Random Ten

Load up all my mp3s, select "Shuffle," hit play. (Better than doing work I should be doing.)

1. Bardo Pond - "Sifaka" (Vol. 3)
   Less of an exploratory space psych jam than the usual Volume stuff, "Sifaka" has hand-claps and a snaking groove that's more typical of Bardo from the mid-'90s.


2. Gemma Hasson - "Dan Malone" (The True Songs of Ireland)
   Sweet singer about whom I've tried to find more information -- or even her albums -- to no avail. She's got that quivering voice that you tend to hear from Irish balladeers, which normally annoys me, but in her case, she makes up for that with a pure voice and some great traditional Irish folk backing. One of three songs that I've ever heard from her, sentimental as hell but makes me melt for Erin's glens anyway.


3. Sole - "Tepee on a Highway Blues" (Selling Live Water)
   Anticon rap with a lullaby melody. Not the hottest thing from Anticon, but it's pretty enough.


4. Cocteau Twins - "Ooze Out and Away, Onehow" (The Moon & The Melodies)
   Begins as a whisper-quiet ambient track -- I can barely hear Liz on it, all floaty and cloudy -- before the drum machine kicks in and she does her thing, it's a Cocteaus track, duh, and I'll lap it up, always.


5. Mirah With The Black Cat Orchestra - "Dear Landlord" (To All We Stretch The Open Arm)
   One of the better tracks from Mirah's weird collab album, it's twangier, almost swingier than her usual acoustic singer-songwriter material (which I love). Oh wait, this is a Dylan cover.


6. The Pipettes - "In the Bleak Midwinter" (Pipettes Christmas Single 7")
   A b-side from the polka-dotted dancing gals, way more choral than the usual Pips, not much production or accompaniment, which gives the song a frosty yet snug feel. Really focused on their voices, reminds you that they're more than just pretty faces, glasses, and '60s dance moves.


7. Lil' Wayne - "Mrs. Officer" (Tha Carter III)
   The "wee oh wee, oh weeee" song. Not terribly memorable -- more of an R 'n B track -- but then again, at least it's not "La La." The chorus, sung by one Bobby Valentino, grows on me, though.


8. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band with Choir - "Sow Some Lonesome Corners So Many Flowers Bloom" ("This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing,)
   Slow-building ASMZ track -- haha, well, that's any ASMZ track, I suppose -- with a simple plucked guitar that layers on more and more voices, dissolves into a long passage of atmospheric orchestral doodling that's more akin to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, before it crashes down in a more typically ASMZ climax. Interesting tidbit, Winamp (yes, I still use Winamp) numbers this track as #666.


9. A R Rahman ft. Suzzanne - "Dreams On Fire" (Slumdog Millionaire)
   The sappy ballad, which makes me want to dismiss it right away, but it's got this pulsing bass throb and electronic tinkling that is a big improvement over your typical platform-for-a-wailing-diva slow jam. Oh, and ethnic flute!


10. Doomriders - "Mercy" (Long Hair And Tights)
    Big rolling Motorhead-style metal with added thrashy soloing (yay!) and hardcore singing (meh!).