Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

today's at-work listening:
filtered; the best of filtered dance, mixed by robbie rivera. one of my top 10 albums from 2001, a sparkling collection of filtered-disco anthems, including stardust, spiller, mousse t, and pete heller. creamy house-y goodness.
45 rpm: the singles of the the, the the. see this entry from my first day of blog.
divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood, soundtrack. not quite on par with o brother, where art thou, but still a nice job by t-bone burnett, trying to do for cajun music what o brother did for americana. the best stuff is un-cajun, the new tracks from l-boogie, dylan, and alison krauss.
experience: jill scott 826+, jill scott. when an artist's second record is a live album, it's generally cause for worry. not here. 826+ expands and improves upon who is jill scott? in much the same way that badu's live album did; scott's band fatback taffy pulls and sweetens the originals like so much sticky candy. the "+" is for the second disc of the set, 10 new compositions which are pert near up to the standard of her debut. "gotta get up," featuring 4hero, and the hidden track (an "illegal mix" of "he loves me") are marvelous. believe gilles peterson when he tells you how amazing her talent is - and she's just getting started.

you really should read this blow-by-blow account of one of the greatest movies of all time: Hoosiers. it's also the only movie that makes me cry. ever.

denise m. lyman, an nyc landlord, is one sick fucking cunt.

topping the hitlist this week: dj lance lockarm strikes again with "s'washyawart," a phenomenal boot combining my bloody valentine's "i only said" w/the beasties' "so whatcha want" and schooly d's "saturday night." this is how good a bootleg can be. also of note: lockarm's been making a batch of goth booties, including swans vs. dre/ll cool j, and bauhaus vs. dmx. definitely worth a download 'n listen.

this is kind of cheesy, but truer than you might think. [ripped from an email forward.] indiana's my beloved home state.
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I think anyone who has ever spent any amount of time in Indiana can agree to these. Here are some guidelines to assist others in understanding what it takes to be a Hoosier.

1. Know the state casserole. The state casserole consists of canned green beans, Campbell's cream of mushroom soup and dried onions. You can safely take this casserole to any social event and know that you will be accepted.

2. Get used to food festivals. The Indiana General Assembly, in an effort to grow bigger athletes, passed legislation years ago requiring every incorporated community to have at least one festival per year dedicated to a high fat food. It is your duty as a Hoosier to attend these festivals and at least buy an elephant ear.

3. Know the geography. Of Florida, I mean. I've run into Hoosiers who couldn't tell you where Evansville is but they know the exact distance from Fort Myers to Bonita Springs. That's because all Hoosiers go to Florida in the winter. Or plan to when they retire. Or are related to retired Hoosiers who have a place in Sarasota. We consider Florida to be the Lower Peninsula of Indiana.

4. If you can't afford to spend the winter in Florida, use the state excuse, which is that you stay here because you enjoy the change of season. You'll be lying, but that's OK. We've all done it.

5. Speaking of Indiana weather, wear layers or die. The thing to remember about Indiana seasons is that they can occur at anytime. We have spring like days in January and wintry weekends in October. April is capable of providing a sampling of all four seasons in a single 24 hour period. For these reasons, Indiana is the Layering Capital of the World. Even layering, however, can pose danger. Golfers have been known to dress for hypothermia and end up dead of heat stroke because they couldn't strip off their layers of plaid fast enough on a changeable spring morning.

6. Don't take Indiana place names literally. East Enterprise has no counterpart to the west. Also, if a town has the same name as a foreign city or country....Versailles, Chili, or Peru, for example....you must not pronounce it that way lest you come under suspicion as a spy. To be accepted, ALWAYS add a hillbilly twang when pronouncing these names, even if you are in northern Indiana. It is common knowledge that the thick southern accents of the people of Marion and Kendallville in northern Indiana, are much stronger and more pronounced than the accents heard in Jasper, not too far north of Kentucky-Indiana line.

7. Become mulch literate. Hoosiers love mulch and appreciate its subtle differences. Learn the difference between hardwood, cypress and pine bark at a minimum. Researchers think the state affinity for mulch derives from its relatively flat terrain. People have a subconscious need for topography, and when it can't be supplied naturally, they are more likely to make little mulch hillocks in their front yards.

8. In order to talk sports with obsessive fans in Indiana, you have to be knowledgeable on three levels--professional, college and high school. The truly expert Indiana sports fan knows not only the name of the hotshot center at Abercrombie and Fitch High School, but also what colleges he's interested in, how much he bench presses, who he took to the prom, and what he got on his biology quiz last week.

9. Remember that Hoosiers are never the first to embrace trends. When we do embrace them, we do so with a Midwestern pragmatism. For example, if you see a Hoosier with a nose ring, there's a good chance he's had it undercoated to guard against rust.

10. The best way to sell something in Indiana is to attach the term "Amish" to it. The product need not be genuinely Amish. This would explain the existence of Amish moo shu pork.

I hope you found this guide to be useful. If it offends you, please let me know. I will bring a green bean casserole to your house to make amends.

no surprises: according to the vh-1 behind the music game, the btm episode I'm most like (?!) is madonna. go figure. [btw, her brand-new official website (it's about damn time!) is very nice, content-heavy with good stuffage.]

I think I actually love elvis vs. jxl's "a little less conversation" more every time I hear it. and I was in error earlier; the line is "all this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me." my bad.

yay.
it's official: u2 is releasing "the best of 1990-2000" november 12th (us). the first single is a new song titled "electrical storm," which sounds like what you'd expect, which means it's pretty good (and features bono's falsetto, always a plus). after finding a copy on winmx yesterday, I decided this called for a "bonus edition" of 'stumpydisc.' also featured are new tracks from coldplay and underworld's albums, as well as a reggae classic and, er, father mc. let's go.

stumpydisc: august 2002: bonus edition
1>addictive-truth hurts f/rakim. it befuddles me that this was produced by dj fuckin' quik, a hack as a rapper if ever there was. a stunning bollywood backdrop surrounds the first single from dre's latest protege' (strong voice, nothing exceptional), with added bonus of rakim. but why does he have to start every single cameo he makes these days with "it's been a long time"? ra, we haven't forgotten you, and yeah, it has. so record something new!
2>battle-wookie. premium uk garage from '00 (?). tasty.
3>better days-blaze. perfect american garage, beloved by masters at work. and, if you're smart, you.
4>daylight-coldplay. based on what I've heard so far, a rush of blood to the head is where coldplay ascend to the big leagues, not just in the uk but worldwide. radiohead if they weren't experimental, u2 if they still had mullets, echo and the bunnymen when they were. powerful, meaningful, and all-around majestic: think "bitter sweet symphony," "wonderwall," maybe even "beautiful day."
5>electrical storm -u2. well, look who it is... nothing revolutionary here, more like a perfectly broken-in leather bomber jacket. you know what the next line will be, and you're glad. and the aforementioned falsetto.
6>ess gee-underworld. not missing darren emerson one bit, u'world are returning with a storming slab of tech-house, a hundred days off. if "two months off" didn't convince you, this will: a return to second toughest...-style epic stuff (only touched on by "cups" from the last studio record), all moroder pulses and technoid keyb wooshes.
7>flash (live)-vhs or beta. if you'd like another perspective besides mine, read james hunter's thoughts on vhs or beta from this week's voice.
8>girls of summer-aerosmith. like a rock.
9>i'll do 4 u-father mc. hiphop the way it got on the radio in the early '90s, all creamy diva choruses and plush beats. or did I just describe sean combs' method for success?
10>i'm not over you-rhonda vincent. the next alison krauss, with a voice full of longing.
11>pda-interpol. yeah, they sound like joy division's kids. and why is that bad?
12>sola sistim-underworld. on this track from their forthcoming album, u'world throw a curve ball in slo-mo. provocative chill-out.
13>uptown top ranking-althia and donna. reggae jax from '78, so smooth, so right.
14>uptown top ranking-black box recorder. disturbing, icy female vocals + a deconstructed beat + a classic reggae track = hours of fun!
15>weak become heroes-the streets. is mike skinner the future of something?
epigram on disc cover: "I am immense; I contain multitudes." - walt whitman, leaves of grass

osymyso's "intro-inspection" has given birth to pop-chop's "pop-chop-comp-elation". both are available for easy download, so what are you waiting for? where osymyso uses only intros/first lines, pop-chop takes a different tack, completing lines of songs with other lines, to wit: daft punk's "music's got me feeling so free, I wanna --" (from one more time) segues straight into "-- celebrate my love for you" (peabo bryson and roberta flack!). amazing.
and if you just want a brief history of popular music from 1955 to the present, check evolution control committee's "chart sweep" parts one and two (look under "new sounds"). simple, but nicely done.

shakira: interesting concept, horrendous execution. and dalbello had a much better song called "tango."

I've got a rare sunday off from bowling, so of course I'm listening to the brand-new uk top 40. and I am utterly, completely befuddled by scooter's "the logical song." why is this a hit?! it sounds like nothing so much as bad belgian hi-nrg techno from 1995. was there a time when music lovers thought female voices sped up to chipmunks-type levels was a good thing? "logical song" is one of those songs that must be heard to be believed. bizarre.

chet flippo has been writing killer shit for well over 25 years. he spent much of the '70s working for rolling stone (doing, among other covers, their dolly parton cover story in '78). he's always freelanced. and most all of the '90s he spent at billboard, before leaving a couple years ago to become the editorial director for cmt and cmt.com, where he also finds time to write his weekly "nashville skyline" column. this week's, about the relationship between country music and the white house, is very good reading (and writing). if you care about country music (be it commercial, bluegrass, Americana, or 'y'allternative'), you need to read chet.

wow! my home-state queer brothers and sisters make me proud... interesting legal strategy, too.

"I need a tuneup daddy, 'cause you the mechanic": anyone else think trina is the new lil' kim? kim done gone uptown, but trina got one foot firmly planted in tha ghetto. and the bitch nasty! she needs to kick trick daddy to the curb and go double-platinum w/o his tired ass. babydiva's got dexterous flow for days. trina's best moments:
ludacris "southern hospitality" remix (f/shaunta, trina, and foxy brown)
trina "da baddest bitch"
trina "pull over"
trick daddy and. co "take it to da house"
missy elliot "one minute man" video mix (f/ludacris and trina)
silkk the shocker "that's cool" (f/trina)

I absolutely, positively, unequivocably love the way ludacris raps, the way words sound coming out of his mouth. but I wish he had more to say than "I got hoes in different area codes." just think of his voice as another instrument, I guess, and ignore what he's saying with it (except for the wordplay in "southern hospitality," which makes me giddy). and why do I fear that his disturbing tha peace clique is going to be about on par with d12 and st. lunatics? stop the insanity!

I'm finally going to start work on my masters at work essay today, I promise. in the meantime, you can find their website newly added to the "sites I visit" section.

if you love music, and still believe that the rare video can be true art (as opposed to an ashanti back-slapping party, ibid. "happy"), you'll want to read the story of how the white stripes' "fell in love with a girl" clip came to be. how does michel gondry just keep pushing things forward?

anyone know when joshblog's gonna be back up & running? matos? nate? someone holla at me.

2 new semi-blogs today (both with actual blog content inside). coolly-cool. they're to your left.

have got the pretty in pink soundtrack playing at work. makes me feel good every time, and don't playa-hate and tell me it's nostalgia talking. omd? psych furs (though I prefer the original version)? new order? echo? smiths? what a killer album. even the filler tracks (by belouis some and who-the-hell-is danny hutton hitters) are decent. anyone know when paramount's gonna release the flick on dvd with molly commentary? along with heathers (and that special-edition dvd is stellar), the definitive high-school film of the '80s.

nate's got a great piece on his blog, just posted today, about criticism v. dialogue. plus, he posted a photo of himself over the weekend, and he's cuter than I thought.

cam'ron's "oh boy": I don't even notice the rap, really, just the relentless beat and that whining-skill gulping-an-orgasm "oh boy" sample. he's come a ways since his days with "murder mase," that's for sure.

brought d'angelo's voodoo in to work today, since I haven't played it in a while. it was my #1 album of 2000, topping even radiohead's kid a. well, I hate to say it, but I do think, now, that the long-player rides the single's coattails. "untitled (how does it feel)" is a magnificent, mind-bending 7-minute soul meltdown. the rest of the album is technically gorgeous, a murky stew of reeking keybs and ?uestlove's drumming, all topped by the pliable, humming rubber band of an instrument that is d's voice. but it doesn't all come together - "left and right," f/method man and redman, sticks out particularly glaringly - and to be painfully honest (and it does pain me), some of it meanders into jazz-fusion-cum-hendrix-land, notably "greatdayndamornin'/booty" and the closing "africa." I haven't even listened to the whole thing in at least 6 months; I probably listen to the last 3 radiohead full-lengths at least once a month, because I glean such pleasure from them, and always learn something new about the textualities of the music+lyrics contained therein. whereas voodoo is a solid record, but not one I want to keep returning to all the time. d'angelo is one of his generation's more gifted artists, but where he goes from here is crucial. he can either degenerate into muso-masturbation, wanking off his own musical fetishes, or he can push things forward as he's clearly (I hope) capable of. an album full of "untitled"s and "spanish joint"s could be pretty amazing. we'll see where he goes from here. now, how about those brand-new radiohead songs? hmmm... (a new album from thom and the boys might be sooner than we think, too...)

just recently finished a sometimes shocking, and shockingly good, book, just reissued by kensington press: charles nelson's panthers in the skins of men, which was originally published in '89 by meadowland and has been out of print for many years. panthers tells the continuing tale of kurt strom, a soldier just back from vietnam who's very, very gorgeous and very, very gay. he has sex the way most of us breathe, and nothing stops him from getting who he wants - in fact, the straighter, the better. kurt ends up falling hard for nick esoldi, a married state trooper from new jersey who enjoys kurt more than he thought possible, pulling him into a series of nasty, dirty adventures involving blackmail, knockout drops, violence, and lots and appallingly hot man-to-man sex. but the novel isn't just about sex; it's also about kurt figuring out what (and who) he wants, not to mention painting a fascinating portrait of navy life post-vietnam. very highly recommended.

have I mentioned my semi-famous cousin? I guess this means I only have one degree of separation from nina totenberg, which is pretty damned cool.

btw, bowling update: we did not bowl particularly well today, winning only 2 of 7 possible points. we finished the summer season in 4th place (out of 9 teams). oh well, I got $42, and at least my second game was a 159.

I can't fucking wait for this album. just trying to imagine what the nin cover will sound like makes my head hurt, all my synapses firing away at once.

I know I should be blogging more lately, but between the top 80/stumpydisc projects (see below), and the fact that I've just been busy lately, I've been too tuckered. I'll try to be better this weekend; need to get re-inspired. maybe it's time for some winmx.

lots of folks used to call steven tyler the poor man's mick jagger, and aerosmith shameless stones imitators. but I think, listening to their new career-spanning comp o, yeah! ultimate aerosmith hits, I've hit on the one band they safely can be compared to: ac/dc. in that most of the 'smith's albums don't vary a whole lot, hewing to a similar-sounding batch of joe perry unleashed rockers and steve's-real-sensitive ballads. but like ac/dc (and, excepting their mid-'80s flirtation with synths, zz top), they're solid and dependable, like your favorite jeans or a ford pickup. and since when is that such a bad thing when it comes to music? honestly, as much as I might love radiohead or luomo or sonic youth or timbaland, sometimes I don't want to be challenged. I want the musical equivalent of comfort food, and with ac/dc, aerosmith, and zz top, I get it. that doesn't mean they're boring or uninteresting; it means you basically know what you're gonna get: great hard rock, decent tunes, and a distinctive sound. steven tyler's voice is shredded like tattered burlap as the band members all move into their 50s, and that's a positive thing.

so, I've mentioned coastalfolk twice, promising to write about it once, and have yet to deliver the goods. well, damn; I guess it's time. this is the second compilation released by soundside studio of ocracoke, nc (po box 596, ocracoke, nc 27960, or contact gary mitchell electronically); the first was 1998's ocrafolk. that's a disc which "documented the wide variety of musical talent present on tiny ocracoke island, nc (pop. 700)" (from the liner notes to coastalfolk): mostly folk and bluegrass, mostly songs about life on ocracoke and the outer banks of north carolina. mostly splendid stuff. coastalfolk expands the concept, including songs from & about the entire nc coast. most selections were recorded live at the "ocrafolk opry," a weekly jam session-cum-performance series held at ocracoke's deepwater theater. highlights include "governor edward hyde" by jules garrish, an oldtimer on the island who still speaks with a distinct "hoi toide" accent (the song is about one of the ocracoke ferries); noah paley's "moonlight still," which isn't on either of his 2 superb albums of (largely) acoustic folk; and the tuneful, classic folk/bluegrass music of molasses creek, who not only have 2 songs featured, but back many of the other musicians on the disc. simple music from a simple place: refreshing as a sea breeze.

so, I've actually been rather busy lately (having an active social life = a good thing), which is why I've been blogging less than usual. have got some nice new cds, though. jeff made me a josh rouse comp, "pure pop perfection," which on first listen is pretty nice. mentioned the coastalfolk comp earlier. and last night I actually went to the evil best buy and picked up the new nickel creek and o, yeah! ultimate aerosmith hits, which is one those all-killer-no-filler comps: everything you need, nothing you don't. very sweet. the nickel creek, through the first couple of listens, is superb. they cover pavement's "spit on a stranger"?!! beautiful.

stumpydisc: august 2002/4
1>teenage dancefloor (live)-vhs or beta. new order-esque chiming guitars mix with creamy chords to make disco nirvana.
2>ten fingers-the pursuit of happiness. once of the greatest songs ever written about unrequited anything.
3>the diamond sea (edit)-sonic youth. being drowned in a sea of thurston.
4>the grass is blue-dolly parton. heartbreak, straight up no chaser.
5>the kid is hot tonight-chixdiggit!. more fubar madness. is this actually a good song that I was blinded to because of mike reno's tight leather pants?
6>the magnificent romeo-soulwax. jaxx mash it up with clash in a brixton alley.
7>the needle and the damage done (live at the rock and roll hall of fame)-neil young. performed on the mtv vmas a couple years back in honor of kurt c. by his spiritual godfather. elegiac.
8>the proxy-rjd2. def jux's house producer gets his freak on.
9>tom violence-sonic youth. schizophrenia has taken hold.
10>under the influence of the jesus and mary chain-sonic youth. live on french radio circa '86: ain't nobody humpin' around.
11>valley girl-frank zappa and moon unit zappa. like, ohmygod! totally tubular.
12>weak become heroes (ashley beedle mix)-the streets. ukg anthem becomes bigger uk house anthem.
13>welcome 2 thee lite-thee jamie starr scenario. rumored to be felix, but it doesn't matter, since it's just the instrumental of stevie's "stand back" looped and fuct wit.
14>when you're falling-afro-celt sound system f/peter gabriel. better-sounding than anything pg's done in a decade.
15>windowlicker-aphex twin. booty music from hell.
16>yes she is my skinhead girl-unrest. a teen-punk anthem.
17>you'll never leave harlan alive-patty loveless. one hell of a kentucky voice wraps itself around a haunting, nearly scary song. a highlight of the 'down from the mountain' tour.
18>you daddy don't know-the new pornographers. rock out with your clit out.

stumpydisc: august 2002/3
1>my love is bold-danko jones. if jon spencer would take his tongue out of his fucking cheek every once in a while and just rock, he might sound this good. but I doubt it.
2>nasty voices-dj lance lockarm. "nasty" + "voices in my head" = better than either song. the way lockarm conjoins the police's harmony vocals under janet's chorus is nasty-but-nice, too. have jam & lewis heard this?
3>nineteen-ninety-nighttrain-freelance hellraiser. a holy union of the 2 most important black artists of the last 20 years. choo-choo!
4>nobody does it better (live in los angeles)-radiohead. thom yorke calls this "the sexiest song ever written." it's certainly his sexiest vocal, which is saying more than you think.
5>north star-robert fripp f/daryl hall. from '81: fripp's crimson guitar-and-keyb shadings bring out heretofore unheard pathos from daryl. a slow burn.
6>o lucky man-the grapes of wrath. canadian pop-rock piffle from the late '80s, when that was most of all I loved.
7>only shallow (live)-my bloody valentine. there are great guitarists, and there are those who make you jump back. hendrix fell into the latter category, all about the shock of the new. so does kevin shields.
8>pretty fuck look-pussy galore. more christina's band than jon's.
9>relative ways-...and you will know us by the trail of the dead. are they the second coming? no. are they as good as at the drive-in? no, comparisons be damned. but they're pretty loud and tuneful, which is sometimes enough.
10>renegade snares-omni trio. jess's favorite song of the '90s. I just think it's a right nifty piece of d'nb.
11>revolverlution-public enemy. even at not-full-strength, it's still reassuring to have them back in the world, fuckin' up shit.
12>rock you-sum 41. first of 3 selections from the fubar soundtrack, which accompanies a movie about canuck heshers. for the s/t, the makers collected covers of canadian rock songs by current artists. sum 41 + helix are a part fit. ugly metal, yum.
13>selah-lauryn hill. better than just about anything on her mtv unplugged 2.0. amazing what just the slightest production and shaping can do to a song, eh, l-boogie?
14>sex change-danko jones. "goddamn I need a sex change"?! not sure what that's about, but please, danko, don't.
15>sitting in the window of my room-alison krauss. like "selah," from the divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood ost. not better than most of her last album, but still a lovely lullaby from the queen of bluegrass.
16>sleep on-alison krauss. from her very first album (10 years ago!), with a much more unpolished voice and presence.
17>somewhere down the crazy river-robbie robertson. never had a use for the band. do have a use for this track from his first solo record ('88?), so twin peaks-before-it-existed it kills me.
18>stairway to heaven-dolly parton. plant and page love it, right down to the new verse dolly wrote. you should too. trouser-snake-metal becomes a burnished, uplifting bluegrass-gospel gem.
19>straight outta compton (kid606 remix)-n.w.a. oh. my. gosh.
20>sugar hill-az. I know he's still around, but really, when did he fall the fuck off? immediately after this, I guess.

stumpydisc: august 2002/2
1>heaven-vhs or beta. disco dreams and junk-filled nightmares, minus the nightmares.
2>here to stay-new order f/chemical brothers. less than the sum of its parts, but more than you might expect. it's hacienda-tastic!
3>hot cock annie-frogs. they used to be the worlds first gay-supremacist folk-rock duo. now, isn't that tenacious d?
4>hunger strike-temple of the dog. sums up all the good about seattle '92. I like this record better than any single album by soundgarden or pearl jam, which I guess makes this more than the sum of its parts, doesn't it?
5>i feel love (masters at work 12" mix)-donna summer. never really cared for the original of this; like it was trying to hard to be really inventive ("look! I, girogio moroder, can do it just like kraftwerk!") and wasn't, so much. maw strip the chassis and give it a fresh paint job, tuneup, lube job, and a new friggin' frame. one of their greatest moments ever. they bring out the pure joy in donna's vocal, too.
6>i love you suzanne-lou reed. I've always associated this song with that honda scooter commercial lou did around the same time. shock! horror! lou makes happy pop song! I think this even got him on mtv.
7>i'm every windowlicker-freelance hellraiser. 36 seconds of la whitney's "i'm every woman" mixed with aphex's "windowlicker": so, so wrong.
8>in my place-coldplay. in the fine tradition of magnificent uk rock singles such as "bitter sweet symphony" and "wonderwall," but possibly better. chris martin's gonna be a staaaaaaarrrrr, baby.
9>isobel (dmitri from paris mix)-bjork. our icelandic pixie rubbed up in a lovely house stylee.
10>last goodbye-jeff buckley. perhaps annoying, but undeniably talented with a raw wound of a voice.
11>leave it-yes. better than "owner of a lonely heart."
12>let me see your i.d.-various artists. from the sun city album, a stellar conglomeration of rappers led by gil scott-heron talkin' 'bout a revolution.
13>light burns clear-sparta. so does natural gas, but this is less dangerous.
14>love at first sight-kylie minogue. the natural sibling of "can't get you out of my head," looking up to her big sis in wonder.
15>mister, would you please help my pony?-ween. wrong, wrong, wrong. and yup, 3 wrongs do equal a right.
16>more than a woman (masters at work alternate mix)-aaliyah. I rejoice over software that allows remixers to slow down vocals without altering their pitch. that's used to magnificent effect here by the gods of deep house, kenny and louie. love those guitar licks that catch on your clothes. deep and deeper, like aaliyah was meant to sound this way.

spent most of last night making a new set of "stumpydisc"s for my best friend jeff (stumpy is his nickname). stumpydiscs are, simply, occasional mix discs I make for him, a combination of stuff I'm listening to, classics, and stuff I know he'll like. [he makes me "tom's bonus disc"s similarly.] oh, and we order them alphabetically by title, which can lead to some rather entertaining segues. herewith, some discussion.

stumpydisc: august 2002/1
1>7am-dirty vegas. see previous discussion of dv.
2>annie christian-prince. from '81's controversy, the lyrics are a bit on the trite side (refs to the atlanta child murders, reagan's shooting, etc.). but the music, all squinky keybs and odd guitar licks, portends the futurism of his next 2 records, which you may have heard of.
3>beauty lies in the eye-sonic youth. detuned and retuned guitars, and kim, kim, kim.
4>bounce-danko jones. deliciously nasty sleaze-rock from north of the border.
5>boys of melody-the hidden cameras. their website refers to the beautiful noise they make as "gay folk church music," and I think that sounds about right. very twee, but never to the point of belle and sebastian-ness, full of delicate melodies. more canucks.
6>cherry pie-warrant. "I mixed up the batter, and she licked the beaters."
7>cigarette dangles-the pursuit of happiness. great opening line to a song about frustrated lust (as most of moe berg's songs are): "cigarette dangles/makes me hard." ooh.
8>confidence man-the jeff healey band. I've been on a canadian kick of late, or could you tell? the flipside of "angel eyes" (which I loathe), this is so down-and-bluesy you can smell the grease.
9>copa-dj hell. a pseudo-electroclash-glitch-cut-up mangling of "copacabana." did you think it was something else?
10>cut your ribbon-sparta. the new band by ex-at the drive in members. like at the drive in, only not as good. which is still pretty good.
11>dagger through the heart-dolly parton. the first single from dolly's latest bluegrass full-length, which might be her best yet. lyrics that ache like a good bluegrass song should, plus that voice. heavenly.
12/13>days go by(acoustic)/days go by-dirty vegas. both versions of an incredibly well-written song = more value for your $.
14>don't talk to strangers-rick springfield. "did you fall at first sight, or did you need a shove?"
15>everybody wants you-billy squier. oh, whatever.
16>get ur freak on (kid606 remix)-missy elliot. would someone explain to me why kid606 doesn't have a multi-million dollar record contract?! glitchtronica genius, with the added bonus of a-ha!
17>girl from the greenbriar shore-ralph stanley. ralph + t-bone burnett = modern classic bluegrass.
18>give the peeps what they need-public enemy. chuck and flav return, sounding solid, givin' you what ya need. but I still miss the bomb squad.
19>golden boys-res. now, she's a find: a black rock chick who takes no mess. we need a new (old) tina turner, so her timing is good, too.
20>grindin'-clipse. marvelously skeletal production, just a bass and a drumline-snare-clap; are the neptunes saving their best stuff for their own acts? good for them. the rap is nothing special, but I can't think of the last time I heard a hip-hop track which excited me like this.

1. "bring the noise," public enemy (def jam '88). the original firestarter.

2. "how soon is now?," the smiths (rough trade '84). as amazing as the smiths were, this rises above all others as their masterpiece - and, in fact, a masterpiece of music, period. marr's rickenbacker chimes like a bell, morrissey's never sounded better, and joyce/rourke keep the beat on the one. combine that with one of the most stunning (and stunningly simple) lyrics in the history of rock: "I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does." call it morose if you must; for me, as a teen, it was a lifesaver.

3. "i would die 4 u," prince and the revolution (warner bros. '84). short sharp shock (2:49). but seek out the full-length 12" version clocking in at over 10 minutes, too.

4. "teenage riot," sonic youth (blast first! '88). a shotgun weddin' at cbgb's; between whom I'm not sure.

5. "fight the power (from do the right thing)," public enemy (motown '89). louder than a bomb, the clarion call of spike lee's summer of discontent.

6. "kiss," prince (paisley park '86). as perfect as this is, it's not even his best single of the '80s. what does that tell you about the purple one? may be the third-driest dance record on a major. but it's not even hard, only complicated.

7. "your imagination," daryl hall and john oates (rca '81). a surprisingly rockish move from h&o that hits the trifecta every time.

8. "stop me if you think you've heard this one before," the smiths (rough trade '88). it was supposed to be their final farewell; for me, it always will be. morrissey, laid and waylaid.

9. "the pleasure principle," janet jackson (a&m '87). the second-hardest and driest dance record on a major ever (see #24), but the perfect janet single trumps the perfect george single.

10. "disintegration," the cure (elektra '89). robert smith sings his anguish whilst rome crumbles around him.

11. "the glamorous life," sheila e. (warner bros. '85). if tito puente was a woman and made r-and-b records...

12. "easy for you to say," linda ronstadt (asylum '82). ronstadt, a prime example of a fine talent wasted, is normally not even worth being on my radar, but this soft-rock gem kills, all because of its nasty, biting lyrics about infidelity.

13. "left to my own devices," pet shop boys (emi-manhattan '88). che guevara and debussy sitting down for crumpets and tea.

er, what that's supposed to say: I plan to complete the "top 80" commentaries tomorrow, provided that work doesn't kick my ass (which it could, since I only worked tues/wed of last week). in which case I'll just finish tomorrow night. boo-yaa.

I plan to complete the "top 80" commentaries tomorrow, provided