Why Does The Sun Shine? - Morning mix 01.02.09

It's a brand new year and it is time to start writing about something other than holiday music. Today we will kick it off with a good ole ipod playlist. It was a good variety of songs today.

But before getting into the song chit chat there are a few other items of business to take care of. The first is I wanted to thank everyone for all the comments and feedback this past year. 2008 was really special because of everything that happened on this blog. It has been even more rewarding than I ever could have imagined.

Secondly, I wanted to let everyone know that now that the holidays have past I have had a little extra time and I have filled it with more record digitizing. I haven't digitized a record since July, which is a pretty long time for me. I've banked a few more Christmas records for next year. Still lots to go on that front, though. Also I've done over 30 LP's for upcoming posts. I'm going to try my best to avoid copyright issues and so I've been trying to focus on the old and the obscure. I'm also trying to build up a catalog of actual LP's to post as apposed to singles. Don't worry I still have plenty of those already digitized and ready to go, so you'll still be seeing those spread out over the coming months. I've set a goal for myself to digitize 100 new LP's for the blog in the next few weeks so that I have a good arsenal of things to share with everyone this year. So if all goes well, this should be a great year.

Also I wanted to let everyone know that I had my first interview with a magazine called Copper Press. I didn't quite make the hard print, but I did make the online digital supplemental. For me that is pretty cool. And I got some of my photos published as well, which is also pretty cool. Check it out. It is a pretty cool magazine that focuses on arts and music.

This is the main page. http://www.copperpress.com/

And here is the link to the supplemental. My interview starts on page 8.
http://www.copperpress.com/new/suppdf/supp7.pdf

Okay, now to the music blabbering. Today's list was the following.

In Da Club (Radio Edit) - 50 Cent
King without a Crown - Matisyahu
RACE TO DIE - Life Sentence
Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - The Temptations
Life And Death - Michael Giacchino
An Oak Tree - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Strut - Sheena Easton
Word Up (12") - Cameo
Boys Don't Cry (New Voice Club Version) - The Cure
And I'm Aching - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Van Lear Rose - Loretta Lynn
Kitty Empire - Big Black
Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus
Rescue Me - Buckcherry
April Skies - The Jesus And Mary Chain
Una Vez Tuve Tu Amor - Los Idiotas
Surrender - Cheap Trick
Gravel Road - Clutch
On Bended Knee - Boyz II Men
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - Randy Kohrs, Richard Bailey, Tim Crouch, Jay Weaver, John Rembold
Why Does The Sun Shine (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas) - They Might Be Giants
Bleed On - Dwarves
Ave Mundi Spes Maria - The Benedictine Monks Of Santo Domingo De Silos
Stacye - The Reatards
This Wheel's On Fire - Siouxsie and the Banshees

First off I'd like to point out that this list shows that I really don't edit myself. How many people do you know that would publish a list with Dwarves along side "Achy Breaky Heart", but hey what can I say. The song is a guilty pleasure.

Don't know what what else to write about 50 Cent that hasn't been said a thousand times over, so I'll just say that In Da Club track from a few years ago may have gotten overplayed, but it is banging and it's nice to bust out everyone once in a while.

If you haven't checked out Matisyahu yet, please do. I love his album Youth from 2006. Matisyahu is an orthodox Jew who raps and sings reggea. His lyrics a great. Sophisticated and thought provoking. Spiritual and uplifting. Check him out on Youtube.

Race To Die is a great track from Life Sentence. I've written about this record before. Great hard core from the second half of the 80's out of Chicago. Read more about them here.

Riffing on that death theme is Life And Death from the "Lost" soundtrack. This is a beautiful theme that comes back again and again on that show for the real emotional moments. I can't listen to it enough. I can't watch that show enough. While I'm on the subject I just wanted to say to Lost fans out there that I've been lucky enough to get some sneak peaks at some episodes for the upcoming season and I just have to say it is going to be awesome. Mind blowing greatness.

Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly is one of my new favorite bands. I kind of discovered them this past fall and I'm really digging on them. This track is from their album The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager and has elements that remind me of some of the jazzy Minutemen tracks on Double Nickels on The Dime.

I've also written about Cameo before here on the blog. Today when I was listening to the track I noticed this sound effect that sounds kind of like one of those droplet sound effects on your computer. If you haven't listened to the 12" mix in a while, give it a spin and pay attention about a minute in. It kind of cracks me up.

The Boys Don't Cry track is from a two record set from 2007 of rare Cure tracks. Look for it in record stores. There are some great mixes on there.

Okay, now I'm just taking too long at this. I need to skip down the list. April Skies, awesome track. Been totally grooving on early JAMC the past few months. April Skies is from Darklands. Cheap Trick, always great. Gravel Road from Clutch's 2005 record is the best thing on there. Delta Bluesy with some rock and roll punch. On Bended Knee, one of the better Boyz II Men tracks from their classic record Boyz II Men II.

Great, now I'm getting to the end. I have to just say that this They Might be Giants track is great. Back in the day I bought the soundtrack to Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego just for this track. I was very excited a few years ago when I picked up an educational record only to discover that it had the original version of this song. And the good news to you at home is that I've finally digitized that record and it will make an appearance here in the coming weeks of months. It is a fun kids record about space.

Bleed On by Dwarves is from a split 7" that will also be coming up in the future. I'm torn about whether I should post the cover to the record. If you're curious to know what that is I'm sure you can do a google search and find it.

Lastly I think I'll point out Stayce by The Reatards, which is essentially early Jay Reatard. Much of Jay's early work is wild and out of control. Some may even say juvenile. This song, Stacye, I think points to some of the catchy song craft in Jay's future. Simply a classic song.


Itunes wasn't so good this time around with the iMix. Only 7 of the tracks showed up, but here they are anyway.