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Barlow Girls - Superchic[k]
After hearing the standout "One Girl Revolution" on the "Legally Blonde" soundtrack, Superchic[k] warranted further exploration. After their debut CD arrived from BMG, I popped it in, and this song cued up. It's got a youthful sassiness to it, while blending all the elements of punk rock, rap-core, and live mixing. |
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Birmingham - Amanda Marshall
During the summers at the Webster University computer labs, we would occasionally shut down several rooms at a time to do massive installs. During that time, we would commandeer one computer as our stereo, and blast music. In working with Dan Ayres, musicologist extraordinaire, I was newly exposed to a ton of stellar music, not limited to Joni Mitchell, Oregon, and this girl, Amanda Marshall. A great piece of pop music, with wonderful chords and the Hammond B3 placed expertly in the mix. |
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Chill Reception - Bluecat
Additionally, at Webster, Miles Bainbridge, Mac expert and Luaka Bop guru, turned me on to Bluecat via a sample he'd heard on the Internet. Bluecat, ne้ William Bottin, hails from Italia, and specializes in crafting surreal ear candy for the urban lounge scene. This track, ever so sexy in its layout and delivery, is the record's crown jewel. |
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Radio - The Corrs
It would be easy to write the Corrs off as another beautiful freaking gorgeous band, and see them for merely that. That would also, however, be a crime. Their penchant for shaping upbeat bubblegum pop, while not always a redeeming characteristic, is what it is, and they manage to throw in qualities beyond the standard three chords. They do it right in Ireland. |
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City Love - John Mayer
I'm not a huge John Mayer fan, but there's no getting around this song. Bathed in a slow, brooding groove, we follow Mayer through the Big Apple with his significant other, occasionally washed over by strings, framed in a multi-act structure, separated by a SRV-esque solo and the sounds of sirens. |
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Pretty Enough For Girls - Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins
Sneakily positioned after "Joe", a song I fell in love with for its relentless use of the major-9 chord and heavily-treated Fender Rhodes, "Pretty Enough For Girls" is like being tossed into a crazy acid trip at Disneyworld. With flutes and xylophones coloring the canvas, this song is a fabulous testament to Keneally's gift for arranging (while also guaranteeing props to the musicians who read this chart down and made it feel natural). Any song whose opening lyrics are "The SCENTHARR is an office/where we lined up to play", and continues to a chorus of "Sky/Home/Safe/Moan/Sigh" will make even the most learned literary snob scratch their noggin. |
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One Too Many Mornings - Chemical Brothers
The downtempo/chillout genre was one I'd been waiting for for years. After Eto-san brought in Zero 7's first album, I jumped on the Internet to explore "similar artists". One such album was this, the first Ultra.Chilled compilation. Included with said mix was this very laid-back track by the Chemical Brothers, which contains nothing more than a bed of subdued techno and a woman's voice trickling breathy, unintelligible vocalese. |
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Rush Rush - Paula Abdul
I remember hearing this one in my days at the chiropractic office in high school (working clerical, not cracking necks :). Years later, the song was reintroduced to me by Michelle, who I was dating at the time. The bass line was particularly prominent as it came out of her stereo, and I suddenly garnered a new affection for the song. |
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Ghost Train - Counting Crows
My buddy Gus gave me the debut disc of the Crows back in high school, and I was very slow to enter their world. After the intensity of the opening track, I didn't explore much further until after a youth group trip out to Colorado found the disc receiving healthy play on Discmans and Econoline stereos alike. As I dug deeper, I found this track near the end of the disc, which, having been preceded by several other awesome songs, secured their place in my music library. |
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The Blue Nun - Beastie Boys
This track cracks me up. It's little more than dialogue, but it's obviously from some hi-fi/davenport/martini-era lounge recording, with a handsome narrator recounting the events of the evening. In typical Grand Royal fashion, a drum loop comes in as the narrator wraps up his brief monologue. It does go well with the chicken. |
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Dorky - Honolulu Playboys
This disc arrived on my birthday in 2002, and, as it toed the line between acid jazz and chillout music, was immediately dumped into the iPod and looped recklessly. "Dorky" follows in the shadow of the epic "Okapi", and gets to the point--the point, of course, being a blazing organ solo. Every one of HP's songs has one, and this one just rips one's face off. |
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Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughan
After checking out Pat Metheny at the Pageant in March 2002, guitarist Scott Jones and I descended into Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, immortalized by Wentzville native Chuck Berry, to catch Monte Montgomery. During his set, he whipped out his redux of Stevie Ray's redux of Jimi's classic. It prompted me to revisit the SRV catalog, at which point this song was flung into this mix. |
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Afternoon - Pat Metheny
In reverse chronological order, let us backtrack to the events prior to Monte's basement performance: the Pat Metheny Group at the Pageant. In a set that featured unparalleled musicianship, PMG also performed this mellow cut from their most recent release, Speaking Of Now. It's set in a 12/8 groove, which always catches my ear, and features renaissance musician Richard Bona on Metheny-esque vox with an African twist. |
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Likufanele - Zero 7
When John Eto brought Zero 7's incredible Simple Things into the Webster computer labs, I listened intently after the infectious pockets and jazz chord changes caught my ear. This cut, also in 12/8, also features African vocalese, and lays on a chord progression I could listen to all day. |
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6th Avenue Heartache - The Wallflowers
When Bob Dylan's kid put a band together back in 1997 or '98, this was the first single I remember hearing on Minneapolis' KQRS. The changes are very simple, and the song never deviates from them, but Counting Crows' Adam Duritz contributes a great supplemental vocal track in his usual, tormented timbre. |
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Better Days - Janet Jackson
I heard this song through the floor in my old apartment in St. Louis, and its anonymity tortured me for months...so much so that I made note of the chord changes and wrote a song similar to it (the epic "Come To Me", which may see the light of day eventually). Nevertheless, though it could be played, I still was curious as to the song's origin. I didn't want to knock on my neighbor's door, and be like, "what was that song that went like this..." But, through the lush string arrangements and pulsing bass line, I was able to make out some of the lyrics on the chorus, which I won't reprint here. One Google search later, I was on my way to Best Buy. |
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What It Is - Jeff Lorber
During the "Redsand" period of songwriting (when I was collaborating with a newly-Pro-Tooled Scott Jones and his Korg Karma...and borrowing his guest bedroom, as my car was out of commission), Scott picked this CD up, and turned me on to Lorber's exquisite use of the Fender Rhodes. This track, the last on the Kickin' It CD (now out of print, and selling for a mint), shoots out of the gates with a fast groove, and a smooth-jazz sax lead, complemented by synth strings and Lorber, whose solo is fast and furious--as is the song's coda. |
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