1. Dr. Dog, “Worst Trip.” One of my favorite current Beatles revisionists, Philly’s Dr. Dog upped the ante on their sonics with the second disc, 2007’s We All Belong, but the band is still refreshingly lo-fi in its approach to pop classicism.
2. Pavement, “Perfume-V.”
3. Sam Prekop, “Something.”
4. Sister Vanilla, “What Goes Around.”
5. Kanye West, “Good Life.”
6. Imogen Heap, “I’m a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch.”
7. Self, “Meg Ryan.” Self is one of my favorite great lost bands. Essentially a vehicle for the talented multi-instrumentalist Matt Mahaffey, Self should have become Beck-level huge in 1999 with its Dreamworks debut, Breakfast With Girls, which featured “Meg Ryan,” the best and probably only song ever inspired by Joe Versus the Volcano. Mafaffey’s next release, Gizmodgery, was recorded entirely on toy instruments and featured some of his best and most idiosyncratic work, including “Truck Fulla Amps,” “Pattycake” and a great cover of the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes.” Self eventually ran into the standard problems facing quirky alt-pop bands in this decade: Dreamworks did not want to release Self’s 2004 disc, Ornament and Crime, and now that Dreamworks records is shut down and the masters belong to Universal, it’s essentially a dead record, stuffed in a warehouse like the Ark of the Covenant. In an act of salvage/retribution, Mahaffey made the demos for the disc available for free download as the cheekily titled Porno, Mint and Grime. It’s available here.
8. Rakes, “The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect.”
9. Datarock, “Nightflight.”
10. CSS, “Pretend We’re Dead.” In which the preeminent sleaze-girl group of the late-oughts pays dutiful tribute to the preeminent sleaze-girl group of the early ’90s. With the exception of some expected glitchy synths, Lovefoxxx might not be bringing anything new to the table here — this sounds remarkably like L7’s original — but it’s all so highly appropriate.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I saw Dr. Dog open for Wilco in Dallas and it was the first time I had heard them. Honestly, I thought they were some local jam band trotted out to fill time. Not bad, but inconsequential. I’ll have to give them a real listen when I’m not pressed up against a rail waiting for Jeff Tweedy to show up.