10 TRACK MIND: All I want is a taste for free

Critical Mass contributor Ryan Carey put his iPod on shuffle. This is where it led him ...

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10 TRACK MIND: All I want is a taste for free

POSTED: Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 3:00 PM

Critical Mass contributor Ryan Carey put his iPod on shuffle. This is where it led him ...

1. Phish - "Taste"
I've always said, "If you wanna know what the best Phish songs are, never ask a Phish fan." More importantly, never listen to live cuts. I've seen them live once and I'll never go back. But the weird truth is that Phish is capable of writing transcendant pop-fusion and jazz-rock tunes that, within the confines of a studio setting, come together with a completeness and profundity that's hard to find elsewhere. This is an example from Billy Breathes, my favorite album ever. That's right, a non-Phish fan's favorite album is a Phish album. Just to give you an idea of its importance ...

2. They Might Be Giants - "Till My Head Falls Off"
An old fashioned rocker from the nerd-elite, this is the definitive anthem of the adult ADHD generation (read: me).

3. Alice in Chains - "Sickman"
Perhaps the late Layne Staley's most potent cry for help, this grunge-metal tune (which borders on prog-rock) is one of the most direct portals into Stayley's psyche. Served up on their best album, Dirt, this is not a particularly calming ride but a good one, nonetheless

4. Band of Bees - "Zia"
A relaxing swim of a tune, this could be elevator music for a highly atmospheric, futuristic shopping mall.

5. Primus - "Nature Boy"
One of the freaks (of nature, if you will) off their Pork Soda album (probably their most "Primusy" album ever). It starts dark and slow. Then it gets frantic. And of course Claypool hits a selection of notes during the "freakout" that — while unusual and challenging — are never out of place in the context of a Primus song.

6. Radihead - "Drunken Punchup at a Wedding"
This mid-tempo groove (and album) represent the last point in which even casual Radiohead fans would be willing to stand in line at midnight to get a copy of the new material. The release of Hail to the Thief represens the last time there were no casual Radiohead fans. To even remotely enjoy them was to worship the ground they walk on. And this album — while certainly enjoyable in its own right — was the point of (unlikely) return for the world's favorite band.

7. Tom Waits - "Tango Till They're Sore"
Most really great musicians suffer from the 40 to 60 paradox. This means they have large catalogs, 40 percent of which is amazing and 60 percent of which is forgettable, at best. Tom Waits is one of the most genuine examples of this paradox. And this is an important signifier, because if a band is presenting music (or any art, really) which is unanimously enjoyable to all consumers, it probably isn't expressing anything terribly profound. (The obvious exception seems to be The Beatles.) That said, this track off Rain Dogs is one of the many Waits tracks that I can completely leave by the wayside. I don't really understand its sentiments, and the piano and vocals are sloppy in a way that doesn't seem to illuminate anything for me.

8. Ok Go - "I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe"
Their 2010 album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky was by far the most enjoyable to me. Mixing their straight-up rock with funk sensabilities (as well as a successful stab at a couple anthems). "I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe" is a really rocking track that seems to encapsulate their direction quite well.

9. Franz Ferdinand - "What You Meant"
The always enjoyable Scottish dance rockers are, well, enjoyable as ever on this track from their 2005 album You Could Have It So Much Better. This is one of those works that I haven't listened to a ton, and I'm grateful for the 10 Track Mind experiment for bumping this album higher on my radar.

10. Elliot Smith - "Easy Way Out"
Figure 8 is one of the best albums on my iPod. It's difficult to only listen to one track. That said, "Easy Way Out" is one of the more minimal Smith tracks that's remeniscent of their early work. As a bigger fan of intstrumentation and bigger production (i.e. my Ok Go tastes), this track is probably a tad lower on my list of the Figure 8 heirarchy, but that makes it no less important of an accomplishment by one the greatest singer-songwriters of the last fifteen years.

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