Friday Playlist: 15 "Random" Songs

Bernie tagged me on Facebook with one of those post-your-first-15-songs-on-shuffle notes. Here's my contribution, as a Grooveshark playlist. The instructions said no cheating, but I skipped songs that are on my iPod but aren't on Grooveshark. I could upload them, but I'm not putting in that much effort today. You can think this is a milder, digital equivalent of 78 snobs who seek out rare records just so they can smash them (meaning nobody else can have them, making their own copies that much more valuable) but you'd be wrong. So this is something like the first 20 or so, whittled down to the 15 I could find.

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/15_Random_Songs/13155714

Friday Playlist: Droning, shapeless indifference

I was listening to my dehumidifier and realized it sounds sort of like Lou Reed's most hated and misunderstood album, "Metal Machine Music". I have this one on 8 track, and this is supposedly its ideal format (that might be a joke, but MMM itself might be a joke). You're stuck with a streaming mp3 approximation from Grooveshark:

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Lou_Reed_Metal_Machine_Music/12104555

Friday Playlist: Foxsploitation

Given it's Pitchfork Fest weekend, this week's playlist is related to last year's Pitchfork sensation Fleet Foxes. You know Fleet Foxes, right? I found their CD at Target so it's not like they're some obscure band.

One of the Fleet Foxes, Robin Pecknold, played a solo show last weekend in Seattle, and because it's 2009 somebody put it on the Internet almost immediately afterward.

Aside from a few FF songs, he threw renditions of songs by the Magnetic Fields, Fleetwood Mac (one from the Peter Green era, another from Rumours), Nilsson, and Neutral Milk Hotel into his set. For the older folks out there, that's the modern-day equivalent of a band covering the Velvet Underground, the 1910 Fruitgum Company, and The Gay Bob Dylan or something.

It's free, and (apparently) authorized:

http://www.soundonthesound.com/2009/07/13/getting-drunk-for-the-kids-with-robin-pecknold/

Friday Playlist: Do You Wanna Massage?

A couple years ago I went to see a band called Times New Viking. They were good, but what left the biggest impression on me that night was a song (I thought was) called "Do You Wanna Massage" by one of the openers, a local band I had never heard of before called the Mannequin Men. It took almost 2 years but you can finally legally purchase "Massage" on Flameshovel Records. Or you can download it for free as part of their Daytrotter session recorded 2 days ago:

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/mannequin-men-anthems-for-the-sunken-kids-and-their-soggy-spirits-concert/20030723-3738074.html

Belated Friday Playlist: Merrimac Floyd Fireworks (A Suggestion)

Last night we went all the way up to Merrimac, Wisconsin to see their excellent July 3rd fireworks. We're already talking about doing it again for 2010 (that rhymes; get used to it). One minor issue I had was the soundtrack: all Pink Floyd (with one AC/DC song during the finale). Isn't it strange they chose to play no American music during the Independence Day fireworks? I'll note their pre-fireworks soundtrack included American music from Michael Jackson, the Grateful Dead, Bert & Ernie, and Francis Scott Key.

Here's my suggestion for an all Pink Floyd fireworks soundtrack that I would like to see, not repeating any of the songs the Merrimac folks used last night. For those wondering, the finale would be during "Sheep" and they would play "Echoes" (possibly twice) for everyone sitting in their idling cars, waiting in line to get back on the road.

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Merrimac_Floyd_Fireworks_A_Suggestion_/9539330