Top 20

Songs I've been listening to pretty much at least once every day. Glancing at the list it seems like a lot of it is either loud & heavy or soft & sweet, and not too much inbetween. At this rate I figure in the next few years I'll be content with just listening to the grating sound of a jackhammer on the one hand and the slow & steady beat of my own heart on the other. Nice!


1. Mexican Blue - Jolie Holland
2. Look What You've Done To Me - Jolie Holland
Both off of last year's "Springtime Can Kill You" album. "Mexican Blue" is currently played on repeat till I get absolutely sick of it. Simply gorgeous.


3. There She Goes, My Beautiful World - Nick Cave
4. Breathless - Nick Cave
5. Spell - Nick Cave
All off of 2004's Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus double album. A lot of the songs have slowly grown on me over the last couple years. I think this album has some of Nick's best lyrics to date.


6. Red Staggerwing - Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
A wonderful collaboration between two singular artists. Took about seven years for the album to come out but so well worth it. It's called "All The Roadrunning". This track is from the live CD/DVD version, "Real Live Roadrunning". The DVD features a full concert, perfect for people like me who missed out seeing them live.


7. Fiery Crash - Andrew Bird
Forget how I came upon his music in the first place, but this is my favorite track off the latest album, "Armchair Apocrypha".


8. Antichrist Television Blues - Arcade Fire
From "Neon Bible". Still prefer their first album, but this new one has more than its fair share of great tracks. I'll be catching these guys June 2nd at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. I hear they've taken to playing amonst the audience for this latest tour. Can't wait!


9. I Couldn't Believe It Was True - Carla Bozulich
From the "Red Headed Stranger" album. This was the first I heard from her after the breakup of Geraldine Fibbers. It's a remake of Willie Nelson's famed album of the same name. In fact, he sings and plays guitar on some of the tracks.


10. The Running Kind - Johnny Cash w/ Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
From the "Unearthed" box set. Why this one never made the final cut onto one of the American albums I'll never know.


11. Jackass In The Will of God - Eyehategod
From the last full-length album "Confederacy of Ruined Lives". I was in New York in 2005 when I heard that EHG of all bands would be playing at a Unitarian church in Philadelphia. I knew I had to Amtrak it down there ASAP. Glad I did. It would be the last time I'd see them before the vocalist, Mike Williams, got locked up. He's out now but who knows when those guys will get their act together enough to tour again?


12. Hold On (I'm Comin') - Sam & Dave
At one time or another the hit machine that was Stax records could count Isaac Hayes, The Staples Singers, Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs, and of course Sam & Dave among it's roster of artists. Incredible.


13. Happy Birthday - The Innocence Mission
From the just released "We Walked in Song" LP. I've only caught them once opening for Emmylou Harris at the Fillmore in 1995, and hearing them play their song "Keeping Awake" with Emmylou sharing vocals with Karen Peris was definitely the highlight of the evening. Of course Emmylou was no slouch, either.


14. Flick The Switch - Voorhees
Off their split with Out Cold. The Voorhees side is 6 songs clocking in at just over 7 minutes. But it only takes the 48 seconds of this track to show how utterly weak the vast majority of so-called "metal" bands are these days.


15. Mind Over Matter - Ice-T
From the "O.G. Original Gangster" album. This, "The End of Silence" by Rollins Band and "Ritual De Lo Habitual" by Jane's Addiction among some others pretty much made up the soundtrack to my Summer in 1991.


16. Tormentor - Kreator
Off the "Live Kreation" album. German thrash at it's finest.


17. Untitled - Pelican
This is the "hidden" track off their last album "The Fire In Our Throats Will Bekon The Thaw". It's simple but beautiful. Pelican create soundtrack music for your dreams, albeit if they were intense, melodramatic epics. New album comes out next month, and from what I've heard it could be their best effort yet.


18. Buckets of Rain - Neko Case
Didn't know this was a Bob Dylan tune. She's got a powerhouse of a voice and I love the way she sings the very last part of the song. It's sent chills down my spine when I've seen her play it live.


19. Verbal Abuse/Leeches - Slayer
From the "Undisputed Attitude" album. I caught this tour at the now long gone Trocadero Transfer in SF. Good idea watching the show from the balcony. I'd look below me and it was like Fight Club to the 100,000,000,000th power. It was probably around this time (1994-95) that I started listening to metal almost exclusively.

20. Terrifyer - Pig Destroyer
This is the whole album. Best grind band out there now. Period.