cee-lo

The Dunce Cap: August 30, 2010

in: heavy rotation

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 22: I guess he’s an X-box and I’m more Atari. (click on link to listen to mix via 8tracks)

1. “Fuck You” – Cee-Lo Green
2. “Teenage Dream” – Katy Perry
3. “Walking the Dog” – fun.
4. “All Hail Dracula!” – Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
5. “House of Cards” – Butch Walker
6. “Cold War” – Janelle Monae
7. “I Want To” – Best Coast
8. “Shutterbugg” – Big Boi
9. “Magic” – B.o.B.
10. “Love the Way You Lie” – Eminem

Happy 9/02/10! That’s right: Today is 90210 day! That’s right. It’s September 2, 2010, and it’s time to celebrate those crazy kids in California’s wealthiest zip code. Dylan McKay? Brandon Walsh? Yum-my. I won’t speak too much to the original teen primetime soap, as People does it best. Also, New York Mag. Win.

Regardless, last week I missed a Dunce Cap. I’m sorry, y’all. It was a week without wifi, and it was a week without music. Or, at least, chronicled and playlisted music.

But, alas, I’ve returned! It’s Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of summer, so The Dunce Cap is back in full force with the ten best tracks of the summer. From Big Boi to B.o.B, these are ten tracks which have truly captivated my attention this summer. There’s the recently released Cee-Lo track, the ’60s girl group sweet sing-along kiss-off “Fuck You,” which is making me unceremoniously giddy. There’s the Someone Still Loves You vampire track from Let It Sway. There’s that infectious and delightfully irritating Katy Perry title track, “Teenage Dream.” There’s Butch Walker! There’s fun.! There’s Best Coast!

Hell, I’m feeling the heat in stereo.

Arguably, the last track on this mix, Eminem’s collaboration with Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie,” doesn’t quite fit with the rest of this happy-go-lucky (if you can count Cee-Lo’s own “Since U Been Gone” anthem as such), but it’s been quite a force this summer and aligns the mix with my current state of emotion. By bookending this Dunce Cap with the aforementioned Cee-Lo and this Eminem track, it makes for a great summer sayonara to all of the boogie oogie feelings of a breakup.

What are your favorite tracks from summer 2010? Post ’em in the comments.

Happy listening.

P.S. I owe you a fair number of Third Year Thirties. Coming soon, hopefully.

The Dunce Cap: August 9, 2010

in: heavy rotation

My name is Simon.

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 20: New York is pretty heavy. Girl, I hope it doesn’t crush you. (listen to mix via 8tracks)

1. “Open Happiness” – Butch Walker, Travis McCoy, Brandon Urie, Cee-Lo, Janelle Monae and Patrick Stump
2. “Dirty Dustin Hoffman Needs a Bath” – of Montreal
3. “Many Moons” – Janelle Monae
4. “Funny Little Frog” – Belle & Sebastian
5. “Magazines” – The Hold Steady
6. “Titus Andronicus” – Titus Andronicus
7. “When I’m With You” – Best Coast
8. “Lucky You” – The National
9. “Summer Babe (Winter Version)” – Pavement
10. “The Dress Looks Nice on You” –Sufjan Stevens

Playlist number 20 for the week of 08/09/10. Couldn’t have ended better if I’d planned it. And the countdown to Evanston has fallen now into weeks. I’ll be back in town in less than a month, and I’m pretty thrilled. Fall is always a blast in Chicago, even when the weather turns colder and then frigid. And with fall comes the onslaught of concerts which seems to ebb as the year winds down. This is a mix to celebrate the concerts headed to The Windy City in September and October which are making me antsy, excited and broke.

So far, I have tickets for The Hold Steady and of Montreal/Janelle Monae, and I’m itching to buy a ticket to The National. My bank account is cursing me with its constant reminders of dwindling funds, but it’s all worth it, no?

This Dunce Cap features the artists I’d most like to see this year, including Pavement (who will play Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion Sept. 13), Belle & Sebastian (at the legendary Chicago Theatre Oct. 11 – be sure to look out for my pal Modibo, who you may have heard in our Chicago Public Radio audio piece!) and Sufjan Stevens (his first official tour in nearly four years, I believe, also at the Chicago Theatre Oct. 15). It’s going to be quite the concert season.

And, for good measure, I included the Butch Walker-written and produced track “Open Happiness.” The song features a whole load of artists, including Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump and Gym Class Heroes Travis (now “Travie”) McCoy and was the basis of the Coca Cola advertising campaign of the same name last summer. It’s an incredibly hypnotic summer song fitting to close this one and welcome in autumn.

Happy listening.

(editor’s note: I’m watching Jersey Shore – no apologies – and Pauly D just said “From here on out…” His pronunciation, thought? “From hair on out.” Too funny. Also – how is Mike Posner MTV’s Artist of the Week? Unbelievable. I don’t even think I know anyone who even likes Posner.)

The Dunce Cap: May 31, 2010

in: heavy rotation

Photo courtesy of super-creepy paparazzo

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 10: I command you to dance. It’s such a sweet sensation. (mix via 8tracks)

1. “July, July!” – The Decemberists
2. “Stole My Heart” – Little and Ashley
3. “Gone Daddy Gone” – Gnarls Barkley
4. “Good Vibrations” – Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
5. “Airplanes” – Local Natives
6. “Home” – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
7. “Map of the World” – Monsters of Folk
8. “Shiny Happy People” – R.E.M.
9. “Kiss” – Prince
10. “Girl” – Beck

Look at that little girl. Yes, it’s Suri Cruise, and yes, it’s already been established that I am kind of obsessed with her, but seriously. Just look at the joy captured on her face. So, sure, she’s cute, but why is she the new Maybelline maven of The Dunce Cap?

Well, frankly, I’m tired of my simple explanations that these mixes are brimming with happy songs, blah blah blah. I’m letting Suri say it instead. Try to look at that face without grinning. Really. I dare you. Triple dog dare.

This mix is fist-pumping (yuck) with hip-shaking, high-fiving tracks from artists like The Decemberists and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (so much yammering love about to happen in the coming days).  There’s a really great Violent Femmes cover from, of all people, Gnarls Barkley (Cee-Lo!) and my favorite Prince track ever. There’s even a reminder of home, a track from Athens’ own R.E.M.

So give it a whirl, and I hope your face lights up like Suri Cruise. And if you really do cheese that much, please send me photos.

Happy listening.