time for the annual CD Swap. Here’s what’s on mine:
Track 1: Flickr
Artist: Jonathan Coulton
I dub this the year of Coulton. I was introduced and immediately hooked on his music. I found so much humour and interesting lyrics that I found myself listening over and over again. Flickr was written to a series of photographs that were found on flickr.com and shows the amazing power of releasing things under the Creative Commons license. Even when not watching the video (available at http://www.jonathancoulton.com.nyud.net:8080/video/Flickr.mov), I find myself drawn to the apparent non sequitur of this song when just listened to: “Soup with noodles/A female Klingon’s drunk boyfriend/A sexy lady/This party’s better than it seems” and it entrances me.
Track 2: Code Monkey
Artist: Jonathan Coulton
Another Coulton song, but this one, clearly a biography.
Track 3: Life Is A Highway
Artist: Rascal Flatts
This song, to me, represents my change in life. Shortly after starting at Apple, our entire group went to see Pixar’s ‘Cars’ the week it was released. I had liked the original song by Tom Cochrane, And like the new version even better.
Track 4: Millionaire Girlfriend
Artist: Jonathan Coulton
I like songs that tell a story, and this one is every man’s dream: find a rich woman who doesn’t mind that you bring your true love along.
Track 5: War On Drugs (iTunes Original Version)
Artist: Barenaked Ladies
I’ve loved BNL since the release of the yellow tape, and they never fail to entertain me as time goes on. I remember buying their second album, ‘Maybe You Should Drive’ when I was in college, and being disappointed at it (at least, at first) and 13 years later, it stands out as easily being my favorite album, getting better with time. They were the first actually cash purchase that I made on the iTunes Music store.
Track 6: Inside You
Artist: The Clarks
A couple years ago, shortly after getting my first iPod (a 40G 4th gen), I went to visit my friend Tserelov who had recently finished ripping his huge and (to my tastes) exotic CD Collection. I plugged my iPod into his laptop and downloaded so much music that I still haven’t listened to it all. I made a smart playlist that has ‘Songs I’ve Never Listened To’ and every day I try to play it for an hour or two, and every now and then I come across something that I have to rate with 4 or 5 stars and it makes it into my immediate rotation. This is one of those.
Track 7: Innocent & Wild
Artist: AfroSuitBike
I’ll be honest: I’m not much into indie bands, but when I was home in august I heard this CD and was blown away by it. This song in particular has stuck in my head and I play it ALL THE FRIGGIN TIME. It hasn’t made it into my top 25 most played, but it’s on the cusp. If it strikes you: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=57124781, or google Afrosuitbike.
Track 8: If We Are The Body
Artist: Casting Crowns
I’ve been playing in my church band on and off since I was 15 or so, but I’m not really into ‘Christian’ music. Every now and then, however, I’ll be struck, almost physically, by a song. This is one that did it to me. Amen, Brothers.
Track 9: All The Same
Artist: Sick Puppies
Someone sent me a link to the ‘Free Hugs’ campaign, http://youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4 and I was moved to tears. I immediately bought it off of iTunes and it’s been in steady rotation for the last 4 months.
Track 10: Dig Down Deep
Artist: Marc Cohn
After my disasterous inability to make a Mix-2005 CD last year, I swore to ‘get on it’ for 2006. I made a playlist and moved it around from computer to computer, and when I went to create my mix CD this year, there were 2 songs in it. The other one somehow creeped in there accidentally. I’ll do better next year.
Track 11: Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance
Artist: Jonathan Coulton
Another song that has a story. I love the song, and especially the lyrics: “A crowd has formed, they are gathering round/Just to hear the incredible sound/Of a genius smashing expectations”
Track 12: Twister (Bonus Track)
Artist: The Northern Pikes
When I was in high school in the late 80’s/early 90’s, we had this bass player named Brad Bougner, this huge guy who was so enthusiastic about everything. One day he came running into band practise with a CD that his girlfriend had gotten, from a band I’d never heard of called the Northern Pikes. (Keep in mind that at the time My influences were Poison and Van Morrison, and if you’d mentioned Led Zeppelin, I would have said ‘Who?!’. He put the CD on and turned it up and I will never forget the feeling of that song ripping through me. I recently re-discovered it and wanted to share it with you.