Catch-up EPs

For the past few weeks, I've been trapped in the land of slow internet speeds. Couple that with a limited amount of free time, and it's been tough to keep up with the playlists.

I'm gonna play a little game of catchup with some 4-6 track playlists.

Enjoy...

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Runaway

I like this little list, even if it has some strange breaks and no real consistent flow or progression.

1 - Queen - I Want To Break Free
2 - Dashboard Confessional - Again I Go Unnoticed
3 - Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
4 - Head Automatica - At the Speed of a Yellow Bullet
5 - Brand New - Millstone


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Fall

There's no such thing as Fall in Singapore. It's just as hot and rainy as every other "season" here. My life in Singapore is slowly resembling the seasons of Singapore, or lack thereof. Nothing new, nothing dynamic, no emotion, no change. I used to laugh at the pretension and prudeness surrounding me, but it's starting to take a toll.

One of the worst things about living here is the absence of Halloween. If there's any holiday that makes everyone take themselves a little bit less seriously and act like a kid again, it's Halloween. Maybe it's just what everyone in Singapore needs.

These songs transport me back to my favorite season in one of my favorite places on this lonely, lonely planet: Fall in New England.

1 - Oasis - The Girl in the Dirty Shirt
2 - Snow Patrol - How to Be Dead
3 - Elbow - One Day Like This
4 - Frank Turner - Sunday Nights
5 - Alexi Murdoch - Orange Sky
6 - Death Cab for Cutie - Passenger Seat

Reality Bites

REALITY BITES
I'm a dreamer. I spend more than half of my days in a weird fantasy world where I have entire conversations with people and react to situations that have never happened. I'm constantly scoring a movie within my mind, writing scenes in my memory. Music allows for this to happen. And now, thanks to Brendan, everyone can glimpse the tunes that are optimal when running away from reality.

1. Loney, Dear - I Was Only Going Out (escape at 1:23)
One day, I'm going to sit down and write out the scenes that have been building the movie in my mind. This song will be part of the soundtrack. I've tied it so tightly to a specific image that every time I listen to this song, I'm lost for nearly four minutes.


2. Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen (escape at 2:25)
First time I heard this I was on a plane that was starting to land. Sadly, I was landing in Orlando for a National Sales Meeting. But I dream about this being the perfect song for the beginning of an adventure.


3. M83 - We Own the Sky (escape at 1:12)
M83 might be the master of escapism. This song comes on while I'm on the train and it's a one-way ticket to my own little world of thoughts.


4. Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness (escape at 0:01)
This is one of those songs you put on and all of a sudden you just want to run as fast as you can as far as you can without looking back.


5. The Stone Roses - Waterfall (escape at 0:30)
Close your eyes while this plays and you're in the warmth of a summer sun. No cares. No worries. Just let it all go.


6. VHS or Beta - Bring On the Comets (escape at 1:27)
Takes you from reality to an atmospherically wonderland land with an ever-present downbeat.


7. Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (escape at 0:41)
My secret wish: to live the life of a Bret East Ellis character. One where I abuse all the drugs, have all the sex, and break every rule. I'll never have the unbridled courage or balls to do so, so this song will have to do.


8. The Get Up Kids - I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel (escape at 0:45)
This is on and I'm 17 again. And everything is awesome.


9. Jemina Pearl - Ecstatic Appeal (escape at 0:30)
This is my new favorite song. I listened to it 20 times one afternoon. When I hear it, I want to be on stage, singing this song. (This is the WORST video - do not judge the song based on this!)


10. Sigur Ros - Inni mer singer vitleysingur (escape at 2:17)
What Sigur Ros song is not an opportunity for escape?


11. Filter - Miss Blue (escape at 1:49)
And, out of left field, I offer you a song from Filter. When I was 17, I used to listen to this a lot while driving around - mostly procrastinating before arriving at school. Windows down, music loud, my mind wandering (which probably explains all the car accidents…)

12. Owen - You Should Do It Now While It's On Your Mind (escape at 0:01)
Whenever I need a break from life. Whenever it seems overwhelming or like everything is against me. This is the song I turn to. I listen to it in the dark. And when it's over, things are OK again.

13. Stars - Going Going Gone (escape at 0:47)
Lush. Beautiful. Like a lovely dream should be.


14. Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining (escape at 1:18)
There's a scene in the move Get Over It where the two main characters (Ben Foster and Kirsten Dunst) transition to a magical forest world while this song plays. It's perfect.


15. Pulp - Like a Friend (escape at 2:12)
And… GO.


16. Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl (escape at 2:00)
I'm certain I've used this in a playlist before, but it's the ultimate reality-bender for me. If I ever do pen that screenplay, this is a requisite song for a very, very specific scene.

Run Away... A Guest List

Running away is a right of passage for every kid. Mad at mom because she said you're too young to be watching Kelly Taylor and Dylan McKay's infidelities, you pack up some non-essentials and storm out the front door. Maybe you make it around the block, but likely you don't get past the driveway before turning around. Regardless the length of your trip there's that amazing feeling of holding your destiny. I'd like to think today I'm running away from the life of financial software sales, and into the amazing world of Allison and Evan, creating playlists and making millions while doing it it. Here I present a soundtrack that I feel captures the essence of breaking free and running away.

Run Away

1. Passion Pit - Make Light

I love how this song starts. If the first 30 seconds of this song don't get you on your feet, you don't have legs.

2. The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Recently saw this band live, and was drawn right into this song. I realized a little later I had heard it previously in the movie 500 Days of Summer, which is a solid flick and relates well to this theme.

3. The Real Tuesday Weld - Last Words

Keeping it going with the indie soundtracks, this one's off Nick and Norah. Fairly mellow song, but such an engaging beat and seductive vocals.

4. Freelance Whales - Generator ^ Second Floor

If you take anything from this playlist, I hope it's this band. By far the best $10 I've spent this year, go get their album Weathervanes now. As amazing live as they are on their album.

5. Brand New - The Archers Bows Have Broken

Such amazing drums in this one. I want to engage is a full sprint whenever I hear this, Hulk Hoganing my shirt off.

6. Jimmy Eat World - Always Be

If I've learned anything on the Playlist Challenge, it's that you can't ever go wrong with a little Jimmy Eat World.

7. Oasis - Falling Down

I love Oasis - one of my favorites of all time. This track is one of their darker pieces. If Noel and Liam don't symbolize rebellion, well I'm not sure who would

8. Phoenix - Rome

We're close to the midway point of this list, so I figured I might be getting tired from running and need to slow the pace a bit.

9. Friendly Fires - Paris

Let's run to another European city, and pick it up a bit.

10. VHS or Beta - Bring on the Comets

YouTube the acoustic version of this song. Different, but equally awesome

11. Theme - Last of the Mohicans

Is this the first theme on TPC? What a rich, untapped source of greatness.

12. Blind Melon - Walk

This is one of my all time favorites.

13. Silverchair - Straight Lines

When I heard this on the radio 2 years ago, I couldn't believe it was the Frogstompers. More Poppy? For sure. Selling out? I don't give a turd, I like.

14. Bloc Party - Hunting for Witches

I'm still not completely sold on Bloc Party, but they do have some pretty raw and rocking tracks. They also seem to give some great performances.

15. Doves - Pounding

One of the more appropriately titled tracks, ever. Of the countless bands Evan has turned me on to, Doves rank among the best.

16. Badly Drawn Boy - Once Around the Block

Appropriately titled.

17. 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings & Queens

Turned on the radio the other day, and finally heard a song worth going after. Apparently these guys have been around for a bit, but they're new to me.

18. Arcade Fire - No Cars Go

With the orchestra and chorus, I felt this was a good coming home song.

Falling 2009

I can count all of the things I actually like about living in New England on one hand. On the list would certainly be the fall. Watching the leaves go from green to brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red is truly a pleasure. You wake up one morning and it's like you're living life in a technicolor movie. Or on an artist's palette. I'll never tire of long walks during this time of year. The perfect fall playlist is a necessity. There are certain songs that bring out the crispness in the air, the crunchiness of the leaves beneath your feet, and the sharpness of life around you. Here is my collection of fall songs.

Falling 2009
1. Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies
Taken from an album called The First Days of Spring, this is my new ultimate fall song. I started listening to this record when the weather started to change, and it encapsulates the perfect fall mood. There's hope in the fall; this season is a time for making changes in the positive direction.

"this is the last song that i write while still in love with you / this is the last song that i write while you're even on my mind / cause it's time to leave those feelings behind / cause blue skies are coming / but i know that it's hard"

2. Elliott - Drive On To Me
This Elliott album is a fall standard. It reminds me of the Pitt campus in October, walking to the radio station early in the morning.


3. Georgie James - More Lights
That there isn't a good YouTube clip of this song is a true shame.

4. Matt Pond PA - So Much Trouble
Even the video has falling leaves. There could have been only one thing on Matt Pond' mind when he worked on Several Arrows Later: fall. With songs like this, "Halloween," and "The Trees and the Wild," it's a great record for a perfect fall afternoon.


5. Jason Collett - Out of Time


6. Ryan Adams - Gonna Make You Love Me
I would have chosen "Halloweenhead," but I'll save that for my Halloween mix (wink, wink). Ryan Adams needs to be on any fall mix. Just cause.


7. Band of Horses - Funeral


8. The Wrens - She Sends Kisses
I was obsessed with this song one fall during college. It's heartache and it's something so familiar, but every time I listen to it I hear something new. But nothing will replace the feeling of autumn permanently timestamped on this track.


9. Wilco - Ashes of American Flags
Back in the days of LiveJournal (way back in the days of LiveJournal!), a friend once commented on a post of mine with these lyrics: "all my lies are always wishes." I think about that line often. One of the worst things I do is lie. I lie about the dumbest fucking things too. Maybe they're less lies and more exaggerations. But are these lies/exaggerations just wishes for what I want to really have happen? I seem to walk around the most during the fall, which leaves me with all the time in the world to think about these things.


10. The Shins - Gone For Good


11. Rocky Votolato - Before You Were Born
Also a complete shame that there isn't a great YouTube clip of this. "Before You Were Born" is a perennial favorite of mine. It sounds like the perfect soundtrack to rolling around in a pile of leaves with a crush. Hooded sweatshirts. Sitting on a bench drinking hot cocoa. Also, nothing beats this line: "under blankets and maps to keep up warm."


12. Josh Ritter - Monster Ballads
The best time to have a crush is the fall. People who say that about the spring or summer are crazy. There is nothing better than having a crush in the fall. It's hard to explain why this song makes me think of that.


13. Jets to Brazil - Cat Heaven


14. Hot Rod Circuit - This Is Not the Time or Place
This is fresh in my mind after seeing Andy Jackson do an acoustic set on Sunday night in Boston. This song = I'm 17 again. (UGH to no good clips…)


15. The Dreadful Yawns - You've Been Recorded
My friend Ross recommended The Dreadful Yawns to me. I've given the album Rest many listens, but the opening track, "You've Been Recorded," is so good sometimes I just stop there and listen to it over and over again. I think it's an excellent fall song.


16. Iron & Wine - Naked As We Came
This song seemed like too obvious a choice to include. But after seeing (and cringing through most of) The Mysteries of Pittsburgh this year, I cannot separate this song from the montage scene of Art, Cleveland, and Jane running around the city. Especially the part of the montage at Point State Park where they're playing football. I sat in a pretty empty theater by myself trying not to cry. But this song, that shot, and my longing to be home again won over and I sobbed.


17. AA Bondy - There's a Reason
This fall, I've been listening to AA Bondy with near (if I were) religious fervor. It's been the soundtrack to my nights, it's been my fallback when I don't know what else to listen to.


18. Alexi Murdoch - All My Days


19. The Lemonheads - The Outdoor Type


20. New Order - Run Wild
My favorite New Order song. One of my favorite all-time songs. I have dreams of writing a screenplay and putting words to paper to go along with all the stories in my head. And this will be the closing song. Without a doubt.

Favorites from: Jimmy Eat World

When I decided to copy Allison and do a "Best of" list, there was no question as to which band I'd choose - Jimmy Eat World. It's safe to say there is no other band or artist I have listened to more in my lifetime. They're one of the bands I've loved for a better part of my life, and hopefully down the road old-person Evan will be cool enough to still connect with JEW.

The first time I heard Jimmy was in the Spring of my Freshman year of High School. I was at the Newbury Comics on Rte 9 in Shrewsbury (RIP) checking out the sample CDs and when I finally got to Clarity, I was blown away. Whenever I went to Newbury, I'd first check out the employee recommendations and then head straight for the headphones. Normally I'd flip through each CD, sampling about 10 seconds of each track. Not this time, though. I listened to every second of the first few songs, and by the end of "Your New Aesthetic," I was hooked.

Clarity just celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this year, which means I'm both an old man and one who's still happily in love with a band that gave him a boner when he was 15. Through the years, my interest in Jimmy has never faltered, due in large part to their inability to release a shitty album. Their perfectly written and produced tracks are only rivaled by their live performances, the most recent of which (for me) couldn't even be sullied by a crowd full of Paramore fans. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch them this year for Clarityx10 because I'm stuck in Singapore.

There are few bands that can capture and share raw emotion and passion better than Jimmy Eat World. The list below* is a bastardization of a catalog that will stay on my side... for the rest of my life.


1 - Look At You (from One Two Three Four)
"My oh my, can you save my life? / It doesn't have to mean looking out for me"

This song is a good example of how I communicate with others. (Also released as "Cars" on their first S/T, "Look At You" is from JEW's first release. I would give a nut to get my hands on this 7")



2 - Seventeen (from Static Prevails)
"Hung up here on a web of comfort / Taking off with nowhere to go / Standing tall with your new cloak armor / Making out like it's all been done / It's harder than it seems / You slip but never fall"



3 - Your New Aesthetic (from Clarity)
"Imitate and water down / Selection breathes on its own / Before the crash I'll write it out / Selection breathes on its own / Make them open the request line / Let selection kill the old / Take back the radio"

I lol'ed when I heard this on BCN one night, the same way I lol when rednecks blast "Born in the USA." Oh, irony.



4 - Over (from Stay on my Side Tonight EP)
"I'm not exactly sure what I should say / Everything I do is a mistake / Your attention is attention / It doesn't matter if it's fake or real / Ill take it if I get it"

Oh, unrequited love. Why are you the subject of so many great songs, yet such a bitch?



5 - Bleed American (from Bleed American)
"And rest, clean your conscience / Clear your thoughts with Speyside with your brain / Clean your conscience, clear your thoughts with Speyside"

Any American with a beating heart has felt the pains and frustrations associated with being American. We either quell it in our own ways, or do our best to break free.



6 - For Me This is Heaven (from Clarity)
"When the time we had now ends / And when the big hand goes round again / Can you still feel the butterflies? / Can you still hear the last goodnight?



7 - Spangle (from Singles)
"Don't think that you'll ever know how you could be so cruel / It's so clear / I can hear, and I'm not gonna share you with no one / Surprise, I've got eyes, now goodbye"

Given the subject matter and lyrical styling, you'd think they wrote this one. Unbelievably good cover.



8 - Let It Happen (from Chase This Light)
"Talk, talking a lot, but it's still talk / Gotta love how it's somehow all on me / All the petty scenes / And all the pretty things / Say whatever you want / Cause I can laugh it off"

I could've used this when I was dumped in 9th grade and was subjected to a mountain of ex shit-talk. Glad I can laugh it off now, though!



9 - Blister (from Clarity)
"Don't try and stop me / Because I'm falling fast into this pit of fire which surrounds us all / In a blanket of fear that I've been wrapped in for years / Don't try and stop me / You can't stop me"



10 - Sweetness (from Bleed American)
"I'm still running away / I won't play your hide and seek game"

I'm pretty sure those "whoaaaaaa's" are screams of frustration, not joy.



11 - Table for Glasses (from Clarity)
"Where do you intend to go with your dirty dress? / Lead my skeptic sight to the table and the light / It happened too fast to make sense of it / Make it last"

My first love.



12 - Pain (from Futures)
"I never thought I'd walk away from you / I did / But it's a false sense of accomplishment / Everytime time I quit"

Pain echoes the mood I loved from Bleed American



13 - Get it Faster (from Bleed American)
"I don't care what you do / I'm getting out / No nothing ever shames me / Don't want a thing from you / I'm going out / I don't care if you're angry"

This is one of my favorites for a few reasons. One, it's badass from the intro, through the roaring choruses, to the screaming dual-guitar soli, right to the bitter end. Two, it's even more badass live. And three, it's one of the few times that the anger/frustration builds to a point where Jim's just like "GAH FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"




14 - Lucky Denver Mint (from Clarity)
"A dollar under water keeps on dreaming for me"

If you can't relate to this song, then you're probably the type of person Jim's singing to.



15 - Disintegration (from Stay on my Side Tonight EP)
"I wonder why I'm so caught off guard when we kiss / I'd rather live my life in regret then do this / What happened to the love we both knew, we both chased? / Hanging on a cigarette, you need me, you'll burn me / You'll burn me"

Disintegration, like most JEW songs, brings you to a familiar place, albeit one loosely constructed by the lyrics, mood, and music. The gaps are filled with your own experiences and emotions. JEW's ability to evoke such personal feelings and memories from the listener through their own deeply emotional music is what sets them apart.



*The sixty-minute limit previously set by Allison kept "Goodbye, Sky Harbor" (among others) off the list, which is why I could never call it a "Best of."