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THANKSGIVING MIX

Here's another one of my one of a kind, bonafide Matt Mix CD's, made on and around Thanksgiving of 2001.

Below's a list of songs and artist, plus descriptions of the songs in order to give you a flavor for them. It's a weird mix, I can tell you that. But don't let that stop you from listening; there are some real gems in here.

Gobble Gobble: The CD

1) Last Nite by The Strokes
From Is This It?
--The Strokes have been dubbed rock saviors by the British music press. Their sound is very rough and low-fi, they get compared a lot to Television and Velvet Underground. Frankly, their debut fails to live up to the (admittedly gigantic) hype. Still, this song shows some big promise; a bouncing, rollicking opener for a mix cd.

2) Wrecking Ball by Creeper Lagoon
From Take Back The Universe and Give Me Yesterday
--My first expedition into music reviewing resulted in my discovering this San Francisco band, who combine Coldplay-esque riffs with more loud, powerful vocals for some nice indie rock songs. "Wrecking Ball" is the clear highlight on their latest disc, an anthem if I ever heard one. Why isn't this song isn't a hit on modern rock radio?

3) Baby, Now That I've Found You by The Foundations
From Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Shallow Hal
--The Farrelly Brothers must really like The Foundations. "Build Me Up Buttercup" played over the close of their There's Something About Mary and this track features prominently in their latest flick, Shallow Hal. Very similar sound to "Buttercup" but it's a very pretty, happy, smiley sound. Makes me want to get this band's greatest hits collection.

4) Starlight by Weezer
An unreleased b-side track.
--Another Weezer b-side that deserves to be on the album. Why does this band make short ten song CDs when they have B-sides that sound as good as this one does? It's a crime I tell you. Anyway, if you like Weezer, then you needn't know anymore about this song. It's pure Green Album style Weezer, simple but beautiful rock music with some out of this world harmony.

5)Bigmouth Strikes Again by The Smiths
From Best...II
--More scary goodness from Morrisey, Johnny Marr and crew. The Smiths are a great band to introduce to people. They are pretty weird, but they invariably grow on everyone who listens to them, and they are so odd lyrically, but at the same time, the music is so strong, that it really works. Here the line to be scared about is "Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking when I said by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed." Yeah. Right. Eek.

6) Annie Waits by Ben Folds
From Rockin' The Suburbs
--Ben Folds is of course the former lead singer and pianist for Ben Folds Five (A band, incidentally, that only had 3 members), and his first solo album is a nice piece of work. "Annie" is my favorite track, the single picked out by WERW, with a very catchy hook and an even catchier bridge.

7) Karma Police (live) by Howie Day
A live bootleg track.
--If you ever have the chance to see Howie Day live, do it. The guy is amazing to watch perform; he plays by himself with only an acoustic guitar and a few repeater pedals, and he manages to create these huge, beautiful songs simply by playing different parts and mixing them through his pedals. It's really an amazing thing to behold. This live cover of the Radiohead classic gives you a taste of it, but you really need to see him do it in person to get the full experience.

8) Extra Ordinary by Better Than Ezra
From Closer
--This track and the next one are both courtesy of Pete, who discovered these songs over the summer mooching off of WERW's free CDs. Frankly, it was worth it for this song, which I'd describe as Incubus' "Drive" if performed by Barenaked Ladies. Goofy acoustic fun, very hummable.

9) California by Rufus Wainwright
From Poses
--Rufus Wainwright is the son of folkie Loudon Wainwright (currently playing the father on the great new sitcom Undeclared), and his music is sort of a blend of folk sensibilities with the voice and piano style of lounge singers and more pop alternatives like Billy Joel. California's a trippy view of someone's life (if it's Rufus' I'm a little concerned), featuring appeances by neon signs and Bea Arthur. Go figure.

10) Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz
From Gorillaz
--You know a band is good if it features members of Blur, Cibo Matto, and the creator of the comic Tank Girl (Didn't have anything to do with that movie). Gorillaz is a supergroup-side project-cartoon. Clint Eastwood is straight up hip hop, but a really smooth track, worth a listen for sure.

11) Steal My Kisses by Ben Harper
From Burn To Shine
--I first heard this song on Letterman maybe a year or two ago, when Ben played it with his band including a beat box guy. Very cool sound. The studio version has the beat box touch, and it really makes a sweet little song about loving someone a little more than they love you a real good track to bop along to.

12) Idioteque (Live) by Radiohead
From their appearance on Saturday Night Live.
--Most of Radiohead's electronic stuff leaves me cold, and doesn't excite me the way The Bends does. But "Idioteque" is a pretty good track from Kid A and the added cool factor of having it be performance from SNL makes it mixworthy.

13) Outkast by Miss Jackson
From Stankonia
--Outkast's hip hop is so much fun, it could easily make a disbeliever out of those who hate all hip hop on basic principles, the way some people hate like country, for example. Outkast is so good because this song is almost like a pop song it's got so many hooks, like the "I'm sorry Miss Jackson (WOO!), I am for real!" I haven't heard much else of their album, but I definitely want to hear more.

14) Me and My Black Metal Friends by Atom and His Package
From Atom, of course.
--Atom's a geeky chubby kid with glasses. He also is a rock star like few others. Gotta admire that ya know? I certainly do.

15) Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel
From So
Well over a decade after its release, "Sledgehammer" is still, in my mind, the coolest music video ever. It's wild, and freaky, and bizarre, and visually compelling from start to finish. And it doesn't hurt that the song's one of Peter Gabriel's best. You know I want to be your Sledgehammer. Why don't you call my name?

16) Baby, One More Time by Travis
An unreleased b-side track.
--Only a great band like Travis can turn a song like "Baby, One More Time" and turn it into a gorgeous acoustic guitar ballad expressing huge sentiments of loss and yearning. It's like a completely different song. Play this for people and watch them giggle when they realize what it is, grow quiet when they realize how pretty the version is, and scared when they realize they are enjoying it.