Truffle Shuffle

Instead of doing a post recapping my day (awesome day at work, bike ride, surfed the Internet…happy?), I thought I would do something fun. I’ve seen these types of posts on other blogs and have always wanted to do it myself, but never had the outlet. So here’s the deal: I’m going to put my iPod on random and write a little bit about the next 10 songs that come on. Here goes…

Neutral Milk Hotel – “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”
I got into this band because my friend Nic recommended them to me. Certain bands always remind me of certain people and this is one that will always remind me of Nic. Everytime I hear them, I like what I hear, but I haven’t listened to their album as much as I would like. This is a great song, though. The acoustic guitar sounds really rich and the singer has a nice voice — similar to the guy from the Decemberists. At about 40 seconds, strings kick in (or is it a saw?) and about 30 seconds later there’s a horn solo of some sort. Definitely a band I should play more often.

NOFX – “It’s My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite”
The first track off of “So Long …And Thanks For All The Shoes.” The album title’s a play on the title of a Douglas Adams book (So Long And Thanks For All The Fish). I guess Melvin’s a big fan and the band has had a lot of shoes thrown onstage during their 20-year career. I remember when this album came out, the album title created a lot of buzz that it would be their last. Thankfully it wasn’t!
In this song, Fat Mike does one of my favorite NOFX vocal tricks – ending a line with the first part of a word and starting the next line by finishing it. This is a perfect opening track and I really like this album, but it’s hard for me to rank NOFX albums because all of them are good, but they all have their ups and downs.

NOFX – “The Brews”
Yeah, there’s a lot of NOFX on my iPod. It’s understandable considering they’re my third favorite band behind Gatsbys American Dream and Saves The Day. This song is off of NOFX’s most famous album, and the album that really got my friends and I into punk rock in the first place, “Punk In Drublic.” It started with Green Day, which led to Mike buying a Fat Wreck comp, “Survival of the Fattest,” where we found out about a bunch of Fat Wreck bands.
This song always takes me back to junior high. I remember listening to this song like 10 times in a row, jumping around Matt’s bedroom in his old house. The song has a bunch of random Hebrew words in it and I remember always asking this Jewish girl at school what they meant.

Spoon – “Ghost of You Lingers”
I really liked their radio hit, “The Underdog,” but I’ll admit — I haven’t listened to this album much. This song is kind of psychedelic and not as hooky as the single. But they’re a good band and I should check out some of their earlier work.

A Wilhelm Scream – “Anchor End”
One of my favorite bands — these guys are so awesome. I remember interviewing them back in the BW days and they were messing with me and answered every question by somehow talking about monsters. A few years later, Matt and I took a ferry out to Bremerton to see them at some little coffee shop and I brought them a book called The Encyclopedia of Monsters. They’re awesome guys and one of the best live bands you’ll ever see. “All my friends are anchor end” is the chorus in this song and I couldn’t feel the same way. My friends are the best.

The Format – “She Doesn’t Get It”
Ooh, this one is a gem. Actually, everything The Format does is amazing. They have to be the most underrated band on the planet. They’re amazing. Every song is catchy, but not annoying. What I mean is that they’re a band you can listen to over and over and over and it just never gets old. I think every mix CD I’ve ever made for Cheryl has a Format song on it. I wonder when they’re putting out a new CD…

Meg & Dia – “Monster”
Another band that should be bigger than they are, Meg & Dia are sisters from Utah and they have two of the prettiest voices around. Their debut CD is filled with really catchy songs and the voices are a nice complement to the huge guitars and big hooks. They’re another band that makes it onto a lot of CDs I make for Cheryl and I should have gone and seen them when they came through Raleigh a few weeks ago!

Wu-Tang Clan – “The Projects”
The Wu’s sophomore double-disc is easily my favorite hip-hop CD of all time and probably in my top-10 albums of all time. “The Projects” isn’t one of my favorite tracks on disc two, but everything they do is good. Ghostface’s XXX-rated flow at the end of the song kind of comes out of nowhere, but has some good rhymes.

Gatsbys American Dream – “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright”
Yep, this is a Bob Dylan cover. It’s a rare GAD track from a compilation Doghouse put out called “Paupers, Peasants, Princes & Kings” and I remember how excited Nic was to be asked to be on the album. I’m a big Bob Dylan fan, so it was sweet to hear my favorite band cover one of his songs. I love how strained Nic’s voice sounds on this song — it’s a nice balance to the crisp, synthesized drum track.

Gatsbys American Dream – “We’re Not Orphans”
Apple should program shuffle to never play the same band twice in a row. Not that I’m complaining too much because I love Gatsbys, but still… Anyway, this is the second track on their second album, which happens to be my favorite. I mean, I love all their albums, but “Ribbons and Sugar” just had so much raw energy, when you heard it, you knew you were listening to something special. Gatsbys American Dream is my favorite band and it has nothing to do with Nic being my friend. It’s just the combination of the energy, the passion, the innovation, the musicianship and the message. I have very fond memories from Gatsbys’ shows and I’m still bummed they broke up.