Clickwheel Roulette

I have written one non-school thing in the last month, and that's the liner notes for my mix this term. I thought I'd share it here, since it gives me the excuse to post another photo from the Kings of Leon concert.
Clickwheel Roulette
I’ve been seriously lacking in inspiration for this mix. It’s partly that I’m in the coolest MTC group ever, (although the name was supposed to be Prostitute Turtle) and I’m having performance anxiety. And then I’m going later in the quarter than I ever have, and a certain Rafferty, and a certain Villegas stole my two best songs. When you find yourself threatening your friend with homicide over a song, you know you’re in trouble. It’s also that I’ve been spending my commutes listening to everyone else’s killer mix, and as a result I haven’t spent nearly enough time mining the KCRW archives. So I decided to keep it simple. I put the clickwheel in the middle of the alphabet and pressed play. Then I tried to see where my musical free-associations would take me. If nothing else, it solved the problem of how to order the songs.

1) The Longest Road (Morgan Page Radio Edit) – Morgan Page
I was originally going to open with Walking on a Dream, which Kyle introduced you to last week, and that song makes me think of this one. I like this kind of techno. I first heard it on the radio when I got back to SF after my study abroad experience. The lyric about pastel trailer parks stuck with me enough that I managed to fish the song out of Google. I love the internets.

2) William's Blood – Grace Jones
Thinking of songs I first heard on the radio, thank you KCRW.

3) I Idolize You – Lizz Wright
Grace Jones’ deep and sexy voice then made me think of Lizz Wright. This is a cover of a song that Ike wrote for Tina.

4) Feelin’ Love – Paula Cole
Now thoroughly in sexy blues territory, I remembered this song from the era in college when I still bought CDs. This version is better because it doesn’t skip at minute 2:38.

5) What You Want – The Roots
This song has an awesome, raunchy saxophone and base line. Turn it up. No really.

6) Me Estas Tentado – Wisin & Yandel
Here’s another song I first heard on the radio, just last week. It comes here because I needed to back up the baseline of the last song with another song that makes me dance around my room.

7) Lullaby of Clubland – Everything But The Girl
The cheesy, wall-of-synth ending of the previous song made me think of one of my favorite electropop songs from college. Best known for their song Missing, these guys actually put out two really good albums: Walking Wounded and Temperamental.

8) Again & Again – Umbrellas
I’ve got to follow electropop with synthpop. I have no idea what the story with this song is, but I heard it on Pandora, and I liked it.

9) Won’t You Come Again – Susie Suh
On the same day that I first heard the last song, Pandora introduced me to this track by Susie Suh. I love her low key vocals, and her deep voice fits with the ladies from the beginning of the mix. “I’m missing you. Or maybe I’m just missing who I was when I was with you.” That’s honesty.

10) Go (Go Your Way) – The Kin
Pandora was on a streak the day I heard all these songs. Although, I have to admit I liked this song a lot more until, on the 11th listening or so, I realized they weren’t saying “give me back my incense.” Too bad - I thought that was hilarious exactly because it made no sense.

11) Fans – Kings of Leon
You didn’t think you were going to escape the joy that is KOL, did you? I just saw these guys at Madison Square Garden, and while I might have wished for more jamming, they ROCKED.

12) Out of Our Hands – Gemma Hayes
I like this woman’s voice a lot.

13) 7 Stones – Lindsay Mac
Coming back for another round of soulful female singer-songwriters, I had to include a plug for my friend Lindsay and her cello. I just saw her in concert at Hotel Cafe, and she was awesome.

14) Smells Like Teen Spirit – Tori Amos
Even if some of you may want to disown me for saying I like this better than the original, I had to acknowledge my continued love affair with covers. This is to prove that you can make any song sound like a folk song. And if you’re Tori Amos, you can kick ass while doing it.

15) Diario de Viaje – Federico Aubele
From fabulous piano to fabulous guitar. Very much in the tradition of Thievery Corporation, who produce him, this guy’s stuff is even more interesting than theirs. I wonder if they’re jealous?

16) Goodnite – Melody Gardot
I actually thought of her wonderful, bluesy Worrisome Heart earlier, when I was playing blues, but this song makes an even better ending. Still, you should check out the other song.

17) Gorecki (Global Communications Mix) – Lamb
Bonus track. This was the first Lamb song I ever heard, and by far the best use of a trip hop beat I’ve come across. They need to be handled with caution, but clearly, Lamb is up to the challenge.