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10 TRACK MIND: A little too much ambiance and bombast
City Paper intern Matt Cantor set his iPod on shuffle. This is where it led him...
10 TRACK MIND: A little too much ambiance and bombast
City Paper intern Matt Cantor set his iPod on shuffle. This is where it led him…
1. Stars, “Midnight Coward,” In Our Bedroom After the War
Stars are experts at bittersweet rock; their songs can induce nostalgia for something that never happened. “Midnight Coward,” reportedly about doubts surrounding a one-night stand, captures those qualities. With vocals introduced immediately over a throbbing beat, it quickly grabs you by the throat — a movie soundtrack kind of song.
2. R.E.M., “Bad Day,” In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003
The song’s apparently been floating around since 1985, but this studio recording emerged as a previously-unreleased tune on In Time, a compilation album. It’s vintage R.E.M.: Michael’s Stipe’s nasal voice riding fuzzy guitars, with a heavy dose of minor chords, all speeding along at a satisfying pace.
3. Death Cab for Cutie, “Little Bribes,” The Open Door EP
This is the first track off the EP that quickly followed Death Cab for Cutie’s dark 2008 album Narrow Stairs. It was an upbeat bunch of songs, very out of character for the band — and I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. When I turn on Death Cab, I want to be pensive, dammit. This toe-tapping tune about Vegas is almost…funny.
4. The Beatles, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” Help!
Compared to much of the Beatles’ work at the time, this song is surprisingly pained: “Why do I even try?/ I can never win.” It marks a turning point for the band — not quite early-Beatles, not quite late. Mid-Beatles, I guess: While it’s still a straightforward pop song, it’s contemplative, acoustic, there’s no cymbal-bashing — and what’s that at the end, jazz flute?
5. Radiohead, “Bangers and Mash,” In Rainbows Disk 2
This is one of the band’s hardest-rocking songs since OK Computer. Though it’s catchy, it’s not particularly moving. Perhaps that’s why it’s a popular live tune but was stuck on the second disc of In Rainbows, meaning it’s not part of the standard-issue album.
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