Idlewild - "A Distant History"

Idlewild - "A Distant History": "My favorite Idlewild b-side!"

M83 - "Teen Angst"

M83 - "Teen Angst": "The beat has the steady clip of someone running, but the keyboards sound like wave crashes with the vocals as the resultant spray on top. Dreamy.
(Related note: I've heard the new M83, out next year, and it's freaking awesome. I cannot wait for it to come out!)"

Michael Penn - "Now We're Even"

Michael Penn - "Now We're Even": "Once a part of Michael's Free For All album, this track vanished when RCA re-issued Free For All and his debut record, March on one disc. Strangely, the track was not resurrected for the Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea compilation on SBMG/Legacy - but at least my pals at Legacy were willing to play ball and attach the track to the digital version of the record. It's bad enough when b-sides fall off the face of the earth as formats change and time passes, but an album track suffering that fate is pretty horrible. Thanks to Legacy for not allowing that to happen here!"

Ludacris - "What's Your Fantasy (Remix)"

Ludacris - "What's Your Fantasy (Remix)": I love this song for two reasons:
1. The yelling of "Remix! REMIX! REMIX!!" at the beginning of the song. I just think it's funny to call it out like that.
2. It's awesomely nasty, but catchily so. Serious parental advisory on this one."

Lusk - "Backworlds"

Lusk - "Backworlds": "Despite featuring a former member of Tool, this song couldn't be any more dissimilar from that band. Here, lush production swirls hushed vocals, squiggly keyboards, metallic guitars and atmospheric washes into a offbeat pop wonderland.
There are probably only four people who get this joke, but - I wonder, is Paul D'Amour still on honeymoon in Turkey?"

Cake - "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up"

Cake - "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up": "Cake does Barry White and it actually works, in a fun way. I seem to recall that this is from the American Werewolf In Paris soundtrack, which I might have had at the time (for some reason? maybe someone gave it to me?), so it's triggering a 1997 flashback for me.
(The track now appears on Cake's new b-sides/rarities comp.)"

Giant Drag - "This Isn't It"

Giant Drag - "This Isn't It": "Normally, I don't blog about the same artist three times, let alone three songs from the same record, but I am here, for Giant Drag's "Hearts and Unicorns". (I know, I checked.) The vocals are sweet and sad, the music is fuzzy, the chord progression really works for me and...damn, I just love this record. It almost scares me to hear whatever they do next, because it might never be this good."

Snoop Dogg - "Sensual Seduction"

Snoop Dogg - "Sensual Seduction": "This song is a pretty cheesy love jam and one that would be unbearable if it wasn't coming from Snoop Dogg. Somehow, in his hands - despite the fact that he's singing now - this song becomes a real pimp anthem. And I don't mean 'pimp' as in booty-kickin' street pimp - I mean 'pimp' as in smooth seducer...which is basically what the song's about. I should be lamenting this soft turn for him, but it actually makes me respect him more."

Serge Gainsbourg - "Panpan Cucul"

Serge Gainsbourg - "Panpan Cucul": "A belated souvenir from my trip to Paris. I picked up a bunch of Gainsbourg comps (unreleased in America, although most of the material is still available here in one form or another) and, while catching up on my foreign purchases last night, I turned up this track. I hadn't heard it before, but hearing Serge hiss about spankings (if I translated correctly) over a slow 70s-style piano-and-guitar groove is just...well, awesome."

The Teenagers - "Starlett Johansson"

The Teenagers - "Starlett Johansson": "I admit this track caught my eye because of the title, but it proves interesting beyond that - a weird mix of Euro spoken word and breathy indie pop, all somewhat about Ms. Scarlett Johansson."

Superchunk - "Tie A Rope To The Back Of The Bus"

Superchunk - "Tie A Rope To The Back Of The Bus": "...mainly because I am sitting at the back of the bus on the way to and from work every day, on the MUNI. But also because I love this song!"

Barbara Lewis - "Hello Stranger"

Barbara Lewis - "Hello Stranger": "One of my favorite 'oldies radio' songs, along with Eddie Floyd's "Knock On Wood". It's just a really smooth song with suave backing vocals, enough rhythm to be interesting and a perfect touch of both longing and 'come hither' from Barbara herself."

Krokus - "Screaming In The Night"

Krokus - "Screaming In The Night": "This post comes with thanks to Nick and the Interweb. While watching Metal Mania on VH1 Classic with Nick the other night, I described to him this video I remembered from the early days of MTV, where a metal band were some kind of slaves in a future world, but somehow wound up in a 80s-style diner, watching their 'former world' on the diner TV. The problem was, I couldn't remember who the band was or what the song was - or, likely, never knew in the first place.
Turns out, I didn't quite remember it all correctly, but - after 24 years (!) of not knowing who/what the video was, it turns out the correct answer was Krokus and 'Screaming In The Night.' Now the long-running mystery has been solved!
It's not the best transfer, but if you want to see the video, you can watch it here and read this great written summation of the video here. Seriously awesome 80s metal video."

Heart - "Barracuda"

Heart - "Barracuda": "I finally started playing Guitar Hero III this weekend and I was very excited to try my hand at this little number. Of course, I sucked my way through the first take, since I once again* underestimated the wicked guitar work of Heart - but never again!

* - See "Crazy On You", along with my initial Guitar Hero post on the Rhapsody Staff Blog.

P.S. - Since last month, it's hard for me to think of this song without thinking of Glenn F's impression of Celine Dion doing this song. Priceless!"