Songs in my Head

Thanks for the shout out, Betty!

The song in my head right now is, "My Kind of Soldier" by Guided by Voices. I heard a new Robert Pollard song last night on The Big Beat and my wife and briefly discussed Guided by Voices (Pollard's previous band). She doesn't care for them, but I think that, once you whittle away some of the nonsense stuff, Pollard and GBV really created some of the best pop rock tunes of the 90's and 00's. They're not even in my top 10, but some of their songs are ridiculously good.

"My Kind of Soldier" popped into my head after hearing the Pollard song last night. It's weird how sometimes a song can trigger a completely different (or in this case, somewhat similar) song to start playing in your head. Ever find a song in your head for no apparent reason, and then after a while, you realize there is one part or phrase or note from the song that resembles some other song you recently heard, and that it's not all random?

I like music

Hey all.

Whatcha been listening to lately? I recently ordered a couple CDs from Not Lame, a website I would love to spend more time and money on, if I had surplus time and money. They CDs were last year's release by The Broken West (I hear they have a new one coming) and a CD by a band called Ness, which is not related to Mike Ness, but is pretty cool. I'd give more elaborate reviews but, a) I don't have time, and b) I need to give them more time to digest.

Also been listening to the new M83 "Saturdays=Youth" which is pretty good. At least a few songs really got my attention. The single "Kim and Jesse" has this easygoing warm eletrco 80's feel to it that, despite not really wanting to like, I can't help but submit to. I heard another song recently by local Chicago band Hey Champ that has the same kind of sound, although slightly more dancey. The video is cool, too. It all seems too hipster-ish to like these retro sounding tunes, but, hey champ, I like what I like, so screw it.

Lastly, I've been sifting through the Smashing Pumpkins "Aeroplane Flies High" boxed set of b-sides from their "Mellon Collie..." days. I was a big fan of theirs at the time, but never got around to getting that stuff until now. There is definitely some crap on there (James Iha, I wanna like you, but your songs [and vocals] just kinda blow, sorry dude). But there are also some other really cool tunes. This is old news to anyone who already has heard it, but there is a track in there that is a compilation of like 25 minutes of riffs and snippets of songs that Billy and band had recorded at one time or another. Some are really cool (yes, I listened to the whole thing) and it reminded me that the riff-rocking songs are really what I loved about Smashing Pumpkins in the first place. Well, that and the drumming.