Downloads of the Month

When I was a teenager, I used to compile monthly lists of all the albums that had received reviews in Rolling Stone of 3 1/2 stars or higher. Then I would take the list to the local record store (located in the Layton Hills Mall) and buy the two lowest-priced albums on the list (in the popular cassette format). I eventually managed to build up a fairly decent music collection that way (even if my cassettes are now obsolete), but, fuck, I'm glad those days are over.

I like these songs. I bet you'll like them too. It's a low-risk wager!

The Way We Live: "King Dick II"
Chicken Legs Weaver: "Your Enemy Cannot Harm You"
Aaron Neville: "Hercules"
Beirut: "Elephant Gun"
The Bluetones: "My Neighbour's House"
Air feat. Jarvis Cocker: "One Hell of a Party"
Amy Winehouse: "Fuck Me Pumps"
Fake Problems: "Motion of the Ocean"
Timbaland feat. One Republic: "Apologize"
The Last Town Chorus: "Modern Love"
Interpol: "Obstacle 1 (Arthur Baker Return to New York Mix)"

In other music news, I changed the Last FM widget on the site from a playlist to a list of songs I've listened to while on the computer. Turns out a lot of Last FM's songs are only available in 30-second snippets, which seems to defeat the purpose of compiling a playlist. Anyway, now you can contemplate the wisdom of the last five songs I heard. (The list is taken from songs played either on my laptop at home or my office computer.)

And, since this post seems to be all about the music I listen to and how cool it is, here are the 10 most played songs on my laptop, as of this evening:

1. Dexy's Midnight Runners: "Plan B"
(Who knew? Turns out they did other decent songs besides "Come On, Eileen"!)

2. Hot Chip: "Baby Said"

3. Vanilla, Jade & Ebony: "Graduation Rap" (from the Ghost World soundtrack)

4. Alabama 3: "Woke Up This Morning" (from The Sopranos, which I am still missing)

5. Avril Lavigne: "The Best Damn Thing"
(I know, and fuck you.)

6. Badly Drawn Boy: "Once Around the Block"

7. Ben E. King: "Spanish Harlem"
(I enjoy this mostly because I get some childish glee out of constantly singing the first line thusly: "I picked my nose/in Spanish Harlem.")

8. The Blue Jays: "Lover's Island"
(You can't beat old doo-wop.)

9. Oasis: "Don't Look Back in Anger"

10. R.E.M.: "Get Up"
(I'm psyching myself up for the possibility that the new R.E.M. album will blow.)

Enough with the music. I'm going to go watch tonight's episode of Lost. What are you listening to?