Aha! But *I* have the track listing on my iTunes!
Air We Breathe
Alone Again Or -- Calexico
The Fitted Shirt -- Spoon
Blanket and Crib -- Okkervil River
Why Not Your Baby -- Gene Clark
I Sent You Up -- Knife in the Water
Los Angeles, I'm Yours -- Decemberists
You Look Like a Lady -- Lee Hazlewood
Man with a Harmonica -- Ennio Morricone
Fuga No. II -- Os Mutantes
Kotton Krown -- Elf Power
Naomi -- Neutral Milk Hotel
Leave My Kitten Alone -- Little Willie John
I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms -- Feelies
Already in Black -- Moles
From Genesis to Judgment Day -- Secret Intentions
Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead -- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
One Foot in the Grave -- Pernice Brothers
Pete Rose Affinity -- Summer Hymns
Rhymes of Goodbye -- Scott Walker
Red Dust -- Iron & Wine
Air We Breathe -- Dexateens
All of Your Tomorrows Were Decided Today -- Che Arthur
Today is the Day -- Yo La Tengo
Okay, music-istas. I am bored with all the music I have. Bored bored bored. I am desperately seeking recommendations of new-to-Teppy music (i.e., can be from 1963, as long as I haven't heard it, or much of it; it doesn't have to be current, though it can be).
Groovy, mellow, funky, jazzy -- or any combination thereof.
Operators are standing by.
Solid, dude.
Thanks, Mr. Jon B.
Air We Breathe Liner Notes
1. Alone Again Or – Calexico (Alone Again Or EP, 2003, also on Convict Pool EP, 2004)
I first heard this, Calexico’s take on the first track of Love’s extraordinary Forever Changes album, during the Hideout party at SXSW 2003 and remain quite blown away. Calexico, with their desert-mariachi-stoner vibe, can’t quite take the song away from Love, but why would they? The original is perfect. Their version is a clever, fun, and stylish homage: a master doing a master study, which is all anyone can ask of a cover song.
2. The Fitted Shirt – Spoon (Girls Can Tell, 2001)
Spoon kicks ass. This is the most rocking song on 2001’s eartastic Girls Can Tell, and it’s (literally) about how the singer’s father had tailor-made shirts that fit better than anything the singer buys today. Now THAT’s how to work a metaphor, boys & girls. Besides the impressive economy of words, the song works within an economy of sounds, rocking like Led Zeppelin as covered by Wire.
3. Blanket and Crib -- Okkervil River (Down the River of Golden Dreams, 2003)
To contrast Spoon’s muscular economy, Okkervil River offers a lush, emotive, folksy, poetic, yearning love song that starts with a warm Rhodes and continues to pile sounds on, yang to Spoon’s yin. Both Spoon and Okkervil River are Austin-based bands, which just goes to show how rich our indie-rock revival is down here. Most of Okkervil River also plays in the Nick Drake-ish Shearwater, which is definitely worth a listen.
4. Why Not Your Baby -- Gene Clark (The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard and Clark, 1968)
Continuing the orchestral folk, Gene Clark (and Doug Dillard, his bandmate on this song) underpins this song with cascading banjo licks and takes a full-orchestra instrumental break. Dayum. It ain’t countrypolitan, but I sure as hell don’t know what it is.
5. I Sent You Up -- Knife in the Water (Plays One Sound and Others, 1998)
Wow, I was really up with Austin on this mix. KITW make creepy-crawly, psychedelic, country-tinged indie-rock that usually doesn’t break a snail’s pace. This one, at a pace one could even describe as “midtempo,” is positively up for KITW, and the murder-ballad lyrics manage to sound inspiring on the strength of the male-female vocals and swinging rhythm track.
6. Los Angeles, I'm Yours – Decemberists (Her Majesty The Decemberists, 2003)
I was originally going to transition from KITW directly to their spiritual forefather Lee Hazlewood, but the Decemberists’ ode to LA fit nowhere else on the mix and provided a nice tempo change, too, with the staccato start and sweeping end. Most of y’all are probably Decemberists fanatics at this point, so I’ll move on.
7. You Look Like a Lady -- Lee Hazlewood (13, 1972)
The King of Weird Country For Sophisticates goes soul. I defy your booty to resist shaking during the horn blasts at the start of this song.
8. Man with a Harmonica -- Ennio Morricone (Once Upon A Time In The West, 1972)
The major theme from Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time In the West, and one of my favorite Morricone tracks, as iconic as every damn scene in the movie, from the wailing harmonica to the reverbed-to-hell guitar to the ever-crescendoing strings to the caterwauling singers: this is the essence of Morricone. Crank it while driving across West Texas.
9. Fuga No. II -- Os Mutantes (Mutantes, 1969)
Everybody’s favorite Brazilian psychedelic pop-meisters serve up one of their weirdest (and catchiest) sound-collages here. Yummy like frozen frog pops!
10. Kotton Krown -- Elf Power (Nothing’s Going To Happen, 2002)
From their collection of vastly reinterpreted covers, this is Elf Power (an Elephant 6 band, if you must know) doing a Sonic Youth cover, my favorite since Camper Van Beethoven twanged up “I Love Her All The Time”.
11. Naomi -- Neutral Milk Hotel (On Avery Island, 1996)
Kickin’.
12. Leave My Kitten Alone -- Little Willie John (Fever, The Best Of LWJ, 1993)
How can you stand SUCH a long run of psychedelic masterpieces? And this one predates psychedelia! But he’s singing about a kitten…? OR IS HE? Ooooo, subtle.
13. I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms -- Feelies (Doing It Again single, 1991)
Here’s an obscure cover for you: a single by the elusive Feelies raving up a never-officially-released song from the original Modern Lovers session with Kim Fowley. Does it get any better than this? Well, yes, but still.
14. Already in Black -- Moles (Instinct, 1994)
Like a little art with your punk? This is Richard Davies’ old band from Oz doing what one reviewer (maybe on Allmusic? I’m too lazy to check) called “the best song Syd Barrett never wrote”.
15. From Genesis to Judgment Day -- Secret Intentions (unreleased, 2003)
This is a friend of mine from Alabama doing his best garage-art song. It’s from an album that he’s re-recorded at least 5 times and keeps threatening to release, but never has.
16. Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead -- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead EP, 2003, also on Hearts of Oak, 2003)
Ted Leo is an alchemist, fusing pub rock, soul, punk, and indie-rock. I can’t remember whether I got this off the EP or album, but I’ll just go ahead & say that both are excellent.
17. One Foot in the Grave -- Pernice Brothers (Yours, Mine & Ours, 2003)
Ah, the lovely, lovely sounds of the Pernice Brothers. They’ve apparently given up the alt-country pretense for some keyboard-heavy mid-80s Britpop, and god bless ‘em for it. I especially love the coda, where the whole song suddenly pulls together for a final assault on your pleasure center.
18. Pete Rose Affinity -- Summer Hymns (Clemency, 2003)
Summer Hymns have a tendency to wallow in light psychedelia and alt-country trappings, almost as if they were Elephant 6ers, but they aren’t. This was my favorite song on their album of last year (and who couldn’t love a song about loving Pete Rose?), but I’ve come around to the opinion that their earlier efforts were better.
19. Rhymes of Goodbye -- Scott Walker (Scott 4, 1969)
I know, I know. The man emotes like no other. It’s kind of a shame I separated him from Joe Pernice, but the lord knows both of them revel in minor cruelties done unto them. Anyway, the last three songs have pretended to be alt-country, but aren’t.
19. Red Dust -- Iron & Wine (The Sea & The Rhythm EP, 2003)
OK, this is actually an outtake from The Sea & the Rhythm that I found online. I don’t think that it’s actually been released.
20. Air We Breathe -- Dexateens (The Dexateens, 2004)
After Iron & Wine’s gentle go-to-hell, I thought this mix needed a kick-start. Meet the Dexateens, Tuscaloosa, AL’s cross between the Stooges and the Bakersfield sound. This is their most trippy track, one repeated twice on the album in different forms. My friend & former bandmate John plays most of the guitars and sings harmony.
21. All of Your Tomorrows Were Decided Today -- Che Arthur (All Your Tomorrows Were Decided Today, 2003)
Che is the guitarist for Atombombpocketknife and a great solo artist. He’s also one of my oldest friends and my co-conspirator in a bunch of suck-ass high school bands. Sure, the man loves Bob Mould, but can you blame him?
22. Today is the Day -- Yo La Tengo (Today Is The Day EP, 2003)
A rockin’ version of the sweet pop song from their soft-droney Summer Sun
