Songs 325 to 334

Whew, I'm in the final stretch I think. Before I turn to cleaning the kitchen, I thought I'd knock out some more tunes. If I could do a pictogram of my life at this point, it would be the words mommy as giant parentheses enclosing a FOIL math equation involving working, writing, cleaning, and worrying about every other word I've left out. Theoretically, I'll have two mega-projects off my plate this term (PhD and textbook), and if I can just prevent any more people in my life from dying, quitting, assigning me more duties, and/or flaking out, I'll be okay. Deep breath and onward . . . my mantra: "The Golden Globes are on Monday, The Golden Globes are on Monday."

Song 325: Shiny Toy Guns, "Le Disko." This was free. It is truly worth everything I paid for it. Really angry dance noise. If Garbage had been a retro synth-powered lounge band, it would have been this. Cold and confusing.

Song 326: The Tender Box, "Mister Sister." Again, free download. Wouldn't it have been cool if this had been a tribute song to Mister Mister? It isn't.

Song 327: Gillian Welch, "The Revelator." I don't actually own anything by Ms. Welch, likely because she reminds me of too many girls I went to grad school with. This is a pretty song. Very stark, spare, and ominous, long prairie road stuff--with some messed up guitar spelling trouble toward the end.

Song 328: John Mayer, "Waiting on the World to Change." God, I hope he's not really dating Jessica Simpson. He was on The Chapelle Show with ?uestlove and did his own special with Trickdaddy. This is a nice MOR/AOR song; John Mayer, the white Bill Withers.

Song 329: The Game, "Doctor's Advocate." How can anyone not like rap music? The back story on each of these guys and their love/hate, telenovela relationships with their mentors and proteges alone should keep you coming back. So, this one is the Game's "just one more drink" chronicle of his completely dysfunctional relationship with Dr. Chronic himself. Just give him one more chance, Dre, "when [you] say it's a rap, it's a rap." (I need a The ___ name!)

Song 330: Outkast, "Morris Brown." I know, another Outkast song. Still, ever since "Tusk," I'm a sucker for pop music that finds room for marching bands (this time it's MBC, not USC). Grab your cymbals and join in the drumline!

Song 331: The Cinematic Orchestra, "Durian." This is cinematic. A British kinda-jazz outfit that has a trippy feel. Lean back and delve in. At about five minutes, this seems to become a completely different song.

Song 332: Talib Kweli, "Listen." Rap with jazz flute. This is the Afro-centric stream of rap as opposed to the bling and Cris one. He has a strong voice, but this particular song doesn't stand out much from the general genre.

Song 333: The Black Angels, "Better Off Alone." Like, it's totally Jim Morrison if the Doors had been backed by a Native American drum circle (who also represented death). Either that, or the Cult changed its name.

Song 334: . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, "How Near, How Far." This kind of rock-pop makes me tired. It tries so hard, has so many sounds, keeps running so fast. It's funny, on their website is a little ornament that suddenly brought it all together for me. It reminded me of those Journey scarabs. This is the modern Journey rock.

31 to go.