welcome to day 2 of "things i was given for free a million years ago". one of the bands featured today you may have heard of. however, chances are, you didn't hear them in the incarnation i'll be offering up. Most people these days, know soulwax as a dj collective who have made some very catchy mashups and other good music. mostly though, you wouldn't associate guitars with them. well, in 1999, they were playing a different song, and the result was just as good as what they put out today, albeit different. (the album much against everyone's advice also spawned their sometimes used name "too many dj's".
second, there's a band that was widely panned by critics, and with good reason. although i think that if you listen to this song as background music, and don't take it seriously at all, it's sort of/kind of ok. and yes, the beginning does sound like a complete ripoff of classic NIN.
finally, something a little quieter. the last song is one i find myself forgetting about for months or years at a time, but then relistening to it, and remembering that it is a good song. someone at amazon made the suggestion that fans of third eye blind would enjoy the album. i would argue that people who enjoy their music at all could find themselves being fans.

soulwax - conversation intercom

cupcakes - vidiots

gus - laugh that i could learn to love
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...that is, unless you were the music editor for a campus paper in the late 90s, or a friend of a music editor for a campus paper in the late 90s.
thing is, there was a lot of crap that we got. so sometimes, it became hard to even want to pop in a cd that didn't come with a press release, from a band you'd never heard of. now to be fair, one of the 2 bands featured today, i had heard of, but the other two were brand spanking new to my ears when i first put them on (sometime around the fall/winter of 1998). to say i was pleasantly surprised would be putting in lightly. after having heard numerous sloan, radiohead or great big sea copies, it was nice to hear some bands at least ripping off less popular bands. (i jest...the closest thing i can come to in the way of comparison would be saying that the band arnold sort of sound like the bluetones sometimes, and really, who besides myself and peter merriman would i be helping out with that description?).
so here is part 1 of a 3 part, 3 day series. tomorrow, 3 more bands, friday, selections from the best movie soundtrack you've never heard.

shudder to think (with jeff buckley) - i want someone badly
arnold - hillside
dada - information undertow

(also, if you would like to help advise me which side of my italian/ukranian heritage i should be supporting come friday, i'm all ears)


**EDIT**
i would be completely remiss (not to mention a complete idiot) if i waited even another second to introduce you to girl talk. i've noticed the name around the mp3blog community over the past few days, but never really thought it could be as completely over the top awesome as it is. listen. if you like music, and have liked music for at least the past 10 years, then you will like this. (if only for the party game aspect of listening to it)
here's a sample:
bounce that
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back in the day, i spent a lot of time going to see local bands play at what might be the dirtiest all ages club in the history of dirty all ages clubs. it's claim to fame was the lack of doors on the washroom stalls, and the fact that once, the older men's gay bar below had to come upstairs and ask the kids to stop jumping up and down, because it was knocking the tiles from their ceiling.
ah, the x-club. i loved it. sadly, it closed shortly after i finished highschool, (or maybe before, my memory gets fuzzy the older i get) and went from being a gay bar (soda pop) to another gay bar (i can't remember the name of) to barcode (where apparently cover is high, and people are drunk...all i know is, when i drive past it at night, there are strobe lights pointed in my eyes while i wait for the light to change).
in honor of highschool and x-club, here's a mixtape called "highschool, vol 1", because while i am capable of weepy eyed nostalgia on a monday, the creativity just isn't there.

sloan - deeper than beauty
maow - ms. lefevre
furnaceface - excuse me
tristan psionic - divided
plumtree - only in the movies
hum - stars
redd kross - lady in the front row
zumpano - the party rages on
cub - new york city
the new grand - triple jointed
the killjoys - sally won't
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i found a link to this on stereogum, and i don't know what to say...

As seen on Break.com

if you can't see it (since apparently firefox isn't playing nice, go here
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here's the deal: i'm going to be pretty busy over the next two weeks, planning a pub crawl, so in order to give you all your musical fill, i think it would be best (read: easiest for me) if i just gave you all a few sporadic mix tapes in the meantime. today i am giving you a second hip hop mixtape. next week, i promise there will be other genres represented here. in the meantime, i hope you are all making sure to at the very least google anyone whose music you've enjoyed here, and even better would be if you went out and bought their albums. (and don't give me that "but i can't find it" crap, i was able to pick up the new cadence weapon album at hmv, all you need to do is look for it)


(click on the image to get the full size for printing goodness)

mcenroe - safety in numbers
bishop - that's the way
central services - i work for the government now
atmosphere - like today
deltron 3030 - virus
gang starr (feat. macy gray, mos def) - i've committed murder (remix)
sage francis - super mario bros. freestyle
pip skid - straight jacket
plastic little (feat. spankrock & diplo) - now i holler
wordburglar - let's get romantical
the perceptionists - memorial day
cadence weapon - the gorilla is for sandracing
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so here's the thing, the stats on listening to inter alia in my car with the windows down are as follows:
number of cars also playing loud music who turned theirs down to hear what i was playing: 4

number of pedestrians who have stopped and looked as though they were listening: 3

number of mcdonald's drive thru girls who wanted to know what i was listening to: 3

number of moms who have danced to the music while sitting in the passenger seat: 1

i will continue to collect these valuable statistics. in the meantime, enjoy some mr. lif (and if you're in toronto, he's playing at reverb tonight) (and if you want to know even more, you should probably check out the def jux site)

newer songs
brothaz
collapse

"older" songs
inhuman capabilities (with akrobatic)
avengers (also with akrobatic, and quite possibly, my favourite mr. lif track)
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I often spend large amounts of time trolling around on various non-popular mp3 sites looking to find things that i haven't heard before. one such site (and i only qualify it as "non-popular" because it's not really a blog, so much as big business) is amazon. the only problem is, i download, i listen, and then i forget entirely that i ever heard the songs. so here's a collection of 4 songs. 2 are from amazon, two are from some of the blogs on the sidebar. do i delete? or do i put them on my ipod and try to find the albums in stores?

(and if you need more games to play, one song goes out to cait, one to michelle)

the librarians - peace and quiet
the illiterati - cigarette girl
cassettes won't listen - cut your hair (pavement cover)
project jenny, project jan - fight song
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i was sitting here debating on what to post today, when i suddenly remembered that it's father's day on sunday. what does this have to do with mp3s? i'll tell you. awhile back, i found a video from the band nizlopi. i have no idea where they're from or what they're all about, but when i saw the video, i thought it would be a perfect post for father's day. so click here, and enjoy (and send it to your dad if you've forgotten to mail a card...or just send it because it's father's day)

i'm also throwing on the new lady sovereign track for good measure, as well as another track, just because i can.

lady sovereign - gatheration
7L & esoteric (feat. Kool Keith) - daisycutta
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so i've been slacking off here for a few days, and to apologize, here's a mini mix tape for you. it's more than a half hour, less than an hour of hip hop music that i like. well, i'm not entirely sold on the jurassic 5 track (mostly due to the inclusion of one dave matthews) but it's growing on me with repeated listenings. here, i will even throw in a cover for you (if you click on it, you'll get to the larger version):



jurassic 5 (with dmb) - work it out **new**

estelle - 1980

dangermouse and jemini - don't do drugs

jesse dangerously - outfox'd

jean grae - how to break up with your girlfriend

kano - remember me

slum village (feat dwele) - tainted

mystic - the life

anticon - nothin but sunshine

cadence weapon - sharks

the beatnuts - no escapin this

the heart attack - right now

**EDIT** i think that our computer overlords are working against me here. the power went out right before i tried to post this.
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another $10 threadless sale! (it's only on until the 15th!)
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i'm taking today off, in order to deal with my actual real offline life (i have a presentation to do tomorrow in front of the bay area leadership class.) but i promise to be back tomorrow (or wednesday at the latest) with what i am calling "hip hop week" (in actual fact, the idea fell in my lap what with jesse coming here on wednesday, and getting to hear a track from the upcoming jurassic 5 album...but i'll take what i can get)
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cracker - happy birthday to me

(i will be at hess village tonight, if you need me)
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so with tomorrow being my actual birthday, sadly, today the songs of embarassment come to an end. but i have good news! today will highlight three songs that, when they first came out, i almost completely hated. but i think somewhere, deep down in the cockles of my heart, i knew i like them. the first is from my highschool years (i think, it's getting a little fuzzy the older i get), the second for some reason, makes me think of waiting for the barton bus one morning. and the third, well, if you can listen to this song, alone in your room in the dark, and listen to the words, and think about your own life, and not cry, then (as i have said a million times before now) you don't have a soul. either that or you're too cynical to fall for something that seems to have been written expressly for commercials for greeting cards (or in reality, credit cards) and that touching scene at the end of a television show. i have also decided that it is the perfect song to close up the 27th year of my life and the last 10 days worth of posts here on yr dirty boots.

dishwalla - counting blue cars
everclear - am radio
five for fighting - 100 years
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sorry about the lack of a post yesterday, i had one all set to go, and then blogger decided it was not going to work for awhile, and i had to do my actual job.

anyway, here's what i was going to talk about yesterday. my favourite parts of some of my favourite cheesy songs. i've been told that having a favourite part of a song is an inherently geeky quality. since i am apparently geeky, i have no idea how people could possibly not have a favourite part in a song. but time and time again, when i get all excited listening to something, turn the volume up and implore the other person to "listen to this part, it's the best part of the whole song", their eyes inevitably glaze over and they just grimace and bear it. well, since i can't force all of you to stay seated in my car as we hurtle down the highway, and i hold you captive to my dj capabilities, i'm forced to do the next best thing. here are 4 songs, and i've identified my favourite parts. please indulge me...

wilson phillips - hold on (2:48)
marc cohn - walking in memphis (2:45)
melissa manchester - don't cry out loud (this one i like because of the difference between what happens at 0:44 and 2:18)
beach boys - sloop john b (1:51)
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if you've ever sat up at night, trying to find something good on tv, and instead ended up transfixed by one of those 10 cd sets called "amazing super hits from the 70s" or "happy time 60s" then that's probably a good part of the reason why you and i get along. as you may have noticed over the course of the past few days, i have a tendancy to go for the cheesiest cheese that ever cheesed. mostly, i like singing along to it. but there's also the fact that, for the most part, these are actually good songs. it's just really hard for most lovers of music to admit to loving something so very cheesy. (but if hipsters could love since u been gone, why can't they take, say captain and tenille seriously?). anyway, of the 5 songs featured here today, one instantly takes me back to doing karaoke with michelle in halifax, one makes me think of both singing in a stairwell and the mini pops, one is currently my favourite late night sing along in the car song, one reminds me of the cd collection infomercial starring a former brady, and one is just a good song that is so completely over the top it's awesome. see if you can sort out which is which.
(and if you are wondering about the picture, i read a confusing article in the local paper today that said instead of worrying about the apocalypse, the farmers almanac thinks we should be more concerned with squirrels. i can buy that, they were looking at me funny when i was outside this afternoon.)

10cc - the things we do for love
boomtown rats - i don't like mondays
the raspberries - go all the way
elton john and kiki dee - don't go breaking my heart
paul mccartney and stevie wonder - ebony and ivory
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the name of the game today is highschool. or, to be more to the point: me as a band geek in highschool. except the thing is, i also liked lots of good music. but the cheesy stuff just kept making it onto playlists as well. some of these songs have specific memories. like the moxy fruvous song: it will always remind me of cait and danielle and i, singing on a bus trip and freaking out because we thought we sounded super cool.
similarly, i know breaking up is hard to do reminds me of caitlin, but i can't be 100% on the why in that case.
corky and the juice pigs make me think of being at brad's house (and how much i WISH i still had the tape of kate's mom from when we called her)
and the songs soul man and downtown will always be connected in my heart because they were one after another on a mix tape.
i'm not going to say much more, because i already feel like i'm rambling (also, blogger is being very volatile today). but please listen with an open (17 year old) mind.

petula clark downtown
moxy fruvous - gulf war song
corky and the juice pigs torsos for tots (skit)
neil sedaka - breaking up is hard to do
james brown - i'm a soul man
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today brings us quite the eclectic grab bag of songs. first of all, i feel i should start with one that has become a secret favourite of mine to drive around listening to (with the windows up) singing along to at the top of my lungs. next we go to a band who has one song that everyone and their grandma knows (but i am not posting that song). and then we get to the song i referenced yesterday.
a little backstory:
when i was younger, my mother worked at my dentist. in addition to this meaning i didn't have sugared cereal at home and pop was a rarity, it also meant that she got to bring home tapes(!) from work. why did a dentist have tapes? simple. they let you choose one to listen to while you were having dental work done. i don't remember all of the tapes she brought home during this time, but there is one that has stuck with me for a million years. on one side it had the footloose (clearly everyone with a brain likes that, so it isn't embarassing). the other side though, had a band called level 42. for some reason, i decided they were the best band in the world, and still today, they ain't that bad.
finally, i mentioned hip club groove awhile back, but i thought maybe i should include my favourite song from their album trailer park hip hop.

the nylons - one fine day (please chuckle along with me at the banter)
the vapors - news at ten (it's the same band who did turning japanese
level 42 - something about you
hip club groove - jizz
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as soon as ezarchive starts working again, there will be a new post. i promise. (if anyone has an alternative suggestion, i am all ears)
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so there's a mixed bag here for you today, on day 2 of my self indulgent trip through songs i am not embarassed to admit liking. first off, i should say this one thing: the common thread between all of these songs (and many others to come) is the fact that when i hear them, i think of being a kid. specifically today, being somewhere around 4-10 years old.
the first time i saw the movie annie (and also the next 5 times) was at my great grandma's house. i think she may have either had a crush on albert finney, or really identified with carol burnett's Miss Hannigan. either way, she really seemed to like the movie, and being an impressionable young lass, i also loved it. and i do to this day. while the song i've picked may not be one of the more popular ones from the movie, you'd best be betting your bottom dollar that when we got to sing it in grade 7 choir, i was excited (and obviously nerdy).
next up, we have dolly parton and kenny rogers. if you can't love dolly parton, it may be possible that you were born without a soul. mostly this song makes me think of eating breakfast before school, with whatever the adult contemporary station of the day was on in the background.
and for some reason, the last song is tied to the first song. i have no idea why, other than perhaps at some point, they played back to back on the radio, and in my mind have been connected ever since. weird, i know. but how many of you have had the same thing happen because of song connections on mix tapes?
**EDIT**
i remembered another funny anecdote. from the time i first heard the song, until about 3 years ago, i thought the lyrics to i'd really love to see you tonight went like this: "i'm not talkin' 'bout the linen" which, to me, meant that he was referencing some old fight they had about sheets, and he was finally giving in to her sheeting demands. in actual fact, the line goes "i'm not talkin' 'bout movin' in" so yeah, i had an overactive imagination.
stay tuned tomorrow, when i very well may talk about what song makes me think of the dentist!

annie(the movie) - you're never fully dressed without a smile
kenny rogers and dolly parton - islands in the stream
england dan and john ford coley - i'd really love to see you tonight
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