Songs I Discovered in 2009, Part III

It's going to be a '90s summer for music, as evidenced by top-selling new albums from Green Day (May 15) and Dave Matthews Band (today), then later on with The Offspring (June 16), Third Eye Blind (6/23), Sugar Ray (7/21), and Collective Soul (August 4). I've included new stuff from 311 and The Prodigy on my latest mix CD below. These songs are the ABSOLUTE best songs I have come across in the last couple of months. I GUARANTEE they're all worth downloading, and for each artist featured, there are many more songs to check out. Don't get bogged down by the sheer volume of artists though - each one is different from the rest, so variety is the spice of this playlist (you can preview a few to the right):

1. "Carolina Carol Bela" - Rosalia de Souza; I first heard this "electro-bossa" artist on Harold and Kumar Escape from Guatanamo Bay (so, the movie wasn't all for naught) with the song "As Gotas;" I include this one instead because I want other fans of Lily Allen to listen to the chorus

2. "Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed In The Heart With The Moondagger By The King Of Darkness And His Ghost Is Writing This Song As A Warning To All Of Us" - Deastro; Yes, that is actually the full title of this song which completely steals a part from "Bros" by Panda Bear

3. "Fever" - The Cramps; old Eddie Cooley rockabilly song covered previously by Elvis Presley, Peggy Lee, and Madonna

4. "Help I'm Alive - Metric; all these years I've assumed they were the Yeah Yeah Yeah's on the radio; this chorus reminds me of "There She Goes" from the soundtrack for So I Married an Axe Murderer (hum along and see if I'm lying)

5. "I'd Rather Go Blind" - Beyoncé; Etta James cover that I downloaded over the original because it reminds me of Beyonce's (contrary to the rumor) good acting on Cadillac Records

6. "I Can't Be Satisfied" - Muddy Waters; I'd never actually heard him till I saw Cadillac Records

7. "In a Modern World" - Fischerspooner; for best results, play only after 9PM

8. "Light Through the Veins (David Holmes Remix)" - Jon Hopkins; if you liked the "random" synthesizer outro on Coldplay's "Death and All His Friends" (one of "My Top Twenty Songs of the Last Two Years"), here's the producer's full-lenghth version of that bit, remixed

9. "Officer" - Slightly Stoopid; Sublime followers and San Diego band I only recently sampled

10. "Rainwater Cassette Exchange" - Deerhunter; the most recent release from what I almost touted as "my newest favorite band" back on my 11/25/08 post

11. "Salvation Theme" - New Order; from the soundtrack of the same name, which I discovered the import CD for when I was figuring out my "Top 20" list for the band (see my 9/14/09 post)

12. "Snakes on the Ladder" - Handsome Furs; speaking of New Order, I discovered this band from their song "All We Want, Baby, Is Everything," which sounds just like New Order's "Temptation;" here they sound more like Beck

13. "Something Out of Nothing" - 311; like Weezer's vocals over Alice in Chains' guitars

14. "Stand Up" - The Prodigy; I read an interview where these guys said they're more interested in making people dance than in representing electronic music to the masses; that reminded me that the band's main producer, Liam Howlett, released an old school DJ set called The Dirtchamber Sessions, so they've probably felt that way since before breakbeat techno existed

15. "SuperChrist" - Smashing Pumpkins; a drum and guitar duet with strings appearing out of nowhere in the middle; it may seem sparse compared to their old stuff but it seems to work for The White Stripes

16. "There's No Secrets This Year" - Silversun Pickups; if you're looking for Siamese Dream-era Pumpkins, then look no further than this band

17. "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" - Burt Bacharach; I've seen Naked Eyes in concert (the group that covered this song and made it famous in the '80s), but I had no idea until now that the original was so good

18. "Try Again" - Deadmau5; collaborated with Kaskade on "Move For Me," one of the newest additions to my "Top 20 Songs of My Lifetime" list (see bottom right of this screen); I can't believe I missed this song when I was putting together my 10/21/08 "Drill'n'Bass" playlist

19. "The Way It Was (feat. Bionik)" - Aceyalone; this underground rapper wanted to bring more '50s doo wop and '60s girl group sounds into hip hop, so he made The Lonely Ones album; for some FAST rap, check his "On the 1"

20. "With a Little Dub from My Friends" - Easy Star All-Stars; my initial reaction was to dismiss a reggae tribute album to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, but apparently these guys have successfully covered Radiohead and Pink Floyd as well, so I guess anything's possible

OUT TODAY ON DVD: THE INTERNATIONAL