blew My Heart Away - Fruit Bats
    
12. 35 in the Shade - A.C. Newman
         He's in the New Pornographers. I like them, but I find them to be too cheerful sometimes, so he's a slightly darker alternative.
    
13. Passport - Gogol Bordello
         Eastern European Punk.
    
14. Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken - Camera Obscura
    
15. Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes
    
16. Everyone Needs and Editor - Mates of State
         A married couple, a drum set, and an electric organ. I really like their harmonies, but sometimes I find that they're too shouty.
    
17. A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill - Jens Lekman
    
18. Salesmen at the Day of the Parade - Rogue Wave
    
19. The Eraser - Thom Yorke
    
20. She Wants to Move - N.E.R.D.
         Several months ago I was at a bar with some classmates and we had to go around and say the best song to fuck to. I didn't have a good answer at the time, but later on when I heard this song I knew that was it.
    

Disc 2

1. Makin' Time - Creation
   
2. Brigitte - Stereolab
        This is the song I use for the ringtone when Talia calls me.
   
3. Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2) - Radiohead
   
4. I'd Rather Dance with You - Kings of Convenience
        Golfy McStarbucks had a couple CDs by this band. We both agreed that it was uncharacteristic of his musical taste and that it was much more similar to the bands I listen to.
   
5. Rainbows in the Dark - Tilly and the Wall
        They're from Nebraska. Instead of a drummer, they have a tap dancer. I love this on principle--I took tap lessons for 13 years and Irish dance lessons for 2. I first heard this on NPR's All Songs Considered and I was instantly obsessed.
   
6. A Quick One While He's Away - The Who
        Before Tommy, before Quadrophenia, there was A Quick One, the Who's mini rock opera. This is it in its entirety. At about 4:55, they're singing, "cello cello cello." Originally they wanted cellos to play there, but it would have cost too much and they decided they liked the voices anyway.
   
7. White Collar Boy - Belle & Sebastian
   
8. The Denial Twist - The White Stripes
   
9. Last Tide - Sun Kil Moon
   
10. Nothing in This World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl - The Kinks
    
11. Crazy - R.E.M.
    
12. Under the Milky Way Tonight - The Church
         A pop song with a bagpipe solo. They should have more of these. Interesting fact: I have a practice bagpipe thingy called a "chanter". I used to be able to play a few notes...
    
13. Cold Facts - Ampop
    
14. There is an End - The Greenhornes featuring Holly Golightly
    
15. Hello Sunshine - Super Furry Animals
    
16. How it Ends - DeVotchKa
    
17. She's a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones
         I like the bluesy Stones, and I love the British Invasion Stones. This is from their brief psychedelic phase, which I wish had lasted longer. I love how this song is so simple and sweet. The Beatles provide the backup vocals.
    
18. Knock Yourself Out - Jon Brion
         This is from I ♥ Huckabees. I instantly fell in love with song when I first saw the trailer for the movie.
    
19. When I Get You Alone - Thicke
         I figured I might as well end this disc with another sexy song. It's so smooth and dirty at the same time. Love it.