Sonic Sunday: Random Mixx I

I know that all of my Sonic Sundays have had a theme up to this point, but I don't want you to get too used to that. This is the first of many random playlists to come.

(Click any link to download the song. Mp3s are available for a limited time, so get 'em while they're hot!)

1. "I'll Be By Your Side," Meowskers - I discovered this band quite by accident recently and just fell in love with them. I can't believe I hadn't heard of them before now, since they're based in Brooklyn, but I will make it a point to see an upcoming gig. This is my favorite song from their EP, Fake Orange. Gotta love that bass line and the singer's '80s flair. And if just the name Meowskers doesn't make you smile, well, you're just a crusty old sour-puss.

2. "Rewind," Better Than Ezra - My favorite BTE song that contains one of my favorite lyrics ever - Right there a song became a soundtrack for this space in time. What a beautiful ode to the mix tape and the amazing hold that certain songs can have on us.

3. "Second Minute or Hour," Jack Penate - I've been seeing this guy's mug all over MySpace recently, which prompted me to give in to my superficial side and look him up. He's quite the cutie. I wasn't all that jazzed about the first of his songs that I heard, "Torn on the Platform," but I loved this one right away. It's a nice, tall, fizzy glass of Brit-pop. Every time I hear it, I just picture cute boys in black clothing scampering down narrow cobblestone streets towards their favorite local.

4. "Let's Dance to Joy Division," The Wombats - Keeping the Brit-pop rolling, this is another song and band that I just discovered recently. The song tells of the irony of dancing and being happy while everything is going wrong, but I think the real irony is that this song is more danceable than anything Joy Division ever put out.

5. "Punk Rock Girl," The Dead Milkmen - A goofy, classic song that always reminds me of this guy who I had a monster crush on in high school. Brad. Like most high school boys, he was an asshole. He thought he was cool though, because he had spiked hair and liked The Dead Milkmen.

6. "Push," Prince and The New Power Generation - My favorite song from Diamonds and Pearls, and one of my top 10 Prince tunes of all-time. M@ recently asked me if I could recommend any workout songs, and I mentioned this one. It's not quite fast enough for aerobics, but it was always my favorite song to do crunches to...when I was motivated enough to get my lazy ass off the couch and do crunches.

7. "We Don't Talk Anymore," Cliff Richard - Is this one of those "guilty pleasures" that I always hear people talking about? That phrase does not compute. I don't feel the least bit guilty about loving this song. Why would I? He's Cliff F'ing Richard, for God's sake!

8. "All I Need," Radiohead - At the risk of making Barbara fall over and injure her back again, I have to say that I do not like the new Radiohead record. I think the way they went about distributing it online was fantastic, but once I heard the songs I was just disappointed. "House of Cards" isn't too bad, but I could take or leave it. "All I Need" is the one song that I genuinely like. The last minute or so, where the piano is pounding and Thom is whining, really tugs at my old heartstrings. Also, I like relationship songs that are messed up - like relationships are.

9. "Failsafe," The New Pornographers - This probably should've made it to my Top 20 list for 2007. Although, I was disappointed to learn that the line I thought was "You and me both, kid" was actually "You and me both cared." As is the case with 90% of my misheard lyrics, I like my way better.
(**UPDATE! After Barbara's recent comment, I dug into this further. I still found several lyrics sites that had the line as "you and me both cared," but then I found the band's "Choir Practice" video for this song and they were clearly all singing "you and me both, kid." Then I just did a search for that phrase and found a bunch of other lyrics sites that backed me up. Thank goodness. But now I feel really bad for not putting this on my Top 20.)

10. "Long Hot Summer," The Style Council - I was never a fan of this band back in the '80s, but I caught their concert on VH1 Classic recently and really enjoyed it. I've always thought Paul Weller was fantastic, solo and with The Jam, so I should probably check into The Style Council further. This song is like the best duet that Mick Hucknall and Sade never recorded.

11. "Man's Job," Bruce Springsteen - Originally from Human Touch, this is the live version from Bruce's MTV UnPlugged CD. I think the live version captures the sweetness of the song much better. If any man ever wonders why The Boss is so appealing to women, this song could certainly be offered into evidence as Exhibit C. (Exhibits A & B would probably be "incredibly talented" and "ass looks good in jeans.")

12. "Red Dragon Tattoo," Fountains of Wayne - One of the best pop songs ever written, hands down. Last summer, I had a brief bout of unemployment, so one Monday I took a ride on the N train down to Coney Island. I was halfway there when I realized that I was living this song and I couldn't stop giggling to myself. I was nearly tempted to take the money I saved and get me engraved, but then I remembered that I forgot to bring my Bactine and .38 Special CDs. Hence, I remain tatless.