Friday, June 18, 2010

Dingoes and Sunrises

Four Star Mary – Pain

I can never tell if I love Four Star Mary because they remind me of watching Buffy ( known to Buffy fans as the music for the fictional band Dingoes Ate My Baby) and it makes me feel like I’m hanging at the Bronze with the Scoobies or if they are just really good. Anyway, for whatever reason, I love singing along to this one in the car all angsty like I’m rocking out at CBGB.


“But you always run away when I come around…”

Howie Day – Collide

And then for a complete 360, I love this song because it is so sweet, sexy, and honest. There is something fantastic about those moments in life where things seem to just come together. There is also a side to it that makes you question and over think the whole thing. This song captures that feeling so well. Any time I start having those feelings, I leave this one in repeat in my car for a few days.


“Out of the doubt that fills my mind, I somehow find you and I collide…”

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Lost Boys

What I really loved about the early 90’s was that the coolest rock stars looked like a cross between Jim Morrison and Jason Patric’s character in The Lost Boys (oh oh and Solarbabies!). My picks this week are in homage to my favorite bad boy, long haired rock stars from the early 90’s: David Gahan and Michael Hutchence.
Depeche Mode - A Pain That I’m Used To

This weekend, I randomly popped in a CD (my car is old and I don’t have an iPod hookup!). It was this great Depeche Mode mix that I had created before the concert last year. While a lot of kids fondly look back to their days of Sesame Street, the soundtrack of my childhood was 80’s new wave bands (Depeche Mode, The Cure, U2, Violent Femmes, etc.) and all those sweet videos on MTV. This isn’t one of those old songs, but I love it just the same. I’ll be damned if David Gahan hasn’t just gotten sexier over the years.


“I'm not sure what I'm looking for anymore
I just know that I'm harder to console
I don't see who I'm trying to be instead of me
But the key is a question of control”

INXS – Mediate

Over Memorial Day weekend, I turned on Vh1 while they were running all of their 80’s videos. I saw about 3 INXS videos within an hour, which completely got me hooked. I’ve listened to Kick more times than I care to count, and I’ve always found the Mediate video interesting. I love the play on words, the broken down railroad yard, and Hutchence’s ripped up jeans. Just try not to sing along.


“Don't suffocate on your own hate…”

Friday, June 11, 2010

A Walking Antique

Sometime in the last few years, I joined a last.fm group where you are matched up with other users and you create mix tapes for each other based on a theme. It was really fun until you got matched up with someone who didn’t fulfill their end of the bargain.

Anyway, a few days ago I happened across a mix that I made that was supposed to represent my life. For each year of my life, I picked a song that I felt best represented that time in my memory. For my early years, I picked Bob Dylan’s She Belongs to Me.

I wish that the song had been written about it. It feels so naïve yet beautiful and simple. I think of my childhood as a simple time full of possibilities. I felt like I could do anything and owned my stage. At 30, I’m just now realizing that my four year old self had the world right. I wasn’t afraid to sing and dance like I meant it, and I was always painting and drawing without worrying if it was any good.

It’s apparently very difficult to find a copy of this song available for listening online, so this is the best that I can do:http://s0.ilike.com/play#Bob+Dylan:She+Belongs+To+Me:130575:m599241


"She's an artist, she don't look back
She can take the dark out of the nighttime and turn the daytime black..."

Friday, June 4, 2010

A Subtle Kiss That No One Sees

I recently purchased a new laptop, so it has been quite an undertaking to decide what music to move over now and what to put on the fresh install on my iPod. As always, I have some mainstays and my songs this week are taken from that collection. I feel like I’ve gotten a little boring and far too past heavy with the recent choices, but the other day I downloaded a bunch of free Indie samplers and I’m sure that I’ll find some interesting new songs in the upcoming weeks. If you want to check them out, see the list of samplers.


Depeche Mode – Somebody

I find this video a little creepy, but I love this song, so just close your eyes and listen. I love the honesty and vulnerability of the song and I really believe that’s what makes it amazing.


“I want somebody who cares
for me passionately
with every thought
with every breath
someone who’ll help me see things
in a different light
all the things I detest
I will almost like…”


The Killers – Read My Mind

In contrast, I absolutely love this video (most specifically the Elvis part). The song is just fantastic (I’m not sure that there are any Killers songs that I don’t like though). Their songs always read like a story to me and they are wonderful at spinning their tales.

“I never really gave up on breaking out of this two star town…”