10-TRACK MIND: It sort of makes me want to dance

Intern Brian Wilensky brings Grandpa back to the good ol' days when radios were a piece of furniture.

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10-TRACK MIND: It sort of makes me want to dance

POSTED: Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 11:00 AM

Intern Brian Wilensky set his iPod to shuffle. This is where it led him ...

1. The Mothers of Invention — “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance”
There was a time when all I wanted in life was to play in a band that rivaled the weirdness of even the lesser-weird Zappa songs. I’d throw this one in the lesser-weird pile. Maybe that’s why it sort of makes me want to dance.

2. Frank Zappa — “While You Were Art II”
Frank, the genius composer, can do whatever he wants. Even if it sounds like random '80s synthesizer noise. But it isn’t noise, dammit. Frank transcribed and programmed his guitar solo and other accompaniment from “While You Were Out,” on Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar into a Synclavier synth and made it into a classical piece for Jazz from Hell. Sounds easy enough, right?

3. The Cramps — “Domino”
You won’t even know you’re doing it, but one of the natural effects of this song — and most Cramps' songs — is that it’ll put you in your power stance without even knowing it. There aren’t any frills here, just a heavy rock tune from the psycho-billy originators and Lux Interior telling a story about a “real gone guy” named Domino.

4. Trey Anastasio — “Vultures”
This one’s from Trey’s album with his good buddy Tom Marshall, Trampled by Lambs and Pecked by the Dove. It could be the theme song for every time you gently plopped a pebble into an untouched pond in the middle of the woods in the northeastern U.S. And then you exhale and pass it to the left.

5. Charlie Parker — “Klactoveesedstene”
How am I supposed to say something about a song I have such a hard time pronouncing? It bops, it swings, Miles Davis plays on it and it can bring Grandpa back to the good ol’ days when radios were a piece of furniture.

6. Frank Zappa — “But Who Was Fulcanelli?”
Oh, that’s just Frank, he likes to play guitar solos and this one sort of topples and trips over itself all the way to the finish line. But I bet it made sense in Frank’s head. It’s from Guitar, a compilation album by Frank that’s nothing but excerpts of his extended guitar jams. That may sound a little self-absorbed, but you’d release this album, too, if your guitar chops could even hold a candle to Frank’s.

7. Steely Dan — “I Got the News”
This made me think of the time my friends and I threw a “Fancy Party.” We dressed well, drank only wine or mixed drinks, picked at hors d’oeuvres and listened to the Dan all night. It was a great night for me and for yacht rock.

8. The Residents — “Safety Is a Cootie Wootie”
The Residents’ album, Petting Zoo is a compilation that can satisfy longtime fans with a single album but can also familiarize the unaware of their prolific career. This particular track isn’t too accessible because of how unnerving the vocals are and the keyboard/drum track combo just drones along, like a lot of Residents songs. But if you can get through any Residents track, you already know it gets easier with every listen.

9. Broken Bells — “Citizen”
I don’t listen to The Shins and I don’t know very much about Danger Mouse, but this album is great. The piano part at the end is something beautiful and sad. It’s optimistic but bleak, its laying down to die but it knows there’s a tomorrow around the corner. And you know what, that sort of optimism is just what this world needs, brother.

10. Dr. Dog — “Army of Ancients”
I don’t know what they’re trying to say with this song, but when I hear it I feel like picking up a jar of something heady and swaying it above my head with everyone else in the bar. We could all sit and “wonder when it will stop” together, singing and being hopeful for tomorrow.

(brian.wilensky@citypaper.net)

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