Send in the Clowns

This might very well be the most random song I've had in my head since starting the blog. The melancholy '70s ballad floodgates are now fully open!

Artist: Judy Collins
Written by: Stephen Sondheim
Year: 1973 (original); 1975 (Collins)
Rating: Lukewarm

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Just the other evening, I was hanging out with my friend Michael, and he decried people who compare any female indie singer to Björk or Kate Bush. Though it pains me to fall into a cliché, I actually think the comparison to Ms. Bush is apt with Régine Chassagne's vocal performance here. I'm really loving Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, particularly their ability to weave an album concept so skillfully through lyrics and mood.

Artist: Arcade Fire
Year: 2010
Rating: Hot!

Note: This song is now the most recent release I've blogged about, inching out 2009's No You Girls.

Jump

My strongest association with the song "Jump" is an argument my friend Julie and I had the summer after our senior year of high school. It was about six years after the song's release in 1984, and thus, well into its influence on the rock radio canon. I had argued that the song paled in comparison to the brilliant music of Phil Collins. Julie contended that "Jump" was a better song from a musical standpoint than any Phil Collins song, hands-down.

I wouldn't argue that a Phil Collins song could beat up a Van Halen song behind the bleachers after school; my argument contended that Phil Collins's songs, including, naturally, the Genesis repertoire, were more robust from a sort of quasi-intellectual standpoint. I was basically just arguing against butt rock in favor of art rock. My argument, of course, was dashed from its inception, since by 1990, Phil Collins had long abandoned unconventional prog for soulless pop like Sussudio and insultingly vague altruism like Another Day in Paradise.*

Julie's argument, however, contained actual substance. A student of voice and music theory, she lectured me on the musicality of "Jump," the complexity of the arrangement, the layered instrumental elements, and the tonality of the entire composition. From her words emerged the grey scale picture of Collins's work placed next to the dynamically technicolored break out single on Van Halen's diamond-certified 1984 album.

I was bested.

Either that year, or a couple years on, Julie and I found ourselves at the same New Year's Eve party (at our friend Jen's place). We were listening to our local rock station's New Year's countdown of the "Top 100 Songs of All Time" (or perhaps the Top 105 Songs, or the Top 1,045 Songs). Imagine the cosmic comeuppance Julie felt when Van Halen's "Jump" was announced as the Number One song.

Julie was right: my esteem for Phil Collins only plummeted with the passing decades, and although I couldn't call it the Number One song of All Time, "Jump" has serious staying power. In my head.

Artist: Van Halen
Year: 1984
Rating: Luke Hot

* (Note to the earworm gods: please don't put either of those songs in my head now. Thank you.)

And We Danced

I've tried to avoid blogging about the songs that have made it to my head just because I've heard them on the radio recently, but I figured this one deserved attention. It's one of those '80s standard rock tunes that got lots of airplay back then but hasn't received lasting attention. I heard it on KFOG's 10@10 several days ago and can't get it out of my head. It's such a facile pop song, but so pleasing to my ears. Yes, The Hooters is an awful name for a band, but I like to think of it in the "hootenanny" sense as opposed to the "boobs" sense. I think that's what was intended, after all.

Artist: The Hooters
Year: 1985
Rating: Luke Hot

Mr. Roboto

See the official video here. (Apologies for the awful "Japanese-featured" robots. I did not make this shit up.)

"Mr. Roboto" has always been one of the songs I strongly associate with my '80s roller skating days. It got tons of airplay at San Jose's dearly-departed Aloha Roller Palace when I was a kid. Also, see this song for more of my internal roller skating soundtrack.

Really, I just woke up with the outro lyrics, "Thank you, thank you/I wanna thank you..." I think it was 'cause Amber was on a logistics call for work and ended the conversation with "thank you" as I was entering consciousness this morning. I then almost veered into the "thank yous" from Natalie Merchant's "Kind and Generous," but the song only flashed through my mind and didn't stick. Styx stuck.

Artist: Styx
Year: 1983
Rating: Luke Hot

Over and Done With

Sex and death, baby.

Artist: The Proclaimers
Year: 1987
Rating: Luke Hot

No You Girls

A testament to catchy, this song's in my head already, even though I only heard it for the first time a few weeks ago on the radio, and then once more on a friend's mp3 mix (the mind reels at the change in technology; where here I thought I'd gotten used to "CD mixes," we're now onto the next new thing). It's a cute but pernicious song reinscribing the gender norms that girls can't know how boys feel, and boys couldn't care less how girls feel. I like FF, but I'm giving this one a "meh" rating. Artist: Franz Ferdinand Year: 2009 Rating: Lukewarm Note: I think this is the "newest" song to appear in my head thus far.

Heavy Metal Drummer

I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands I used to go see on the landing in the summer She fell in love with the drummer She fell in love with the drummer She fell in love Artist: Wilco Year: 2002
Rating: Luke Hot

The Top 50 Albums of 2010 (So Far)

Hi there, Cats n Dawgs!

Time for another guest blog entry from our resident musicologist, Jon Schwartz, whose tweetage you can find here. Since the year is half over already, Jon has compiled for us what he feels to be the 50 best albums released so far. I will note that he submitted this list to me like a month ago, and if he did it today, it might be quite different. Also, he'd no doubt include Arcade Fire's latest, The Suburbs (though I really can't speak for him, I just kinda did. Mea culpa, JS.) So now, WoFA, The Songs In My Head proudly presents Jon Schwartz's Top 50 Albums of 2010 (So Far).

The Top 10:

1. Broken Bells - Broken Bells
I fell in love with this album before I found out it’s a collaboration between super-producer DJ Danger Mouse and The Shins frontman James Mercer. The album is immediately addictive. Songs are catchy without sounding forced. The production is crisp without sounding over-produced. This is Synthy-Indie-Rock at its finest.

2. Minus The Bear - OMNI
OMNI is a journey. Each track flows effortlessly into the next. Some may find this album too slick sounding. It is a little over-produced, but I just think it works so well with this particular album. Minus the Bear have released the best album of their decade-long careers.

3. Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame
Dr. Dog is one of those bands that sound like they have genuine fun making music. Their brand of Jangly-Indie-Rock makes me think Wilco meets Cake meets The Teeth meets The Impossible Shapes. Shame, Shame is a group of well crafted, catchy, fun songs delivered with confidence and exuberance.

4. Efterklang - Magic Chair

5. Beach House - Teen Dream

6. The Black Keys - Brothers

7. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

8. Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms

9. Apples in Stereo - Travellers in Space and Time

10. Field Music - Field Music (Measure)

The Rest:

11. The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme
12. Ok Go - Of The Blue Color Of The Sky
13. Spoon - Transference
14. Wolf Parade - Expo 86
15. Foals - Total Life Forever
16. Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer Of The Void
17. Jónsi - Go
18. Fang Island - Fang Island
19. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
20. Seabear - We Built a Fire
21. The Morning Benders - Big Echo
22. Tokyo Police Club - Champ
23. Midlake - The Courage Of Others
24. Caribou - Swim
25. Menomena - Mines
26. Massive Attack - Heliogland
27. Ratatat - LP4
28. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
29. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
30. Plants and Animals - La La Land
31. The Drums - The Drums
32. Harlem - Hippies
33. Ruby Suns - Fight Softly
34. The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards
35. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
36. Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo
37. Jon Spencer - Amsterdam Throwdown, King Street Showdown!
38. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
39. Neon Trees - Habits
40. Jagga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit
41. MGMT - Congratulations
42. Eels - End Times
43. Delphic - Acolyte
44. Benni Hemm Hemm - Retaliate
45. Paper Tongues - Paper Tongues
46. The Album Leaf - A Chorus of Storytellers
47. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
48. Hot Hot Heat – Future Breeds
49. Liars - Sisterworld
50. The Hot Rats - Turn Ons

Did you like that? I hope so. Thanks so much, Jon, for putting this together for us. Sorry I ran out of juice to link each band and album, but I figure you readers can google it yourself. Rumor has it that Jon is also working on a Top Solo Albums of All Time list and that The Songs in My Head might have exclusive publishing rights. Or maybe Jon should start his own freaking blog, because he's a thoughtful music reviewer, great writer, and he's got stuff to say. Whadduyouthink?

xo
Sooze

The Odd Couple Theme

Watching The Odd Couple in endless syndication loops as a kid propelled this theme song to the infinite memory banks. Not sure what sparked its appearance this week, though.

Artist: Neal Hefti
Year: 1968
Rating: Warm

Note: Hefti wrote the theme for the 1968 movie and it was later used for the TV series. He also composed the theme music for the beloved '60s TV show Batman.