( continues...) songs. This sounds almost Yo La Tengoish. Love the thick slabs of guitar texture and the heavy bass and the processed vocals.
11. Year in the title
"1983" - The Incredible Moses Leroy
A lovely, strummy indiepop melody smeared with a synthesizer line on top. Again with the galloping rhythms.
12. Song about traveling
"Night Ride to Trinidad" - Robyn Hitchcock
Sounds more like a TMBG song. Like..."Hotel Detective" with its horn charts.
13. Song without guitar or piano
"Top Cat"
Listened to a lot of crime jazz for this, but opted for a short tv theme that compels me to sing along. Love this. Brass, drums and vocals.
14. LiTG
"Meathook" - Hannah Fury
Generally not a fan of the piano girls anymore than I am of the strum dudes, but Hannah Fury's melodies suck me in.
15 Upbeat song about a sad thing
"Saturday Night in the City of the Dead" - Ultravox
Who would've put money that there'd be two Ultravox songs in the first five mixes? This is earlier Ultravox when they weren't so New Romantic. They don't seem particularly sad about being in the city of the dead.
16. Midnight driving in the rain
"Drive Somewhere" - Vulgar Boatmen
A lot of the songs here are shorter because this song is longer. But I knew this was my perfect song for this category. Velvets strum drone over Neu's motorik beat. Ahh, but that makes it sound colder than it is. This is hypnotic and dreamy and glides forever. Some delicate guitar work here too.
17. Cowbell!
"Camel Walk" - Southern Culture On The Skids
Not only cowbell but also punctuated by whipcracks. "Little Debbie, Little Debbie!" An absolutely groovy song that makes JZ and I dance around the kitchen a lot. Also kinky and sort of adorable. JZ says, 'Oatmeal never sounded so dirty."
18. Reminds you of first love
"I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" - Sleater-Kinney
Most folks are separated by time or distance from their first love. Not me - she's Emmett's godmother, and I talk to her about once a week. She's mostly a soul/urban fan with a big side of disco, but she surprised the hell out of me when she got into S-K. She even bought me a Sleater Kinney shirt.
19. Technology
"Make A Circuit With Me" - The Polecats
Diode, Cathode, electrode, overload. Boz Boorer is the guitarist here and he went on to record many albums with solo Morrissey.
20. Chorus you must sing, or makes you dance
"Let's Go Where The Action" - BMX Bandits
A Boyce & Hart song for the mid sixties TV show hosted by Paul Revere and the Raiders. A perfect garage rock rave up.
21. Starts with a bassline
"New Suit" - Wild Magnolias
Basslines mean funk to me, and this bass pops. Wild Magnolias are part of the whole "Indian" tradition in black neighborhoods of New Orleans. This song is about the year long process involved in creating their fantastic feathered costumes.
22. Science
" Yakko's Universe" - Animaniacs
I also considered "A Victim of Gravity" from the Schoolhouse Rock box.
23. Song to sing to kids or pets
"Whole Heap Of Little Horses" - Kristin Hersh
aka, "All the Pretty Little Horses" Emmett and I would sing along to this song whenever we put a tooth under his pillow because, as I told him, "Fairies like sad songs."
24. Song that haunts you.
Songs 23 and 25 qualify here, as well as 8.
25. Song for a dire situation
'Jesus Help Me To Stand" - Alison Krauss & Union Station
I'm not a Christian, but I did listen to this song quite a lot during my darkest hour. It is about being at the bottom and finding a way to hope.