BLOGTOBER 2009: 13 Random Songs, OCT 01

I'm doing this the lazy way, just screencapped the playlist, click on the pick for the full sized pic

01) I like this little song. Sounds like a goof, but it's a pleasant goof.

02) Natacha Atlas stuff is pretty damn good. It's kind of World-Lite dance music, but it's good World-Lite dance music, and that makes all the difference.

03) This is by far the best version of this song. The Beatles original pales in comparison.

04) From Goldfrapp's most recent album, they've gone from thumping dance tracks to a far more melodic sound. This is a nicely put together song, as is this whole album. Don't know if changing the entire sound of your 'brand' is ever successful, though, their old fans probably aren't on board with this, and anyone looking for this kind of sound probably wouldn't be expecting to find it on a Goldfrapp album, so it's hard to get the word out that you've changed as a band if you keep the old name.

05) This stuff sounds seriously dated. It's very much exactly of its time. Good for nostalgia's sake, but wouldn't make a steady diet if this stuff.

06) Now that's a song! One of my favorite Jam songs, great piano, great horns, great vocals from Peter Weller. Makes me want to put on some Doc Marts, skinny pants, and an overcoat. Too bad it's in the 80s today, could get sweaty. Used to be kids in Junior High who committed to that whole ska-two tone look no matter the weather. Works in dreary London, not so smart in sunny Los Angeles.

07) One of those story songs that they used to pump out back in the day. Not much else to say about this one.

08) Poor Macy, got kicked off first from Dancin' With the Stars. This is a song fragment more than an entire song. This is from The Id, her follow up to her breakout hit album, it had the unfortunate bad luck to be released on September 11, 2001. Can't have helped getting the word out, it's a fine album, though, still holds up.

09) I do still love me some Psychocandy. This album holds up very well. Still sounds fresh to me, maybe cause so many 'indie' bands are still pumping out albums that sound a lot like it.

10) This album was revolutionary at the time it came out. An entire album of samples, woohoo?!? In retrospect, it makes for a bit of a disjointed experience, and 13 years later I get the sense that all the fuss over this album was a bit overdone.

11) Marc Bolan's first band wasn't T.Rex, but was John's Children. He doesn't sing lead on this song, but you can recognize his voice in the choruses. According to his wiki, this song got banned by the BBC, cause of the lyric, "lift up your skirt and fly", it's amazing how easily you could get your stuff banned back in the day.

12) Another Nuggets track, these random songs don't always seem all that random. This is a solid, percussive, urgent song. I love these tight little songs from the first garage band era.

13) Oh man, Nina Hagen, yeah, ummmm, this is one of her weirder songs. Songs don't get weirder than weird Nina Hagen songs. It's insanity, set to a disco beat. Works, surprisingly well.

Looked for Iki Maska on youtube, but the only version was a poorly recorded live version, so I'll end this post embedding a different Nina Hagen performance, just cause I find it adorable, and I never expected to find an 'adorable' Nina Hagen video.

12 Random Songs (or I Don't Have Anything Else I Feel Like Blogging About on a Lazy Saturday)

12 random songs, blogged about randomly for your enjoyment.

1) The One, Kylie Minogue from X
I enjoy me some Kylie, can't help it, her crappy dance tunes are always really well produced crappy dance tunes, which makes them not so crappy after all. This one has a nice little synth part that's sort of telegraph like that holds the composition together, also the vocals are nicely multi-tracked and play off of, and build upon each other. Complexity in the service of something that sounds simple, it's pop, it's throwaway, but doesn't mean it's unmeaningful or unartistic.

2) Sleep, Imogen Heap from I Megaphone
Imogen was the singer for Frou Frou, they had that song you got sick of from the commercial for the film Garden State a few years back. Song is sleep, and it's a bit lullaby-ish, piano, and half sung, half spoken lyrics, interesting.

3) Planetary, Booka Shade from The Sun & The Neon Light
Atmospheric, and a touch spacy, which makes sense for a song called Planetary. Spare, and very electronic, with lots of sounds that wouldn't have sounded out of place in 8-bit era video games. In other words, right in my wheelhouse, I kinda really like this tune.

4) The Pearly Gates, The Real Tuesday Weld from I, Lucifer
The Real Tuesday Weld is an odd project, kind of soundtrack music from movies that never existed done in an electronica-ambient meets the British dance hall tradition kind of way. Very down tempo, but pretty, the whole album is pretty great, but is one of those albums that you need to listen to in one sitting, none of the songs stand alone as well as they do as part of the whole project.

5) Slow Love, Prince from Sign 'O' the Times
I must confess that I never really liked this song, always felt kind of cheesy when compared to the better tracks from this album. The intervening decades since this came out haven't changed that opinion. I think the bones for a really good slow jam are there, with a different singer and a more powerful arrangement, this might kick ass, but this version is limp (it pains me to post criticisms of Prince on this blog, but honesty trumps fandom)

6) Lonely Lonely (Frisbee'd Mix), Feist from Open Season
I don't remember downloading this album, and I don't think I've ever listened to it. Probably grabbed it when I grabbed her more recent album but never got around to listening to it. Has a nice funky drummer (on Quaaludes) thing going for it, that's a plus, they've played with the vocal track quite a bit (I'm assuming, don't recall hearing the original version), guess that's what makes it a 'mix'. Solid, mellow trip-hoppiness, can't complain, may have to listen to some of the other tracks on this album now.

7) Memphis, Joe Jackson from Steppin' Out: The Very Best of
I wasn't in to Joe Jackson back in the day. I liked the songs they played on the radio, but never felt compelled to seek out the rest of his catalogue or pick up any of his albums. That might have been a mistake, I like his stuff, and would have liked it back then, too. This has a Steppin' Out meets Green Onions feel to it. Strange mix of sounds, plus his vocals are shouty rather than smooth on this, strange choice, but it works.

8) River Come Down, Jolly Boys from Pop 'N' Mento
Old school calypso mon performed by old school Jamaicans. Nice little album, nice little song. Don't understand a thing they're saying, but doesn't matter.

9) And You and I, Yes from The Ultimate Yes
One of them big long prog-rock epics that Yes used to pump out back in the early 70s. Cheeseball stuff, some of this, and there's a touch of cheese to this, too, but it's really well done cheese, even while it's pretentious self important twaddle, there's also some great hooks within this piece, so it's easy to forgive the ridiculous. Takes its time to get where it's going, and did I mention that the lyrics are pure twaddle? Worthwhile trip, anyway, these blokes could play, that's for sure, and the composition is complex without being needlessly, or distractingly so (which for much of prog-rock, the complexity became the ends, rather than the means, which is when it all started sucking)

10) Eve White/Eve Black, Siouxsie & The Banshees from Nocturne
Off their live double album released in 1983, this was one of the tracks from that album that doesn't have a studio version. Kind of a slight little spooky song at the beginning, then becomes a bit of a noisefest towards the end. I love Siouxsie's voice, nice tone coupled with great power, not a combination that many singers pull off as well as she does.

11) Everything (That's Mine), The Motions from Nuggets Vol. 2
This is the foreign bands Nuggets collection. This is one of the more Stones-ish garage band songs on this album. Good song, lots of fuzzy guitars, this entire collection should be on Rockband (as well as the first Nuggets collection, which had American bands), it's what Rockband was invented for, garage rock from the 60s may not be well known to their target audience, but this stuff is fun, and almost all the songs are perfect for the game (I know I've complained that there's too much 'whiteboy' music in the game, and they should expand beyond 'whiteboy' genres, but they also should broaden their selection of 60s music given that those songs are perfectly well suited for the Rockband experience, plus it'd give the kiddies playing the game a musical education to hear this stuff and play along to it)

12) Grooveallegiance, Funkadelic from The Original Cosmic Funk Crew
This song can also be found on the album One Nation Under a Groove, it's mostly an instrumental piece, with Bootsy laying down a bass line that carries the melody rather than provides the beat. Layered on top of that is Mike Hampton laying down some solid licks on the guitar, but mainly this song is about freeing up the bass from it's usual foundational role and letting it loose (I'm assuming Bootsy's doing the more expressive playing on bass while some other bassist is keeping the groove, but I don't know for sure). Also, wikipedia is full of crap, the following sentence couldn't be more wrong, "A song with a slight reggae feel". The time signature is wrong, the drums are wrong, the bass line is wrong, and the guitar line is wrong, it's funk, with a hint of freeform jazz, but reggae, it's not. And yes, I have pledged allegiance to the flag of the United Funk of Funkadelica.

Random 13 Songs, BLOGTOBER EDITION

Blogtober is upon us, so time to blog up a storm, here's one of the old stand bys, the Random song list. I like lists 13 in number, so this'll be a random 13 taken from my current collection on my PC.

1) Desafinado by Si Zentner from Ultra-Lounge, Vol.14: Bossa Novaville
I'm not apologizing, I like this stuff, so sue me. Nothing special, has the requisite beat, lots of horns, and an easy going sway to it.

2) I Don't Want to Die (In the Hospital) by Conor Oberst from Conor Oberst
Now that's a change of pace. It's a bit rockabilly, it's a bit pro-euthanasia, it's an interesting little ditty. Got a rockin' piano, can't go too wrong with rockin' piano.

3) Dub is Free by Burning Spear from Living Dub, Vol.6
No rockin' piano in this, but it does have the requisite beat, different set of requisitions where dub is concerned when compared to lounge-y Bossa Nova, though. Burning Spear keeps churning this stuff out, for more than 40 years, and it still sounds good. Also, this has plenty of horns, too. There's a spareness to his style of dub that is a solid beat stripped bare, mostly unadorned, with the echo turned up to 11. Not a bad formula if you ask me.

4) Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo) by Black Kids from Partie Traumatic
One of those current songs that doesn't sound so current to me. A bit of Cure here, a bit of Malcolm McLaren there, a dash of Spandau Ballet, mix in a blender, and you've got this. It's a bouncy good time, though, I'm not complaining that it's seriously new-wave-y, just saying that it IS seriously new-wave-y.

5) We Fight For Diamonds by Cut Copy frmo In Ghost Colours
Just a snippet of a song, barely more than a minute long. More mood piece than song. It's an interesting mood, though. Don't ask me to describe that mood, though, it's ineffable, with a touch of inscrutable, and a hint of opaque.

6) Change Is Hard by She & Him from Volume One
This is darn pretty. It's just a nice little countrified ditty. Zoey Deschanel has a great voice for this kind of material and delivers it well. Just enough, not too much in any aspect. Simple is hard to pull off, She & Him keep it simple, brilliantly.

7) If I Didn't Love You by Squeeze from Argybargy
I guess if all the current wave of new wave obsessed kiddies sound like they should have cut their albums in 1979 or 1983, does this sound like it should be on college radio today? Yes, it does, it wouldn't sound at all out of place with all the current stuff out there. Not one of their great songs, but tain't bad, neither. Interesting use of repetition, takes a repeated word a few beats beyond what's comfortable or usual. Nice gimmick, wouldn't want too many songs to use it, just right here, though.

8) Grits by James Brown from Star Time
Early James, very bluesy, very very bluesy, so bluesy that you might be a bit surprised that this is James Brown. It's James Brown working the Hammond B-3 instead of his voice, and he works it for all it's worth. Don't think of him as an instrumentalist, but he had chops there, too.

9) The Aircrash Bureau by Gary Numan from Telekon
Now this does sound dated, and is purely of its time and place. Still like it though, still find it on my hard drive. It's so mannered and particular, it's both very spare and very rococo, if that's possible to be both at the same time.

10) Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me) by Steve Harley from Velvet Goldmine Soundtrack
I ain't gonna lie, I love this movie, and I love this soundtrack. When it came out I fully expected it to be a huge hit and usher in a massive revival of glam rock. Didn't turn out that way right away, but glam has enjoyed a bit of a revival in the UK, and you do see the likes of Mika, Pop Levi and Scissor Sisters churning out sounds that would sound not out of place on this soundtrack.

11) The Work, Pt.1 by Prince from The Rainbow Children
Speaking of James Brown . . . Prince at his Jamesian funkiest, working his falsetto, and the band working it out. Great song, not an essential Prince groove by any means, but a strong groove this is. There's some sneakily fantastic guitar work on this song, along with some fantastic drumming. If Prince ever lets his tracks hit Rockband or Guitar Hero, this should be one of the songs, it'd be a fun little challenge.

12) Let's Talk About Girls by The Chocolate Watchband from Nuggets Vol.1
60s Garage at its Stone-iest. I like a lot of the sounds churned out by the wannabe Stones that ran around back in the late 60s. The Chocolate Watchband were one of the better West Coast Stones-like bands from the late 60s.

13) Sweet, Sweet Baby (I'm Falling) by Lone Justice from Lone Justice
Damn, Maria McKee was a fine little teen singer back then. She's still a fine singer, no longer a teen, obviously, but as good as she's ever been. This is from their first album, the Tom Petty produced one, Silvio Dante from the Sopranos co-penned this song.

Something to Blog About, The Song Shuffle

OK, I'm firing up the Zune software, and I'm hitting shuffle on the entire music collection, no restrictions, let's see what pops up, and I'll write about each song for as long as it plays (only to look for links after I get tired of this experiment) . . . (listed by artist, song --- album)


1. Bob Marley, Duppy Conquerer --- Songs of Freedom, Disc 1
Yeah, that's the stuff, good start, not one of his more well known songs, but it's got a nice easy loping riddim. And if you don't own the 4 disc Songs of Freedom set, what's wrong with you? Good thing this is a short song, I don't really have anything else to say about it, now it's just waiting to see what pops up next . . . . . . . . . . What the hell is a "Duppy" anyway? (that will haunt me till I look it up, if I get a long song next, that's what I'll be doing)

2. Cut Copy, Saturdays (Reprise) --- Bright Like Neon Love
No such look, this is just a snipet, I don't think I've even listened to this whole album yet, sounds like it might be good though, I sample most any new release that looks half way interesting, I like the 'all you can eat'-ness of Zunepass

3. The Cure, The Blood --- The Head on the Door
Damn, mighty fine album, this. Starts with a Spanish guitar riff, add in a dose of depressed sounding Robert Smith, layer on a heavy dose of a solid rhythm track, and you've got yourself something good. The Cure are much better than their fans would make you think they are. You don't have to be a depressed adolescent addicted to kohl eyeliner to enjoy their music (but it sure as hell helps) Still no time to look up what the hell Duppy means, at least this is a good song that I haven't heard in years, yeah shuffle!

4. Sam Butera & the Witnesses, Pennies From Heaven --- Ultra Lounge, Vol.1
Hey, I went through a lounge phase back in the early 90s, didn't everyone? (and I was into the neo-swing thing a few years before "Swingers", I had been to most of the joints in the film before Favreau and company even thought of that film)

5. Sia, Little Black Sandals --- Some People Have Real Problems
Sia, she's good, she's a bit of a change of pace after Sam Butera, but that's the nature of randomness (not that switching gears from The Cure to Sam was exactly normal, either). This is one of the better tracks on this excellent album. Go ahead, click over to your favorite seller of MP3s, and buy yourself a copy of the whole album, you won't be sorry. She's got a solid voice, an interesting way in using it, and a solid band behind her. She seems a bit goofy from TV appearances I've seen (I missed her live when she blew through town).

6. Haircut 100, Boat Party --- Pelican West/Plus
This was their attempt at Spandau Ballet-ish smooth grooviness. It was a B-Side on their big hit Favourite Shirts. It's been long enough ago that this no longer sounds so dated. Funny how that works. Some songs from ten years ago sound ancient, but other songs from 25 years ago sound fresh. Damn, this song is more than 25 years old, now I feel old. I don't think people now really appreciate just how 'funky' some of the early 80s British new wave bands were. There were the heavily electronic outfits, but there was also some nice organic sounding stuff, too.

7. The Untouchables, Twist & Shake --- A Decade of Dance (Live)
I dislike live albums generally, but there's no other Untouchables available on Zune, and I can't not have The Untouchables. They were local gods for a few years during my Junior High School years. I saw more than a few shows, they used to play all sorts of festivals back in those days.

8. Kodo, Nanfushi --- Tataku (Best of Kodo II, 1994-99)
Drums, the whole drums, and nothin' but the drums (Japanese style). This song sounds more 'drumline'ish than Japanese. It's an interesting melding of drumming styles, though. Wouldn't want to make a steady diet of this stuff, don't think I could sit through an entire album of just drumming, but as an occasional song, it's a percussive blast of energy. OK, this song is only half over, it better go some where soon, cause it's starting to lose me. Nice quiet bridge, now it's building towards something, don't remember hearing this before, so I don't know ahead of time where they're taking me. That's always interesting. Kodo is best experienced live, I think, it's different when you can see it and feel it throughout your whole body, then nothing but drums for 90 minutes is no problem at all. OK, some nice syncopations and big beats at the end, good finish.

9. Steely Dan, My Old School --- Countdown to Ecstasy
Ohh, smooth sounds and bitter lyrics. I know, big surprise coming from Steely Dan. Seriously talented, great studio musicians, great headphone music, also stuff of this ilk is directly responsible for punk and new wave. Kids can't aspire to 'smooth', this ain't 'rock' anymore, it's professionals getting together and trying to out do each other. There's a place for that, and it sounds good, but it ain't 'rock', that's for sure. But hey, it still has cowbell, so it can't be all bad. And even in a minor Steely Dan song you can expect to hear some interesting changes, tricks, and licks, and this song is no exception. This song is about 90 seconds longer than it needs to be, but I don't hate it, just wish they'd be more to the point, and less masturbatory.

10. Cuby & the Blizzards, Your Body Not Your Soul --- Nuggets, Vol 2
I love me some garage, even from foreigners. Vol. 2 of Nuggets is all un-American bands, and it rocks hard. It's a bit more psychedelic than the first collection, but both rock hard and are worthy additions to the library of any person who considers themselves a fan of good music. This song is a straight ahead rave up, solid stuff.

11. Funkadelic, A Joyful Process --- Music For Your Mother, Disc 2
An instrumental from earlier Funkadelic. Not too polished, and that's a good thing, has some nice strings+horns accents. Both bouncy and orchestral, strange juxtaposition, but it works. Great drumming, too, along with a fuzzy bass line. If Barack Obama strutted out to this song at tomorrow's appearance, I might even switch my vote (OK, not really, but if dude really does break out with Springsteen and Bon Jovi, he definitely loses my vote)

12. Carla Bruni, L'Amour --- Quelqu'un M'a Dit
Ohhh, L'Amour. Damn, Sarkozy's one lucky little President of France. She's got a seriously seductive purr of a voice, and even if I barely understand a word, I'm still totally won over by her (and her band's not too bad, either). She came out with an English language album this year, but the French language album this song is from sounds better (but both albums are very listenable).

13. Prince, I Wanna Be Your Lover --- Prince
Damn, Prince and Funkadelic in the same shuffle. Not bad, not bad at all. This is one of his best pre-Controversy songs. His first hit, first of many (yet he deserves so many more hits than he's had, he has no equal over the past 30 years). It's two songs in one, really, the first part is a bouncy little song, then after the vocals end, the song goes on as a solid little jam. He was a freakishly talented young little freak back then. All of that still applies other than the young part. His guitar playing isn't given enough credit, either, you can hear his skill, even this early on. There's no way the next song can top this . . .

14. Cut Copy, Unforgettable Season --- In Ghost Colours
I'm not even sure why I downloaded this. It's kind of interesting though. Who are these guys? Guess I'm going to have to listen to both albums I downloaded from them now, this ain't bad. Crunchy guitars, vocals a touch annoying, but it's got a nice new-new wave feel to it. Part of the problem with being an old fart hearing stuff like this is you can hear all the bands that they're cribbing from as strongly (if not stronger) than their own material. It's hard to hear this stuff as being fresh and new, which is unfair to them, but unavoidable, must sound like a great discovery to younger ears, though.

15. Stevie Wonder, They Won't Go When I Go, Fulfillingness' First Finale
This is the least interesting album from Stevie Wonders ridiculously talented half decade. Still a great album, full of good songs, but hints of the crap he'd be putting out after this phenomenal period seeps out from the cracks. This song is a bit too serious, not too interesting, really. OK, I take that back, it's utterly ridiculous the more I hear it. Still a mystery what happened to him in the 80s and 90s. He had the most remarkable five album run in the early-mid 70s, but after that, it all kind of fell apart from a quality standpoint. Occasionally he came out with something good, but most of it was Ebony and Ivory or Woman in Red level dross. Seriously, this is a pretty (unintentionally) silly song both lyrically and in execution, what was he thinking? If I'm offending you with my opinion and this song touches deeply down to the depths of your soul, sorry 'bout that.

16. The Velvet Underground, Venus in Furs --- The Velvet Underground & Nico
Shiny, Shiny, Boots of Leather, Whiplash Girlchild . . . I wrote a paper on this song, back in the late 80s. My English Prof got a bit too excited over it, though. Turns out he was seriously "in" to the works of Sacher-Masoch. Never tried reading it myself, most later German-language romantic literature is a bit too mannered for my tastes. Goethe's not so bad, though. I love this song, and whole album, used to listen to it over and over and over again back during my high school, "I'm going to listen to the original bands that inspired the bands I like" phase.

17. Wendy & Lisa, White --- Wendy and Lisa
From their first solo album after "The Revolution" disbanded. They're really talented composers, and they've done well for themselves lately scoring film and TV soundtracks (they do all the score work for Heroes, they also did Crossing Jordan). This is very much of its time, has that mid to late 80s smooth but funky jazz feel to it. Don't think I'd make a steady diet of this genre, but the occasional reminder of this sound isn't bad at all. There's a real nice deeply buried guitar riff running throughout the song, but the lead instruments are sax and piano on this instrumental piece. It's getting late, I'm cutting this off at 20 songs, let's see if something truly embarrassing pops up (you'll have to trust me and assume that I haven't already censored any of the songs that have popped up). . .

18. Stone Temple Pilots, Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart --- Tiny Music...Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop
By the time I'm done typing the band,song---album info for this song it's half over. Great song, title's too long, though. They don't get the praise they're do, probably cause they're a bit more 'commercial' sounding than their grungy brethren, but out of all the bands from that time period, they may have rocked the hardest and most consistently. Weiland is a solid vocalist, and the band could wail. But, some of the songs are kind of anonymous.

19. Hooverphonic, Club Monterpulciano --- Blue Wonder Power Milk
Groovy song, this. Groovy album, this. Groovy band, this. Their first album was amazing, this album was pretty good, too, but that first album was something special. Not much to say about this, it's a solid bit of euro-chill out music. Anyone out there remember 'chill out' rooms in clubs?

20. The Factory, Path Through the Forest, Nuggets, Vol.2
Another bit of late 60s psychedelica from a band you've probably never heard of. I love me some garage sounds, though. This one's got the fuzzy freak out guitars going for it, and an insistent beat. It's a good song, just on the edge of self-parody, but never goes over that edge. Remember back when every bad movie from the late 60s and early 70s had a bad club scene with a truly awful fake psychedelic band playing in the background?

OK, that's enough of this, good way to kill some time, and keep my fingers busy, if you've read this far, my apologies, don't you have better things to do?

(also, not going to bother finding YouTube links where available, the ones you've heard before, you know, the obscure stuff, probably won't be on YouTube, so I'm not going to spend time on the hunt)

(One last thing, before it keeps me up all night . . . Ahhh, so that's what Duppy means, I'm pretty sure I knew that at one time, and if I hadn't been so busy typing while the song was playing, I probably would have sussed that out from the lyrics of the first song on this list, oh well)

(that's your vocabulary word for the day, try and work "duppy" into a sentence some time before Thursday becomes Friday)

Why Not With the Random Music Thing . . .

1) Bobby Darin, More
It's Darin-tastic! On a scale from A to Banana, I give it an apple.

2) Mocean Worker, Collection II
It's electronica, it's ambient, it slices, it dices! On a scale from Ron Popeil to Dan Akroyd as a Faux Ron Popeil, I give it a That British Dude in a Sweater Who Does All Those Infomercials

3) Leroy Holmes, Odd Job Man/I Wanna Be a James Bond Girl
It's peppy, it's brassy, it's cheesy, it's got sassy saxes, it's got xylophone action!. On a Bad, Bad Leroy Brown scale from Junkyard Dog to Ol' King Kong, I give it an Adolescent King Kong

4) Chris Isaak, I Believe
I've forgotten how much I like his stuff, glad I downloaded this recently. On a scale of Orbisonosity, I'd give this an eight out of eleven (the Roy Orbison scale goes up to eleven).

5) Feist, The Reminder
This album got overexposed, but that doesn't mean it's bad, I forgive her, her iPod trespasses. On a scale of Lady Canuck Singer/Songwriters with Avril Lavigne being the bottom of the scale and Joni Mitchell being the top, I'd give this a Feist

(. . . this isn't done yet, but stuff to do, will finish this later)

Update: Is it later, already?

6) The Specials, Why?(Edit)
Ahhh, yeah, this is the stuff. On a two tone scale from black to white (or is that white to black?), I give this a Jah Rastafari, I and I Mon.

7) Saint Etienne, Kiss and Make Up
Memories, dusty water-colored memories. On a scale of the warm and the fuzzy, I give this a Pink Angora Sweater.

8) Me'Shell NdegeOcello, Love Song, No.1
Damn, she's good, I'm pretty sure she was high when she wrote it, and recorded it, though. On a wacky-tabacky scale from skunkweed to pineapple express, I give this a full God's Vagina (it helps to have seen the movie, or the redband trailer to understand the rating)

9) Marvin Gaye, What's Happening Brother (Detroit Mix)
Have I mentioned how dumb most of these 'socially conscience' songs of the late 60s and early 70s were? This one is right up there with the best/worst (as opposed to What's Going On, which is actually just a damn fine song). On a scale of Sammy Davis, Jr. singing In the Ghetto to Elvis Presley singing In the Ghetto, I give this a Jack Jones singing In the Ghetto

10) Feist, The Park
What's up with two songs from the same album on a random 13 songs list chosen out of a 7000+ song collection? I guess the seeming lack of randomness is actually proof of true randomness. Oh, yeah, a scale, on the Sominex scale of sleepiness, I give this song a full Vicodin mixed with Vodka (which, of course, you should never, never, do, that stuff will kill you).

11) Altered Images, Don't Talk to Me About Love
Ahhh, Clare Grogan, at the point where she was trying to transition from cute to sexy (which only made it all the cuter). On a Kawaiiiiii scale of A Mildly Amusing LOLCat posted at ICANHASCHEEZBURGER.COM and Hello Kitty, I give this a solid Oyama no Monkichi!!!

12) Khaled, Sbabi
One of his best songs, off a great album. Khaled kicks ass. On a scale of songs to bellydance to, from one to eleven, this gets a ten (yes, the songs to bellydance to scale, also goes to eleven)

13) Q 65, Cry in the Night
A dutch-based garage band from back in the day, not bad at all. On a scale of bands you wouldn't expect to have a Myspace page, Q 65 get a full WTF!?

This concludes your random 13 for the 13th day of August. I stole the idea of doing a song list from Bill at So Quoted, the Dadaist ratings scales are all my own innovation, however.