top 10 in 60 seconds challenge

so, gauntlets are being thrown down everywhere. my challenge came via ipickmynose, a san fransisco music blog, but the challenge came to him via jon wilde at the guardian.
the challenge: name your top ten songs of all time.
the catch: you have 60 seconds to do it.

many of these songs have been on this blog before, but since i took the time to upload the songs, i thought i'd throw it up here. i'm also just going to cut and paste, instead of rewriting it.

here are all ten in one file: top ten in 60 seconds (about 50 meg.) get it quick, i don't know how long it will be up.

top ten in 60 seconds (though i think it probably took two minutes.)

beatles. for no one.
i had a copied version of revolver and i wore the tape out. i don't mean that it got a little distorted…it stopped playing completely.

pinback. penelope.
desert island top five album.

badly drawn boy. the shining.
i know that i'm a sucker for the french horn, but that doesn't change the absolute brilliance of this song.

herman dune. you could be a model goodbye (live bbc session).
the funny thing is how mediocre the album version is.

aesop rock. daylight.
this is the converter song…used to shut up those who claim that the hip-hop landscape is devoid of artistic talent. every element is damn near perfect.

the national. city middle.
still my favorite album of 2005. still on heavy rotation (i still prefer it to boxer.) i've probably given more copies of aligator away than any other album.

built to spill. car.
so good.

decemberists. red right ankle.
easily one of my favorite love songs. so unique and fantastically written.

metric. calculation theory.
this remains the ONLY metric song that i care much for…but i REALLY like it.

foo fighters. everlong (acoustic).
this song is the king of je ne sais quoi. i just can't pin down what it is about it that speaks to nearly every person of my generation. whatever it is, it works on me.

OK, now it's your turn. 60 seconds. 10 songs......go!


i leave for scotland and amsterdam in six days.

drunken drive home (5-16-07)

i'm realy becoming a fan of these players from projectplaylist.com. they should allow you to listen to my blog like a radio station...a really really good radio station. also, the player has an option to get the URL of any track you dig. you can also open the tracklist in a new window or in your media player. the one at the top of the page has 75 songs on it and is set to random...it should last you a while. i won't always do this instead of my normal posting method, but i will try to keep a couple of these players updated in case you fell like letting them run wild.


last night, i went out to the bar for what must be the third or fourth time in the last six months. good ol' bar...i missed those smoky yelling matches.

since rachel has decided that she no longer gets drunk (a fact unbeknownst to me at the outset of our journey), i inadvertently gained a dd by offering her a ride. this meant that i would be drunken djing at some point. this is, roughly, what was played between SC and aromas. if you want to recreate the feel of the trip, get hammered and the instant any song starts to get stale, move on to the next one. also, scream along.

of all these tracks, the one i most want to talk about is:

Badly Drawn Boy.   The Shining.   Lyrics.

as i wrote last night at 4 (uneditied, of course)(is it kosher to put [sic] after your own mistakes if they were made while you were drunk?):

the truth of the matter is this...i was planing on posting this track yesterday, but i didn't really feel about writing about it at the time. now that i can't close my eyes w/o the world spinning, it feels like the perfect moment. i chose this song for the home stretch because it was the prettiest song i could find. it probably makes my top ten list for beautiful songs. i have always been a sucker for french horn.
badly drawn boy have made a name for themselves as a soundrack band...and rightly so. they create some of the simultaneously moody, interesting, and beautiful music around.

yeah! basically, if you don't like this song, you are either soulless or earless.


it should be added that there were some major spoilsports in the back seat, whining about saves the day, but they were drowned out by megan, rocky, and my singing. ha.

if you are in the sonoma area, feel free to call me this weekend as i will be nigh.