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10-Track Mind: Isn't it cool that Prez-elect Obama said he digs this group?
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10-Track Mind: Isn't it cool that Prez-elect Obama said he digs this group?
Every week, we have a staffer, freelancer or friend/enemy/frienemy of The Clog put their iTunes or iPod on shuffle and tell us about the first 10 songs that come up. The only rules: No skipping, no cheating and you don’t need to be all music critic-y about it. (If you’d like to submit a 10-Track Mind of your own, contact Drew Lazor at drew.lazor @ citypaper.net.) This week, listings editor Holly Otterbein stops working long enough to temporarily treat her ears nice.
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1. Woody Guthrie – “New Found Land” (Columbia River Collection)
I have my snobby friends to thank for this one. I’d want to rock out to the jangly, metallic-y and unarguably brilliant Blonde on Blonde, and they’d hate on it. “Screw Bob Dylan,” they’d say. “He’s just a ripoff of Woody Guthrie.” It turns out this is only half-true, applying to a measly six of Dylan’s 32 studio albums. But I’m glad I got to know Guthrie because of it. He’s wholly American and makes for great roadtrip music.
2. Radiohead – “Kid A” (Kid A)
A friend of mine once said that this album captures our zeitgeist. And that’s all I’m going to say, because otherwise I’ll sound like a slobbering fangirl.
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3. The Decemberists – “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)” (The Crane Wife)
This album, The Crane Wife, is based off an an old, bittersweet Japanese tale. (Read about its fantastical plot here.) It’s epic and involves soldiers and lovers, just like every great Decemberists album. By the way, I never heard of the term “lit-rock” before The Decemberists came around. Did it exist before them? Surely another band must like the thesaurus as much as The Decemberists do.
4. Broken Social Scene – “Tremoloa Debut” (Broken Social Scene)
This one-minute ditty makes me think of the word “longing.”
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5. Wilco – “When You Wake Up Feeling Old” (Summerteeth)
Damn, this 10-Track Mind makes me look pretty indie, huh? Well, whatever. My excuse is that I just started using iTunes. As for this Wilco song, it’s a little more cheerful than I like my Jeff Tweedy. I’m a bigger fan of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and all its depressing, neurotic melodies.
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6. Joni Mitchell – “River” (Blue)
Joni’s schtick is insecurity — her lyrics, voice and stage prescense all reek of it — and this is especially true in “River.” In the line, “I’m so hard to handle/I’m selfish and I’m sad,” you can actually hear her pouting. (Listen for it in the words beginning with “s.”) But damn if it isn’t the most beautiful whining I’ve ever heard. Thank God for Joni’s failed love affairs. We wouldn’t have gems like these without ’em.
7. Neutral Milk Hotel – “Two-Headed Boy” (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
Where did Neutral Milk Hotel go? Why won’t they come back and write more wildy abstract, dramatic songs that make me want to roll in a field all day?
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8. Notorious B.I.G. — “Warning" (Ready to Die)
Now here’s a song that speaks to who I really am, unlike all those indie songs. Kidding. But I do love Big Poppa.
9. The Fugees — “Family Business” (The Score)
A beautiful, complex rap about immortality and crime. Isn’t it cool that Prez-elect Obama said he digs this group?
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10. Cat Power – “The Greatest” (The Greatest)
Chan Marshall is so damn wry. She names her album “The Greatest,” which makes it sound like an prideful recap of her 15-year ouvre, and then puts completely new songs on it! Songs about how she once wanted to be the greatest, but then realized that goal was futile! Well, at least her dilemmas make for bluesy, soulful jams. I can’t say the same about mine.
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