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, Vol. 21: You snooze, you lose. Well I have snost and lost. (listen to mix via 8tracks)
1. “I Hear the Bells” – Mike Doughty
2. “Everything Shines” – The Push Stars
3. “The Same Fire” – Bishop Allen
4. “How’s Your Sister?” – Flick
5. “Carry the Zero” – Built to Spill
6. “Shake the Sheets” – Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
7. “Banned (By the Man)” – Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
8. “Wish You Were Here” – Ryan Adams
9. “The Lonely 1” – Wilco
10. “In the Beginning” – The Stills
This is an itty, bitty sleepy mix. Mostly. Let’s just say – this ought to be quite the departure from the past few mixes, so imbued with Craig Finn‘s sexy/raspy voice.
It’s been a hectic week here in Lalaland, and I’m jonesin’ for a playlist that’ll soothe my nerves – not increase them. There’s energy in these songs, sure, but there’s also a particular sonorous quality to each of these. Y’know, they make me want to sing along, still, but softly. Except “How’s Your Sister?” But that should go without saying, right? There’s a lyric “Now I – I’m just asking. There ain’t no reason for you to get uptight.” It’s an unnecessary little ditty. And it, of course, requires a louder voice. And, oddly, Flick is a band I can’t seem to find anything about online. This track is from the Cheap Date compilation.
But, seriously. There’s Mike Doughty (yes, from Soul Coughing. And, yes, this track is from one of the most famous scenes in this show I kind of like. Maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s called Veronica Mars.), and SSLYBY and The Push Stars (this sunshine-y song from the There’s Something About Marysoundtrack nearly makes up for the fact that a Google search for the band returns a glowing endorsement from Mr. Matchbox Twenty). It’s a pretty solid mix of tracks to make you smile and feel generally loved. Especially if you don’t pay too much attention to the lyrics. It’s all in the melody this week.
My dear pal Mike sent me this treasure. It’s from the The Pioneer Woman, a site I enjoy immensely. In this one, she combats the yawn-inducing country life with a little pet experiment. This one’s from June ’09, long before I started to read. It’s a major winner! Check it out at her site.
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, Vol. 19: It sounds impossible but, man, it’s true. You are the bad, the bad seed of this town. (listen to mix via 8tracks)
1. “All the Pretty Girls Go to the City” – Spoon
2. “The Village Green Preservation Society” – The Kinks
3. “Trouble” – Voxtrot
4. “King of Anything” – Sara Bareilles
5. “Meet Virginia” – Train
6. “Your Boyfriend Sucks” – The Ataris
7. “Amy” – Ryan Adams
8. “Sway” – The Perishers
9. “Wedding Song” – Anais Mitchell ft. Justin Vernon
10. “Tightrope (Wondamix)” – Janelle Monae ft. B.O.B. & Lupe Fiasco
My apologies for this mix coming around so late. It’s been a hectic week of work, car rides, stadium food and ultimate Braves domination. But the Dunce Cap is back with a brand new mix! Let the gasps ensue.
This is a delightfully bouncy soundtrack to the last month of summer. Or last week of summer, for you poor souls not on the magnificent quarter system! It’s full of wondrous songs by artists I adore (yes, even The Ataris!), including Spoon, Voxtrot (who very sadly parted ways in June after a small tour) and Ryan Adams (who released Orion, his first “fully-realized sci-fi metal concept album,”in May). There’s a track from Anais Mitchell‘s Hadestown, a folk-rock opera telling the tale of poet Orpheus, featuring Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. There’s the Lupe Fiasco/B.O.B. remix of Janelle Monae‘s sing-a-long “Tightrope” (so so excited to see Monae with Of Montreal Sept. 25 in Chicago!). And then there’s Train… Not really much of a fit for this mix, but a fun song that I’ve long adored worthy of a place in a mix of songs to play at maximum volume on car speakers.
The Dunce Cap, Vol. 18: Man when I tell you she was cool, she was red hot. I mean she was steaming. (listen to mix via 8tracks)
1. “The Boys Are Back in Town” – Thin Lizzy
2. “Pop Lie” – Okkervil River
3. “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!” – Janelle Monae
4. “Magick” – Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
5. “Your Magic is Working” – Of Montreal
6. “Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty)” – Butch Walker & the Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites
7. “American Girls” – Homie
8. “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” – The Hold Steady
9. “Bastards of Young” – The Replacements
10. “Good Will Hunting By Myself” – Ludo
I graduated from college and immediately got a great job at the largest daily paper in North Dakota’s largest city; now, this actually means I got a normal job at a tiny newspaper in a small American town. But it seemed like a big deal at the time because I was writing a high-profile column for this publication, and I suddenly became a mini-celebrity in downtown Fargo.1
1 Which is kind of like being the hottest guy in the Traveling Wilburys. – Chuck Klosterman, Killing Yourself to Live
At 1 p.m. Thursday, my weekend begins. The long and not-so-lonesome highway is deserted (by Atlanta terms, at least), and I have the freedom to take a lunch and leisurely lope my way home. For the first time, I drove at speed limit. A super-long weekend could not have come at a more opportune time; I had a drag, a lull, in my step, but there’s nothing but time ahead. And cleaning, ‘cuz the Foom is coming back to town.
I’m rereading Chuck Klosterman’s mesmerizing Killing Yourself to Livefor what feels like the umpteenth time, and he writes this about driving through the Deep South (in this case, Mississippi):
As I drive away from Satan’s Crossroads1, the man on 94.1 “the Buzz” tells me it’s five o’clock, and then he says, “And you know what that means!” And I do know what that means; it means he is about to play whatever song this radio station always plays at five o’clock on Friday, which will signal that the workweek is over and it’s time for everyone to drink Corona…
1 The intersection in Clarksdale, Miss., where Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar like no person before him
And Klosterman proceeds to detail the various Welcome to the Weekend songs played in various cities he’s marginally familiar with: In Cleveland, it’s Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” Fargo, Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend.” In Mississippi, it’s Southern Culture on the Skids, the track “Camel Walk.” In Atlanta, in Handsome Dan on a Thursday afternoon, it’s, well, Thin Lizzy. It’s Okkervil River at an ear-splitting volume (Klosterman also maintains that maximum volume on a car stereo creates a cloak of invisibility). It’s these tracks.
And, god, I love these tracks. I could write a book on how much I freaking love Thin Lizzy, first of all. Irish hard rockers with a penchant for catchy choruses? Check. Of Montreal is a band optimally designed for raucously lonely sing-a-longs. And, shit. The only reason Rivers Cuomo ever produced the track “American Girls” with Homie for the Meet the Deedlessoundtrack was for the purpose of belting it out with an occasional finger-snap. Though, to give Homie and their only piece of production some credit, the band also included Greg Brown from CAKE, Matt Sharp (of the original Weezer line-up) and those two guys from Soul Coughing. That’s what I call a supergroup.
This is my soundtrack for night drives and for ghost riding (metaphorically, of course). Give it a whirl and just try to not envy me for starting my weekend so early.
Happy listening.
Oh, and for the record – Klosterman, I totally get you on the Traveling Wilburys business. I mean, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty? Together? How I want to love them. And how I just don’t. Impossible.
Hoorah! What a marvelous day – a dual (a double, not a challenge) post. It’s a Dunce Cap top ten, the best tracks of the year (in my personal opinion). It’s a Rob Scrawl with a twist: An in tens (too cheesy?) playlist capturing the best songs of the year (as determined July 19, 2010). And, of course, WordPress still isn’t permitting users to embed 8tracks into a new post, so hosting on the other site’ll have to suffice.
1. “O.N.E.” – Yeasayer
2. “Factory” – Band of Horses
3. “Good to Be” – Magic Kids
4. “Conversation 16” – The National
5. “Someday Soon” – Harlem
6. “Don’t Look Back” – She & Him
7. “Excuses” – The Morning Benders
8. “Crazy for You” – Best Coast
9. “Gold Skull” – Miniature Tigers
10. “Pretty Melody” – Butch Walker
This isn’t a playlist in need of too much explanation, so give the pretty list a whirl. 2010’s been a fair year for music, and a lot of my favorite artists were back in full force. The rest of the year is sure to be kind to my ears, with upcoming releases from Arcade Fire, Wavves, Klaxons, Of Montreal, Belle & Sebastian and many, many more (Pitbull!). And that Miniature Tigers album is going to be bomb. I fell in love with Tell it to the Volcano after seeing the band open for Bishop Allen, and the early sounds of Fortress, which hits stores Tuesday, seem even more mature and catchier than their first full-length.
And speaking of albums, I do, as a matter of fact, have a list of my favorite albums of the year thus far!
Critical darlings The Hold Steady, whose sonorous Heaven is Whenever made my Top 10 list.
My 10 favorite albums of the year:
LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
The National – High Violet
The Hold Steady – Heaven is Whenever
Beach House – Teen Dream
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
The Morning Benders – Big Echo
Jonsi – Go
Marina & the Diamonds – The Family Jewels
Phantogram – Eyelid Movies
Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
The Dunce Cap, Vol. 17: The room is on fire as she’s fixing her hair. (listen to mix via 8tracks)
1. “If You Find Yourself Caught In Love” – Belle & Sebastian
2. “Congratulations Smack and Katy” – Reggie and the Full Effect
3. “I Met a Girl” – Wheat
4. “Spitting Games” – Snow Patrol
5. “Down” – Blink-182
6. “Reptilia” – The Strokes
7. “Naive” – The Jealous Sound
8. “So Says I” – The Shins
9. “Amsterdam” – Guster
10. “Chicago is so Two Years Ago” – Fall Out Boy
11. “California Waiting” – Kings of Leon
12. “Mexican Wine” – Fountains of Wayne
13. “The Sound of Settling” – Death Cab for Cutie
14. “Shiny” – The Decemberists
15. “Toxic” – Britney Spears
16. “My Favorite Accident” – Motion City Soundtrack
17. “Shakin’” – Rooney
18. “Such Great Heights” – The Postal Service
19. “So Long, Astoria” – The Ataris
20. “My Coco” – stellastarr*
Four score & seven years ago…
The year is 2003. Ariel Sharon is the newly elected Prime Minister of Israel. I am only nominally Jewish. The war in Iraq has just begun. 100 people have lost their lives in The Station night club fire, as pyrotechnics from Great White’s stage show set the insulation foam ceiling alight.The O.C. premieres on Fox.
I am in seventh grade. I no longer have braces, and my hair is just growing out of its yield sign phase. I carry a tin Weezer lunchbox to school, and I still listen to Good Charlotte mostly unabashedly. This is the summer of my musical discontent, and it is, in response, the spring of my musical awakening.
Seven years ago,I was in seventh grade. I had just recently discovered that all music did not come from boy bands and teen queens, and I had also become incredibly engrossed in Josh Schwartz‘s The O.C. I was obsessed with Weezer. My taste in music was rapidly expanding, and 2003 was certainly the year my music repertoire really took shape. It was the heyday of pop-punk and my real transition into indie. In the hopes of avoiding sounding even sappier than I do now, this should suffice: 2003 was the first year I really, truly started to love music. Music by musicians with musical talent. And, man, the new material that came out of 2003 continues to astound me and occupy my iPod with some regularity. It may be a bit melodramatic to say that 2003 was the year I came into myself, as that’s an exaggeration, but it was certainly the year I began a great passion for music.
I started to make mixtapes for friends and boys, and these artists really became staples of my playlists. There was The Postal Service’s Give Up, Belle and Sebastian’s Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Death Cab’s gorgeously lush Transatlanticism, The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow. There was the catchier-than-the-common-cold Yellowcard, a maturing Fall Out Boy, an aging Chris Carrabba in Dashboard and an Alkaline Trio album that was just melodious enough to shout out loud. There were two hilarious videos for Motion City Soundtrack’s “The Future Freaks Me Out” and Reggie and the Full Effect’s “Congratulations, Smack and Katy.”
There was a White Stripes album that nearly overshadowed the brilliance their fans had come to expect with De Stijl and White Blood Cells. There was a disappointing Saves the Day follow-up to an album (Stay What You Are) as they drifted away from a record label, Vagrant, that would come to define my early interactions with music. That’s not to mention The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Stills, The Long Winters’ brilliant photograph of adolescence, When I Pretend to Fall, or even The All-American Rejects eponymous first album, a CD I bought the day it was released.
The Long Winters, “The Sound of Coming Down”
So much of who I was in school was defined by my ownership of these and other albums. I had a fervent passion for music, and 2003 was really the year that fueled my musical ravenousness. So this is an epic tribute to the year 2003, to seven years ago, to the music of the year and the efforts that would come subsequently.
Not as interactive as the last Dunce Cap, certainly, but a fair tribute to a year that changed music – for me, at least.
The Dunce Cap, Vol. 16: I’m a pop sensation! I’m a pop sensation! (mix via 8tracks)
^^Click the link to listen to the mix.
Names
1. “Jason Lee” – All Girl Summer Fun Band
2. “Michael” – Franz Ferdinand
3. “Ralph Wiggum” – The Bloodhound Gang Cars
4. “Bitchin’ Camaro” – The Dead Milkmen
5. “El Caminos in the West” – Grandaddy
6. “Survival Car” – Fountains of Wayne Colors
7. “Sixteen Blue” – The Replacements
8. “Everything is Green” – The Essex Green
9. “Red” – Elbow Numbers
10. “Thirteen” – Big Star
11. “83” – John Mayer
12. “#27” – Marvelous 3 Places
13. “New York, New York” – Ryan Adams
14. “ATL” – Butch Walker
15. “Chicago at Night” – Spoon Careers
16. “Rich Wife” – The Long Winters
17. “Heavy Metal Drummer” – Wilco
18. “Fred Jones, Pt. 2” – Ben Folds Homes
19. “House of Books” – The Pop Project
20. “Treehouse” – I’m From Barcelona
21. “Love Shack” – The B52s
As a reminder – all of these mixes are hosted at 8tracks.com. You can click on the photo or link below to visit 8tracks and listen to the full mix.
Bust by sculptor Daniel Edwards
The Dunce Cap, Vol. 15: Let’s talk, and we’ll fill the air with imagery that lasts forever. (mix via 8tracks)
1. “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” – She & Him
2. “Foundations” – Kate Nash
3. “Head Over Feet” – Alanis Morissette
4. “Cannonball” – The Breeders
5. “Move You (SSSPII)” – Anya Marina
6. “The Frug” – Rilo Kiley
7. “Mr. Moon” – Kate Micucci
8. “She Wolf” – Shakira
9. “If” – Janet Jackson
10. “If You Fall” – Azure Ray
*BONUS TRACK: “And Darling” – Tegan and Sara
This week, it seems, is all about girrrrrl power. Now, if I’d been more of a formed person during the Riot grrrl era, I would have undoubtedly been a part of it. I would have started a ‘zine, scoped out the local clubs, sent fervent love notes to grungy rock stars (not unlike my mother’s letters to David Cassidy or my sister’s later supposed letters to Ralph Macchio). I am, in no uncertain terms, a feminist of the third wave (I almost typed reich, yikes), except I’m not averse to capitalist consumer goods, and I’m not entirely self-sufficient. But I do have a definite soft spot for women rockers that found its way into my heart about the time I saw Joan Jett live in concert. From there, it was Debbie Harry and Patti Smith and Siouxsie Sioux, and then I discovered the whispered, flowing lyricism of later feminine musicians, all flow-y skirts, floral patterns and young adolescent heartbreak. Like Evan Dando sans male genitalia.
So, in celebration of women, a mix of female vocalists. There’s more Zooey, Rilo Kiley and Kate Nash, but there are some surprises, I like to think, with Shakira and Janet Jackson, two women who just ooze sex appeal. It’s inspiring, certainly. Hot-ties. Kate Micucci is an adorable actress you’ve seen everywhere but likely never recognized; she was, among other roles, the ukulele played Ted fell for in the eighth season of “Scrubs.” And Tegan and Sara, a killer sister duo I actually overlooked for too long. And, of course, there’s the Breeders.
I have to admit – I have a bit of a Kim Deal complex. She’s possibly the coolest person I’ve never encountered. She was in Pixies, The Breeders and The Amps, and, not only that, she can play her f*!#ing instrument. Give me a teen pop sensation that can do that. She’s a clever and confident lyricist and vocalist – even Kurt Cobain praised her specific work before his death, commenting, “I wish Kim was allowed to write more songs for the Pixies.” Kurt. Cobain. Thinks. You. Are. Underpraised. Welcome to the big time. She’s really one of those women I will always admire, even though she’s not on the top ten list I posted earlier. There are just some women who are unspoken members of the top ten.
Happy listening.
(editor’s note – I know I put “Mr. Moon” on a previous Dunce Cap, and I never repeat a track, but this was a special edition, and it felt wholly appropriate for the mix. My apologies.)
The Dunce Cap, Vol. 14: I like the face you make and when you dance with me. (mix via 8tracks)
1. “Factory” – Band of Horses
2. “Boyfriend” – Best Coast
3. “She’s Electric” – Oasis
4. “You Always Make Me Smile” – Kyle Andrews
5. “Doctor My Eyes” – Jackson Browne
6. “Get You Back” – Oh Mercy
7. “Can You Tell” – Ra Ra Riot
8. “Fireworks” – Tender Trap
9. “Be Here Now” – Ray LaMontagne
10. “Rainbow Everywhere” – Wavves
Sorry this one’s coming oh-so-late, folks. It’s been a hectic week.
This week’s mix is a grab bag of songs n’ handclaps. We start off with the first single from the killer new Band of Horses album, Infinite Arms. Band of Horses is a band I’ve really been digging for a while now. They have a really reverb-y sound that allows for these soaring choruses and rushing guitar lines (see their excellent track “Is There a Ghost?” from 2007’s Cease to Begin), and they manage to convey emotion without sounding too heady. Then there’s a really terrific diddy from L.A.’s Pitchfork darlingsBest Coast, an adorably cheeky song reminiscent of early girl groups. There’s my favorite Ra Ra Riot track (for the Duckster, of course), a cool Tender Trap track (say that five times fast!) and an entirely endearing song from Oh Mercy, a band I stumbled across while watching – like every other preteen in America…oh, wait – ABCFamily’s “Pretty Little Liars.”
It’s a playlist with a lot more sappy emotion than I usually permit, but, I suppose, I’m missing a certain someone, and it’s starting to show in my recent mixes. You’d like him too, y’know. Try not to gag; it’s really not too totally saccharine. Nothing with Wavves can really ever be marred – even by Jackson Browne.
Happy listening.
(editor’s note – this photo comes from Ryan and Brooke Cook. Happy Fourth. Stay safe and enjoy some of the Dunce Cap while you’re grilling out!)
coco keevan 