Songs 231 to 240

I am determined to catch up on so many things this weekend, which is sad since it's halfway through Sunday and I'm still doing laundry and trying to clean off my counters (Surfaces, darling, surfaces!). But, the dog is freshly washed, so I've got that going for me. The Emmys are on tonight, which gives me prime clothes folding time, and dinner's planned. Huzzah! The children made these adorable yet creepy paper/patchwork likenesses of themselves at their new school this week. I bought shadow boxes at my mothership (read "Target") yesterday, and we hung them amidst the stairway photo exhibition. This has lent the whole mise-en-scene a vaguely Night Gallery feel, and I expect any morning to be awakened by my paper/patchwork son and daughter and find my real children inside their shadowboxes. See what 70s tv did to my brain! Ah, cue the music.

Song 231: Band of Horses, "Great Salt Lake." There's something oddly Beach Boys-y about this song. Like if the BB's mated with a grunge band, this would be their indie-club playing children. It's a good song, but I think I'm just sick of plaintive male vocalists. Man up, boys, it's a surprisingly tough world out there; acknowledge and move on.

Song 232: Fleeting Joys, "Lovely Crawl." Ah, the shoe gazing wall of sound is back, with a retro wallpaper courtesy of the latest issue of Domino. Nice genre piece, but the vocals are too deeply mixed for me. It's all a little too murky.

Song 233: The Heavy Blinkers, "Try Telling That to My Baby." Retro 60s pop, but again, the mixing doesn't seem sharp enough to distinguish the many (MANY) elements. Clever repro with a very pleasant feel, though I don't sense much new being brought to the party here--which makes me wonder why they're mining this vein.

Song 234: Joe Cuba Sextette, "Joe Cuba's Mambo." I got this off the So You Think You Can Dance iMix. It's full on dinner/dance mambo joyousness. Slim dresses, pointed pumps, black eyeliner, sticky bouffants--it's all here, dear readers. Mambo!

Song 235: Josh Ritter, "Come and Find Me." This song reminded me of Jim Croce, whom my dad loved. We used to listen to him late at night in our basement on an old credenza stereo, and I remember staying up to catch him on the Midnight Special. He has less bar-earned cred than Mr. Croce, but there's a good soul there.

Song 236: Justin Timberlake, "SexyBack." Yeah, there's no soul here, just plenty of industry savvy. Honestly, this is so cranked with production juice that my dog could have sung it and achieved the same results--which are quite catchy. Still, it's pretty funny to here JT acting all street, when I doubt he's stepped a foot on the street sans moisturizer, sunscreen, and bronzer in a decade.

Song 237: Langhorne Slim, "In the Midnight." Cracking falsetto over a rave-up fiddlin' music track. There's a nice call and response bit that makes me think this plays fairly well live. It sounds a bit too derivative digitally.

Song 238: Love is All, "Talk Talk Talk Talk." Retro new wave that sound kinda Missing Persons-y, complete with the Dale Bozio bleats. There's also some Quarterflash sax mixed in. Very busy. But fun--peppy; only a Euroband would be this faithful. Break out those patent Candies, girls!

Song 239: Mission of Burma, "2Wice." Yep, that Mission of Burma. Nice mid80s college rock--big rolling percussion with top mixed vocals. Full of the arty urgency only a liberal arts education can bring forth. I'm heading to the closet to find my olive hole-y Izod cardigan as soon as this is over!

Song 240: Mystikal, "Shake Ya Ass." I know, Mystikal is a problem (a big problem), but this is a fantastic song. It has just enough hoodoo to evoke New Orleans. I've been thinking a lot about the city since watching "When the Levees Broke" earlier this week. There's a rawness about Mystikal that escaped the No Limit and Cash Money crews--something that elevates this song and captures the essential intoxicating danger of NO.

125 to go.