via//chicago

via//chicago@random

You know the drill - iTunes, shuffle, five tunes, words by me.

Super Furry Animals - "Bleed Forever" (taken from Phantom Power)
A slower ballad from one of my least favorite albums from SFA, but even a bad Furries album still has a gem or three buried within and this song is perfect testimonial to that. Piano and a subdued Gruff Rhys lead us through their take on a country song, with the barest hint of steel guitar. As usual with these guys though, its all about the nifty little sonic details they paste on top of the already serviceable pop songs.

Beck - "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskelton" (taken from The Information)
The closing epic to Beck's most recent full-length starts off with a slightly haunting, disheveled mass that eventually evolves into a beat that would have made a young Trent Reznor proud and allows Beck to rock his white-boy flow over the top. The vocals are buried in the mix and the beat is always threatening to run off the rails, but it makes for an engaging listen. As a bonus we get a couple sweet guitar solos and Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze talking about what would make the ultimate album! Being buried at the end of The Information makes this usually a bit hard to sit through, but its nice to appreciate it our of context.

R.E.M. - "King of the Road" (taken from Singles Collected)
Originally a b-side to one of the band's earliest singles, "So. Central Rain", this is broken down into two parts - the first being a minute or so jaunty instrumental leading up to the band's take on the Roger Miller classic. Certainly not essential, but its fun to remember that a band that sometimes takes itself a little too seriously was able to have a little fun knocking out a cover song.

Guided by Voices - "Kicker of Elves" (taken from Bee Thousand)
A brief tune anchored by a slow, steady bass drum and rapid-fire acoustic strumming that appears on an album that is a shining gem from the early part of the band's discography. You;ll notice that Guided by Voices, Robert Pollard, and his side projects songs will frequently appear in these shuffles because I have over 1,100 Pollard penned songs on iTunes.

Vampire Weekend - "M79" (taken from Vampire Weekend)
One of the two new tunes from the band's much-hyped (and loved by me) debut album that didn't originally appear on the self-titled demo compilation that floated around the net for most of 2007. It's a bit of a departure from the rest of the songs of the disc, relying on a string arrangement that recalls European classical music rather that the Afropop signifiers found throughout the rest of the disc. It really doesn't grab me until the chorus finally kicks in about two and a half minutes, then I'm hooked. I love these guys for being so economic with their music, there hardly seems to be any notes or words that don't serve a purpose.