BIRTHDAY PLAYLIST

Happy birthday to me. . . good friends hit me up, and good music kept me goin'.

The Strokes - Is This It (Live From Bonnaroo '11)

Solid intro to a playlist referencing turning a page, adding another notch on the belt. Plus, I was there. 

The Beach Boys - I Get Around

A song I've been bumpin' since I was 8.

Boards of Canada - Hi Scores

Chill, ambient, heavy beats that kept me mellow.

Stevie Wonder - For Once In My Life

Just a damn good song. As gleeful as it gets.

Kanye West - Runaway (feat. Pusha T)

How solid is this song? Only perceived as a downer if you let it get to you. Breaking this one down...one of his better beats/songs/messages.

Pete Yorn - Murray (Live in Chicago)

Got chills watching this. The sign of a damn good performance.

Erykah Badu - Otherside Of The Game

Had to chill it out a bit. Her voice... the word "sultry" comes to mind. I find it comforting like when your hands are dry and you slide 'em across cold steel. Just relaxes you. This song's the same way.

The Bravery - Swollen Summer

Had to brighten things up a bit. This song'll get you movin'. Loud, fast, obnoxious...just how I like my women.

311 - Loco

Keepin' it on that upbeat tip, these guys have been with me since day 1.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside

Birthdays, as they rack up, bring about reflection. I'll hop off my soapbox in a second, but I gotta say that, for better or worse, I can't help but look back on where I've been and where I'm at now. The thought has highs and lows and almost always ends on an ambiguous note, not unlike this song.

*NOTE: These songs came up on shuffle, with no more than two songs between them. This took no time at all to put together and because of the sheer luck that that took, I had to toss 'em together.

Average White Band - Pick Up The Pieces

Can't help but think of Swingers when I hear this. Looking forward to celebrating soon.

The Black Keys - Money Maker

New one from them. Will soon be featured in strip clubs and party playlists everywhere.

Motion City Soundtrack - Time Turn Fragile

Just a solid "What's it about?Fuck it, let's drink" song.

Honors English - Flyin' High (feat. Lupe Fiasco)

A new one, for those that are sick of radio hits, but still want a radio hit.

Check this guy's site out. You'll be blown away: Honors English

Spoon - Trouble Comes Running

Maybe the most reliable band that I know of.

Mute Math - Typical (Live on Letterman)

Seeing this actually happen changed my perception, not only of the band, but of Letterman's show. The drummer was, for a moment, not human and was a conduit for insanity via cymbal crashes.

!VIDEO BONUS!

Sugar Ray - When It's Over

Just enjoy it, dammit.

Pharrell - Frontin' (feat. Jay-Z)

The kinda party I'd love to have for my birthday. . . that he has on a Wednesday.

AIN'T NO SCHOOL. . .

Bring the horns in and sing it out. What a song.

Have NO clue what this person was doing with the video. I wish Youtube would get their act together in regards to these classics...too bad they'd hafta patrol billions of videos daily.

Back to The Reverend, I've been a fan since I can remember hearing his stuff in Pulp Fiction. I've obviously dove in since then, checking out his older stuff, his newer albums in the 80's... and the man still has it.

Recently saw him on some late night PBS show my dad was watching. He said he was going to make me watch it with him.

Didn't have to.

HEART + SOUL

Lightnin' Hopkins. Took some time to do some research on this man. 

- He passed away 4 years before I was born, which gives some perspective into how music travels. Thoughts that came outta him impacted me almost 30 years after he'd died.

- Blues artists have this way with words. Their brevity, their choices, their ability to bring a thought back around to the beginning...it's something to marvel at, since most of the best ones probably didn't get much more than a high school education. Further proof that degrees don't mean much if you haven't lived or can't express yourself.

- The Blues is/are something that doesn't keep it's aim on color or creed. Man, woman, young and old can all get a bitter taste of 'em. 

- Maybe the coolest name ever.

I'd go into him and Blues, as a genre...but anything I could articulate is said, five times over, here.

I'M ON

I finally found it!!

The internet is a weird, time-shredding vixen. I've been hunting for this video HARD.

What's even more peculiar is that I tried to post it on facebook and it wouldn't work. 

It's like the internet doesn't want this video out there. 

WELL. . . here it is. Enjoy.

BLACK BALOON

Been this kind of an emotion running through me: where I just open the blinds or take a left and see beauty, but in the back of my head, there's a melancholy that's got the reigns. 

Not to get emo and drone on, but let's be real: life's crazy these days. Pick any subject to talk about with a complete stranger and you'll assuredly end up at a "yeah...shit happens" moment, unless you're talking about anything but Derrick Rose or. . . 

(spend five minutes looking around the room for something.)

Yeah, I got nothing. 

But at the same time, that keeps me present, keeps me aware of what I'm doing. When I'm listening to this song. . . yeah, it's a bummer. But dammit, they're good, and they kinda rock, and they keep it simple so I can keep reading what I'm reading or taking care of whatever I'm doing in the garage.  That kind of mentality might be an "ignorance is bliss" mentality, but knowing what I know, I'd say it's a "peace of mind while bombs go off" mentality.

Solid song.

Here's the weird video. I watched half of it and realized that I had my own picture, I'd made my own music video in my head and didn't want to sully it with vampires or whatever the hell is going on in it. . . but feel free to watch.

TYPICAL

I was going to delve deep into the abyss with why this video, to me, is incredible. . . but I don't want to put my stamp on something that might influence someone's take on it. The epiphany of a song/video that this is and the one I garnered from watching it and listening to it repeatedly were live and without question, our own, respectively.

Mute Math, also known as mutemath. . . from what I've seen, usually goes for broke on the esthetics of a live performance; not detracting from the sound, but c'mon. . . when you do a song backwards while glitter, paint and confetti rain down from smoke machines, there's clearly something behind that. But this time, they turned to a band that was purely sonically based. The video is still eye-catching, with the constant flux of neons and solid camera work, and they, as a band, are a good lookin' group of hipster dudes, but the way they're shown to play. . . it's like watching The Wonders the first time they play That Thing You Do to a live audience: I'm transfixed. 

So that's it. Watch it. It's watching a band at their pinnacle. Whether that's in respect to Letterman, who's got mad clout, or just because they'd been doing things one way for so long and switched gears, they nail it.