Music Worth Listening To
We listen to many different kinds of music. And often, we find some pretty interesting tunes outside the mainstream that are too good to keep to ourselves.
We’ve put together some playlists on various themes, moods, topics or psychoses. Some "mainstream", some not. The vast majority of these songs are from our own, eclectic CD library, as we don't purchase much from the online stores. Since we cannot post the actual music files for you to listen to, the playlists will need to suffice as an inspiration for your listening pleasure.
Each list is enough to fill an audio CD. Try these playlists for yourself and enjoy the sounds. If you have difficulty finding some of these pieces, or if you have suggestions, let us know!
"38"
(August, 2004)
38, as in Larry's age at the time. This is a very eclectic mix of different tunes to test the new car speakers that we were able to buy with the generous birthday gift contributions from Jen, Chris, Mom & Dad. The list actually features (not in this order): New Age, Folk, Choral, Soul, Flamenco, Film Score, Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Spiritual, Novelty, A Capella, and Heavy Mental… (yes, that's spelled correctly).
Song Title — Artist — Album
Stepping Stars — David Arkenstone — Narada Mystique Sampler One
Over the Rainbow — Eva Cassidy — Songbird
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi: O Fortuna — Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra/Rutgers U. Choir — Carmina Burana
Come Rain or Come Shine — Ray Charles — Thirtysomething
Danza Mora — Eric Tingstad — Gypsy Passion: New Flamenco
Higher Ground — Stevie Wonder — Song Review
Title of the Song — Da Vinci's Notebook — The Life and Times of Mike Fanning
Foundation of Stone — Howard Shore — The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Don't Know Why — Norah Jones — Come Away With Me
When I Was 4 — Michael Hedges — Oracle
Groovin' (Sunday Afternoon) — Young Rascals —
The Lion Sleeps Tonight — Ladysmith Black Mambazo / The Mint Juleps — Spike & Co.: Do It A Capella
People Get Ready — Blind Boys of Alabama — Higher Ground
The Eleventh Hour — Mars Lasar — The Eleventh Hour
A Candle in Notre Dame — Adrian Legg — Guitar for Mortals
Bali Run — Fourplay — Fourplay
Lost in the Stars — Chanticleer — Lost in the Stars
Adagio for Strings — Samuel Barber/Baltimore SO — Adagio/Symphony No. 1
Thank You For the Music — Abba — Gold: Greatest Hits
100111=39
(August, 2005)
In binary, 100111 actually does equal 39. This is a concoction of songs that made their presence felt in 2004-2005.
Featured styles include (not in this order): Alternative, Film, Choral, Pop/Rock, World, Folk, New Age, Hip-Hop, Electronica, Easy Listening, & Heavy Metal Cellos. Really.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Older — They Might Be Giants — Dial-a-Song
Mike Teavee — Danny Elfman — Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ST
Winter Moon — Jeanne Cotter — Amber
Berimbau — Paula Morelenbaum — Berimbau
Crazy Love — Ray Charles with Van Morrison — Genius Loves Company
How Far (feat. Marta Jandová) — Apocalyptica — Apocalyptica (enhanced ed.)
Where is the Love (feat. Justin Timberlake) — Black-Eyed Peas — Elephunk
Forest Veil — Lisa Gerrard with Pieter Bourke — Duality
Mars — Juno Reactor — Beyond the Infinite
California Dreamin' — Queen Latifah — The Dana Owens Album
Oogie Boogie's Song — Danny Elfman with Ken Page, Ed Ivory — The Nightmare Before Christmas ST
Emmeleia — Dead Can Dance — Into the Labyrinth
Dragostea Din Tei — O-Zone —
New Hymn — James Taylor — Live (1 of 2)
The Wisdom of Yoda — Morgan Phillips — Star Wars Break Beats
El Sueño — Linda Ronstadt — Mas Canciones
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) — US3 — Flip Fantasia-Hits and Remixes
Agnus Dei — Samuel Barber — In a Classical Mood Vol. 38: Choral Harmony
To the Sea — Yello, feat. Stina Nordenstam — Pocket Universe
Life is a Highway — Tom Chochrane — Mad Mad World
Last Finger on the Eighth Hand
(August, 2006)
Songs in my brain in 2005-2006. Featuring: pop, rock, country, alternative, metal, French pop, Australian alternative, Celtic, church music, silly, lounge, hip-hop-samba, electronic, flamenco and workshop tools. Oh, if you count all your fingers until you get to the last finger on the eighth hand, you get...
Song Title — Artist — Album
Unwritten — Natasha Bedingfield — Unwritten
Mas Que Nada (feat. The Black Eyed Peas) — Sergio Mendes — Timeless
Technologic — Daft Punk — Human After All
Fandangos por Verdiales — Pepe Romero — Flamenco!
Let Jesus Make You Breakfast — BR549 — Dog Days
Little Wing — Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra — Little Wing
El Fuego — Santana — All That I Am
Winning Arrow — Bic Runga — Birds
Senza — Camille — Le Fil
Locomotive Breath — Styx — Big Bang Theory
Malambo # 1 — Yma Sumac — Ultra-Lounge Vol. 2: Mambo Fever
Aoibhneas — Lunasa — The Merry Sisters of Fate
Berimbau/Consolacao (feat. Stevie Wonder & Gracinha Leporace) — Sergio Mendes — Timeless
Land of Confusion — Disturbed — Ten Thousand Fists
Trigger Happy — Weird Al Yankovic — Off the Deep End
Life Burns — Apocalyptica — Apocalyptica
Grace [edit] (feat. James Taylor) — Jonathan Elias — The Prayer Cycle
Ven, Espiritu Santo — Jaime Cortez — Rain Down
Savin' Me — Nickelback — All the Right Reasons
Tocatta in D Minor — Woody Phillips — Toolbox Classics
Breaking Free — Soundtrack — High School Musical
XLI
(August, 2007)
Let's see what 2006-2007 brought. Hmmm... a playlist featuring hot guitars, new old-school, tango, Taizé, weird, silly, indignant, inspirational, prayerful, sweet, catchy, Latin rock, blues-rock, prog-metal, and lotsa rhythms.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Breathing Life — Salvador — Into Motion
Angels Talk in Their Sleep — Vinx — I Love My Job
Diablo Rojo — Rodrigo y Gabriela — Rodrigo y Gabriela
Some Unholy War — Amy Winehouse — Back to Black
Jesus Just Left Chicago — ZZ Top — Tres Hombres
Don't You Think — Natalie Imbruglia — Left of the Middle
If We Are the Body — Casting Crowns — Casting Crowns
The Real Me — Natalie Grant — Awaken
How Can We Be Silent? — Michael Mahler — How Can We Be Silent
Chords of Life — Joe Satriani — Strange Beautiful Music
Close to You — Iain Ballamy — Mirrormask Soundtrack
The Funkie Tubular Bells — Joseph, featuring Ma Licious — Tubular Vibes, a Tribute to Mike Oldfield
Concert of Today (Astor Piazzolla) — Folias — Tangos | Metamorphoses
El Tango — Hi Perspective — Astor Piazzolla Remixed
Longhair Mobile — Michael Manring — Unusual Weather
Nada Te Turbe — Taizé — Laudate Omnes Gentes
Don't Download This Song — Weird Al Yankovic — Straight Outta Lynwood
Half Day Closing — Portishead — Portishead
Like a Star — Corinne Bailey Rae — Corinne Bailey Rae
Cold Winter Nights — Stratovarius — Intermission
Alegria — Salvador — Into Motion
The Answer to the Ultimate Question
(August, 2008)
Featuring classic rock, Minnesota folk, local alternative rock, blip-hop, contemporary Christian, Asian dance, novelty, world beat, electronica, choral, turntables and a guitar solo on a blues harp. Also featuring laughter, temptation, chill-out, grooves, stirrings, reflections, entreaties, memories, discoveries, heartstrings, southern California starshine and Michigan sand.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Signs of Life (edit) — Pink Floyd — A Momentary Laps of Reason
Sling Shot, Pt. 2 — Lefties Soul Connection — Skimming the Skum
Natri Ba Makom — The Apples — Attention!
Dream On — Aerosmith — O, Yeah!
War Again — Oingo Boingo — Boingo
The Awakening — Blue Star Pilot — Blue Star Pilot EP (2007)
Man I'm Supposed to Be — Blue Star Pilot — the other Blue Star Pilot EP
sample: Crazy Train — Pat Boone — In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy
sample: Mahalageasca — Mahala Rai Banda — Gypsy Beats and Balkan Bangers
sample: A Girl Like You — Institutio Mexicano del Sonido — Mexican Institute of Sound
sample: My Girl — The Temptations — My Girl Soundtrack
sample: Tomorrow Never Knows — Monsoon, featuring Sheila Chandra — Handful of Rhythms
sample: Let Go — Noelle Garcia — Meet Me Where I Am
sample: Fragile — Sting — Fields of Gold
White and Nerdy — Weird Al Yankovic — Straight Outta Lynwood
Artsy Remix — edIT (featuring The Grouch) — Certified Air Raid Material
Sweet Lullaby (Q-Bass MIx) — Deep Forest — Music.Detected_
I Can Only Imagine — Mercy Me — WOW #1's
E'en So Lord Jesus, Quickly Come (Manz) — Kansas City Chorale — Alleluia: An American Hymnal
Trail of Dawn — Slow Train (mixed by DJ Ravin) — Buddha-Bar VI: Rejoice
Whatever Lola Wants — Sarah Vaughan (mixed by DJ Ravin) — Buddha-Bar VI: Rejoice
Keep An Eye on Love — Zeep — Nina Miranda & Chris Franck Present: Zeep
One More Circle — Peter Mayer — Million Year Mind
Radiant Light Divine — Rufino Zaragoza — Hear the Prayers That Rise
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (edit) — Blue Floyd — Begins
sample: Shoe Polish on Turkeys — Inca Jones — Trippin' Out On Christmas
There’s a story behind every song. As one will surmise from a listen, my musical world lately has been very far-flung, with a lot of world beat and off the beat-en path tunes.
Signs of Life and Sling Shot Pt. 2 were songs from the year that seemed to convey some of the kinds of energy of the year.
One of the wonderful sources I listened to this year was http://aurgasm.us. (Note the spelling.) That’s where I found Natri Ba Makom (and no, I don’t have any idea what that means, either) It just got stuck in my head.
Dream On, too, somehow wandered into my head repeatedly, forcing me to go looking for the lyrics which I never caught all of until looking up the words.
War Again - this Oingo Boingo song is witty, stinging and self-explanatory; remove tongue from cheek before continuing.
My nephew Chris sings for the band Blue Star Pilot, and I got a kick out of their stuff. (Check out myspace.com and search for the band.)
Now, there is only so much room on a CD, and I wanted to share more than would fit. That’s why there is a series of short samples of several songs. There are stories here, too.
Crazy Train - Listening to Pat Boone singing heavy metal tunes in a swing/big-band style... who could ask for anything more? I finally picked up his CD, but couldn't bring myself to inflict share a whole tune with you who received a hard copy of this playlist on disc.
Mahalageasca is a piece that almost defies description, and sticks in my head for hours on end... plus, there's the cowbell. (One of the aurgasm.us finds.)
A Girl Like You - I wish I could figure out the lyrics to this, but the song is in Spanish, and not clearly pronounced. Therefore, this wordless sample will suffice until I know what kind of fire I'm playing with! Another aurgasm.us treasure.
My Girl - Part of the soundtrack of our home has been our girl Erin playing the My Girl movie soundtrack on a regular basis. It was one of the CD's left in the CD-changer for many weeks on end.
Tomorrow Never Knows - I've heard this tune from many voices: The Beatles, Phil Collins, Our Lady Peace, Michael Hedges, and this recording by Monsoon, fronted by Sheila Chandra. To my ear, the melody is rather haunting, especially when distanced from the Beatles' somewhat trippy arrangment. I include it here because it was one of those tunes that resurfaced multiple times during the year for whatever reason.
Let Go - Noelle came out with her CD Meet Me Where I Am, nationally distributed. Cool, especially for someone living in Portland, MI. She sang this piece for us as part of Wednesday at DYMO Camp.
Fragile - Another haunting tune that popped up repeatedly over the last many months. There were days when this tune spoke volumes.
Sadly, White and Nerdy could almost be one of my theme songs. I (ahem) vaguely resemble a couple of lines in the song.
And along the theme of not taking myself too seriously, I loved the witty lyrics of Artsy (another aurgasm.us find). A few lines poke fun at Roberta and I.
Sweet Lullaby was part of a mix I engineered at DYMO Camp as part of a presentation.
I Can Only Imagine was from a friend’s funeral, later to be heard at DYMO, too.
The choral piece E’en So Lord Jesus has long been a favorite; this last year the St. Mary’s choir sang it during Advent.
There are two pieces from the Buddha-Bar series here. We put the "Rejoice" CD into the kitchen CD player… and played it a LOT. That disc was the soundtrack for a chunk of the year.
Keep an Eye on Love was another catchy hook that almost got ME dancing. (And that’s saying something.)
My cousin Rosie shared Peter Mayer tunes with us, and One More Circle seemed right for this disc.
Radiant Light Divine came via the Prayer of Peace each month.
My friend Grey shared Blue Floyd with me on a road trip. Cool – and a good bookend to the first track, too.
And as for Shoe Polish on Turkeys, I apologize, but we can say it was Roberta’s fault, care of cdbaby.com.
Up To Something
(August, 2009)
An eclectic collection of audio snapshots from one more circle 'round the sun...
Song Title — Artist — Album
Ignition — Toby Mac — Portable Sounds
God People — Salvador — Into Motion
Feel It (In the Air Tonight) — Naturally 7 — Ready II Fly
Wait and See — Brandon Heath — What if We
Hallelujah — Leonard Cohen — The Essential Leonard Cohen
Orion — Rodrigo y Gabriela — Rodrigo y Gabriela
Una Música Brutal — Gotan Project — La Revancha del Tango
Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby — Dinah Washington — Verve Remixed
Oye Mi Querida — Bobby Matos — Beginner's Guide to Salsa
Teo and Tea — Jean-Michel Jarre — Teo and Tea
Veteran — Kidneythieves — Trickstereprocess
Big Butter (Jesus) — Heywood Banks — Big Butter
Crabs Walk Sideways — The Smothers Brothers — Sibling Revelry
Cumbia — Mexican Institute of Sound — Soy Sauce
Now it Moves — Salvador — Salvador
Holy Now — Peter Mayer — Million Year Mind
Alleluia (Randall Thompson) — Robert Shaw Chamber Singers — Angels on High
Requiem: Lacrimosa — (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) — Amadeus
Miserere — (Gregorio Allegri)
Many of these pieces (Ignition, God People, Wait and See, Now it Moves and Holy Now) were pieces that were tied into this year's DYMO Camp for some reason or another.
Someone passed me a link to the Naturally 7 video of Feel It (In the Air Tonight), and I was fascinated by the great quality of their a capella vocal play. The song definitely hooked me.
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen is one of those songs I'd not thought about in years. And then one morning I found myself singing it, remember far more words than usual. And it hardly left my mind for long for the next couple of months.
My friend Damon worked out a passable version of Metallica's Orion as a bass guitar solo. I kid you not. His version reminded me of this classy Rodrigo y Gabriela cut.
Roberta and I were sitting in the restaurant The Republic for dinner one night, and the music playing over the sound system was fascinating. Dancy, trancy and globe-spanning in style. When I asked what was playing, I was told that they were playing a set based on suggestions from Pandora.com generated from the song Una Música Brutal by the Gotan Project. I've heard Gotan Project stuff on the Buddha Bar CD's, and went out straight away to purchase the Gotan Project CD that includes this song. And I created a Pandora.com playlist based on this song, too. (Try it!)
From Pandora.com, I bumped into the Verve Remixed album, filled with great new mixes of old tunes. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby stuck in my head, and we played it around the house alot.
I picked up the disc The Beginner's Guide to Salsa just to see what it had on it, and ended up singing Oye Mi Querida for days.
My friend Grey did a cool video edit using the song Teo and Tea as a soundtrack to a bunch of scenes from the Matrix movies. The song is a lot of fun, and the video was brilliantly put together.
I learned of the group Kidneythieves from the music inside a video game, Deux Ex: Invisible War. Several Kidneythieves songs were used in the game world, and had a habit of sticking in my head; I chose Veteran as a representative sample.
Step 1: my sister sends me an email with a link to a new Heywood Banks song. Step 2: I listen to Big Butter (Jesus) and almost fall out of my chair laughing, especially since I know what the thing looks like. Step 3: I end up singing the song incessantly for many weeks. Allow me to share.
So, Roberta ends up going to physical therapy to stabilize a joint problem. One of her excercises involves an elastic-restricted move that looks like a sidways crab walk. The Smothers Brothers song Crabs Walk Sideways immediately jumped into my brain.
OK, so I heard it on NPR. They interviewed the dude that is The Mexican Institute of Sound, and I was fascinated by the sound of the new tracks they were playing. Cumbia is a fun example.
While searching for Easter material for my church choir to sing, I bumped into Randall Thompson's Alleluia again. A great piece, although beyond my choir's current capability. Nevertheless, this piece became as much a part of my Easter as the piece the choir did sing.
My ears encountered both Mozart's Lacrimosa and Allegri's Misererea couple of times during the year. I can only speak for myself, but these exquisitely beautiful pieces evoke a lot of powerful feelings.
This Is Not a Tango
(August, 2010)
Featuring funk-y jammin', mainstream hooks, musical absurdity, disco salsa, rock and/or roll, virtuoso ukulele, alternate realities, indietronica-synthpop, electro-soul, fun folk, lo-fi notes, funk-klezmer hip-hop, zombie country hip-hop, blazing guitars, robotic house, acoustic nu metal, post-grunge Christian, oración en español, Latin horns, beats, loops and mixed-up bossa nova.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Blast Off — Lettuce — Rage!
All Around Me — Flyleaf — Flyleaf (Special Edition)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps — Jake Shimabukuro — Gently Weeps
Handlebars — Flobots — Fight With Tools
Fireflies — Owl City — Ocean Eyes
Gstring — SomethingALaMode — SomethingALaMode
Mail Myself to You — Brendan Taaffe — Little Boots
Just Because You Can — Oddwalk Ministries — Alright Now
Tweet-Tweet — Abraham, Inc. — Tweet—Tweet
Possessed (Is the Way to Be)-We're Comin' To Kill Ya (mix) — Zachariah & the Lobos Riders — Dead & Breakfast Soundtrack
Everyone's a Hero (In Their Own Way) — Nathan Fillion — Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Yo Viviré (I Will Survive) — Celia Cruz — Regalo Del Alma
Hanuman — Rodrigo y Gabriela — 11:11
Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger — Daft Punk — Discovery
If Today Was Your Last Day — Nickelback — Dark Horse
Fully Alive (Acoustic) — Flyleaf — Flyleaf (Special Edition)
Awake and Alive — Skillet — Awake
Te Doy Mi Corazón (My Heart Belongs to You) — Angus McDonell — River of Life
Undeniable — Salvador — Aware
This is Not a Tango — The Juju Orchestra — Bossa Nova is not a Crime
Trans Boulogne Express — Birdy Nam Nam — Manual for Successful Rioting
Hero — Skillet — Aware
Where DO these songs come from? Throughout the year, I keep my ear open for tunes: new tunes, songs linked to special events, artists brought to my attention by friends and family, etc. My sources every year pretty consistently include Roberta, my sister, my friend Grey, the students I know, online discoveries and DYMO Camp. (Five of these tunes were associated with DYMO in one way or another.) It is interesting to realize that five of these tunes were introduced to me through videos; another three probably made the list because the video reinforced my interest and bolted the tune down in my memory.
In any case, this is music worth sharing...
- Blast Off was brought to my attention as I walked into the kitchen one afternoon to hear some great Funk/R&B tunes my housemate was playing. The band? Lettuce. Soon after, that album was in my own collection. Thanks, Mark.
- All Around Me and Fully Alive showed up on my radar almost randomly... I caught a review of Flyleaf's 2007 album in a blog—critical acclaim and all that—and decided to see who these people were. After watching a few music videos available online, I was hooked. This could get to be one of my favorite bands, right up there with Rodrigo y Gabriela.
- I discovered this take on While My Guitar Gently Weeps because someone (I don't recall who) suggested I watch an online video of some dude playing a ukulele in Central Park. For some reason, I did, and I was blown away. The dude, of course, is Jake Shimabukuro. To make this even more fitting, my godson Josh has been playing a uke for a bit now... At DYMO Camp this year, he treated everyone to an amazing performance of this same arrangement of this song. Josh rocks.
- Another music video: My friend Nick mentioned that this song Handlebars was stuck in his head, and he wanted to share the joy. A few clicks later, and it was glued in my brain also.
- Part I: I found Fireflies when I was actively trolling blogs for "decent" popular music. On a list of "top" songs from 2009, I bumped into an interesting review of this Owl City tune, which seemed out of place among the other (yawn) tunes on the list. That's what got my attention, so I grabbed the tune and added to my mp3 player. Part II: At DYMO Camp, one of the students asked me if I knew this tune. (Thanks, Luke.) At his encouragement, I learned the tune on the guitar and started to learn the lyrics. I haven't gotten around to playing it live for anyone as of this writing, but we'll see how that goes.
- I encountered GString by SomethingALaMode on the music blog Aurgasm, a blog that dabbles in "everything not under the American rock umbrella—music such as: downtempo, folk, nu jazz, chanson, scandinavian, jazz, cuban, brazilian, electro, soul, jump blues, bluegrass, film score, and electronica". I kept coming back and listening to this song repeatedly. And here it is.
- Roberta heard the song Mail Myself to You on NPR as a musical segue in the show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". In the process of helping her search for this cool (Brendon Taaffe) arrangment of this Woody Guthrie song, it became a part of our relationship's soundtrack.
- My friend Guine knows I like novelty songs. And so she sings a bit of this tune, Just Because You Can, to me, and got me laughing from the start. Watching the video online generated more laughs, so I learned the song and sang it at DYMO Camp for the students.
- Another one of Roberta's finds: Tweet-Tweet. She picked this up listening to an NPR article. She played this song for me, and when a clarinet jumped in where I expected an electric guitar, it got my attention. Not your average listening material, but fun! (The entire album has a home with us now.)
- Zombie country hip-hop? Can this be explained? When I was a kid, we loved just about any novelty song we could get our ears on. Ray Stevens, Dr. Demento, Ed Buchanan's Comedy Hour, the various K-Tel compilations—whatever. The more absurd, the better. This partially explains why I enjoyed the tunes Possessed (Is the Way to Be) and We're Comin' to Kill Ya (mixed together in a single track on my playlist). Jim shared the DVD of Dead and Breakfast with me, and the music inspired as many laughs as the rest of this twisted comedy-horror film.
- Villains need heroes, so... Everyone's a Hero (In Their Own Way) is from that comedy gem Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I was first encouraged to watch this by Karen, plus a few others along the way, but I never sat down and watched the whole thing until Mark talked it up. You can't fight the Evil League of Evil if you don't know who they are, after all.
- My cousin Monica's "anthem" was Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, which we sang at her memorial service. While helping us prepare for that, my friend Bob said that he had heard a Latin salsa version of the song. Well, that's too tempting to ignore. A little reasearch, and I found the Celia Cruz recording Yo Viviré (I Will Survive). The Spanish lyrics have a different meaning than the English original, but that just adds to the fun.
- Hanuman is just one of the many amazing tunes on the latest Rodrigo y Gabriela album. My friend Grey sent me a message when this album was released, but I had already gone out to get it. Just go out and buy it yourself, it's worth it.
- Last year, I chanced upon the "Daft Hands" video for Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger. Clever. But then somehow I ended up watching the "Daft Bodies" twist on the "hands" thing for the same tune. Very clever, and impressive to a person without any dance skills to speak of. So, the result is that this tune jumps into my head at random times these days. If it entertains you, there seem to be countless imitations of these videos online now.
- OK. I'll admit it. I like Nickelback. If Today Was Your Last Day includes some things I enjoy hearing, like smooth production and a message in the music, so the musical math added up in my head on this one.
- We ended up using Skillet's Hero as part of a prayer service at DYMO Camp this year, and I got hooked on their sound. I'd not paid them much attention in the past. Awake and Alive also expressed some of the attitude I was looking for over the last many months.
- Te Doy Mi Corazón (My Heart Belongs to You) is one of those songs that dug deep into my brain after I learned to play and sing it.
- One of my favorite bands is Salvador. From the latest album, Undeniable was one of the songs I returned to most.
- This is Not a Tango ended up becoming the title for this collection because I found the bass loop, instrumental layers and bossa nova beat of this tune to be rather irresistable.
- I was introduced to Birdy Nam Nam by digging through old posts on the Aurgasm blog, which featured an audio cut and a video of these guys. It's amazing what four DJ's can do with turntables. Trans Boulogne Express is from their more recent album (now playing more than just the turntables).
Special thanks to: Roberta, Monica, Bob, Jen, Jim, Mark, Elizabeth, Josh, Grey, Wanda, Nick, Luke, Guine, Ryan, the Aurgasm blog, Pandora Radio, Last.fm, YouTube, Vimeo, and all of the others sources and resources of musical madness. And, of course, special thanks to the artists who make the music.
Singing Out of Light
(August, 2011)
Featuring: instrumental | vocal | alternative | film soundtrack | Latin | chanson populaire française | dance | classical | modern funk | Cuban trio | radio static | new age | rock | contemporary Christian | choral | Taizé | English, Spanish, French, Portuguese & the other kind of Latin.
- Song Title — Artist — Album
- Goto 10 [sample] | Cuban Studio Cue [sample] | Derezzed — Daft Punk — Tron: Legacy
- Cassette Tape — Katie Costello — Lamplight
- El Consejo – Grupo Fantasma — El Existential
- Je Veux — Zaz — Zaz
- Extra Extra — Beats Antique — Contraption Vol. 1
- Lero-Lero — Luísa Maita — Lero-Lero
- L'arlesienne Suite No. 2: IV. Farandole — Julia Severus — Bizet: Complete Piano Music
- The Bump — The Haggis Horns — Hot Damn!
- La Última Noche — Trios Melodicos — The Lost Cuban Trios of Casa Marina
- Mix: Dialing Through My Mind — Various — Various
- Featuring samples from:
- Drinkin' Whiskey Tonight (Instrumental intro.) — Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three — NPR July Sampler
- Bohemian Rhapsody — Main Squeeze Orchestra — Main Squeeze Orchestra [NPR]
- 1977 — Ana Tijoux — 1977 [aurgasm.us]
- I Want To Be Evil — Eartha Kitt — Purr-Fect: The Greatest Hits [NPR]
- Drinkin' Whiskey Tonight — Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three — NPR July Sampler
- So This is Goodbye (Pink Ganter Remix) — William Fitzsimmons — Derivatives [aurgasm.us]
- Bouree from Suite in E Minor for Lute — Nightnoise — The Bach Variations
- Hock It (YACHT Remix) — The Blow — Poor Aim: Love Songs [aurgasm.us]
- Camera Talk (acoustic aurgasm.us performance) — Local Natives — aurgasm.us
- Ay De Mi — Natalia Clavier — Nectar [aurgasm.us]
- Alforria — Saravah Soul — Cultura Impura [aurgasm.us]
- Undertow — Warpaint — The Fool [aurgasm.us]
- Tuesday Treat Day — Hoops & Yoyo — One Donut a Day!
- Never Trust a Puppet — Heywood Banks— The Bob & Tom Show
- Pa Pa Power — Dead Man's Bones (feat. the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir) — Dead Man's Bones [aurgasm.us]
- The Doctor's Wife — The Clockwork Quartet — www.clockworkquartet.com
- Use It For Good — Fallulah — The Black Cat Neighbourhood [aurgasm.us]
- Los Chucos Suaves (feat. Kid Ramos) — Los FabuLocos — Dos
- Hymn to the Russian Earth (feat. Susan Osborn) [edit] — Paul Winter Consort — Concert for the Earth
- O Children — Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus
- How Do We Know — Katie Costello — Lamplight
- She's Looking for Something (feat. Lynx and Janover) — Beats Antique — Contraption Vol. 1
- I Survive — John Angotti — God is My Rock
- Introit et Kyrie — Cambridge Singers — Faure: Requiem
- De Noche Iremos — Taizé — Mane Nobiscum
- End of Line — Daft Punk — Tron: Legacy
"Singing Out of Light" — a mysterious phrase, with a couple of possible connotations. All of them apply. (The phrase is from Hymn to the Russian Earth.)
Now, it's no secret that I've been listening to a lot of World music. My ear is drawn to rhythms that are strong and/or creative. It's interesting that—as a guy who strongly dislikes to dance—I am drawn to dance music and watching others dance. Hmmm.
Strangely enough, there are three artists that I've featured double on this playlist. (There are always favorites.)
- Derezzed and End of Line were stuck in my head after seeing the Tron: Legacy film, and then again after my friend Grey played the soundtrack for me. I start and finish the playlist with these pieces, so for the fun of it I added some extra samples to the songs.
- I bumped into Katie Costello's music through the aurgasm music blog. Cassette Tape was humorous and seemed like a caricature of my own attitudes. How Do We Know stuck in my head for days, but in a pleasant way. I soon went out and purchased more of her music, and I recommend her highly for your own music purchases.
- El Consejo was featured as a National Geographic Song of the Week. I instantly liked the track, and have been monitoring the NG Song of the Week regularly looking for such gems ever since. About the Spanish lyrics: here is a translation.
- Je Veux was featured on the aurgasm.us blog with a video. I caught myself humming it on many occasions. And no, I don't know French, but I figured out that the refrain is (roughly) "I want love, joy, good humor. It's not your money that makes me happy..." And so on.
- Beats Antique came up in a conversation with Mark V. about Steampunk literature and art. I was pleasantly surprised to bump into artists that are creating music that has been used as a soundtrack for this genera. Extra Extra and She's Looking for Something are just two tracks from this quirky (i.e. bizarre) ensemble with a lot of catchy hooks.
- Lero-Lero is from Luísa Maita of São Paolo, Brazil. The aurgasm.us blog suggests: "Let the mellow vibes caress your ears for the rest of the day."
- Farandole, the 4th movement of the L'arléseinne Suite No. 2 by Georges Bizet, initially written for orchestra in 1879. Part of the piece is based on the Christmas carol "March of the Kings". Bizet also arranged this piece for solo piano. (It's a lot of work for just two hands.) Roberta heard this on the radio and brought it to my attention; she has since purchased the sheet music and is learning to play it! [Trivia: the Trans-Siberian Orchestra uses the theme of Bizet's Farandole for their song "The March of the Kings/Hark the Herald Angel". Oh, and a farandole is an old, open-chain community dance popular in parts of Europe, especially France. Now you know.]
- The Bump I enjoy the sounds of a tight horn section; the modern funk outfit The Haggis Horns had my foot tapping right away.
- La Última Noche is one of the pieces from The Lost Cuban Trios of Casa Marina, a delightful collection of old tapes that were recorded, stored, and forgotten for too many years. Yes, I heard it on NPR.
- The mix sequence that makes up Dialing Through My Mind includes short samples of a lot of pieces that were considered for this playlist as full-length entries. For some of the pieces, a few seconds is really enough to provide the amusement without arousing annoyance. I could have made this mix a 10-minute track of samples, but these pieces will suffice. I hope you are entertained and that your curiosity is piqued.
- Los Chucos Suaves is a Cali-Mex dance song, about dancing. Highlighted here by someone who suffers anxiety about dancing. (Just smile and nod.) Roberta came to me with the name of this band scribbled on a piece of paper after hearing it on WYCE. Score!
- Hymn to the Russian Earth became known in West the mid-1980's when the Paul Winter Consort performed it in concert at the United Nations as part of the UN's 40th birthday celebration. I ran into the live recording of that concert a few years after that, and it has been stuck in my head ever since. I found myself singing it a lot again this year for no known reason. Yuri Zaritsky is given composer's credit — he may have written the poem, the music, or both, although the music is said to be a traditional Russian Melody. Eugene Friesen (a cellist who played with the Paul Winter Consort) is also credited (perhaps for the translation). An alternate translation of this song shows up in the 2005 hymnal Singing the Journey by the Unitarian Universalist Association.
- O Children stuck in my mind long after I heard it again in the film The Deathly Hallows, part I. Quite a mix of despair and hope, all in the same song. Since then I've pulled out the song and listened to it several times and grown attached to it.
- I Survive was discovered as I was researching possible tunes for DYMO Camp this year. The theme of Camp was "Surviving the Challenge". We played this song a couple of times during the week. [We also played Yo Viviré (I Will Survive) by Celia Cruz, of course.]
- Introit et Kyrie was one of the many things I sang as a member of the Grand Rapids Diocesan Choir this year.
- De Noche Iremos is a piece from the Taize Community which we use often at the Prayer of Peace. The Spanish text is transliterated (suitable for singing to the same melody) into English as: "By night, we hasten in darkness to search for living water. Only our thirst leads us onward..." A more direct translation might include the phrase "Only thirst enlightens us." The transition from the Kyrie into this piece flows surprisingly naturally.
Special thanks to: Roberta, Grey, Mark, Jen, Dennis, Michelle P., DYMO Camp, the aurgasm.us blog, WYCE, NPR, NatGeo Music, YouTube, cdbaby.com, and all of the others sources and resources of musical mayhem. And, of course, special thanks to the artists who make the music.
Mad Science
(August, 2012)
Featuring: radio waves | sound bytes| soundtrack | jams | electronic | chill | downtempo | turntableism | Cuban big band | lounge | country blues | jazz | acoustic classical/jazz | alternative | mashups | hip-hop | funk/soul | neo-soul | Latin soul, pop, Christian Rock | Christian | French-American | indie | Brazilian | ArtPrize | WTF
- Song Title — Artist — Album
- Opening Journey (Plasma Waves) | (Dr. Fiorella Terenzi) | (Music from the Galaxies)
- Cat Skillz | Beats Antique | Elektrafone
- Hanuman | Rodrigo y Gabriela, feat. C.U.B.A. | Area 52
- (Don't Fear) the Reaper | Bruce Lash | Prozak for Lovers
- This is the Day | Phil Wickham | Response
- Right and Wrong | Asylum Street Spankers | God's Favorite Band
- I Alone | Random Rab | Visurreal
- Freddie's Waltz | The Gypsy Hombres | Café Strut
- Mix: I Am Gonna Make It Through This Year | Various | Various
- Featuring samples from:
- This Year | The Mountain Goats | The Sunset Tree
- Walrus of Choice | FAROFF | djfaroff.com
- Bonkers | Dizzee Rascal | Addicted to Bass Classics
- Down the Road | C2C | Down the Road
- Roderigo | Lack of Afro | Press On
- H.A.A.R.P. | Ill-Esha, Dewey DB | welcomehohme.com
- Amor y Felicidad (Love and Happiness) | Jose Conde | Jose Conde
- Core G | Bottom Rhythm Jam | Encounter
- Throwdown at the Hoedown | Bela Fleck & the Flecktones | Left of Cool
- Hay Consuelo | Pier Bucci | Budda-Bar X
- Derezzed | Daft Punk (Remixed by the Glitch Mob) | Tron: Legacy Reconfigured
- If God is Love/Si Dios Es Amor | Jorge Rivera | Ha Llegado el Tiempo
- Mix: Stellar Wind | Various | Various
- Featuring samples from:
- Stellar Wind | Dr. Fiorella Terenzi | Music from the Galaxies
- Follow Me | Maïa Vidal | God is My Bike
- This Head I Hold | Electric Guest | This Head I Hold
- Dry | Lealea Jones | http://aurgasm.us
- Shing-a-Ling Is What I Bring | Rene Lopez | E.L.S.
- Puro Ouro | Joyce | Rio
- Lofticries | Purity Ring | welcomehohme.com
- Promises | Andain (KOAN Sound Remix) | welcomehohme.com
- All Yours (Acoustic Version) | Submotion Orchestra | http://aurgasm.us
- Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence | Paul Tate | Seasons of Grace: Piano Reflections, Vol. 2
- Mad Science | Douglas La Ferle | Mad Science
- The Spirit of Adventure | Michael Giacchino | Up (Soundtrack)
- Icarus (Main Theme) / Endings | Michael McCann | Deus Ex: Human Revolution
"Mad Science" started out as this project's working title because of the first song I targeted for this collection. This title inspired the use of the Terenzi samples and some of the other sound "bytes" that decorate this collection. Like many experiments, this project produced results I did not entirely expect. No galaxies were harmed in the making of this collection.
- Plasma Waves and Stellar Wind were created by taking raw radio astronomy data from galaxy UGC 6697 and translating the data into sound frequencies. I can honestly say that’s the longest distance (180 million light-years) that something has travelled to be used in one of my projects.
- Cat Skillz. I had the pleasure of seeing Beats Antique perform live this year. This is one of my favorite tracks from the Elektrafone album
- I featured Hanuman on a disc a couple of years ago, but this version is a fun collaborative reimagining of the song.
- (Don’t Fear) the Reaper. This is a case of "curiosity killed the cat; satisfaction brought it back." Roberta received an email from CDBaby.com that said "here are suggestions of music we think you’d like, based on your past selections". The list included the album Prozak for Lovers (?!), which caught her eye, and soon after, my ear.
- This is the Day turned out to be an informal theme song for DYMO Camp this year. The lyrics are in tune with the wonderful things the students experience there.
- Right and Wrong can also be blamed on CDBaby.com. When Roberta and I saw that the disc artwork declared "God’s Favorite Band", I fully expected sarcasm. But I loved this song when I was listening to samples, and couldn't resist purchasing their disc.
- I Alone was a tune that stuck in my hand when I saw Random Rab perform as the opening act for the Beats Antique show. I enjoy the CD, but he was even better live.
- I became aware of the Gypsy Hombres because of a track of their Christmas music that showed up in NPR's slightly irreverent Jingle Jams: A Holiday Mix For The Rest Of Us. I loved their sound, and discovered Freddie's Waltz (Chopin) on a non-holiday album.
- The mixes: To be honest, I’ve run into so much music I think is worth sharing that it just doesn’t fit into the 80 minute capacity of the CD format. Many of these pieces come from recommendations from friends. The rest were brought to my attention by the music blogs aurgasm.us, welcomehohme.com, and worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com. Ask me about where to find full-length selections if something catches your ear. The samples in I Am Gonna Make It Through This Year are energetic, fun things. Stellar Wind starts out with catchy jams, but downshifts a few moods before it wraps up. Enjoy.
- Roberta and I heard Throwdown at the Hoedown on the radio (WYCE) one morning as we were heading to the church. We turned it up and stayed in the car until the song was finished, and the song became an earworm for me. Seeing a video of a live performance made me appreciate the song even more.
- Hay Consuelo is one of those world-lounge-groove tracks from the Buddha-Bar music series. The series is part of the regular soundtrack of our household.
- Derezzed was on last year's disc, so, what's the deal? Well, I was wandering through the music section of Schuler Books, and happened upon Tron: Legacy Reconfigured, filled with remixes. This one takes the somewhat gritty, dancy original, dials back the tempo slightly, swaps out the percussion for something with a different punch, and adds more grit. The art of the remix fascinates me.
- If God is Love/Si Dios Es Amor was one of the tracks I heard Jose Rivera perform with his band at the NPM Convention in Pittsburgh. Jorge Rivera has worked within the Hispanic/Latino community in the Archdiocese of Chicago for many years, especially with young adults.
- One of my favorite hymn tunes, PICARDY, is known to many under the title Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. I found this arrangement to be an enchanting way of wrapping and playing with this melody.
- Mad Science was one of the first tracks I knew would be on this disc. One of the 2011 ArtPrize exhibits was a multimedia installation inspired by science fiction fantasies. The focal point was a kinetic sculpture sitting atop a vintage television set. A video played on the set, and this music stuck in my mind long after I had walked away. Check out the video, too.
- DYMO Camp's theme this year was "Animate Your Faith," and we used clips from various Pixar films to illustrate what we were talking about. The Spirit of Adventure is from the movie Up, and became a multiple-use song during the week.
- Icarus and Endings are merged together here to save space. The music really helped to set the atmosphere for the dystopian Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Icarus is dramatic and energetic, a little mysterious. Endings draws in the rhythm of ocean waves and touches on the moods of loss, accomplishment, regret and release that accompany the conclusion of the story.
- The little sound bites in between tracks are just for the fun of it. Most are collected from various film, TV, radio and studio recording sources, and some were created for this disc.
Special thanks to: Roberta (who actively collaborates with me on seeking out interesting new stuff), Mark, Grey, Sarah, Damon, Wild Bill, WYCE, NPR, Schuler Books, NPM, CDBaby.com, Nat Geo Music, aurgasm.us, welcomehohme.com, YouTube, ArtPrize, and, of course, the artists who make the music.
Some Unseen and Wondrous Magic
(August, 2013)
Featuring: Bollywood funk, sound bytes, Latin gospel, guitar magic, big band, jams, banjo pop, happy pop, alt-pop, a capella, catchy hooks, retro sounds, novelty, videogame dubstep, avant-folk, Brit folk, downtempo electronic, Christian metal, introspective, contemplative, poetic musings, and sharks.
Song Title — Artist — Album
(Intro: adventure)
Monkey Fight Snake — The Bombay Royale — You Me Bullets Love
Este Corito — Salvador — Make Some Noise
(Intro: getting there)
Vikingman — Rodrigo y Gabriela — Live in Japan
(Intro: good morning)
Feeling Good — Michael Bublé — It's Time
Get Lucky — Charles Butler, Beats Antique — (bandcamp.com)
Dynamite — The Rockford Aces — Unaccompanied Minors
Heart Skips a Beat — Lenka — Two
Hearbeat Radio — Sondre Lerche — Heartbeat Radio
(Outro: confused)
Too Close [some acoustic] — Alex Clare — The Lateness of the Hour
(Outro: when)
New Beat — Toro y Moi — Underneath the Pine
Cups (When I'm Gone) — Anna Kendrick —
If I Had a Bulldozer — Heywood Banks — Treated and Released
(Outro: crazy)
(The Ballad of) Sharknado — Quint —
O Fortuna — The Washington Symphonic Brass — Burana in Brass
This Old Dark Machine — Jemes Vincent McMorrow — Early in the Morning
Old Machines — Rig — (soundcloud.com)
(Outro: alien)
Asi Soy — Deela — Rumbullion
Synchronous Bloom — Thrupence — Voyages
Daphne — Lia Ices — Grown Unknown
(Outro: do not ask me)
Smother — Daughter — Smother
Faceless — Red — Until We Have Faces
(Outro: uncomprehending)
may you be born on Anarres — types — music for public access television
(Outro: looking ahead)
I Will Follow — Chris Tomlin — And If Our God is For Us...
Home — Phillip Phillips — The World from the Side of the Moon
Higher Love — Salvador — Make Some Noise
Give and Take — Danielle Rose — Defining Beauty
O God Beyond All Praising — Paul Tate — Seasons of Grace, Volume 5
Come, O Spirit of God — Ricky Manalo, CSP — Hear the Prayers That Rise
The Call — Regina Spektor — Live in London
(Outro: adventure)
Buried within the odd narrative of one of these songs is the lyric: if we follow where they’re leading | we will surely come before| some unseen and wondrous magic | made of visions to explore. That tone of childhood curiosity, hope and willing surrender seemed to be an example of the attitude I’ve been trying to summon up amidst the frustrations of the year, and so gave birth to the title of this collection.
Digital Edition Note: There are always more tunes than will fit in a CD-length imposed 80 minute time limit. These notes are placed in the order that the songs appear in a digital edition of this collection, without the time constraint.
- Monkey Fight Snake—This retro fun instrumental track was brought to my attention by the music blog aurgasm.us. Every time I listened to it again, it caught my ear.
- Este Corito is from the newest release by Salvador, a band I’ve consistently enjoyed for many years. It starts "This little choir is for praising God. If you praise God also, you will feel as I do." Maybe since Roberta and I sing in a coro at church every weekend, this song became one of my favorites from the Make Some Noise album.
- Vikingman was one of the tunes we saw Rodrigo y Gabriela perform live (yeah!) at the Chicago Theater in July 2013. The music is awesome, and the live show was even better. Roberta and I talked our friends Remi and Dan into going with us, even though they weren't (yet) familiar with the guitar duo. We were seated in different sections, and after the show, their first words to us were "WTF was that?!" which was their way of saying they were blown away and thrilled to have been there.
- Feeling Good was not on my radar until Clark Retirement Community made a splash by doing a well-produced senior citizen lip dub video. The song is somewhat of an earworm, but bears up under repeated listening quite well. Since three of the first four tracks on this playlist feature horn sections, it's somewhat plain that my ear is drawn to that sound.
- Daft Punk’s Get Lucky doesn't show up here in its normal form. Soon after the song caught on, several other artists covered it. This acoustic instrumental track with Beats Antique has the benefit of avoiding the rather banal lyrics.
- Dynamite—I don’t know if I should admit this in mixed company, but I've always kinda liked this song. Then, I heard it performed live at the Rockford Area Arts Commission "Snow Ball" in February 2013; however, performed by an a capella group of high school guys. They were great. I'm a sucker for a capella music done with attitude, anyway.
- Heart Skips a Beat really surprised me by catching my attention with such a straight-forward happy-snappy pop tune. While I can try to attribute that to little quirks of rhythm, or the interesting approach to vocal harmony (which do exist), I think it was watching the video that amused me enough to consider it for this collection. An aurgasm.us find.
- Heartbeat Radio's cheeky opening lyrics, "Tell me what you think about this song | sue me if you reckon it's too long," caught my attention right away, but my taste for the song grew over repeated hearings. I learned of this tune through aurgasm.us reporting on live acts during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference.
- I heard Too Close a couple of times before I caught who and what the artist/song was. It’s quite catchy in its electronic mix, but when I heard the acoustic take, I really enjoyed that version too, so... I took the liberty of mixing the two together. Something fresh for those already familiar with the song.
- New Beat is one of those songs that didn't catch my attention in the first moment, but then I found myself playing the tune in my head at random moments. The video that seems to have no connection to the lyrics? The retro attitude? The happy hand claps? The wahwah keyboard? Who cares, right? Enjoy it.
- Cups (When I’m Gone) was brought to my attention by Kristi because of the cups game we play at DYMO Camp. In the last couple of years, a few of the students have started to put music to the cups game rhythm, much as this artist does.
- It was Wild Bill that brought If I Had a Bulldozer to my attention so that we could perform it as part of our novelty song duo act. I have to be careful with this song, because if I get too excited singing it, I tend to strain my voice a bit. It's all about making people laugh and have a good time, at the performer's expense and lack of dignity, in this case.
- (The Ballad of) Sharknado is just plain silly. The film was also just plain silly. Both, however, entertained me. When it hit me that O Fortuna was in the same key as the end of this tune, it just went downhill from then, and I enjoyed the ride.
- O Fortuna is a great brass arrangement of one of my favorite classic vocal pieces. I had the chance to see a marvelous performance by the Washington Brass during the NPM Convention in Washington DC in July 2013. (The original lyrics can be found wonderfully mangled on Youtube.)
- This Old Dark Machine had this odd vocal harmony that caught my attention and held it. Now, as for the lyrics, I admit that I like them, but I really don’t know what the artist intended them to mean. He's probably one of those artists that would say, if asked, "I want my lyrics to have a personal meaning for each of my fans" as a way of dodging the question. So, I've ascribed my own meaning to them, and I invite you to do the same.
- Old Machines was a not-quite-random find when I was casing out sound clips from the Mass Effect video games. A link took me to this track on soundcloud.com, which then captured my imagination. In the Seventh Seal role-playing game I run, I hear this as one of the tracks playing in that nightclub that the characters had such a hard time dealing with.
- Synchronous Bloom doesn't have a lot of weight in its lyrics, because it doesn't have any. But I do like the happy layered mix of chillwave rhythms and textures, and would find this tune playing again in my head later.
- Thrift Shop made me laugh so hard the first time I heard it/saw the video, and it's definitely got a hook that's hard to extract. 'Nuff said.
- Asi Soy was a fun discovery through Nat Geo Music. Sadly, their web page worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com is no longer available at the time of this writing and just redirects to their normal pages. Deela is a Germany-based project combining influences from around the world to create their dance music.
- Daphne in mythology, was the nymph pursued by an infatuated Apollo. To escape the "fire in his eyes" she was transformed into a laurel tree. I was intrigued by the beautiful vocals. In fact, one morning I woke up humming the melody from the later part of the song, with the harmonies accompanying me in my mind; but I couldn’t remember which song it was. I had to troll through a bunch of songs I had discovered through aurgasm.us to finally connect the title and artist of the song to the tune in my mind.
- Smother haunting texture and cloudy mood struck a harmonic in me. Sure, it's a tune of regret, but I have those days, too.
- Faceless has that slickly produced hard rock sound (in the vein of Linkin Park, at times) but with Christian lyrics, it caught my interest. I dare say that this tune would be a new style of prayer for most of us.
- may you be born on Anarres: More times than I can recall, I've seen Tim K. sitting in my living room with headphones, a laptop and a keyboard, oblivious to the outside world. Under the name types he's put out a bit of music through bandcamp.com. The song title refers to a world in the book The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin, which Tim lent to me for my reading pleasure.
- I Will Follow was one of the tunes we used at DYMO Camp in 2013. Even though at first listen I thought it was just another well-produced Christian pop tune, I was interested in the attitude and message the lyrics projected. After a few listens, this tune stuck with me.
- Home was a sneak attack on my listening habits. I heard the song several times here and there, including at DYMO Camp '13, and I like the lyrics. Because I don't have a television, I had no idea that the artist is who he is until it was explained to me.
- Higher Love was one of those tunes Roberta and I've always liked, and now Salvador has covered it on their latest project, bringing it back into my field of attention.
- Give and Take offers an attitude of religious surrender I can only hope to aspire to. The lyrics strike me deeply, because even a couple of days without being able to sing suck the life out of me.
- O God, Beyond All Praising is the hymn title set to the tune THAXTED, based on the sublime theme by Gustav Holst from the middle section of the Jupiter movement of his orchestral suite The Planets. This is one of my favorite melodies. Roberta knows this, and learned to play this piano arrangement.
- Come, O Spirit of God is a beautiful contemplative tune I include here because of the process of prayer and study Roberta and I lived over a year's time as we discerned becoming lay associates of the Grand Rapids Dominicans (which we did in August 2013).
- The Call (Live) is a song Wild Bill brought to my attention... not as a novelty song, but as a kind of theme for Friday at DYMO Camp this year. We performed it together a couple of times that week, and the tune has taken up residence in my mind.
- The little sound bites in between tracks are just for the fun of it, collected from various film and TV sources (The Hobbit, Firefly, Babylon 5, The Avengers, Breakfast at Tiffany's).
Special thanks to: Roberta, Wild Bill, Kristi, Tim K., Sara B., Remi, DYMO Camp, aurgasm.us, bandcamp.com, soundcloud.com, Nat Geo Music, WYCE, NPR, Schuler Books, NPM, CDBaby.com, YouTube, and, of course, the artists who make the music.
No Shortcuts / Shortcuts
(August, 2014)
Featuring: electronic, funk, grammar humor, a dancing violinist with dubstep leanings, merengue, country, choral sublimity, humor in poor taste, guitar artistry, Christian music in varying styles, alt. Latino, folk, soundtrack/trailer music, alt. rock, experimental pop, and stuff even I have no solid answers on how to classify.
Part 1: No Shortcuts
Track # – Song Title — Artist — Album
1. Overture – Beats Antique – A Thousand Faces-Act 1
2. From the Sky – Black Object – Black Object
3. Oh My Gawd – The Floozies – Tell Your Mother
4. Word Crimes – Weird Al Yankovic – Mandatory Fun
5. Poisoning Pigeons in the Park – Tom Lehrer – The Remains of Tom Lehrer
6. Shatter Me – Lindsey Stirling, featuring Lzzy Hale – Shatter Me
7. Merengue Gitano – Mark Towns – Flamenco Jazz Latino
8. Somnium – Rodrigo y Gabriela – 9 Dead Alive
9. No Shortcuts – Heather Maloney & Darlingside – Woodstock EP
10. Black Hole of Truth – Danielle Rose – Defining Beauty
11. A Little Bit – Amanda Vernon – Acoustic Collection
12. All the People Said Amen – Matt Maher – All the People Said Amen
13. God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion) – Newsboys – God’s Not Dead
14. Keep Making Me – Sidewalk Prophets – Ultimate Worship
15. Autumn Falls – Liz Christian – Beginnings
16. Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) – Hillsong United – Zion
17. Meditation on Oración de los Fieles – Peter Kolar – Variations
18. Lux Aurumque – Eric Whitacre – Light and Gold
Part 2: Shortcuts
Track # – Song Title — Artist — Album
1. Beezlebub – Beats Antique, featuring Les Claypool – A Thousand Faces-Act 1
2. Runaway – Black Object – Black Object
3. Shakedown Street Remix – The Floozies – 2012 Remixes
4. Tacky – Weird Al Yankovic – Mandatory Fun
5. Adios – Natalia Clavier, featuring the Echocentrics – Lumen
6. The Curse – Agnes Obel – Aventine
7. Clarified – Fretboard Surfer –
8. Drawnonward – Jack Trammell – Drawnonward
9. Radioactive – Pentatonix, featuring Lindsey Stirling – Radioactive
10. The Beginning – Blue Stahli – The Devil (Chapter 02)
11. I’m Not in Heaven – Amanda Vernon – Acoustic Collection
12. Lord, I Need You – Matt Maher – All the People Said Amen
13. Tesoros Ocultos/Treasures Out of Darkness – Peter Kolar – Variations
14. The Russian Messenger – Rodrigo y Gabriela – 9 Dead Alive
15. Telemiscommunications – Imogen Heap and deadmau5 – Telemiscommunications (Remixes)
16. Woodstock – Heather Maloney & Darlingside – Woodstock EP
17. Mountaintop – Foreign Fields – Anywhere But Where I Am
18. Bioshock Main Theme – Garry Schyman – Bioshock
19. Nox Aurumque – Eric Whitacre – Light and Gold
If you want something done right... you have to do it right. That usually means, as Heather Maloney’s song reminds us, "no shortcuts." But in some circumstances, a shortcut provides a provides a useful—and perhaps entertaining—means to an end.
When I started choosing songs for this edition of my yearly playlist of collected music worth listening to, doing it well meant no shortcuts. Lots of reviewing, listening with fresh ears... but I found that many of the artists I was considering provided more than one song that was worth sharing. In order to keep a playlist under the 80-minute limit imposed by the length of a CD, I had to cut out additional songs from many of the same artists that I still wanted to share.
After making my final decisions (for the No Shortcuts playlist), I looked at the leftover songs and realized that it was a pretty fun playlist by itself. The playlist of leftovers (Shortcuts–note the difference between the labyrinth images) mirrored the first playlist in many ways, including many of the same artists, song types, and over-all arc. Thus, you get a double-helping to listen to this time around. Once again, the majority of the tracks for this compilation are fresh tunes you may not have bumped into. I encourage you to check out videos for these tunes where they exist, although I can’t speak for the advertisements that inevitably accompany some of them. My comments are embedded in any digital files I may share with you, as are the lyrics when I could get them. Enjoy.
A downloadable document of these liner-note-style comments is available here.
Part 1: No Shortcuts
- Overture—Beats Antique is one of those quirky artists I've followed for a while now. The new album, A Thousand Faces-Act 1, was perhaps even quirkier than usual. Dance electronica with a steampunk feel at times. This album has a more theatrical feel than previous releases. Try it on a system with a subwoofer, and see how well the sub-100Hz bass comes through on this track. | If your eyes can handle it, there’s a live video you may enjoy that also includes their piece Kismet; just click on the song title's hyperlink. | Visit beatsantique.bandcamp.com
- From the Sky—My friend Grey is a soundtrack aficionado. He told me about positionmusic.com, which has all sorts of stuff, including music for film trailers and such. Sometimes I just surf through the site listening to samples, and often I bump into tunes I really like. Black Object caught my ear and held it, and here is a little taste for you to enjoy.
- Oh My Gawd—Does this song have any redeeming qualities? Well, for one, it made me smile. Mark V. came to the house and asked, "Have you heard The Floozies?" We plugged his music player into the speakers, and a few minutes later I was hooked. Compliments of soundcloud.com.
- Word Crimes—If I have any heroes, I have to admit that Weird Al would be in that small group. Ever since hearing the accordion-only versions of his earliest parodies, I've admired his wit and talent. I wanted to put four of his new songs from the Mandatory Fun album on this collection, and it was hard to choose. Oh, and the videos make the songs even better. Go see for yourself. The video for this song is waaaay better than the video for Blurred Lines. After all, when have you ever heard a song use the word ‘nomenclature’ in a rhyme?
- Poisoning Pigeons in the Park—I was asked to perform a few songs for the Riverside Raconteurs storytelling bonfire in Grand Rapids in the summer; also, I've always wanted to find an appropriate venue to perform this inappropriate song. I got more people to laugh than were offended, so I'll count it as a success. Thanks to Tom and Marcia for the invite and the opportunity, and to my mother for nourishing my somewhat twisted sense of humor. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Shatter Me—I honestly don't remember who turned me on to Lindsey Stirling's music. Grey? Liam? Mark? Wanda? Here's a woman who dances around while playing violin to a fusion of pop and dubstep; obviously the video is an important element to her songs. This is a surprising gig for the singer, Lzzy Hale from Halestorm, who usually goes for an edgier crowd. Lzzy Hale's voice reminds me of Marta Jandová (who did some vocals for Apocalyptica), which caught my ear right away for this tune. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Merengue Gitano—Thanks to Pandora.com. While listening to a Rodrigo y Gabriela station, this came up and got my attention. This reminds me of more than one party I've been to. Fun!
- Somnium—Roberta and I had the opportunity to see Rodrigo y Gabriela in August without having to travel to some other state, and brought many friends with us to a show in Grand Rapids. As expected, the show was fantastic. They had a lot of fun on stage, and we had a lot of fun in the crowd. | Check out both the live video and a studio take.
- No Shortcuts—Heather Maloney opened for Rodrigo y Gabriela's concert at the Meijer Gardens. While her guitar playing is great, it was her voice that captured my attention, and is featured in this track. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Black Hole of Truth—I bumped into Danielle Rose at an NPM Convention a couple of years back, and return to her music here and there as time goes on. One of her tracks was on my collection last year. This is the song that stuck this year.
- A Little Bit—I've known Amanda for many years, and have always been thrilled to hear her sing. She recently did some live recordings while in Grand Rapids, including this song. I had difficulty choosing which of her songs to put into this playlist, as there were several fun options I wanted to share.
- All the People Said Amen—We used this as a theme song of sorts for DYMO Camp this year. Fun, meaningful, and everyone can sing along. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion)—My friend Nevin invited me out to see the movie God's Not Dead this summer, which was worth seeing. The life issues depicted were a bit too much to be condensed into a movie—just like anything else interesting that gets made into a movie. This song was used during DYMO Camp as well. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Keep Making Me—I was introduced to this song by Wild Bill at DYMO Camp this year. Good tune. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Autumn Falls—Elizabeth recorded a CD! I met Liz at DYMO Camp when she was a student, and she was part of the Camp staff again this year. It's great to see friends do great things.
- Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)—I became aware of this song in the spring, at first when my friend Kinga brought it to my attention, and then I kept hearing it in other places as time went along, including at DYMO Camp. | For a great acoustic video, dlick on the song title's hyperlink.
- Meditation on Oración de los Fieles—Peter performed a concert at St. Mary Church last autumn. Good memories, good tunes. This piece is a meditation on one of his songs we use at St. Mary's.
- Lux Aurumque—When Roberta and I saw the vocal group Chanticleer perform in Grand Rapids, they sang an Eric Whitacre song and I made a note of it. Before I got around to looking up more Eric Whitacre music, someone (I don't remember whom) shared a link to one of his Virtual Choir videos, triggering my interest anew. This piece in particular I can only describe as sublime. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
Part 2: Shortcuts
- Beezlebub—Sometimes a song is a guilty pleasure. Les Claypool is best known from his work with Primus, which was known for crazy claymation-style videos. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video. | Visit beatsantique.bandcamp.com
- Runaway—Another energetic little jam from Position Music, discovered while surfing semi-aimlessly.
- Shakedown Street Remix—My second-favorite Floozies piece at this time. | Click on the song title link for an interesting combo of studio track and live video.
- Tacky—Clap along, now! | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Adios—Disclaimer: I'd be lying if I said I understood all of the lyrics at this time. Nevertheless, it’s a great little song. From the 2014 NPR Austin 100 list... the NPR website states: "Every year, more than 2,000 acts swarm to SXSW [conference and music festival, see sxsw.com] — and every year, NPR Music painstakingly handpicks 100 of the music festival's best discoveries for a downloadable six-hour sampler. We call it The Austin 100, and it's virtually guaranteed to contain something you'll love that you didn't know existed." Off-the-beaten-path music. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- The Curse—Another piece harvested from the NPR Austin 100 list, quite different in style. The video is also beautiful, but doesn’t shed much light on the rather opaque lyrics.
- Clarified—My cousin Mike is rather talented. You can look him up as Fretboard Surfer on soundcloud.com
- Drawnonward—Jack Trammell has a lot of interesting pieces at positionmusic.com. Cartainly not hard to imagine some kind of extended film trailer with this one.
- Radioactive—Keep in mind that Pentatonix is an a capella group, so the percussion and bass you hear are a couple of dudes without instruments. For this track, the beat-box man also played cello to compliment collaborator Lindsey Stirling's violin. Nice touch. Pentatonix barely escaped my compilation in 2013, but I've been listening to their music a lot more this year. Crazy talent at multiple levels. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- The Beginning—Okay, this is another piece I discovered on positionmusic.com. Blue Stahli is a Detroit, Michigan-based electronic rock project that was created by multi-instrumentalist Bret Autrey. Apparently, Blue Stahli has appeared in a number of movie trailers, shows, and games. Very smooth production from this act.
- I'm Not In Heaven—Amazing voice, even in a live setting, as you hear here.
- Lord, I Need You—Another prayerful piece that was brought to my attention by the fellow staff of DYMO Camp. | For a different feel, check out the live video.
- Tesoros Ocultos/Treasures Out of Darkness—Alan Revering wrote this great song based on Isaiah 45:3-8. I enjoyed Peter’s piano stylings for this piece.
- The Russian Messenger—I suggest that you just go and listen to everything Rodrigo y Gabriela have done. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Telemiscommunications—Although part of Imogen Heap's album that was released later in 2014, this track was released separately more than a year earlier. Whenever I've heard Imogen Heap on the radio or online, her voice and approach has caught my attention. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Woodstock—I've always enjoyed this Joni Mitchell tune, especially Eva Cassidy's rendition. Here’s another fresh take worth listening to. | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
- Mountaintop—The airy, moody atmosphere of this song suits a part of my personality. I was introduced to this song through the aurgasm.us blog. | For a live version video, click on the song title's hyperlink.
- Bioshock Main Theme—Music from a retro-nostalgia-horror-mystery-steampunk-adventure video game. This track captures a tickle of the sadness and despair of the underwater city ruined by human nature and greed.
- Nox Aurumque—Eric Whitacre wrote: "I wanted to echo some of the musical material in Lux Aurumque, while at the same time filling it with themes from Paradise Lost. I asked Charles Anthony Silvestri to write me an original poem in Latin, and as usual, he knocked it out of the park." | Click on the song title's hyperlink for the video.
Special thanks to: Mark V., Grey, Tom & Marcia, Dr. Demento, Mom, Wild Bill, Nevin, Kinga, npr.org, pandora.com, soundcloud.com, aurgasm.us, bandcamp.com, positionmusic.com, youtube.com, vevo.com, amazon.com, vimeo.com, and—of course—the artists who make the music and videos.
I Have Confidence
A playlist of Roberta's, an assembly of inspiring songs that help get her through a tricky day.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Control — Janet Jackson — Control
One Girl Revolution — Superchic[k] — Karaoke Superstars
Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves — Eurythmics — Greatest Hits
Female of the Species — Space — Spiders
I Have Confidence — The Sound of Music — Soundtrack
Extraordinary — Pippin — Soundtrack
If I Had a Hammer — Peter, Paul & Mary — Peter, Paul & Mary
Over the Rainbow — Eva Cassidy — Songbird
Blue Skies — Eva Cassidy — Live At Blues Alley
Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive — Johnny Mercer — Capitol Sings the Songs of Harold Arlen
Pure Imagination — Willie Wonka — Soundtrack
Winter — Tori Amos — Little Earthquakes
Let It Be — Superchic[k] — Karaoke Superstars
Hero In Me — Jeffrey Gaines — Jeffrey Gaines
Trouble Me — 10,000 Maniacs — Blind Man's Zoo
I Can Only Be Me — Eva Cassidy — Imagine
Whistling in the Dark — They Might Be Giants — Flood
Wonder — Natalie Merchant — Tigerlily
(I've Got a) Golden Ticket — Willie Wonka — Soundtrack
Sunrise
A fun album to play in the morning. Not too rambunctious, but largely upbeat.
Song Title — Artist — Album
I Can See Clearly Now — Johnny Nash — Reggae Pulse
Into the Fire — Sarah McLachlan — Solace
Watching My Life Go By — Michael Hedges — Watching My Life Go By
Red Rubber Ball — Cyrkle —
Woodstock — Eva Cassidy — Time After Time
The 59th Street Bridge Song — Simon & Garfunkel — Parsely, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme
What a Wonderful World — Louis Armstrong — Pure Jazz (Verve)
Walking on Sunshine — Katrina and the Waves — Living in Oblivion Vol. 2
Fleur Du Désert — Arnica Montana — Desert Grooves
Desert Rose (feat. Farhat Bouallagui) — Sting — Brand New Day
Brand New Day — Praise — Praise
Daydream — Lovin' Spoonful — Buddah Box Disc 1
Here Comes the Sun — The Beatles — 1967-1970
Istanbul — Bruce BecVar — Gypsy Passion: New Flamenco
How Deep is This Well? — Inclined — Bright New Day
The Gift — Mars Lasar — The Eleventh Hour
I Can Only Be Me — Eva Cassidy — Imagine
Hero — Jeffrey Gaines — Jeffrey Gaines
Riviera Paradise — Stevie Ray Vaughan — In Step
Psalm 150 — P.O.D. — The Fundamental Elements of Southtown
Java Jive
Energy music for the morning. Also good for cleaning the house.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Java Jive — Manhattan Transfer — Swing
Instant Karma Coffee House — Loud Sugar — Loud Sugar
I Don't Sleep, I Drink Coffee Instead — Brenda Kahn — Epiphany in Brooklyn
Black Coffee — Sarah Vaughan — Street of Dreams
Jump in the Line — Da Vinci's Notebook — The Life and Times of Mike Fanning
Zombie Jamboree — Rockapella — Spike & Co.: Do It A Capella
Bright New Day — Inclined — Bright New Day
Drum Trip / Ecstacy — Rusted Root — When I Woke
All Over the World — Wailing Souls — All Over the World
Gypsy Flame — Armik — Gypsy Passion: New Flamenco
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) — They Might Be Giants — Flood
Here We Go — Arling & Cameron — All-In
Get Up — Superchic[k] — Karaoke Superstars
Attitude Dance — Tower of Power — Monster on a Leash
Breakfast in America — Supertramp — Breakfast in America
I Heard It Through the Grapevine — Marvin Gaye — Hitsville USA Disc 3
Put Da Lime In Da Coconut — The Muppets —
Just Another Day — Oingo Boingo — Dead Man's Party
Carpe Diem — Bigod 20 — Just Say Anything
I Just Want to Celebrate — Rare Earth — Hitsville USA Disc 4
War Again
This playlist started as one of Roberta's brainchilds. The lyrics for the first song say it so very, very well. Both tongue-in-cheek and serious, these songs were recorded in many different years and decades. And so, sadly, the cycle repeats itself.
Song Title — Artist — Album
War Again — Oingo Boingo — Boingo
I Blew Up the United States — Was (Not Was) — Are You Okay?
Eve of Destruction — Barry McGuire — One Hit Wonders
The End of the World As We Know It — REM —
Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream — Simon & Garfunkle — Wednesday Morning, 3 AM
Great Nations of Europe — Randy Newman — Songbook, Vol. 1
Russians — Sting — The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Zombie — The Cranberries — No Need to Argue
For What It's Worth — Buffalo Springfield — Forrest Gump Soundtrack Disc 1
Shades of Grey — Billy Joel — River of Dreams
What's Going On — Marvin Gaye — Hitsville USA Disc 4
Games Without Frontiers — Peter Gabriel — Shaking the Tree
In My Name (You Shall Love) — Leela and Ellie Grace — (single)
Love is the Seventh Wave — Sting — The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Where Have All the Flowers Gone — The Kingston Trio — Capitol Collector's Series
And Then… — Depeche Mode — Construction Time Again
Fragile — Sting — Nothing Like the Sun, Fields of Gold
Brothers in Arms — Dire Straits — Brothers in Arms
War — Edwin Starr — Hitsville USA Disc 4
Lubricate the Red, White and Blue — Dana Lyons — Cows with Guns
Buddy Christ
There are lots of "secular" songs with overt, subtle or even unintended religious or spiritual overtones. So, we enjoy purposely thinking of songs in this light, letting radio favorites also be inspirational songs.
Song Title — Artist — Album
What the World Needs Now Is Love — Burt Bacharach and Posies — Austin Powers Soundtrack
Let's Get Together — The Youngbloods — Forrest Gump Soundtrack Disc 2
People Get Ready — Blind Boys of Alabama — Higher Ground
How Can I Keep From Singing — Enya — Shepherd Moons
Imagine — Eva Cassidy — Imagine
What A Wonderful World — Louis Armstrong — Pure Jazz
The Sound of Silence — Simon & Garfunkel — Sounds of Silence
Pieces of Eight — Styx — Pieces of Eight
The Times They Are a' Changin' — Peter, Paul & Mary — Lifelines
Another Day In Paradise — Phil Collins — Hits
Hands — Jewel — Spirit
Angels Among Us — Alabama — Greatest Hits III
True Colors — Cyndi Lauper — Twelve Deadly Cyns
Bridge Over Troubled Water — Simon & Garfunkle — Bridge Over Troubled Water
Counting Blue Cars — Dishwalla — Pet Your Friends
Jesus Is Just Alright — dc talk — Free at Last
Spirit in the Sky — Doctor & the Medics — These People Are Nuts
River of Jordan — Peter, Paul & Mary — Lifelines
Jesus is Just Alright
What might a list of tunes useable as part of a homily look (sound) like? Another collection of songs for inspiration.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Jesus Is Just Alright — Doobie Brothers —
Woodstock — Eva Cassidy — Time After Time
Lord is It Mine — Supertramp — Breakfast in America
Close Every Door (feat. Michael Damian) — Original Cast Recording [Mercury] — Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Bring Me To Life — Evanescence — Fallen
In Your Eyes — Jeffrey Gaines — Always Be
Fly Like An Eagle — The Neville Brothers — World Market Handful of Rhythms
With a Little Help from My Friends — The Beatles — Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Lean on Me — dc talk — Free at Last
Trouble Me — Ten Thousand Maniacs — Blind Man's Zoo
Time After Time — Cyndi Lauper — Twelve Deadly Cyns
Turn! Turn! Turn! — The Byrds — Forrest Gump Soundtrack Disc 2
One Love/People Get Ready — Bob Marley — Legend
Amazing Grace (feat. Paul Simon) — Ladysmith Black Mambazo — The Warner Bros. Collection
Blessed — Simon & Garfunkel — Sounds of Silence
River of Dreams — Billy Joel — River of Dreams
Wade in the Water — Eva Cassidy — Eva By Heart
Jumpin in the House of God — Worldwide Message Tribe —
Land of Confusion — Genesis — Turn it On Again: The Hits
Love — John Lennon — The John Lennon Collection
Jesus Is Just Alright (Reprise) — dc talk — Free at Last
What is Truth?
Well, this list originally started as a fun, quirky idea of a mix CD. And then it became a list of songs to share with Sara & Joyce. Or anyone else we knew that enjoyed fun, quirky music.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Neighbourhood — Space — Spiders
Adagio for Strings (dance remix) — William Orbit — Pieces in a Modern Style
Jesus Freak — dc talk — Jesus Freak/Intermission
Let it Be — Superchic[k] — Karaoke Superstars
What the World Needs Now Is Love — Burt Bacharach and Posies — Austin Powers Soundtrack
Come On Down — DJ Escape feat. Crystal Waters — Party Time 2002
Rubber Ducky (techno) — Sesame Street —
I Got a Bad Feeling About This — Morgan Phillips — Star Wars Break Beats
People Get Ready — Blind Boys of Alabama — Higher Ground
Jumpin in the House of God — Worldwide Message Tribe —
Ti Kwan Leep/Boot to the Head — The Frantics — Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection
Spontaneous Human Combustion — The Bobs —
Lubricate the Red, White and Blue — Dana Lyons — Cows With Guns
Television, the Drug of the Nation — Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy —
The Devil is Bad — The W's — WOW 1999
Everybody's Free-Yoda — Mix 99.9 —
Frontier Psychiatrist — The Avalanches — Since I Left You
Jesus is Just Alright — dc talk — Intermission: Greatest Hits
Sesame Street Theme (techno) — Sesame Street —
Jams I
Sometimes, we just need some good drivin' tunes.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Fire On High — E.L.O. — Face the Music
Teahouse — Juno Reactor (feat. Gocoo) — The Matrix Reloaded
Memphis Soul Stew — King Curtis — Atlantic Rhythm & Blues
What is Hip? — Tower of Power — Tower of Power
The Raven — Alan Parsons Project — Tales of Mystery and Imagination
My Evil Twin — They Might Be Giants — Apollo 18
Superstition — Stevie Wonder — Song Review
Never There — Cake — Prolonging the Magic
Lost Again — Yello — You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess
Groove is in the Heart — Dee Lite —
Naked Eye — Lucious Jackson —
Tell Me Something Good — Rufus w/Chaka Khan —
I'll Be Here Awhile — 311 —
Spontaneous Human Combustion — The Bobs —
Satch Boogie — Joe Satriani — Surfing With the Alien
Traffic Jam 1979 — Stevie Ray Vaughn & Carlos Santana —
Drop Dead — Space — Spiders
One Good Lover — Siren (a.k.a. Red Siren) — All Is Forgiven
Send Me On My Way — Rusted Root — When I Woke
Radio Soul Groove — Soho —
Jams II
Song Title — Artist — Album
Radar Love — Golden Earring — Classic Rock, Vol. 1
Jesus Just Left Chicago — ZZ Top — Tres Hombres
America — Santana w/P.O.D. — Shaman
Low Rider — War — The Best of War… And More
What's On Your Mind 2000 — Information Society (w/DJ Jynx White) —
25 or 6 to 4 — Chicago — Chicago II / IX: Greatest Hits
What I Got (a capella sublime cover) — 311 —
Soul Man — Sam & Dave — Atlantic Rhythm & Blues Vol 6
Sir Duke — Stevie Wonder — Song Review
Short Skirt/Long Jacket — Cake — Comfort Eagle
Oh Yeah — Yello — Stella
I Feel Better Than James Brown — Was (Not Was) — Are You Okay?
Channel Z — B-52's — Cosmic Thing
Cosmik Debris — Frank Zappa — Apostrophe'
Freewill — Rush — Chronicles
In My Head — Pale 3 — Matrix Revolutions
Electricity — The Avalanches — Since I Left You
The House is Rockin' — Stevie Ray Vaughan — In Step
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) — They Might Be Giants — Flood
Jams III
Song Title — Artist — Album
Time to Start — Blue Man Group — The Complex
Sultans of Swing — Dire Straits — Money for Nothing
Got My Own Thing Now — Squirrel Nut Zippers — Hot
The Time Warp — Rocky Horror Picture Show — Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection
Hazy Shade of Winter — Simon & Garfunkel — Bookends
(De Le) Yaleo — Santana — Supernatural
One Vision — Queen — A Kind of Magic
Are We Ourselves — The Fixx — Phantoms
The Logical Song — Supertramp — Breakfast in America
When Love Comes to Town — U2 — Rattle and Hum
Pump Up the Jam — Technotronic — Pump Up the Jam
Higher Ground — Stevie Wonder — Song Review
I Am the Walrus — Marc Bonilla — American Matador
Mr. Roboto — Styx — Kilroy Was Here/Classics V.15
My Future's So Bright — Timbuk 3 — Tommy Boy Soundtrack
She Blinded Me With Science — Thomas Dolby — The Golden Age of Wireless
Mirrorshades; We Don’t Take… — Information Society — Hack
Zion — Fluke — The Matrix Reloaded
Jump in the Line — Da Vinci's Notebook — The Life and Times of Mike Fanning
Bedlam Reprise — Squirrel Nut Zippers — Bedlam Ballroom
Jams IV
Song Title — Artist — Album
Time to Jam — Techmaster PEB — Bass Computer
Jammin' — Bob Marley and the Wailers — Legend
Music — Madonna — Music
Play That Funky Music — Wild Cherry — Wild Cherry
Moi et Toi — Ali Slimani — Desert Grooves
Surfing With the Alien — Joe Satriani — Surfing With the Alien
Dread Rock — Oakenfold — The Matrix Reloaded
I Feel Love (feat. Venus Hum) — Blue Man Group — The Complex
Hyperactive — Thomas Dolby — Retrospectacle: The Best of Thomas Dolby
Resurrection — The Eric Gales Band — The Eric Gales Band
Soon — Squirrel Nut Zippers — Perennial Favorites
Roundabout — Yes — YesYears (Disc 2)
Here to Go (Go Mix Version) — Devo — Greatest Hits
Word Up! — Cameo — 12" Collection & More
Rock On — David Essex — Rock On
Master Blaster (Jammin') — Stevie Wonder — Song Review
Defiance
This playlist tends to take me from stewing in an anti-social ferver to an amused "up yours" state, which is greatly to be preferred.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Without Warning — Dokken — Tooth & Nail
One Step Closer — Linkin Park — Hybrid Theory
Headstrong — Trapt — Trapt
Sober — Tool — Undertow
After Me — Saliva — Every Six Seconds
Pardon Me — Incubus — Make Yourself
Stupify — Disturbed — The Sickness
Angry Again — Megadeth — Last Action Hero Soundtrack
Tear Away — Drowning Pool — Sinner
Get a Grip (On Yourself) (Harm Mix) — Prong — Who's Fist is This Anyway?
Stop Funk'n With My Head — Infectious Grooves — The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move…
Behind Blue Eyes — The Who — Who's Next / Hooligans
Bohemian Rhapsody — Queen — Classic Queen
Take the Time — Dream Theater — Images and Words
Down — Fuel — Something Like Human
You Lie… An Yo Breath Stank — Infectious Grooves — The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move…
Get Away — Earshot —
Won't Get Fooled Again — The Who — Who's Next
Beat Box I
These "Beat Box" playlists are bundles of energy, which I like for cleaning, working on a tedious project or driving.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Growler — Space — Spiders
Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix) — New Order — Blade Soundtrack
In My Head — Pale 3 — Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack
Pulstar — Scooter — The Stadium Techno Experience
Dread Rock — Oakenfold — Matrix Reloaded Soundtrack
Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten Remix) — William Orbit — Pieces in a Modern Style
Mystery in Space — Mellow Trax — Techno Vibes
Space — Mojave — Techno Zone 2000
Zion — Fluke — Matrix Reloaded Soundtrack
Belly Dance (Paul Oakenfold Land of Oz Mix) — Amina — Perfect Remixes Vol. 1
Nitrogen (Part 1) — Juno Reactor — Shango
Shades of Paranoimia (Carl Cox Mix) — Art of Noise — Tekknophobia-Total Techno Ecstasy
Beat Box (Diversion I) — Art of Noise — Daft
Beat Box II
Song Title — Artist — Album
Legacy (12" Version) — Art of Noise — Re-works of Art of Noise
Mars — Juno Reactor — Beyond the Infinite
Nocturnal Creatures (Jono Grant Mix) — ATB — The DJ In the Mix
What Lurks on Channel X (XXX Mix) — Rob Zombie — American Made Music to Strip By
Instruments of Darkness (All of Us are One People) — Art of Noise — Instruments of Darkness
Blow the Whole Joint Up — Monkey Mafia — 50,000,000 DJ's Can't Be Wrong (Mixed Up Beats)
Ani-Tsaguhi (Bear Clan) [Mix] — Stonecoat — Native Trance
Sadeness — Enigma — 80's Dance Party
Amber — Banco de Gaia — Desert Grooves
Sweet Lullaby (Q-Bass Mix) — Deep Forest — Music.Detected_
High Energy Protons (Orion Mix) — Juno Reactor — Bible of Dreams
What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) [Remix] — Information Society —
Paranoimia (feat. Max Headroom) — Art of Noise — The Best of The Art of Noise (Blue-Art Works 12 Inch)
Beautiful Day (Paul Oakenfold 2004 Mix) — U2 — Creamfields
Jams V
Song Title — Artist — Album
A Knife and a Fork — Information Society — Hack
Afterburner — Marc Bonilla — EE Ticket
Hella Good — No Doubt — Rock Steady
Opening Mandelbrot — Blue Man Group — Audio
Govinda — Kula Shaker — K
Drum Trip — Rusted Root — When I Woke
Abacab — Genesis — Abacab
One Thing Leads to Another — The Fixx — Reach the Beach / The Ultimate Collection/Living in Oblivion Vol. 4
Cuts You Up — Peter Murphy — Deep
Ice 9 — Joe Satriani — Surfing With the Alien
Always Something There to Remind Me — Naked Eyes — Living in Oblivion Vol. 1
Bloody Well Right — Supertramp — Crime of the Century
Battlestar Scralatchtica — Incubus — Make Yourself
Testament — The Final Cut — Consumed
Money for Nothing — Dire Straits — Brothers in Arms
Pull Me Under — Dream Theater — Images and Words
My Last Breath — Evanescence — Fallen
Jams VI
Song Title — Artist — Album
What Time is Love — The KLF — The White Room
Think — Information Society — Hack
Gel — Collective Soul — Current Vision
Cliffs of Dover — Eric Johnson — Ah Via Musicom
Suite Madam Blue — Styx — Classics Vol. 15 (Cornerstone)
Take Me To the River — Talking Heads — Sand in the Vaseline Disc 1
I'd Like to Tell — Citizen Swing — Cure Me With the Groove
Dragostea Din Tei — O-Zone — Disco-Zone
My Favourite Song — Arling & Cameron — All-In
Tom Sawyer — Rush — Chronicles (Vol. 2)
Jade Dust Eyes — Shudder to Think —
What's for Breakfast — Blues Traveler — Travelers and Thieves
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone — The Temptations — Hitsville USA Disc 1
Tom's Diner — DNA feat. Suzanne Vega — Jam Harder
Mexican Radio — Wall of Voodoo — Living In Oblivion Vol. 4/These People are Nuts
Funkytown — Lipps, Inc. — The Casablanca Records Story Disc 1
Joy to the World — Three Dog Night — Forrest Gump Soundtrack Disc 2
¡Viva!
This is a collection of upbeat tunes in a similar mode as the 'Beat Box' lists, but with its own tilt.
Song Title — Artist — Album
What Time is Love — The KLF — The White Room
Galbi — Ofra Haza — Just Say Yo
Pan Blue — Yello — Pocket Universe
Deep Forest (Sunrise at Alcatraz)-2 — Deep Forest — Deep Forest
Viva (Onion Mix) — Bond — Remixed
Ne Me Jugez Pas (Volodia Remix) — Sawt El Atlas — Arabic Groove
Cool Hand Flute — Fluke — The Techno Rose of Blighty
Conga Fury — Juno Reactor — Bible of Dreams or Mortal Kombat
Natural Blues (Paul Oakenfold Perfecto Mix) — Moby — Perfect Remixes Vol. 1
La Guitaristic House Organisation — Rinôçérôse — 50,000,000 DJ's Can't Be Wrong (Mixed Up Beats)
Endangered Species — Deep Forest — Music.Detected_
Do It (Marky P. & Terry B. Dub) — Yello — Flag (bonus)
The Journey Kontinues — Juno Reactor — Mortal Kombat: More Kombat
Beat Vox
Dancy, with vocals.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Come On Down (feat. Crystal Waters) — DJ Escape — Party Time 2002
To the Sea (remix by Steve B-Zet) — Yello — Pocket Universe
Behind the Wheel/route 66 (Mega-Single Mix) — Depeche Mode — Just Say Yo (Volume 2 of Just Say Yes)
Tom's Diner (feat. Suzanne Vega) — DNA — Jam Harder: The A&M Underground Dance Compilation
There You Go (Hani Remix) — P!nk — Ultimat Dance Party 2000
100% Pure Love [Radio Edit] — Crystal Waters — 100% Pure Dance
Vogue (Single Version) — Madonna — Vogue (single)
Touch Me (All Night Long) [Club Mix] — Cathy Dennis — 100% Pure Dance
Running — Mark Picchioti presents Basstoy — Party Time 2002
Jesus Is Just Alright (remix) — DC Talk — Free at Last: Extended Play Remix
Feel the Rhythm (Club Mix) — Jazzi P — Jam Harder: The A&M Underground Dance Compilation
Suite 904 (Steve Mac's Extended Mix) — Yello — Zebra [Bonus Tracks]
Energy [Radio Edit] — Devoné — 100% Pure Dance
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) — US3 —
Policy of Truth (Art of Noise Mix) — Depeche Mode —
Beat Box III
This playlist is under construction...
Song Title — Artist — Album
Life During Wartime
This is a playlist of Larry's making. Therefore: silliness + irony + poignancy + hope + fatalistic ravings = playlist.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Life During Wartime — Talking Heads — Fear of Music
Lawyers, Guns and Money — Warren Zevon — Excitable Boy
Symphony of Destruction — Megadeth — Countdown to Extinction
Zombie — The Cranberries — No Need to Argue
The Dogs of War — Pink Floyd — Momentary Lapse of Reason
War Pigs — Black Sabbath — Symptom of the Universe
I Blew Up the United States — Was (Not Was) — Are You Okay?
Bodies — Drowning Pool — Sinner
When the Tigers Broke Free — Pink Floyd — Echoes: The Best of
Mrs. Sullivan — Carolines Spine —
Sound Alarm — Michael Anderson — Sound Alarm
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition — Kay Kyser — Capitol Sings Frank Loesser
The Atom — Inclined — Bright New Day
It's the End of the World As We Know It — REM —
The Sun is Burning — Simon & Garfunkle — Wednesday Morning, 3 AM
Final Warning [Raucous Dub Mix] — Eon — Void Dweller
La Sagrada Familia — Alan Parsons Project — Gaudi
Wanted Man
There is a great supply of songs about bad deeds gone... well, bad. Or not. A playlist of interesting tunes about those kinds of stories.
Song Title — Artist — Album
Renegade — Styx — Pieces of Eight
Bohemian Rhapsody — Queen — Greatest Hits or Classic Queen
All Along the Watchtower — Michael Hedges — Watching My Life Go By
Banditos — The Refreshments —
Bad Company — Bad Company —
Black Cat — Janet Jackson — Rhythm Nation 1814
Dirty Deads Done Dirt Cheap — AC DC — Dirty Deads Done Dirt Cheap
Psycho Killer — Talking Heads — Popular Favorites
Mister Psycho — Space — Spider
Whenever Kindness Fails — Joe Ely — Love and Danger
I Shot the Sheriff (Live) — Eric Clapton — Crossroads (Disc 3)
Bad Man's Blunder — The Kingston Trio — Capitol Collector's Series
I Fought the Law — The Bobby Fuller Four — The Best of…
Folsom Prison Blues-Live — Johnny Cash —
Jailbreak — AC DC — '74 Jailbreak
Prisoner — King's X — King's X
Prisoner of His Mind — Yello — Motion Picture
Murder By Numbers — The Police — Synchronicity
Better Days
There are days that just don't go well. Sometimes, from the moment you wake up. And, sometimes, the best way through the fog of despair is to wade through it and come out the other side...
Song Title — Artist — Album
I've Seen Better Days — Citizen King —
Blue on Black — Kenny Wayne Shepherd — Trouble Is
Cumbersome — Seven Mary Three — American Standard
Creep — Radiohead —
Voodoo — Godsmack — Godsmack
Fell On Black Days — Soundgarden — SuperUnknown
The Current — Blue Man Group — The Complex
Prisoner — King's X — King's X
Foreclosure of a Dream — Megadeth — Countdown to Extinction
Nothing Else Matters — Metallica — Metallica
Numb — Disturbed — The Sickness
Sober — Tool — Undertow
Them Bones — Alice in Chains — Dirt
When the World Is Running Down — Police — Message in a Box
Under Pressure — Queen — Classic Queen
A Minor Variation — Billy Joel — River of Dreams
Just That Way — Citizen Swing — Cure Me With the Groove
Things Can Only Get Better — Howard Jones — Dream Into Action
In My Head
Sometimes the voices are all-too-real. This playlist is an (another?) excercise in rebellion + confusion + irreverence + silver lining + anguish + skewed reality = music.
Song Title — Artist — Album
In My Head — Pale 3 — Matrix Revolutions
Persona (feat. Josh Haden) — Blue Man Group — The Complex
Voices — Russ Ballard — Voices: The Best Songs…
Lunatic Fringe — Red Rider —
Too Much Time on My Hands — Styx — Paradise Theater
Crazy Train — Ozzy Osbourne — Blizzard of Oz
Under Pressure — Queen feat. David Bowie —
Shadows Part 2 (feat. Tracy Bonham & Rob Swift) — Blue Man Group — The Complex
Mother Mother — Tracy Bonham — The Burdens of Being Upright
Insanity — Oingo Boingo — Boingo
Is It Luck? — Primus — Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Shadows in the Rain — Sting — Dream of the Blue Turtles
Somebody's Watching Me — Rockwell — Hitsville USA Vol. 2 Disc 3
Basket Case (White Coat Mix) — Eon — Void Dweller
They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! — Napoleon XIV — Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection
Let's Go Crazy — Prince — The Hits/The B-Sides
Crazy — Seal — Seal
Brain Damage — Pink Floyd — Dark Side of the Moon
BattleTech: Planetfall
Music for a particular kind of gaming. The film score for marching around in two-legged, two-story tall battle mechs shooting at stuff. (Of course, this is playing with heavy metal, either way you look at it.)
As is, the list was originally created for a 90-minute cassette, so it doesn't fit on a 80-minute CD. That's another project, I suppose...
Song Title — Artist — Album
T.Rex (edit) — Cincinnati Pops — The Great Fantasy Adventure Album
Cybergenesis / Terminator Theme — Cincinnati Pops — The Great Fantasy Adventure Album
Cliffs of Dover — Eric Johnson — Ah Via Musicom
Angry Again — Megadeth — Last Action Hero ST
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Carmina Burana) — Orff/London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus — Movie Classics
One Vision — Queen — A Kind of Magic
Battlestar Galactica, Main Title — Stu Philips — Battlestar Galactica ST
Crushing Day — Joe Satriani — Surfing With the Alien
Big Gun — AC/DC — Last Action Hero ST
One of These Days — Pink Floyd — Meddle/Echoes
Unholy — Kiss —
(Laughter) — Marc Bonilla — EE Ticket
I Blew Up the United States — Was (Not Was) — Are You OK?
"Unbelievable" — Andrew Dice Clay —
Crossfire — Stevie Ray Vaughan — In Step
Zombies From Hell — T-Ride — T-Ride
Surfing With the Alien — Joe Satriani — Surfing With the Alien
The Dogs of War — Pink Floyd — Momentary Lapse of Reason
Afterburner — Marc Bonilla — EE Ticket
Empire — Queensrÿche — Empire
Rebel Base — Bass Boy — I Got the Bass
Rock the Casbah — The Clash — Rock the First - Sampler
Gimme the Prize — Queen — A Kind of Magic
Cold Wind to Valhalla — Jethro Tull — 25th Anniversary Box Set, Disc 1
Battle Stations — Winger —
The Forest Battle — John Williams — Return of the Jedi ST
The Sky is a Poisonous Garden Tonight — Concrete Blonde — Bloodletting
Kobiyashi Mahru — Mark Wood —
