Heavy Rotation: Bruce Springsteen, Nirvana, The Beatles, and more!

The Birthday Party, "Cry"
It's my birthday on Saturday! To celebrate, I'm going the way obvs route and putting a song by the Birthday Party (har har) as one of my HR contributions this week. Luckily the Birthday Party kick would kick major ass no matter what, even if it wasn't my birthday. But it is, and I can't think of a better present than Nick Cave. (Kat)

Nirvana, "Scoff"
I actually don't like having parties for myself, but if I did, my favorite moment would be when someone takes over the iPod at 3am and plays this song and everyone sings "GIMME BACK MY ALCOHOL, GIMME BACK MY GIMME BACK MY GIMME BAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" real, real loud. Life may be the melody, but love is the volume. You don't get to be my age without learning a thing or two. (Kat)

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, "Growin' Up" & "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?"

It's really brilliant of me to have accidentally grabbed my copy of Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. before heading out for a rush-hour ride to Malibu a few months ago - otherwise it might never've become my Summer 2009 Signature Record, and I might never've written my mini-magnum-opus on the best bedroom-dancing song ever sung*, and life in general would be about 37 times less beautiful. The song that got me in the summertime way on that springtime eve was "Growin' Up," which starts with piano that's the exact sonic equivalent of golden/orangey sunshine just before dusk on a fantastically cloudless day. The guitar on "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" sounds like orangey pre-dusk sunshine too; it's jangly in a way that post-GFAPNJ Bruce is hardly ever jangly. That jangliness is probably what's sold me on GFAPNJ in its entirety - that, and the fact that Bruce is so "cosmically surfeiting is his words," as Lester Bangs wrote in his way exciting review of the record. (Lester also compares the album's "passel o' verbiage" to that of "Along Comes Mary," which is neat, since I've been listening to that song nonstop ever since LJ jukeboxed it last month.) But yeah, words. I love words; I love it when there's lots of them all smooshed together in a near-chaotic and goosebump-giving kind of way. One of my favorite lyrics on the album is the part from "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" that goes: "And Mary Lou she found out how to cope, she rides to heaven on a gyroscope." And then when The Daily News asks Mary Lou for the dope, she says: "Man, the dope's that there's still hope." Mary Lou and I totally get each other, I'm pretty sure. I also get Bruce - more than ever before, maybe - when he sings "I hid in the clouded warmth of the crowd, but when they said, 'Calm down,' I threw up" in the middle of "Growin' Up."** One time a few years ago, I liked a boy so much that I threw up upon unexpectedly running into him in a bar. Seriously. And apparently Bruce also throws up when he's trying to be calm, so that's cool. Me and Bruce Springsteen: basically exactly the same as Stan from South Park whenever Wendy Testaburger tries to kiss him. That's so great. (Liz)

* Actually, I got the idea for my mini-magnum-opus when my 17-year-old sister turned to me and asked, "Don't you love that song 'Spirit in the Night'?" in the car on the way to the airport earlier this month. Let's give credit where credit is due.

** Actually, the lyric is "When they said 'come down,' I threw up," I just found out. Sorry, Internet.

*** Actually, even though I'm the only nogoodforme.com member not celebrating a birthday this week, I'd like yall to know that Saturday's my half-birthday - and there's really no better way to honor that than to share with you a couple songs by a dude I've known just as long as all the dudes I'm related to. (Spiritually, I mean. Bruce and I know each other spiritually.)

"Growin' Up"

"Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?"

The Beatles, "Junk"

While struck the highest morning of June 25th, 2009, I attained inner peace. I am now a complete compleat person. Inner peace feels exactly like how it sounds when Paul McCartney pronounces the word "junk" as "joonk" in "Junk" by the Beatles; that is to say, delicious. Speaking of literal "junk," there is presently a garbage strike taking place in Toronto, Ontario, which is so horrific that there is nothing to do but laugh. (Laura Jane)

Curt Boettcher, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds"

At first, I thought, "Only one thing is the sky: The Sky," before realizing that there is no sky, only the Universe. That Universe contains so many things: one of them is tumbleweeds, another is "songs about tumbleweeds." This song is a magnificent Magnum Opus; if this shit doesn't blow your mind, your sorry mind is unblowable. If you want to find me this summer, I'll be stoned on my patio at three in the afternoon, listening to it, drifting along, with the tumbling tumbleweeds. (Laura Jane)

Heavy Rotation: The Horrors, The Hobbits, The White Stripes, and more!

The Horrors, "Scarlet Fields"

I kind of wrote off the Horrors as part of that whole electroclash bullcrap from a few years ago, although I thought their Chris Cunningham-directed vid for "Sheena Was a Parasite" was frightfully, awesomely wicked and riveting. I just assumed they were fashion before passion, an attitude which I'm amused by but easily forget about after about a week. But their latest record Primary Colours came out, and like a lot of other people, I was super-floored by how rich, beautiful and amazing it is. It is full of epic shoegaze-y sound, expansive emotion and song structure to match, drugtastic mood and a sheen of dark glamour that warms the cockles of this Goth heart. This is not tame pop music -- this is big in every way, with a genuine artistic ambition and a kind of emotional decadence that is way more Symbolist than the stupidity that passes for decadence these days. If you loved the great British rock bands of the late 80s and early 90s, if you ever loved Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Ride, Chapterhouse, early Verve, Swervedriver, Slowdive, all of that: THIS WHOLE RECORD IS SO UP YOUR ALLEY AND YOU NEED TO EMAIL ME TO LET ME KNOW YOU EXIST SO I CAN LOVE YOU FROM AFAR. (Kat)

Peter Murphy, "Cuts You Up"

Speaking of Peter Murphy, this song always makes me think of eighth grade biology class and sitting with my friends writing Cure lyrics on our folders instead of learning about progesterone or frog innards or whatever. It was in eighth grade bio where the coolest girl in my junior high dubbed me a tape of Peter Murphy's solo record Deep, from which "Cuts You Up" comes from. I'm ashamed to say that I got into Peter Murphy before I discovered he used to sing in a band called Bauhaus, but cut me some slack, dudes -- I was only 12. We all have to begin somewhere. (Kat)

Radiohead, "Nobody Does It Better" (Live)

I think it's a grand idea to set the last dance at your wedding reception to a song that's ostensibly sweet but actually totally dirty. I've just got the track for that, and I'm not going to tell you what it is, but the runner-up would definitely be this Radiohead cover of the theme to The Spy Who Loved Me. Thom Yorke does a halfway decent Carly Simon; it's probably the only time Radiohead's ever given me the chills. (Liz)

The White Stripes, "Party of Special Things to Do"

You know how some weddings have an after-party, a superchill friends-and-cool-family-members-only kinda hang that's about 87 times more party than the actual reception? I want my wedding to have not only an after-party, but an after-after-party. And at the after-after-after-party, we'll probably just play The White Stripes' cover of "Party of Special Things to Do" by Captain Beefheart over and over and try to dance on the couch, which never works cuz you usually just sink into the cushions or fall over onto the floor. So Much Fun! (Liz)

The Hobbits, "Daffodil Days"

What a terrible song this is. Songs so staggeringly embarrassing as this one really help debunk the myth that everything was perfect in the 1960s, which is a myth worth debunking indeed. Remembering that the 1960s weren't just a perfect John Lennon Utopia helps me navigate my way through trashy Two Thousand "The Shittiest Year Yet!" And Nine with a bit less of a grudge. The hilarious thing about "Daffodil Days" is that it is on an LP called Down to Middle Earth (COOL, HUH!?!?!) that is very rare and kind of pricey. Therefore, Dudes Who Care About Rekkids project value onto the music of the Hobbits, and actually bother sitting around listening to this garbage. Actions so embarrassing as that one really help debunk the myth that 99% of dudes aren't idiots 99% of the time, which is a myth worth debunking indeed. (Laura Jane)

Lee Mallory, "The Love Song"

I am a really big fan of empty, unromantic love songs. This one is particularly cool to me because the title positions it as being the love song: the Ultimate. Thought Lee Mallory, once, maybe: "You did it, Lee (Mallory)! You wrote the superlative love song! There has never been, and never will be, a love song that is more of a love song than this song! I shall call it, 'The Love Song.'" Poor, dumb Lee Mallory. If I were ever to actually fall in love, the last song I would ever want to listen to as an expression of my bliss would be "The Love Song" by Lee Mallory. So there is one good thing about not being in love- I listen to "The Love Song" by Lee Mallory every day! It's great listening for when you are walking down the street, not thinking about love at all. (Laura Jane)

Heavy Rotation: The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Black Flag, Del Shannon, and more!

The Phenomenal Handclap Band, "Testimony"

Straight outta Brooklyn, the Phenomenal Handclap Band are a mix between a collective and a supergroup. Started by two NYC DJ dudes who know a bunch of with-it people in bands you may have heard of, they got their groovy friends to play on songs that combines psych, prog, electro, disco and 60s-type soul in a surprisingly smooth, cohesive and totally danceable way. Their record just came out and I can already tell it's going to be my summer soundtrack to a ridiculous degree. There are about 55 flavors of groove and this record has about 23 of them, probably because there are about 31 people contributing from bands as varied as L'Trimm, TV on the Radio, Calla, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Dap-Kings, Antibalas and about 17 more others. (Um, all numbers are arbitrary, of course.) This track features the hot dude from Calla on vocals and a hot dude from TV on the Radio and is pretty much the most makeout-friendly one on the record. We're all about nontraditional hotness at nogoodforme, but this is hot in a "hotness is hotness is hotness" kind of way. This song is built for sexiness, and if this doesn't incinerate your knickers, there's no way I can help you in life and you need to get your loins checked. (Kat)

The Elcados, "Ku Mi Da Hankan"

I don't know what was in the water in 1970s Nigeria, but it must have been incredibly awesome, judging from all the amazing compilations documenting the music scene back then and there. Combining the tropes of 60s rock with Afrobeat and highlife? I can't think of anything better, outside of the second coming of Biggie Smalls and a hot dude appearing on my doorstep with a huge bag of cash for me to make movies with. (Dude, I'm waiting.) A few weeks ago I picked up Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-Rock & Fuzz Funk in 1970s Nigeria and it pretty much rocks. This is the crown jewel of the compilation; I love how it begins all lilting and laidback and then gets all psych-y and rock-y about two minutes in. The other tracks are all pretty fantastic as well, and it's worth getting the actual CD for the extensive liner notes. Perfect party starter right here, dudes. (Kat)

Debbie Harry, "French Kissin' in the USA"

This song's about the best thing there is to do in summertime, apart from river-tubing. (Liz)

Black Flag, "Wasted"

After river-tubing and French-kissing in the United States of America, the next best thing to do in summertime is get wasted. (In truth: I actually never get wasted, as I find severely unsober people to be completely hideous - though I do like to hit the halfway-wasted mark every now and again.) "Wasted" was the first song I heard in 2009; some band I never caught the name of played an okay cover right after midnight at Death By Audio's New Year's party. Now we're more than five months into 2009 and I've come so far since that night: today the lyrics "I was a surfer" and "I had a skateboard" BOTH apply to me, whereas before it was just the latter. Another great thing about this song is that sometimes I see Keith Morris walking past Tang's Donuts and I think, "Hi. You sang 'Wasted.' That is cool." (Liz)

Del Shannon, "Gemini"

It's Gemini season! This time of year is awesome for me because everyone in my life is a Gemini, so I always have fun stuff to do- every weekend is a BFF B-Day Fest! Gems are attracted to me because, as I have alluded to on nogoodforme.com before, I have a gift for Geminis. This is because I am a Cancemini, so, even though I'm not one of them, I get it. Geminis dig Laura Jane because I have a special, magic gift for keeping their creepy Gemini Others at bay. It's my Cancerian maternal instinct- I take good care of them. Even though they are all crazy obliv to their crazy other halves, on some subconcious level they know that sometimes they turn weird and life sucks, so having me around is a real asset; it's not gonna happen. In other news, The Further Adventures of Charles Westover is a fantabulous lite-psych lost classic, and "Gemini" is an easy, breezy, groovy love song dedicated to everybody's favourite astrological Jekyll and Hydes. On my end, this song is dedicated to Trevor, Jenn, Lexy, Katie Rose, and LFG, the greatest Gem gems a girl could ever ask for. (Laura Jane)

Paul McCartney & Wings, "Big Barn Bed"

Out of all the past lives I have lived so far, my favorite is definitely the one I lived twelve lives ago, between 1902 and 1953. I was Becky, in Kansas, on the dairy farm. My Daddy was rich, and my Mama was good-lookin'. So was I. I wore my sun-bleached yellow hair in two plaits, smelled of Talcum powder, and tied a lacy little apron over my cornflower-blue gingham frock. My pony was a Palomino named Astrid Mildred. I will never forget that one fateful summer of 1922, when I had a sexy, scandalous affair with Joe- our bulky, illiterate farmhand. He had one grey eye and one hazel, and a delicate palmful of freckles sprinkled atop his Roman nose. It was such trouble hiding the whole tryst from Pop; we lived for the weekends when he'd take the Model T to Topeka to visit his kin. Joe and I would make moonlit love upon bales of hay, then stay up 'til sunrise eating corn-pone and blackberry jam in the barn. I will never listen to "Big Barn Bed" by Paul McCartney & Wings without recalling that summer, my last before Dr. Conrad Willoughby III of Wichita made an honest woman outta me. (Laura Jane)

Heavy Rotation: Best Party Jams, i.e. Throwin' Down In Yo Face, GOOP

Man, Gwyneth, we are trying hard to be on your side, but now that you're all GOOP and stuff, you make it really hard for us sometimes! While we appreciate her good intentions and spirit of largesse, sometimes we are collectively undone by a sometimes lethal combination of cluelessness and preening ego that pops up in GOOP on a semi-regular basis. Not that we don't have our moments of cluelessness and massive ego, of course, but we knew once we saw her Party Jams newsletter that we could do better, because one thing we do know collectively is music. Not that hers is a bad list -- it's just super-predictable and no different from what you'd hear from generic lounge in any major North American city. Instead, just in time for summer, we are kicking it with our idiosyncratic take on party jams and dance floor anthems.

DJ Godfather, "Playa Haters in Dis House"

The temptation in proving you can throw down better than a bunch of peeps associated with a quasi-A-list actress's blog is to go the ultra-obscuro hipster route in terms of the music. But I'm of the opinion that all you get with that strategy is a bunch of rich people in asymmetrical haircuts standing around looking stupid and dancing stupid as well. (Which is kind of what I imagine a Gwyneth Paltrow dance party would look like, actually, minus the haircuts.) The truth on God's green earth is that the best party music is made and embraced by poor people marginalized by mainstream jerkfaces well before it gets co-opted by those selfsame jerkfaces, who steal the music and make millions off of it without ever giving credit or, God forbid, sharing the wealth among the originators. Being poor and marginalized as far as urban metropolises go, it was inevitable that a city like Detroit made ghettotech, which is probably the fourth best genre of music to shake your tail feather to (after hip-hop, reggaeton, and Miami freestyle.) I wanted to put something up by DJ Assault, but most of his songs have lyrics that are so comically dirty and referring to both male and female anatomical parts that you can't even take them seriously. Instead, you get "Playa Haters in Dis House," which is so ridiculously fast and bouncy that there is no way anyone can look too cool dancing to it. Those who lived in San Francisco circa 2001-2 will know this as a mainstay of the now-legendary "Booty Bassment" party at the Whistle Stop, where you'd walk in to a room that was jumpin' and walk out a few hours later completely drenched in beer and sweat from dancing non-stop. Now that was a jam. (Kat)

Frankie J, "Obsession (No Es Amor) [Reggaeton Mix]"

Anyone who knows me well knows in Real Life knows that the music I really get down to is hip-hop and reggaeton. Living uptown in NYC usually elicits these slightly pathetic reactions from people, like, "You're by nothing!" Yeah, whatever -- I'm near the best Senegalese and soul food in the city, not to mention the best reggaeton clubs, so go back to your overpriced fake hunting club bistros and taxidermy bars, jerkface. While everyone knows even just a bit of hip-hop, reggaeton's a whole different creature, which is kind of a cool thing among closet reggaeton fans -- it's like speaking a secret language with people who end up being the best dancers ever. (Including, ahem, the best straight male dancers you will ever see. Seriously, it's so ridiculous how awesome these dudes dance.) Frankie J's not a strict reggaeton artist, per se; he's a Latin hip-hop dude, and his version of "Obsession" was a huge crossover hit, spawning kind of a mini-industry of remixes. Here, it blends the track's trademark ultra-romantic croon with a classic reggaeton rhythm, and it's pretty much a guarantee that your dancefloor honey for the night might bachata with you in a super-awesome way. (By the way, if you are kind of interested in delving deeper into reggaeton, the best compilation is The Beginning: Hip Hop and Reggaeton Classics, which is a great cross-section of different styles.) (Kat)

Pretty Poison, "Catch Me I'm Falling"

As a former club kid in the late 90s, I'm pretty much holding down the fort for the get-down-way-dirty-on-the-dance-floor party people on nogoodforme.com, and the big debate for my last contribution to this installment of Heavy Rotation was whether I was going to do a hip-hop track or a freestyle one. I ended up going with freestyle 'cause I think it's kind of more femme-y and therefore underappreciated (as so many girlcentric/gaycentric/people of colorcentric things are, of course.) Jon Cryer aficionadas might recognize this song from his 1987 film Hiding Out. (Are there any Jon Cryer aficionadas? Or am I just making that up?) It's kind of an archetypal freestyle track: soulful diva vocal, Latin-influenced rhythm and that shiny-sheeny production style so prevalent in the 80s. The high irony is that Pretty Poison were apparently from Philadelphia; this was their only major hit. (I remember the singer's name was Jade Starling, which I thought was such a great name as a pre-teen.) It definitely hits that 80s/nostalgia/pure dance adrenaline spot; I think the only song that could top this would be Company B's "Fascinated," but I already posted that in the very first real Heavy Rotation. See, friends -- circle of life, happening right here. (Kat)

Kim Fowley, "Motorboat"

A couple months ago I took this photo of Kim Fowley and posted it on Facebook with the caption "Kim Fowley Being Evil," and then Cathy left a comment saying: "I think that's redundant since he just IS." Which is so true; Kim Fowley is so evil. But "Motorboat" is a daffy little gem, and I'm stoked that the DJs at The Smell last Friday played it just before Chain and The Gang took the stage, cuz otherwise I might never've been reminded of the song's existence. Besides, it's good to soak up a little evil every now and then. You know who else is pretty evil? SATAN. And we at nogoodforme.com are just crazy for Satan. SATAN = PARTY. (Liz)

24K, "Don't Go There"

I'd forgotten all about this one till it turned up in a Pot Psychology episode a while back, so thank heavens for Pot Psychology. "Don't Go There" wins cuz there's probably no other song in the world that's so aggressively danceable and outrageously feminist at the same time - except maybe for some electroclash track I've never heard, cuz I'm square about electroclash. And right now I kinda wish it were always 1995 just so "Don't Go There" could be on the radio all the time again. MOUTHING OFF AGAINST SEXIST DUDES = PARTY. (Liz)

Tammy and The Amps, "Tipp City"

Actually, the band's just called The Amps; for some reason Kim Deal got rid of the "Tammy and" part before she put out The Amps' one and only record. (A mega mistake if you ask me, but you didn't, so never mind.) By the way, my number-one runner-up for the "frantic party jam" slot ultimately filled by "Tipp City" was The Who's "Doctor Doctor," whose medical imagery I'm really feeling right now, given my recent scoliosis diagnosis. Cuz you know what they say: SCOLIOSIS = PARTY. (Liz)

The Association, "Along Comes Mary"

"Along Comes Mary" is a song about punch. I like punch. I like the overly-sweet, carbonated kind of punch. When I was a little kid growing up in Canada there was a drink on the market called Tahiti Treat, which I was only allowed to drink once a week, after gymnastics class, because it would rot my teeth. I looked so forward to it. I hope the punch "Along Comes Mary" is talking about is Tahiti Treat, because it sounds like the exact sonic equivalent of the taste of Tahiti Treat. I can only hope the same is true of "Cups and Punches" by the Fiery Furnaces. "Along Comes Mary" is not just punch-y. It's also punchy. (LJ)

The Smoke, "High in a Room"

My kind of party is the kind of party where you get high in a room. I bet Gwyneth Paltrow disagrees with me on this point. Okay, an hour just passed. I have spent it sitting here, erasing and re-typing the sentence "Because she is a Normie," but I really can't figure out if Gwyneth Paltrow is a Normie or not, and I feel paralyzed by it, like I'll never be able to do anything again until I figure it out. The guitar part of this song is squiggly and carbonated, just like punch. I think what I am really realizing right now is that I Love Punch, and I need to drink more of it, starting this weekend. I need to drink lots of punch and get high in a room, and then maybe I will figure out if Gwyneth is a Normie or not. (LJ)

December's Children, "Backwards & Forwards"

If this song don't make you wanna move, I hope for your sake that you're a lover, because you certainly ain't no dancer! Something I consider particularly fucked up about human history is that, in the 1960s, everything was perfect. The world got it. And then the world abandoned their "getting of it," in the name of the 1970s, which is a fine decade, but it must have been a harsh drag to live in it post-60s This song is utterly irrelevant and un-famous, even though it is more danceworthy than every single Lady Gaga song combined. Gwyneth Paltrow would definitely disagree with me on that matter, which is proof that GOOP sucks, nogoodforme rules, and Gwyneth is a Normie. There! I figured it out! It is now time for me to go live, and drink punch, at eleven in the morning on a Thursday. THAT'S HOW HARD I PARTY. (LJ)

Heavy Rotation: Your Ultimate Satanic Mixtape

Os Mutantes, "Ave Lucifer"

I always love Satan, but I especially love Satan when he is referred to as "Lucifer." Lucifer is the most beautiful name. If I ever have a son, I will name him Jude, and if I have another son, I will name him Kid, but if I have a third son, I will name him Lucifer. Wait- BRAINWAVE! I'll name my daughter Lucifer! I can call her "Lucy" for short; how hellishly adorable! (LJ)

The Beach Boys, "Little Bird"

This song has such a sick, sexy groove to it. It makes me wanna shoulder-roll. It's groovy. "Little Bird" by the Beach Boys makes me realize that, if you are in the Satanic frame of mind, every song has the potential to be a devil-worshipping anthem. "Little Bird" is my love song to the devil. The devil is a hot, spicy pervert, and I want to junior high-style slow dance to this song with him at our wedding. This Denny Wilson Beach Boys song is dedicated to Elizabeth Barker of nogoodforme.com, who recently asked the Universe if surfing will turn her into a Satanist. All I can say is: I sure hope so!

PS: Exactly 50 seconds into "Little Bird," Dennis Wilson's voice does a scratchy cracky thing that is as hot as ten Satans put together. It makes me want to go on a Surfin' Safari heading straight to Hell (with Dennis Wilson). (LJ)

Dennis Wilson, "Schoolgirl"

Is "Schoolgirl" the creepiest song in the world, or the sweetest? Is it skeezier than when Mick Jagger sings about doing it with 15-year-olds, or not skeezy at all? Isn't it weird that, real soon after I posted that "Surfing with Satan" post the other day, some publicist emailed me about this unreleased Dennis Wilson song? Or is that the most not-weird thing you've ever heard in your life? Why did it take me so long to ever listen to "Schoolgirl," when apparently I downloaded it from Buddyhead 363 days ago? Does "363" sound sorta like a satanic number, or is that just me? What happens when you call that phone number that Spencer Pratt keeps posting on Twitter? And what's for lunch??? (Liz)

Mika Miko, "Turkey Sandwich"

You know what I wish was for lunch? A TURKEY SANDWICH. Way interestingly, Dennis Wilson's last meal was a turkey sandwich, according to the amazing website FindaDeath.com. Even more interestingly, Liz Barker always want to eat turkey sandwiches after surfing (preferably with avocado, from Subway). Also, this song is from Mika Miko's brand-new record, which has the best cover I've seen in 666 years. (Liz)

The Gift, "Drugs"

If you're going to name your song "Drugs," it damn well better be awesome. Luckily, this song simply rocks in the purest sense of the word. It's a topsy-turvy, crazy-floppy gem lost to the winds of time, happily resurrected on the Diggers' Delight compilation, featuring other trippy international psych-rock gems from the early 1970s. (If you think psych is crazy, wait till you hear the Argentinians do it.) I guess the Gift are German, which may explain the deliberate yet nutso nature of this song. Listen to it -- it will kind of make your day. (Kat)

Yonlu, "I Know What It's Like"

I'm so obsessed with Yonlu's record, I blipped this on my Twitter a few days ago. (God, what kind of 21st century sentence was that?) But I'm doing it here because the record is kind of perfect for that springtime sweet spot, plus I'm drinking a lychee bubble tea drink and listening to his record and it really is perfect. Yonlu was truly like a Brazilian Elliott Smith, only with more experimental tendencies; others like to say Nick Drake meets Caetano Veloso. He was a melancholy dude who committed suicide recently at the age of 16, which is super-sad because it's clear that he was just beginning to find his way as a musician out of those comparisons. He left behind some beautiful songs, though: check out his record, A Society In Which No Tear is Shed is Inconceivably Mediocre. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Alex Chilton, Jaguar Love, Sunn O)))

Alex Chilton, "Bangkok"

Like a sex offender, this song is both sexy and offensive (or, as I like to call it, "the best of both worlds"). "Bangkok" makes me momentarily forget how dweeby-looking Alex Chilton is in real life; I picture the dude singing this song as being a cross between Sawyer from LOST, Ian Svenonius and Merzbow. A compelling Alex Chilton factoid you must be dying to know is that he shares a birthday with both Seth Meyers and Elizabeth Barker! Live and learn, my babies, live and learn. Last but not least, the part where he goes "Mar-ga-ret Trudeau/Jackie O" makes me want to commit suicide and kill people because it's SO FUCKING HOT. In the words of Emeril Lagasse: BAM! (LJ)

Jaguar Love, "Bats Over the Pacific Ocean"

ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH, this song is so good! Jaguar Love is Johnny from the Blood Brothers (who mean a lot to me) and some dude from Pretty Girls Make Graves (who mean nothing to me); I maybe never would've known about them if it weren't for Fluxblog, who you might want to buy a t-shirt from, even though he was a big jerk about No Age. If I ever made mix CDs anymore, "Bats Over the Pacific Ocean" would be track 3 on every last one of them. It hurts as good as it heals. (Liz)

The Blood Brothers, "?????"

If I'd been born 10 years later, there's a 93 percent chance that the Blood Brothers would be my favorite band in the world. Instead they're like my 47th favorite band, which is still pretty awesome and I hope they feel really honored. "?????" isn't actually the title of this song; I have no idea what it's called. And I can't find out by Googling the lyrics, 'cause they're all just the same six lines from another Blood Brothers track ("Celebrator") repeated ad infinitum over acoustic guitar. Life is so mysterious sometimes! (Liz)

Metric, "Sick Muse"

I mentioned this earlier on my Twitter, but I am really into the new Metric album, Fantasies. It's a really great spring/summer modern pop record -- it's bouncy, but it has enough bite to keep things interesting by way of super-elastic beats and satisfyingly sharp guitars that are post-punkish but still dance-y enough to have a good time. Sometimes I wonder if Emily Haines ever lies in bed at night and feels like she missed her epoch because she's kind of the natural successor to Kim Deal, Kim Gordon and Liz Phair all rolled into one glorious product of the alterna-nineties: detached, wry, sharp-eyed and too smart to rely solely on her obvious hotness. I once saw her at a bar in NYC and she had a super-cool "I'm a smart, foxy tomboy" vibe going. I got to listen to a bunch of dudes the next table over debate whether or not it was her, and then they debated some more on whether or not they should go up and say something semi-lame to her. It was like listening to the Three Stooges crammed into the bodies of a bunch of skinny white dudes with glasses; no wonder courtship is dead. By the time they got their act together, she was out the door. Emily's so cool that she waits for no dude, friends, and neither should you. (Kat)

The Status Quo, "Black Fields of Melancholy"

Sometimes I wish that I was in charge of Kanye West's entire life. If I were Kanye West's "existence guru," I would tell him to do all the things he's too stupid to do on his own, such as a) wear hella Dior Homme, b) mention nogoodforme.com in more magazine interviews, and c) use this song's introductory guitar lick as the sample driving his next #1 hit single. Seriously, World! Can you imagine how catchy of a bubblegum rap anthem that would be? Since I am such a famous, relevant person, hopefully my writing of this blurb will now inspire legions of rappers to explore the multitudinous possibilities of 60's psych. I have held this opinion since at least 2004, and it feels good to finally get it off my chest. Another point about "Black Fields of Melancholy" is that it always breaks my heart like an effin' china teacup when I play it for losers and they think it's "Pictures of Matchstick Men." I'm not kidding- that sounds like a snide comment, but it actually makes me really sad. (LJ)

Sunn O))), "Sin Nanna"

Although this is relatively tame for Sunn O))), I feel almost bad putting this on here. But then again -- what other fashion blog would ever put a relentlessly doom-y drone metal band on their jukebox? This band can be ridiculously pretentious, but they can also be so sick and awesome and complex and surprising, using elements of drone, psychedelia, and ambient in their music and pretty much blowing away the mistaken assumption of metal as an aesthetically conservative backwater. Jim Jarmusch used some Sunn O))) songs on the soundtrack of his latest film, the really cryptic-yet-crammed-with-hot-people The Limits of Control, and finally I got a sense of how genuinely cinematic they can be. (Jarmusch also used songs by Boris, Earth and the Black Angels, which makes him the most musically with-it filmmaker on earth, I think.) Sunn O))) also subtitled a Metallica cover they did as "I Dream of Lars Ulrich Being Thrown Through the Bus Window Instead of My Master Mystikall Kliff Burton." I don't know why, that makes me laugh so hard, probably 'cause I think Lars Ulrich is such a tool. Go see Sunn O))) live and watch your ears melt with the noise. Apparently in terms of live volume they make My Bloody Valentine sound like a bunch of babies. (Kat)

Sunn O))) needs Rick Owens in their life, don't you think?

Heavy Rotation: The Fly Girlz, Spencer Davis Group, Matthew Friedberger, and more!

The Fly Girlz, "Born 2 B Fly"

I wrote about their record earlier, so anything semi-smart that I could come up to say is all there. But I seriously think these girls have pretty much the most sassy attitude ever. It doesn't matter how arty-farty the producer wants to make them sound -- their whole posi-cool attitude shines through even the most paranoid, effed-up keyboard part ever. It's the most perfect combination of innocence, street smarts and effervescence, which is something I think we can all get behind, right? (Kat)

Lady Gaga, "Paparazzi"

I don't really have a handle on Lady Gaga as a pop culture figure. I don't know if whether or not Lady Gaga is kind of lame, kind of cool, a Gwen Stefani ripoff, or whatever. I can't tell if she's 21 or 30, and I can't figure out why she can't ever seem to wear pants. (I also can't understand who put out a memo saying it's okay to wear just a leotard in public, but perhaps I'm revealing my old-fashioned nature here.) Whenever this song pops up on my headphones, though, it makes me incredibly happy and I just want to skip down the sidewalk. It has a kind of Blondie cotton-candy feel with a perfectly dreamy chorus straight out of the girl group handbook, and I love how the track's able to take the most cynical, celeb-centric institution of our current time and turn it a symbol of devotion in this gloriously dippy love song. (Kat)

Juliana Hatfield, "Swan Song"

What I'm not looking for in life is a dude who tries to work some kinda half-assed Spencer Pratt Mind Tricks on you, grossly oblivious to the fact that you are not Heidi Montag, you're totally Justin Bobby! Plus this is one of the most perfect hate songs ever written, and not just because it faux-plagiarizes Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice." It's probably about the record industry and not about boys, but I can't say I actually care. (Liz)

Spencer Davis Group, "I'm a Man"

What I am looking for in life is a dude who gets this song so completely, he doesn't even know there's anything to "get." Those exist. (Liz)

Matthew Friedberger, "Ruth vs. Rachel"

I have not been doing a good enough job of promoting Matthew "The Hugest Genius of All Time" Friedberger on this blog lately, and I feel absolutely terrible about it. Limiting out-of-context Matthew Friedberger references to once every couple of weeks is simply unacceptable unbehavior on my end. I should be posting about Matthew Friedberger on a daily, if not twice-daily, basis; such is my lot in life. Today, I am rectifying my recent failures by providing y'all with a double dose of hot Friedberger action. "Ruth vs. Rachel" is one of the sweetest songs on all Winter Women. It seriously makes no sense to me why I am the only person in the world smart enough to understand that Winter Women is the greatest non-Beatles album of all-time. It's fucking brilliant. I like it way better than Holy Ghost Language School. (LJ)

Matthew Friedberger, "Do You Like Blondes?"

What rollicking good fun "Do You Like Blondes?" by Matthew Friedberger is! It sure is one head-nodder of a toe-tapper of a pop song. For the most part, I can't differentiate between all the tracks on Holy Ghost Language School by Matthew Friedberger. This is because I so deeply respect Matthew Friedberger's artistic vision, and, ergo, listen to HGLS exclusively as a cohesive whole. "Do You Like Blondes?" always stands out, however, because Matthew Friedberger's song-character responds to the question "Do You Like Blondes?" with the lyric "No/Could be," thus validating the deepest depths of my self-identification as Ultimate Brunette to a degree I never thought possible before Friedberger entered the equation. Holy Ghost Language School is amazing. I like it way better than Winter Women. (LJ)

Heavy Rotation: Dream Prom Themes By Galaxie 500, Plastic Bertrand, Ringo Starr + More

Depeche Mode, "Waiting for the Night"

Ha! Depeche Mode! I knew I'd get them in here at some point! I seriously actually suggested this as a prom theme in high school. (I was a very "involved" total superachiever back in the day and did nearly everything at my school.) Of course, everyone laughed; even back then I was waving the banner of darkness high. I still think this is a really great, spooky nocturnal kind of song, perfect for a perversely Goth prom. (P.S. the prom committee picked "One Moment in Time" by Whitney Houston. That can't even be redeemed by irony.) (Kat)

Galaxie 500, "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste"

I decided I'm totally going to turn my "'Jules et Jim' Go to the Prom" idea into my next screenplay. When I direct it for Fox Searchlight, it's going to star Krysten Ritter and two dudes who I haven't determined. (Suggestions, anyone?) This is totally going to be the end credits song, just because I always wanted to put Galaxie 500 in a teen movie. This of course is a cover of the Jonathan Richman song, and the song and the performance are both glorious. Its sentiment = beautifully ironic. The whole idea of youth is to effin' waste it! (Kat)

Plastic Bertrand, "Ca Plane Pour Moi"

My two real-life prom themes were "These Are Days" by 10,000 Maniacs and "No Woman, No Cry" by Bob Marley, both fantastically horrible choices because (a) you can't dance to them and (b) prom reeeeeally isn't that meaningful. Far better to pick something wicked danceable and totally meaningless, and boy does "Ca Plane Pour Moi" fit the bill! According to Wikipedia, the second verse can be roughly translated as: Allez-oop! One morning a darling came to my home, a cellophane puppet with Chinese hair, a plaster, a hangover, drank my beer in a large rubber glass, Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!, like an Indian in his igloo! Totally genius/stupid, and the song perfectly fits with my dream prom's new wave theme. Plus, you could say, "My prom theme is the song that plays in the scene in European Vacation where the Griswalds are going through all the art museums in fast motion." Everybody loves a good European Vacation reference. (Liz)

The Ramones, "I Believe in Miracles"

But if you simply must inject a little meaning into your prom theme, it's probably best to just go with something super-sweet and achingly anthemic like "I Believe in Miracles." If I were a Reagan-era teenage outcast, me and my Hollywood High punk-rock boyfriend would so seize the dancefloor on this one, and then we'd blow up the school or something. (Liz)

Ringo Starr, "I'm the Greatest"

A surefire way to tell if a given nogoodforme.com blogger is waaayyyy prommed out is if said blogger picks a solo Ringo Starr track as her Ultimate Prom Theme Song. I don't know what kind of crazy, amazing ("craze-mazing") parallel Universe you'd have to live in for your prom DJ to blast this slobbery ole mutt of a pop song in lieu of "You Take My Breath Away" or Hannah Montana ballads or OMC's "How Bizarre" (maybe?). This Lennon-penned tune is both intoxicating and endearing ("Awww! John Lennon thinks Ringo Starr's the greatest! That's so sweet!"), but prom-appropriate mostly because it captures the misguided, self-centered and delusional transcendence a human being feels when graduating from high school. "My real life is finally beginning!" those poor children think, "I will be SO happy from now on!" Five years later, things'll start feeling more like "Beaucoups of Blues," but hey, you'll always have the memories. (LJ)

Zen, "Hair"

I was originally going to pick the morosely romantic, slow dance-y "Waiting To Know You" by the Fiery Furnaces as my non-Ringo prom theme, but c'mon- two days ago, I claimed that the prom of my dreams would involve my own decapitation; I can be a little bit more creative than a soppy Freaking Friedbergers number. I picked this Dutch cover of the theme song from the musical "Hair" because I like imagining it as the soundtrack to a madcap prom-gone-wrong wherein the class stoner spikes the punch with LSD and all the students go bananners and participate in a choreographed dance involving Sun Salutations, the Mashed Potato, and rollerskates/blades. Plus, I wanted to spice up the ngfm homepage with the psikedelick gorgeousity of "Hair"'s 45 cover- check out how hot the dude on the far left and the dude in the center of Zen are! Dee-yamn! I would "take" either of "them" as my "date" to the "prom," if you know what I mean. (LJ)

Heavy Rotation, Special Springtime Edition: Pavement, the Duke Spirit, Turquoise

Liz Phair, "White Chocolate Space Egg"

One thing I really enjoy in life is yelling at people who think Liz Phair stopped making good records after Whip Smart. I used to be wrongheaded like that, but then my ex-boyfriend pointed out how whitechocolatespaceegg is one of the few albums in the world that pretty much always feels exactly suited to your mood. It's true! The title track is extra-perfect in springtime, especially on the very first post-daylight-savings evenings of the year, when you get home from work and it's still light out and you turn up the stereo loud and open the windows and let the sun in and feel like a human again after hibernating all winter. Try it! (Liz)

Pavement, "Robyn Turns 26"

Laura Faulds put this on a mixtape for me when she was 15. I have no idea why I decided to include it here; it just kinda spontaneously popped in my head earlier when I was scrubbing the kitchen sink in preparation for my little sister's first time visiting me in L.A. But yeah, I really like when it Malkmus sing-speaks the words "Maybe she should move to Boulder, eat granola, rockandrolla," cuz that's something I sometimes wonder of myself. Boulder's one of my favorite places on the planet and I'm sure it's a dream in spring. Also, I like to rockandrolla while eating granola - preferably Bear Naked's Fruit and Nut, or that pumpkin flax stuff in the bulk bins at Nature Mart. (Liz)

The Duke Spirit, "Red Weather"

I usually hate driving, but come springtime I find myself actually enjoying it -- such is the power of the change of seasons. This is the kind of quasi-lazy rock song I like on the stereo on those rare occasions. It begins kind of amble-y and too cool for school but it builds into a really great squall that somehow gets me past the speed limit. Speeding ticket on I-90, here I come! (Kat)

Neneh Cherry, "Kisses on the Wind"

This whole song is about walking down 125th Street in Harlem looking super-fly on your way to, I don't know, bowling, the Studio Museum in Harlem or the only H&M in the city that doesn't make me homicidal. The whole record of Raw Like Sushi holds up super-well; it will make your nascent springtime ten times more awesome if you rediscover it. (Kat)

Turquoise, "Woodstock"

Out of all the bands in the world that are not the Kinks, Turquoise are the band that sounds the most like the Kinks. As I mentioned yesterday, The Kinks are the paragon of Springtime Rock Bands; therefore, Turquoise are the penultimate Springtime Rock Band (A+ for semi-correct usage of "penultimate," Laura Jane!) Something interesting about Turquoise is that their music automatically infects its listener with a whopper of a case of color-graphemic synaesthesia, because how can you listen to a band called Turquoise and not hear the music as being turquoise? Strangely, this same phenomenon applies to neither Pink Floyd nor Redd Kross. Another interesting factoid about this song is that it predates the occurrence of the actual Woodstock Festival by two years, which is spookily coincidental. Are Turquoise psychic? (LJ)

Tony, Caro & John, "Eclipse of the Moon"

A good way to describe the sonic sensationz of TC&J is "what I wish Fairport Convention sounded like instead of sounding like lame Celtic shit." Seriously, what is the deal with people loving Fairport Convention so much? Do the same people who like Fairport Convention also like The Chieftains? They should, because they are virtually the exact same band. In other news, this song sounds like hoppity-skipperloo-ing through the English Countryside, "mucking about" and "having a laugh" and "taking the mickey" and "thinking about the BBC" and "calling Paul McCartney 'Macca'" and doing other non-lame, non-Celtic springtime-y things British people do. (LJ)

Heavy Rotation: Arab Strap, Hey Willpower, The Moon + More

Arab Strap, "Here We Go"

A few weeks ago I dug up Philophobia by Arab Strap, a record I haven't listened to since it came out in 1998. That's like almost eleven years ago, which is kind of crazy. It's a bleak, stark, quasi-folk/quasi-electronic affair, full of these really downbeat beats, super-pretty guitar flourishes and some of the most downcast, depressing lyrics ever about sex, drugs and being young and hopeless in Britain. Sounds great to me! Seriously, though, it's rare to get a record that feels like living inside a short story collection. As relentlessly miserablist as Arab Strap were, they were utterly committed to examining the vagaries of alcohol and mindless sex with an unflinching existentialism and some incredibly well-crafted songs. "Here We Go" is kind of the epitome of the record, which I'm now convinced is some sort of lost, underappreciated masterpiece. (Kat)

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, "A Daisy Chain for Satan"

I danced to this when I was 15 and it was awesome. I danced to it again 15 years later and it's still awesome. Campy disco songs about Satan and drugs = always awesome. (Kat)

Ida Maria, "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked"

Lately I keep having this problem where I'm too lazy to get up and shut off the stereo after the a.m. news, so then I end up listening to all of Morning Becomes Eclectic like some yupster jerkface jagweed loser. But sometimes it pays off, like when they play new PJ Harvey or this semi-annoying yet ultimately exhilarating track by cutie-pie Ida Maria, which I kind of can't stop playing over and over right now. Also, the title nicely sums up the way I've felt about certain people at certain points in life, so that's pretty neat. (Liz)

Hey Willpower, "Chewing Gum"

"Chewing Gum" by Annie (who's adorable and Norwegian like Ida Maria, OMG) is one of my theme songs for 2009, along with "Surfin' U.S.A." by the Beach Boys, "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen and/or the Ramones, "Surfin' Cow" by the Dead Milkmen, "Surfin' Crow" by the Arousers, and "Surfin' UFO" by the Boneheads. (I'm actually kidding about the last three, as I've never heard them.) I'd forgotten all about Hey Willpower's cover-remix-mashup thing till I dug up a buncha old mix CDs last week but in some ways it's even funner than the original, especially when Will (as in the dude from Imperial Teen, yay!) swaps out the real lyrics for his own goofy come-ons. It's bubblicious. (Liz)

Blur, "Far Out"

The theme of my contributions to this week's Heavy Rotation is "The Lunar Cycle." The Lunar Cycle is very important, and we should all make the effort to be cognizant of its existence, because it explains a lot, if not everything. Clearly, Alex "The Sexiest Man On Earth, 1995" James of Blur understands this. Nearly every lyric of this song is the name of a moon, which is an amazing lyrical concept, since the names of moons are awesome: Barnard's Star, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair, Wolf 359, etc. I feel weird today; Betelgeuse must be in retrograde. There is simply no other explanation. (LJ)

The Moon, "Faces"
This track has nothing to do with the Lunar Cycle beyond the band's name. The Moon are one of the best Paul McCartney rip-off bands in existence; they were based out of Los Angeles (I think), but try real hard to sound like they're from London, even going so far as to pronounce the word "pleasure" as "play-zhure" in their song "Pleasure," which is weird, because that's not how British people say it. This song reminds me of the time I walked around the Lower East Side after having recently ingested a psychedelic drug, and everybody's face looked disfigured in a creepy way, and I couldn't understand if it was real or not (it wasn't). Later, I became convinced that my left foot was going to have to be amputated, and then I ate a chocolate-chip scone. It was delicious, and my foot healed up A-OK. (LJ)

Heavy Rotation: Little Joy, Yoko Ono, Electric Six + More!

Little Joy, "With Strangers"
Liz is right: Little Joy is like the worst name ever for a band. I don't care if it's some bar or whatever, it's still a little silly to say. Still, their record remains the only Strokes-related solo project I've remotely enjoyed -- I like the garage-Brasilia feel of it all, which is perfect for when you're longing for springtime. I actually like to pretend that this is a real Strokes record, which then makes it my second-favorite Strokes recording ever after Room on Fire, which everyone knows is the best record from them. Or maybe not -- but apparently it is a belief shared by all three of us at nogoodforme. The Strokes: uniters, not dividers. Who knew? (Kat)

Xiu Xiu, "I do what I want, when I want"
Xiu Xiu are one of those experimental bands that always veer a little close to pop in certain songs but kind of just refuse to go there. I guess they're too arty and intellectual for that, but it's actually at these quasi-pop moments when they're their most interesting. I mean, if I wanted to caterwaul while attacking my guitar with a drill -- I could do that pretty easily and make it interesting just by virtue of being able to make up my own rules. (But I would never do that to my guitar -- I love it too much.) It's a little more fascinating to hear a band that clearly chafes at pop convention try to work within it to make it interesting for them. This track is one of their most accessible, but it's still off-kilter and odd and, in true Xiu Xiu fashion, I have no idea what it is about. (Kat)

Electric Six, "Infected Girls"
Because our last Heavy Rotation was (mostly) all mushy-Valentiney, let's try a little s-e-x this time around. "Infected Girls" is gross and awesome; I wish I was clever enough to come up with lyrics like "I gave you my heart, I gave you my soul / Now I'm just another number at the Centers for Disease Control." Plus something about about the pre-chorus melody reminds me so much of the music from the diner scene at the beginning of Footloose - dig? (Liz)

The Strokes, "On the Other Side"
This song is about why I think Little Joy is the worst name ever for a band. It's about the feelings this Little Joy makes me feel, and it ultimately serves me the same spiritual purpose as when the Beach Boys sing about gettin' bugged drivin' up and down the same old strip. I HAVE SO GOTTEN BUGGED DRIVIN' UP AND DOWN THE SAME OLD STRIP! But instead of catastrophizing about how Hipsters are The Dead End of Western Civilization, I think I'll just hang out at the beach more and then eventually move there. Thanks for helping me figure out my life yet again, Strokes dudes. (Liz)

Billy Nicholls, "Life is Short"
Billy Nicholls' Would You Believe is a masterpiece. It is joyful, and a really cool album to love. It includes songs with such cool names as "London Social Degree" and "Portobello Road" (which I once listened to as I walked down the real Portbello Road; life was good that day) and is on Immediate Records, the coolest record label of all time. "Life is Short" sounds like a psychedelic carnival explosion of bubbly pink grapefruit soda and reminds you that, yes, life is short, which is why you should probably spend it to listening to "Life is Short" by Billy Nicholls as frequently as possible. (Laura Jane)

Yoko Ono, "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)"
This song is amazingly badass, which comes as no surprise, since Yoko Ono is one of the most amazingly badass human beings ever to grace our fair planet. One of my hobbies these days is walking down the street, strutting my shit like a true playa would do, listening to this song obscenely loud on headphones, and imagining that it is playing out loud, emanating from my body, and that everybody I pass can hear it. In February 2009, "Don't Worry Kyoko" is the theme song to my entire existence. BTW, if you are one of those babies who "can't handle" Yoko Ono's vocal stylings, open your mind, bro! NO MORE YOKO HATE! (Laura Jane)

PS: The best thing you've ever seen, and in my hometown no less:

Heavy Rotation: Mark Lanegan & PJ Harvey, Boss Hog, The Urinals + More

We at nogoodforme give the gift of music. We did hip-hop love songs yesterday, but today we're all about a new-school Heavy Rotation and even more quirky love songs for your sweet little ears for Valentine's Day. Find the music after the jump and enjoy.

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation: Mark Lanegan & PJ Harvey, Boss Hog, The Urinals + More"

Heavy Rotation: The Magnetic Fields, Faust, The Mopes + More!

(A few of our favorite songs right now - tune in at the nogoodforme jukebox, a little ways down on the right-hand column of our homepage.)

The Magnetic Fields, "Come Back From San Francisco"
I wonder how long this "sweet-toothed" lifestyle change of mine is going to last, but it's gotten to the point where I have a new appreciation for sweet little gems of pop songs. I've always liked the Magnetic Fields opus 69 Love Songs, but lately I find myself playing it all the time, especially the first volume. This and "All My Little Words" are my favorites: tuneful, melodic -- just perfect, perfect songs with just a little acerbic wit to keep things from getting too gooey. (Kat)

Adam and the Ants, "Press Darlings"
I spend a lot of time trying to convince certain rock dudes in my life that Kings of the Wild Frontier is actually an amazing record, a perfect specimen of 80s New Wave. (I also try to convert them to Duran Duran's Rio as well, but that's a whole other entry.) I just don't understand how you could be all "I think Bow Wow Wow are so rad" and then overlook Adam and the Ants, who juggled glam, pop, post-punk and rock with such self-aware swagger. I think the rock dudes are just jealous because Adam Ant was so hot. That probably explains the antipathy towards Duran Duran as well. What can I say? It proves my favorite theory in the world: teenage girls are the most innately smart people in the world. (Kat)

The Mopes, "You Look Like a Gorilla"
Tuesday morning while busing to a celebratory breakfast with a pineapple in my backpack (to welcome our new prez to the White House, get it?), "Stay Fly" by Three Six Mafia came up on my iPod and I decided to make that my inauguration wish for Barack Obama. But instead of posting that track or some sort of anthemic/triumphant/"Yes, We Did!" little number, I decided to make fun of our former president's disturbingly primate-like appearance (because sometimes I'm a big jerk above all else). Weeds fans will probably recognize this song from the end of the season 2 episode where Silas steals all Celia's anti-drug propaganda and then Shane puts the gorilla mask on his head and goes, "Grrrr, DRUGS ARE BAD!!!" or whatever. That was a good one. (Liz)

The Call, "I Still Believe"
I'm still all awestruck from having spent my Sunday afternoon at the Lost Boys boardwalk in Santa Cruz; my nine-year-old self will probably never get over it. "I Still Believe" is the song sung by that scary tight-purple-pants man at the part where we first meet beautiful Jami Gertz, a scene apparently so infamous that there's a YouTube video titled "The Lost Boys Buff Guy Playing Sax." I never knew it was a Call song till The Sound started playing it pretty regularly a few months back, and I guess it could probably serve as that anthemic/triumphant/"Yes, We Did!" little number I just referred to in the last blurb, if you want to stretch it a little. Also: You have no idea how much restraint it took me to keep from posting "Cry Little Sister" by Gerard McMann here. (Liz)

Fleetwood Mac, "What Makes You Think You're the One?"
I don't know anything about Fleetwood Mac. I think "Rumours" sounds like MAC-aroni and CHEESE, and I generally find Stevie Nicks uninteresting (Oh my God! She wears drapey dresses and blew a hole through her septum? Whoa.) The coolest thing about Fleetwood Mac to me is that I share a birthday with Mick Fleetwood, which makes me like Mick Fleetwood marginally more than I would otherwise. This song, however, is perfect. Not perfect in the "Hey Jude" way, but perfect in how successfully it gets the pop-song job done. Every pop song should sound exactly like this. It should be the theme song to every television show, play over a fun montage in every feature film, and perennially occupy the number one slot of the rock/pop Billboard chart. It could also be used effectively to drown out rodentine losers who are trying to shit all over your business. What makes you think you're the one, Boss? That's all I'm sayin'. (LJ)

Faust, "The Sad Skinhead"
I have recently come to the conclusion that, while there are dozens upon dozens of bands that I like, there are only four bands that I actually like: The Beatles, The Kinks, The Fiery Furnaces and Faust. Some insider info about Laura Jane Faulds: 90% of all my nogoodforme posts EVAH have been written to Faust IV. God! I am so the Dude of Chicks (dudes love Faust). Because "The Sad Skinhead" is two rather than twelve minutes long, I would deem it Faust's most accessible song. Faust are cool because even their most accessible song opens with a guttural groaning noise and demonstrates sardonic compassion for neo-Nazi youth culture. Dudes are wrong about a lot of things, but one thing they're certainly right about is that FAUST RULE. (LJ)

Heavy Rotation: The Fall, The Strokes, Tina Turner

The Fall, "L.A."
Yeah, so I posted a song by the Fall in the last edition of Heavy Rotation. So what? The Fall is one of those bands I get super, way, mega-obsessed with every two years for about two really mega-intense weeks and I convince myself that the Fall are the greatest band ever and Mark E. Smith circa late 70s becomes my fashion inspiration. I'm in the midst of one such period right now, probably life is mega-crazy right now (in a good way) and the slightly soused verbal anarchy of Mark E. Smith is about the closest analogue to the immensely pressured cacophony of words eating away at my brain these days. Anyway! This song is my way of being with Liz and LJ in L.A. in the best way I know possible, outside of my junior-level powers of astral flight and time travel. (Kat)

The Strokes, "Automatic Stop"
The first time I met Laura Jane Faulds, we wrote a letter to The Strokes and stuck it in the door of Wiz Kid Management. The fourth time I met Laura Jane Faulds, we listened to The Strokes second record in my apartment and then 20 hours later went to the stupid bar that stupid Fab Moretti named his stupid new band after. (Look, here we are at said bar, chillaxin'.) One really big mistake people make in life is to believe that the first Strokes record is the best Strokes record, while mistake-averse dames like LJ and myself know that Room on Fire is number-one with a bullet. Anyway, this is LJ's favorite track off the album; mine's "The End Has No End." The end. (Liz)

Michael Showalter, "The Apartment"
Michael Showalter is probably me and LJ's most significant post-Strokes shared mega-crush. Sho's totally disappointing a lot of the time, and his record Sandwiches and Cats is totally disappointing most of the time, but this reading of some geniusly bad, wannabe-Bukowski/Burroughs poem he wrote in high school completely reminds us of why we just can't quit him. Listen late at night while drinking a bottle of Strawberry Hill Boone's Farm, reading the nogoodforme archives, and talking at length about how absurdly awesome you are. (Liz)

Flight of the Conchords, "Ladies of the World"
One really satisfying thing about Flight of the Conchords is how LJ loves Jemaine and I love Bret, so shit'll never get ugly like that time LJ accused me of deleting her "Open Letter to Lauren Conrad" post in retribution for her attempts to steal Showalter away from me. I've had "Cheer Up, Murray" in my head for two days but couldn't find an mp3, so let's have "Ladies of the World," which is one of LJ faves. Probably they wrote it about us. (Liz)

Tina Turner, "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)"
I have no idea why I'm posting this. I recall sitting next to Laura at The Echo on Monday night and saying, "Have you ever heard 'We Don't Need Another Hero' by Tina Turner?" and Laura answering in the negative and telling me to post it in this week's Heavy Rotation, but I can't remember why it ever came up in the first place. Maybe the universe wants me to do an iPhoto slideshow thing of our pix from LJ's L.A. adventure, with "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" as the soundtrack. That would be really beautiful, actually. Here are some photos I'd probably include: us in the Echo bathroom, us in Short Stop photobooth with Emily Richmond (I think LJ's still mad at me about the Lauren Conrad post in this one, maybe), Laura looking at her camera and me being scared, and - my personal favorite - the press photo for the band we're eventually going to form with Emily Richmond and Alisa Lipsitt. (Liz)

Heavy Rotation: Christmas-y Songs That Don't Suck

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from nogoodforme! We hope you're having a lovely holiday wherever you are. As a little holiday bonus, we made a little holiday-themed Heavy Rotation in honor of the day -- above and beyond in the most random ways, that's nogoodforme's gift to you! Thanks for joining us for the ride, dear readers, and we stick around for more joy in 2009.

Run DMC, "Christmas in Hollis"
These are the best Christmas lyrics ever. It's really a story about a dude who's walking on Hollis Ave. on Christmas Eve. He sees a bearded guy in the park with what he thinks is a weird-looking dog that he realizes is a reindeer. The bearded dude takes off but leaves behind a wallet full of Gs and a license (to ill?) made out to Santa Claus. Dude's all about to mail it back to return the money ('cause it's wrong to steal from Santa) when he gets a letter under his tree the next day saying the money's for him. God, isn't that awesome? (Kat)

The Fall, "(We Wish You) A Protein Christmas"
The idea of a band like the Fall doing a Christmas song is kind of beyond the beyond, and yet somehow it's perfect. They must have realized this themselves, because they've created a bit of a mini-canon of truly off-center and slightly unhinged Christmas songs. This one is my favorite, because it's a weird reworking of a track off my favorite Fall record, Country on the Click. It's kind of like your drunken uncle telling some bizarre, incomprehensible story at Christmas dinner and he falls out of his chair and bumbles around the room but keeps telling the story. And he's still telling it, three hours later and falling into the vat of eggnog. That's pretty much how I imagine Mark E. Smith spending his holidays. And you know, I wouldn't have it any other way. (Kat)

Juliana Hatfield, "Make it Home"
This is from the Christmas episode of My So-Called Life, which my little sister and I watched Christmas Eve Eve and I totally cried. (Liz)

The Mamas & the Papas, "Dream a Little Dream of Me"
One of my favorite Christmastime things is to drive around the Hollywood Hills at night and look at all the pretty lights and listen to non-Christmas songs that somehow sound so much like Christmas. "Dream a Little Dream of Me" is the most perfect (and makes the most sense for Laurel Canyon), but some other good ones are "Fireworks" by Animal Collective, "Everyone" by Van Morrison, "Bros" by Panda Bear, and - for those particularly reflective/contemplative moments - Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah." (Liz)

PS: Hey, Y'all! My name is Laura Jane, and I think the Holidays are totally heinous. The only Christmas Song I like remotely-at-all is "Little Saint Nick" by the Beach Boys, which sounds mad better in July than it does today. I'm not going to overstate the case and make some obscenely bold and probably false pronouncement along the lines of, "Christmas songs are for losers!" (since the four tunes featured on our jukebox this week clearly prove otherwise) but, like, hey- I'll meet you back here in two weeks with two way-killer non-Christmas songs. We'll all be happier that way.

Heavy Rotation: Heavenly, Helium, Rilo Kiley + more!

Heavenly, "Atta Girl" and Bedhead, "Disorder"
My two selections for Heavy Rotation this week are taken directly from a mix tape I uncovered from a long-missing box I found while home this past Thanksgiving. This mix tape was made for me in 1995 by my best friend in college, Alissa; it was a recording of her radio show for WHRB one night, which she dedicated to me for my birthday and played tons of songs that I loved. Finding that box of mix tapes only confirmed why mix tapes RULE so hard -- for one thing, cassette tapes are shaped like little presents, whereas CDs are flat and boring, and it's so easy to mix them up in piles of mail because they look so much like those loser AOL CDs that they used to send as junk to get you to sign up for their dial-up service. Tapes are little and they fit in your hand in a certain way, and there is something really satisfying about flipping it over and pressing "Play" and hearing that bit of tape fuzz at the beginning. Oh, man, I'm practically all misty-eyed now thinking about all the awesome mix tapes I've gotten over the year, so I'll just skip ahead to these songs: I haven't listened to Heavenly in years and years, and honestly, this is one of the few songs that stick out in my memory by them. Indie pop music circa 1994 is something I rarely revisit; there was something bubbly and charming and giddily optimistic about that time, which seems so out of place in this infinitely more plastic era. I feel like this song encapsulates everything so great about K Records and Slumberland and all that stuff back then: that sort of DIY riot grrrl spirit, but totally pop-charming and hook-y as all hell. It's blithe but biting, winning but snaggle-toothed, and just soooo 1994. Bedhead's "Disorder," on the other hand, still feels completely relevant to my personal set of ears; first of all, it's a Joy Division cover, which is something that still influences and endures, and I will pretty much never tire of Ian Curtis and company. This was lumped in the "slowcore" label back then, but Bedhead's spare and narcotic sound could still find a space on a Brooklyn dark wave kind of bill, I think; re-listening to this song after not hearing it for years was like slipping into a soft, old, beloved sweater and realizing that it's now back in style. (Hey, man, if all the coeds of Columbia can wear Doc Martens, why not?) At any rate: I never thanked Alissa enough for making one of the best mix tapes I ever got. Alissa, if you're reading this, thank you for the music and for everything upon everything. Your friendship saved my life during those days, and I miss you like hell. (Kat)

Helium, "Devil's Tear"
nogoodforme.com really, really, really loves Mary Timony, which makes a lot of sense: as a person/musician, she's like Kat, Liz and LJ rolled into one sweet lollipop of mystickal slack-pop. Here is my thesis statement on the matter: Mary Timony combines the twilit medieval darkness of Kat Asharya with Barker's laidback Bostonian je ne sais quoi and LJ's wee little weirdnesses. Basically, she is the perfect human being. Lately, I've gotten back into my high-school-era habit of falling asleep listening to headphones, and Helium's Magic City is totally my lullaby collection of choice. This song's melodee is darling but askew, and the lyric "Come on hit me on my mark/This X marks my heart/on the mark" is the best application of rhyming a word with itself I've heard since Mike D rhymed "commercial" with "commercial" in "So Whatcha Want". (Laura Jane)

The Great! Society, "Free Advice"
The Great! Society were (Amazing) Grace Slick's band before Jefferson Airplane got borned, and they are kind of the best band of all time. Even though the G!S are hella San Fran, they sound like the most perfect winter band to me- dark and lush, like a forest full of fir trees. Grace Slick's vocal talents are, to use an adjective that I'm sure everyone who has ever attempted to describe Grace Slick's vocal talents journalistically, HAUNTING. You know how you are supposed to match the wine you're drinking to the food you're eating? I never do that; instead I match it to my record. "Free Advice" by the Great! Society requires the darkest, most vampiric red you can find. Also, if you're interested, their live LP Conspicuous Only in its Absence is the best live album in existence. Sorry, Remember by the Fiery Furnaces.

Rilo Kiley, "The Good That Won't Come Out"
Nothing in the world sounds more like waiting for some hangover-curing coffee in the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru on a freeze-your-bones cold end-of-December morning in your hometown while sleepily trying to figure out your New Year's resolutions than "The Good That Won't Come Out" by Rilo Kiley. NOTHING. (Liz)

Wolf Parade, "You Are a Runner/Fancy Claps" (Live)
And the award for Biggest Disappointment of 2008 goes to...the new Wolf Parade record! Sorry, Wolf-dudes - I listened to At Mount Zoomer about 8 million times, in a vain attempt to try to love it, and now I can't even remember what any of the songs sound like. It bored me to tears, but 2005's Apologies to the Queen Mary opposite-of-bored-me-to-tears. These are two of my favorite tracks off that shiny shiny gem, all beautifully smashed together at a show from a few years ago. "You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son" sounds like going into battle, and "Fancy Claps" has one of my favorite lyrics of all-time ("When I die, I'm leaving you my feet/When you die, you can stand up for me"). They are perfect and exciting songs. Now go make some more perfect and exciting songs. Thank you. (Liz)

Heavy Rotation: The Smiths, John Frusciante, the Zombies

The Smiths, "The Queen is Dead"
It's Thanksgiving! I hope all of you are having a lovely one, if you are celebrating it; this is always my favorite holiday because of the food, the family stuff and the general spirit of it -- who doesn't want a day when people sit around eating tons of food and talking about how frickin' fortunate and lucky they are? So for my contributions to Heavy Rotation this week, I thought about the musicians I was most thankful to have heard in my life, and I had to admit that my top band was the Smiths. If I were to draw a sort of flow chart or Venn diagram of all my favorite people in the earth, a shared love of the Smiths would be a vector linking a significant branch of my loved ones. I am thankful to the Smiths for that, for being at the center of a genuine community that made things like queerness, literariness, political opposition, arch wit, poetic melancholia and a certain cultivated artsiness the beautiful and appropriate response to the Reagan- and Thatcher-dominated 1980s. I am thankful to the Smiths for the most epic toxic bromance of all time between Morrissey and Marr. I am thankful for the Smiths for lyrics that read like poems and for guitar lines so majestically complex that I still haven't quite mastered them. I am thankful specifically for Johnny Marr for serving as my first monster crush on a music dude. If someone traced the DNA of my soul, I'm sure that it would look like the sheet music of the entire Queen is Dead album for a significant part of my genome sequence. (Or something like that.) Here, the live version of "The Queen is Dead" from their underappreciated album Rank. (Kat)

Neil Young, "Homefires"
Ah, Neilers. We wrote a whole big thing about Neil that you can just refer to for a fuller explanation of the magic and mystery that is Neil Young. It remains one of the most favorite things I've written for this blog, and reading it again, the subtext of it rings loud and clear: it's kind of a hidden ode to one of my most favorite dudes that I had the privilege of being loved by, who had the Neil spirit in droves. So yeah, I'm thankful most of all to Neil Young for making me believe in love again, for conjuring up hope that more dudes like Neil could exist in this harsh, cruel world, and for being found by them every now and then. If a man can write a song about goin' your separate ways like "Homefires" and make it seem like a comforting, beautiful thing, well, I say that this is a great man and we should listen to him. (Kat)

John Frusciante, "Leap Your Bar"
Usually I try to come up with some sort of secret theme for Heavy Rotation, but this week I couldn't think of anything. But it's Thanksgiving! And if I were to make a top 25 list of Things I'm Most Thankful For, I'm sure "I'm thankful that John Frusciante didn't die" would be on there somewhere. He's my favorite ever, and "Leap Your Bar" is maybe my favorite ever of all his songs. The piano's really perfect for when you're serenely flying above some glittering city at night (preferably Denver, preferably in autumn) and thinking lots of sweetly melancholy thoughts about where you're going and where you've been (both metaphorically and literally). I wish John Frusciante would play piano more. I also wish he would've been nicer to me the time I met him, or at least smiled back last time I ran into him around town, but that's neither here nor there. Happy Thanksgiving, buddy! (Liz)

Ataxia, "The Sides"
And this is John Frusciante's very short-lived band with Joe Lally from Fugazi and the adorable Josh Klinghoffer of Bicycle Thief. They existed for two weeks and played only two shows and I was at both of them, because I'm amazing and awesome. You are so full of envy, even if you don't realize it yet. (Liz)

The Nice, "Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack"
I think I was at my all-time happiest when I slept next to my turntable and would wake up every morning, put this song on, and smoke a hazy cigarette in bed. I need to start doing that again. The Nice are the coolest band of all time. They have a cool, positive name, cool album covers, are on Immediate Records, the coolest record label ever, and are all really hot. Here is a video of Keith Emerson stabbing his Hammond organ with knives. I love life. (Laura Jane)

The Zombies, "You've Really Got A Hold on Me/Bring it on Home to Me"
I just realized that I've never posted a Zombies track to Heavy Rotation before, which was a really dumb move on my part. I apologize. The Zombies' Colin Blunstone is, in my opinion, one of the strongest vocalists of all those bands from the 1960s that are good; sure, it's not as quirky as Ray Davies' or aggressive as John Lennon's, but I feel like a voice teacher would deem him Number One. This song is passionate and heartbreaking; if I were going to write my own version of Liz Barker's Stupid Love Songs Magnum Opus, this song would decidedly be included. It may even be Number One; who knows? (Laura Jane)

Heavy Rotation: Fredrik, Kevin Ayers, U2

Fredrik, "Black Fur"
Fredrik is a band from Sweden, kind of like one of those large, new-fangled "ensembles" a la Broken Social Scene or what have you. And their music sounds pretty much exactly like autumn: kind of pastoral, hushed, intimate, a little earthy and really, really pretty. I got turned onto them when I caught their super-gorge video for their song "11 Years" (which you should see, like, NOW) and their record, Na Na Ni, is perfect to drink tea and curl up to read a book with. This isn't my favorite track from their record, but it's the one that the record company people will let me post -- it's quite representative of what Fredrik do, though, all sparkling stillness and reflective melancholy. (PS - If you catch them at Pianos in NYC this Saturday, say hi! I should be there.) (Kat)

Beach House, "You Came to Me"
Oh, how long have we loved Beach House? Their record Devotion sounds more perfect to me now than when it came out -- once again, I think due to the change in seasons. This track is emblematic of their dreamy swooniness -- it's probably one of the most soothing love songs ever. (Kat)

U2, "Fast Cars"
I think this might be my favorite U2 song ever. Which feels like a hugely bold statement to make, but I'm feeling kinda bold today, so let's go with it. "Fast Cars" is an outtake off of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and, more importantly, it's one big shiny star on my "Stupid Love Songs: 50 Ways to Soundtrack Your Romantic Dysfunction" post from earlier today. There's also a more rawk, less Latin-ish version called "Xanax and Wine", which - despite its hot and exciting title - sorta pales in comparison. The bridge gets me the most, and when Bono sings that "Don't you worry 'bout your mind" lyric, I'm always like, "Okay, Bono! I won't worry about my mind!" And then I don't, and everything's just grand as grand could be. Whatta guy, that Paul Hewson. (Liz)

The Shins, "Turn a Square"
This song's on my stupid-love songs list too; in a lot of ways it's my #1 stupid-love song of all time. My heart's not really completely in it nowadays, but I still love it so much that it almost makes me nostalgic for being so torturously smitten with someone bad. (Is there a word that means "nostalgia for sadnesses past"? If not, let's invent one.) And in some ways I don't like to like The Shins anymore, mostly 'cause it makes me feel like I'm feeling Zach Braff's feelings, but "Turn a Square" is just gold and it's ALL MINE. Take that, Zach Barff. (Liz)

Duncan Browne, "Give Me, Take You"
My contributions to this week's installment of HR are an introduction to The Psofter Psyde of Psych, a new sub-genre of sixties shizz I just made up as I was typing this sentence (God! It's so convenient to be brilliant sometimes!). Since there is no more Ultimate Fashion Challenge, you no longer receive exclusive insider info about my frame of mind every week; in shorthand, the scoop goes: LAURA JANE HATES WINTER. Nevertheless, I am trying to maintain a positive attitude, and have christened this week The Sazerac of Shitty Novembric Work-Weeks. In order to keep my SAD at bay, I've had to listen to a hefty ton of Psad-Psych. Immediate Records-wunderkind Duncan Browne's 1968 debut is a huge part of the equation. This song is so damned plaintive, tragic and heart-wrenchingly beautiful, it makes you forget all your troubles, forget all your cares, and construct lengthy fake stories in your head about... (LJ)

Kevin Ayers, "Town Feeling"
Living in the sixties! And being The Girl in the Beatles! And dating The Soft Machine's Kevin Ayers! IRL, I think The Soft Machine suck. They're way too jazzy, and for dudes. I ain't no dude. Thank heavens for SM kinda-frontman Kevin Ayers' 1969 solo album, Joy of a Toy, which is cool, and non-jazzy. "Town Feeling" sounds sort of like "Give Me, Take You" by Duncan Browne, only less psorrowful and more pre-pre-pslacker. It's the perfect psoundtrack for walking against the bitter November wind, trying desperately to keep your hat from flying off your head.

PS: CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW UNBELIEVABLY PSEXY KEVIN AYERS IS??? (LJ)

Heavy Rotation, Special Halloween Edition: Celtic Frost, Cheap Trick, the Beach Boys

Celtic Frost, "The Usurper"
Um, if Halloween is not the perfect time to put a Celtic Frost song in Heavy Rotation, I have no idea when a perfect time would be. Do I really need to justify the rightness of black metal on Halloween? Thought not. (Kat)

Ghost Town DJs, "My Boo"
My "Boo"! "Ghost" Town? GET IT? HA! God, I love making bad jokes in Heavy Rotation! This track has a lot of flow and is so not scary except perhaps in an ironic sense. In fact, I'd venture to say it's probably the wimpiest Halloween-"related" track you could put here. But confounding expectations, that's what we do. P.S: Why is Halloween so hard? I can't even decide what to be this year: the Walk of Shame or a Droog? Help me. (Incidentally, "My Boo" is one of my younger sister's favorite songs, and it was her birthday recently. Happy Birthday, lil' sis!) (Kat)

Foot Village, "Bones"
This song isn't really scary at all, but if you happen to be in college and paired up with some really prissy roommate whom you can hardly stand, I'm sure blasting "Bones" at top volume would scare her off real quick-like. "Venus in Furs" by Velvet Underground has the same effect, for some reason. Also: most stuff by Pussy Galore. (Liz)

Cheap Trick, "Gonna Raise Hell"
This song isn't scary either! I didn't pick any scary songs! But "Gonna Raise Hell" is used not once but twice in the Halloween episode of Freaks and Geeks, which is a real heartbreaker, maybe the most heartbreaking of them all. The sing-along bit in the second "Gonna Raise Hell" scene totally gets me every time, partly cuz I love kids who love rock, but mostly cuz of that itchy/pained nostalgia for being the girl who can't help worrying about the bad kids getting her into trouble. A hellraiser I am not, nor will I ever be. (Liz)

The Beach Boys, "Heroes and Villains"
I really struggled with picking two Halloween-themed Heavy Rotation choices this week, seemingly a hell of a lot more than my two fellow nogoodforme.commers. Seriously, y'all should just be thankful that I didn't send along "Monster Mash" and "Purple People Eater". My main argument for including "Heroes and Villains" in our Day of the Dead mix is that most people's Halloween costumes generally fall into one of the two categories; that being said, I'm dressing up as a Slutty Cat come All Hallows Eve, which is neither a hero nor a villain, though I suppose one could make an argument for either "cat"-egory if one felt so inclined. However, now that I've listened to "Heroes and Villains" a bunch of times tonight, I'm realizing that I should have just dressed up as post-nervous breakdown Brian Wilson for Halloween. What was I thinking? Slutty cats ain't got nothin' on bed-ridden alcoholic musical geniuses! Oh well. I guess that's what 2009 is for. (Laura Jane)

The United States of America, "The American Metaphysical Circus"
Actually, by the time Halloween 2009 hits, I hope and pray that I will live in Marrakech with a really hot dude, and dressing up as post-nervous breakdown Brian Wilson won't even cross my mind because I'll be so caught up in my killer hashish creativity love-cloud. Dude- I won't know even know what month it is, let alone if it's some weird made-up holiday where children dress up as ghosts and beg for potato chips or whatevs. But, let's assume I do happen to recall that it's Halloween. I think what I'd like to do would be: drive out to the middle of the desert and engage in mind-blowing, pseudo-Satanic rituals while listening to "The American Metaphysical Circus" by the United States of America over and over again. It's so SPOOKY! Okay. I'm sorry, guys. I had a really hard time with Heavy Rotation this week. (Laura Jane)

Heavy Rotation: Monorchid, Roxy Music, the Hollies + More

Monorchid, "X Marks the Spot: Something Dull Happened Here"
Spastic-fantastic post-punk madness, Monorchid blazed a brief but beautiful trail, putting out some stuff on Dischord in 1997 and even one record on Touch and Go in 1998 before breaking up weeks later. It's all guitar shrapnel, off-kilter rhythm and barked-out lyrics, but probably way more simultaneously crazy-joyous AND angry-young-dude than many other groups of their ilk. These fellows were intense and their live show rocked. This song features the only lyric I ever quoted in earnest in my life: "Every time I wanna talk to you -- TOO MUCH STATIC!!" (Kat)

New Order, "True Faith"
Just because it popped up on my headphones the other day and made me wish that I could be twelve again so I could hear this for the first time. Was there a more perfect band for the 1980s? (Kat)

Roxy Music, "My Only Love"
Guess what, guys? I've been commissioned by an imaginary record company to assemble a slow-jamz-for-aging-alt-rock-fans compilation that I'm tentatively titling Love Songs After Dark, after some lite-and-easy radio show out of Salt Lake City. It'll be available on four cassettes or four CDs and sold only on TV, and I really want the ads to show a really suave-looking couple drinking Chardonnay on the sofa and then slow-dancing by the fireplace while wearing a tweed blazer with corduroy elbow patches (him) and cashmere sweater, pearls, and feathered bangs (her). Track 1 on the second side of the third cassette will be "My Only Love," which, incidentally, was used really nicely in a bedroom scene between Frances McDormand and Alessandro Nivola in Laurel Canyon. (Liz)

Neil Young, "Unknown Legend"
And this'll be, let's say, track 9 on the first side of the fourth cassette of Love Songs After Dark. I'm really into Harvest Moon this week; it's such a perfect mid-October record. And "Unknown Legend" is featured prominently & gorgeously in Rachel Getting Married - definitely one of my favorite moments in a movie that sort of drove me batty all throughout. Anyway, you should also know that Love Songs After Dark would juxtapose this track with Bruce Springsteen's "One Step Up" as performed by a pre-Pearl-Jam Eddie Vedder and a cheap Casio. I was gonna post that one here too but then I didn't so go download it yerself. (Liz)

The Hollies, "Would You Believe?"
If somebody wrote this song for me, I would not fall in love with him, even if it was Graham Nash, the second most structurally perfect male of the 1960s (trumped only by George Harrison, which barely even counts). After giving it a listen, I would say, "Graham Nash/Dude, you need therapy. I think you are channeling a debilitating inferiority complex into an obviously unhealthy obsession with yours truly. Those strings are really beautiful, though!" (Laura Jane)

Sandy Salisbury, "Goody Goodbye"
This is my favorite bubblegummy pop song of all time. It is incredibly catchy, cloying, annoying, overly-saccharine, stupid, rips off The Beatles, amazing, the best song of all time, lame, loserly, and perfect. This is probably the best time I can think of to apologize to my former roommates for having to listen to this song fifty times a day every day for a year. I'm sorry, guys. (Laura Jane)

Heavy Rotation: The Child Ballads, KISS, Black Heat + more

Girls in Hawaii, "Flavor"
I first heard this song in the film Dans Paris, a charming little New Wave homage directed by Christophe Honoré and starring foxy people like Joana Preiss, Romain Duris and Louis Garrel. This song played during a strange scene where Joana is dancing in a Balenciaga sweater and funny slippers and Romain dances with her, escalating into this very charged moment. It's pretty hot. I can't separate the song from the initial emotional impressions I had when I first heard it, so I don't know whether the track is as hot as I think it is or if it really is hotness on its own. Somebody go make out to it and tell me if it works. (Kat)

Jenny Lewis, "Pretty Bird"
On first listen of Acid Tongue I felt slightly irked that the record hadn't come out at the other end of summer: It just doesn't feel like a fall album to me. But I'm heading to Florida for the weekend, and I think "Pretty Bird" is going to make a really perfect driving-around-Florida-on-a-sweaty-Saturday-evening soundtrack. Let's all hope for a twilight thunderstorm. (Liz)

KISS, "New York Groove"
The thing about living in L.A. is there's all these people (let's call them "Haters") who like to whine a lot about how L.A. is bad and dumb and New York is so much better. At first it's just a minor nuisance, but after a while you get so irritated that you end up thinking New York is bad and dumb. That's sorta what's happened to me, but I'm putting an end to it: I used to love New York, and I'm not gonna let the Haters take that love away from me! So today will be official "Back in the New York Groove" Day, and I'll celebrate it by listening to this KISS song a lot and having an hour layover at JFK on my flight from L.A. to Tampa. (Thanks a heap, JetBlue - good thing I like the vegan noodles and candy selection at Cibo.) Also, I recently put this song on a mix for someone who didn't deserve it, so I hereby take it back from him and dedicate it to the only man truly worthy: Mr. Vinny Chase. (Liz)

The Child Ballads, "They Hunt Us We Run"
The dude in the Child Ballads, Stewart Lupton, was the singer in Jonathan Fire Eater, one of my favorite NYC bands in the late 1990s. I don't know what his deal was and why he disappeared for so long. (He supposedly gave Chet Baker a run for the "Ravaged Beautiful Dude" money during his absence from the music scene.) But I always dug his slightly soused vibe and his strangely emphatic enunciation. Now he's back with a new group (which includes Judah Bauer, another dude from another big-in-the-late-90s NYC band, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion). I like this song a lot. It's amiable and loose-limbed in the best way possible, the kind of thing you like to play in the jukebox at your local bar. I highly suggest you do, in fact. That's how I first heard it, and it remains situationally perfect in hindsight. (Kat)

Simon & Garfunkel, "Baby Driver"
This song features some really adorable sexual innuendo. As a rule, I am kind of shy about these sorts of things and prefer pop songs that keep the sexual innuendo to a minimum. However, "Baby Driver" is my kind of sexy; cutesy, scrappy, and often punny. Paul Simon circa '71 coulda had me wrapped around his pinkie finger in if he'd sweetly delivered the following euphemisms:

--"I wonder how your engine feels" (actually, that might come off kind of gross in real life)
-"My daddy got a big promotion/My momma got a raise in pay/there's no one home/we're all alone/so come into my room and play" (Okay! That sounds like fun! Will there be cookies?)
-"I'm not talking about your pigtails/I'm talking about your sex appeal" (YES! That is so hot to me) (Laura Jane)

Black Heat, "Street of Tears"

I first heard this song a few nights ago when my Dad played it for me on his new "electrostats", which are a type of speaker that are a) really killer, and b) worth driving to Quebec for. If there are any secret stereophiles lurking around nogoodforme.com, please holler, and I will set my Dad up with a "Too Dad For You" audio column ASAP. Since I have only known this song exists for about three days, I do not have a lifetime of clever comments to make about it that have been building up in my brain like plaque that pre-nogoodforme.com-era Laura walked around reciting to herself in her head for no reason. This song is creepy-seductive, rad for break-ups, and pretty sexy in the exact opposite way that "Baby Driver" is sexy. One could probably argue that this song is just normal-sexy, and that "Baby Driver" is in no way sexy, or even unsexy. Oh, "one". Think outside the box, for once in your life. (Laura Jane)

Heavy Rotation: Smog, Indian Jewelry, Marianne Faithfull + More

Yeah, Heavy Rotation's a little late these days. It's all good, because good songs are timeless, right? Anyway, the fun can be had on the jukebox on the homepage as per usual -- although you should bet your money on that changing soon. To what? Stay tuned...

Smog, "Bathysphere"
Bill Callahan must be an Aquarius. He's weird and detached and incredibly clever and wry, and I find this all rather oddly appealing from a distance. "From a distance" is perhaps a good way to describe the way Smog's music works upon you. It's like that weird mirage in the desert that tantalizes with strange visions and mystery, but once you're within it, you realize that it's this bizarre miasma. In Smog's case, the miasma is filled with alienation, horses, ships, bodies of water, strange pleasures and genuine eccentricity. I really want this song to pop up in one of Gus Van Sant's more experimental movies, during some bizarre drug montage or something. It would make complete sense. (Kat)

Mary J. Blige, "Time"
I unabashedly, unironically LOVE Mary J. Blige. I've loved her ever since the "What's the 411?" days with her platinum blond braids and hoop earrings, when she performed on "In Living Color" in sunglasses and totes attitude and Rosie Perez dancing behind her. I love that she's gritty yet still incredibly glamorous. She is pretty much the only person who could ever talk about themselves in the third person and have it make sense because she's fucking Mary J. Blige and she's lived, which is way more than you and I ever will. This song is Mary J. at her most philosophical, and guess what? It's still hot. How does she do it? Because she's Mary J., that's why. (Kat)

Green Apple Quick Step, "Los Vargos"
Here's proof that I'm PSYCHIC ABOUT RADIO: A couple hours ago I was writing my "Los Vargos" blurb in my head, and the crux of it had something to do with my secret wish of getting tapped to curate a "post-grunge" compilation for, like, Rhino Records or some shit. And I was pretend-writing a line about how the compilation would include - along with "Los Vargos" - songs like "Believe" by Dig, "All Sideways" by Scarce, and "Santa Monica" by Everclear. And then I pretend-added a little comment about how, even though Everclear is kind of lame, the second verse of "Santa Monica" is just gold and the perfect thing to hear when you've just had your heart smothered by someone stupid. And then, 1.5 seconds after I'd finished pretend-composing said impossibly astute comment, I pushed the power button on my stereo exactly as the second verse of "Santa Monica" started playing on 100.3. The weirdest part is, this kind of thing happens to me all the time. So, if any of you can think of any way I might be able to cash in on my superhuman radio-mind-control powers, do let me know. I will give you 10 percent of the profits, at least. (Liz)

Indian Jewelry, "Too Much Honkytonking"
For some reason, I never remember that Indian Jewelry exists till their songs pop up on my iTunes shuffle. And every time "Too Much Honkytonking" comes on, I go "Whoa, what's this?!!!", completely blown away by its creepy awesomeness yet entirely incapable of identifying the band responsible. Anyway, this morning "Too Much Honkytonking" turned up on my iTunes at the exact moment I was gazing adoringly at these brand-new Pussy Willow earrings by Stephanie Simek, which was kind of magic. Because if I weren't afraid of earrings, I'd so get my hands on these and put them on for some big dead-of-night drive out to the desert and play "Too Much Honkytonking" over and over till I totally freaked myself out and turned around and drove back home to watch Gossip Girl or something. Yeah. (Liz)

The Rolling Stones, "The Singer Not The Song"
I hate the "Beatles vs. Stones" debate. I think it's stupid and irrelevant. I know I've written about this on nogoodforme.com before; how could I not? I've spent about 60% of my entire life getting inwardly pissed-off about its existence. The Rolling Stones and The Beatles have very little to do with one another, but are in no way diametrically opposed. They're just two rock bands; it would be equally valid for it to be "Beatles vs. Kinks" or "Beatles vs. Beach Boys" or even "Beatles vs. Peter, Paul and Mary" (okay, maybe not). "The Singer Not The Song" is the Rolling Stones song that most calls to mind the sonic nuances that make The Beatles Beatlesy; it's the Rolling Stones' equivalent of "I'll Follow the Sun": short, sweet and a tiny bit sad (somber? sullen? either/or). It's also one of my favorite songs in the world to sing. I made up a new verse for it that goes: I'm a cuckoo clock and you're a bird/just pull my feather and I'll say the word/You could eat a worm/And it gives me that feeling inside.... You should probably imagine Mick Jagger singing, because it's funny. Mick Jagger would never be caught dead saying the word "worm". (Laura)

Marianne Faithfull, "Is This What I Get For Loving You?"
Can you imagine being Marianne Faithfull's psychotherapist? It's totally my dream job-, almost worth screwing up my entire life's plan in the name of. If it could guarantee me the real dirt on Mick Jagger, Heroin Era, what it feels like to be that angelically gorgeous, and how a human being transforms so rapidly from delicate little bird to gruff, potty-tongued old broad, ten years of medical school would be a beyond-worthy investment. I never listen to Marianne Faithfull's new albums- I rarely like listening to music made by old people (Sorry! I don't! It doesn't speak to me! I'm 23 years old!), but there are a handful of singles from her mid-sixties run as folky sprite-canary Marianne that nail dream babe girl pop with the ease and grace we've all come to expect from her. This song is a chameleon. Sometimes it sounds like buoyant, bouncy bubblegum; other times, it's almost stunningly heartbreaking. Is Marianne Faithfull a Gemini? She should be. (Laura)

Heavy Rotation: Our Favorite Animal-Themed Songs from Blonde Redhead, Nirvana, Ver Sacrum + More!

When nogoodforme.com has a theme, we really commit and go full-out, to the point where only budget and time constrains the wilder shores of our collective imagination. Naturally, Spirit Animal House not only demands a time, place, setting, and festivities -- it demands a soundtrack as well. This edition of Heavy Rotation comes to the rescue, curating our favorite animal-themed or -named tracks ever. What can we say? We told you we were committed...

Bonnie Prince Billy, "Wolf Among Wolves"
I was all psyched and set to slot in the Cure's "Love Cats" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran as my Heavy Rotation selections this week, thinking it would make things all bouncy and punchy around here. But then I realized I'd be failing in my duties as nogoodforme's official Bringer of Darkness by going against my own musical instincts of melancholy and Gothic pastoralism. So instead, yes, I give you one of my most favorite songs by someone who is probably my favorite bard of darkness, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, aka Palace, Palace Songs, Palace Brothers or, more simply, Will Oldham. Labeled as a sort of Appalachian or folk throwback at times, Mr. Oldham transcends cultural milieu and is instead a genuine poet whose melodies and lyrics haunt with a deeply bleak yet beautifully idiosyncratic view of human frailty. (And he's sometimes just really weird.) "Wolf Among Wolves" is from my favorite Will Oldham-associated record, Master and Everyone, an album so austere, fatalistic and anti-romantic that it's actually incredibly Romantic. I saw him perform this song at a solo acoustic show at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall in 2003 or something like that, and it was an utterly singular experience. I looked all over for a recording from that show, but alas -- it refuses to be found, so you'll have to make do with the studio version, which is pretty stellar anyway. (Kat)

Blonde Redhead, "Equus"
Wolves! Horses! Geez Louise, Kat, yr so predictable! Yeah, whatever, I know a quarter of you reading this already know and love this track, and about a third of the rest of you will come to love it. That's what happens with this band. Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino is one of our bona-fide Style Icons and a fellow equestrian as well. Those who know the provenance of Misery is a Butterfly, the album from which this song is taken, will know exactly what a testament to adoration "Equus" is. This track is great because it bridges BR's more recent "kinder, gentler" sound with their earlier tendency towards more aggressive, arty post-punk kind of stuff. "Equus" cascades into rockitude; it's like a love song for when you dig someone so much, you're ready to jump out of your skin 'cause you're so impatient to be with them. I can't think of anything more romantic, really, other than if some dude were going to buy me an Arabian steed of my own. Or a constellation. Now that would be insanely romantic. If you want to communicate a deep and abiding love for someone and are kind of beautifully grandiose, you can't go wrong with the cosmos. (Kat)

Nirvana, "Very Ape"
The only reason I picked this song was the other day I was walking down Sunset at sunset, and "Very Ape" came on my iPod and I listened all the way through for the first time in forever and just went "Duuuuuuude...." God, it's so good! Why do I sporadically forget that Nirvana was SO GOOD? It used to be the only thing I ever thought about. Anyway, despite the title, this song has nothing to do with animals, so here's a quick list of animal-centric songs I probably should've posted instead: "Musik and Charming Melodee" by Mary Timony (or basically any Mary Timony song ever written), "Hey Mama Wolf" by Devendra Banhart, "Who Could Win a Rabbit" by Animal Collective, "Tread Water" by De La Soul, "Yertle the Turtle" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Beautiful Horses" by The Blood Brothers, "Takoma the Dolphin is AWOL" by The Mae Shi, "Dance Like a Monkey" by New York Dolls, and "So Many Animal Calls" by Q and Not U. I'm happy to not have picked "Land" by Patti Smith, however. That would be so cliche. (Liz)

Tanya Donelly, "Goat Girl"
Ever since that time I went to the petting zoo in 1984 and a goat ate my Bugs Bunny doll, I've been under the assumption that all goats are assholes. But if the charmingest sweetheart in all of indie-rock history identifies as a "goat girl," then surely that can't be the case. Maybe goats are just misunderstood. Maybe I'm a goat girl too! I certainly get that sick little twinge of nostalgia for heartbreaks past when Tanya sings the line about "I wanted a lion but I ended up with a man who wanted a gazelle." Who hasn't been there before? Let's never go there again! Hooray for goats! (Liz)

The Beatles, "Hey Bulldog"
I like this band a lot. They're really charismatic, and from England. They wrote nice pop songs. This song comes from the Yellow Submarine "songtrack", which I imagine is the Beatles album that people are least familiar with. This song was originally titled "Hey Bullfrog," but during recording, Paul McCartney started barking without warning, and it was so damned cool of him that even John Lennon had to concede and turn his first frog-themed song into his first dog-themed song. It is tied with "Martha My Dear" for my favorite dog-themed song by the Beatles. I think Paul McCartney's spirit animal would probably be a jaunty little Scottish terrier; John Lennon's would be a white cat. George Harrison's would be a falcon or possibly a stag, and Richard "Ringo Starr" Starkey's would be a mini-gnome who looked and acted exactly like him. Ringo's not a very spiritual guy. I like this band a lot. (Laura)

Ver Sacrum, "Rabbit, Run"
First and foremost, it is necessary to put it out into the ether that Ver Sacrum are totally going to rock SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE. It's actually sort of alarming how tight we are. I hope you can all be there! And I mean ALL OF YOU. Every single last one of you. I'll buy a beer and a biscuit. So, this song is not really about an animal; it's about a fictional ex-high school basketball star named Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. However, the song's opening lyric references the Easter Bunny, who is, in fact, an animal, not just a depressed Middle American linotyper. You could even say that the Easter Bunny's mystical powers afford him the title of Ultimate Spirit Animal. How pertinent! (Laura)

Heavy Rotation: Yeasayer, Another Bad Creation, the Monkees

This particular edition of Heavy Rotation finds itself kicking up its heels big time in the home stretch of summer, knocking back a wine cooler and dozing on a beach or something. It's super beat-a-rific and bouncy but kinda mellow and laidback at the same time. Don't you like it when life works out that way? Check it out on our homepage, over there on the right hand side. Enjoy the tunage!

Yeasayer, "Sunrise"
One of my favorite moments from my recent family vacation was when I was playing this awesome little ditty from the awesome All Hour Cymbals and my awesome little nephew started singing "Don'cha wish your girlfriend was HOT LIKE ME?!" over the beginning beats of this song. You should try it. It really works. (This game in no way detracts from the total groovy goodness that is this band. Plus, Liz has a crush on the bass player. Is that not enough for you? It should be!) (Kat)

Ratatat, "Mirando"
Continuing on the contemporary weird little world-music-meets-hipster fusion tip, this is off Ratatat's latest record, succinctly titled LP3. Ratatat started squarely in the fashion-electro trip but get more and more eccentric with each outing -- not to mention downright prettier in sound. A lot of the songs on this record are sunny yet melancholy, sort of like a late August afternoon where you're feeling lazy and languid. I think the sonic and emotional broadening is a good, fun thing; I'm all for evolution. But sometimes I miss the feeling of partying inside an Atari video game, which is what I used to get from their music. Now I feel like I'm sipping pina coladas in outer space. It's just not the same thing! But it will grow on me, I suppose. (Kat)

Another Bad Creation, "Iesha"
If I'd actually contributed to nogoodforme's "We're Obsessed" column in the past two weeks, I'd have probably told you all about how I'm currently obsessed with Club MTV's "Party to Go" compilations. I was always more of a Yo! MTV Raps kind of girl, but Downtown Julie Brown still holds a very special place in my heart, and super-dancey early-90s top 40 really fits with my frame of mind right now (that frame of mind being entirely strobe-light-lit and swathed in hot-pink pleather). Truth by told, I actually wanted to post "3 a.m. Eternal" by The KLF here, but it was way too annoying to try to track it down. So instead I give you Another Bad Creation and their epic tale of preteen romance built around Nintendo-playing and cereal-eating. All love stories should begin on the monkey bars, man. Wubba wubba wubba. (Liz)

Fleetwood Mac, "Tusk"
A couple weeks ago my pal and I came out with this genius theory: Marching bands + anything = 100% awesome. Some really boss examples would be Gwen Stefani doing "Hollaback Girl" on Saturday Night Live, my own fantasy cover of "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?" by The Ramones, and - most of all - Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" as performed in Dave Chappelle's Block Party. (I'm still so bummed that there's no clip of that online, but this marching-band-accompanied performance of "Gold Digger" from the 2006 Grammys is pretty goddamn exciting as far as second-bests go.) Anyway, I'd never heard "Tusk" till about three days ago: My favorite new radio station played it mid-afternoon, and I was all, "Whoa, what's this?" and the DJ was like, "Fleetwood Mac!" and I was all, "No way!" And then I went and YouTubed the video and wished really bad that I were Christine McVie just so I could walk around Dodger Stadium with a glass of white wine in 1979. Sigh. (Liz)

Donovan, "Superlungs my Supergirl"
Imagine if you were dating a rock star you thought was really sexy and fly and then the best pet name he could come up with for you was "Superlungs" because in his barfo self-involved little world, the only thing about you he found worthy of congratulations was your propensity for inhaling copious amounts of marijuana smoke. I would break up with him the very first time he ever called me "Superlungs," but then again, I would never be dating Donovan in the first place, because I don't hate myself. I wish I liked Terry Reid's cover of this song better than the original so I could continue on in my tradition of pretending Donovan doesn't exist, but Oh Sweet Crucified Christ- what can I really do? This song is bad-the hell-ass. (Laura)

The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"
I'm surprised it's taken me this long to put a Monkees song on our jukebox. If ever in life there is a real jukebox at my fingertips, I tend to fork over my dime for a Monkees tune, though mostly because I know if I put on a Beatles song, jerk-off members of my social network will embrace the opportunity to bust me for severe lack of originality. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. is one of my all-time favorite albums, although I would prefer for it to be called Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio & Faulds, Ltd. but whatever, you can't always what you want. Sometimes, though, you just might find: you get what you need. I did, and it's called "Daily Nightly," an impeccably acidic mid-tempo psychedelic thumper with remarkably poetic Michael Nesmith-penned lyrics ("Startled eyes that sometimes see phantasmagoric splendor/Pirouette down palsied paths/With pennies for the vendor. Salvation's yours for just the time/ it takes to pay the dancer"- whoa! Are you sure Matthew Friedberger didn't write those??) This song is also believed to be the first pop song ever to utilize the Moog synthesizer: congratulations, the Monkees. You trumped the Beatles, Beach Boys, and every other single late-sixties rock band in at least one area. I'm sure they needed that. (Laura)

Heavy Rotation: Fiery Furnaces, Animal Collective, Maximillian Colby

There's all kinds of out-of-the-ordinary happening in this week's installment of Heavy Rotation: covers of "Norwegian Wood," rare post-hardcore 7" singles in their entirety...what other strange aural experiments are to come? Catch the high concept on the homepage on the right-hand column.

Jan & Dean, "Norwegian Wood"
Wow! Really high-concept Heavy Rotation contribution from LJ this week: not one but two covers of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" by not one but two of LJ's All-time Faves, who are both making Heavy Rotation history by being the first two bands to be featured not once but twice in the HR database. Apparently there was a lot of internal Jan & Dean drama about the release and production of this song; I guess Dean didn't like Jan's production and didn't want to release it as a single because it would be "embarrassing." I definitely see both sides of the coin on this one: yeah, it's crazy-lame compared to the actual Beatles version, especially when you put the sitch into the proper historical context. It's also fabulously theatrical in the classic Southern California Gothic J&D tradition; wow, I can't say anything else right now because I just blew my own mind with my own smartness by coining the term Southern California Gothic on the spot. Nice work, LJ. (LJ)

Yo La Tengo, "Tom Courtenay"
A friend of mine used to have (still has?) a t-shirt that says "Yo La Tengo for President" across the front. I actually think Yo La Tengo would make a terrible president, and I'm really relieved they decided not to run this year. In fact, I don't have much use for the band in general, though the one time I saw them - playing between Luna and Sonic Youth on the Brown University quad in the spring of 1998 - they were mostly amazing. But I recently rediscovered this song and got pretty crazy for how exciting/life-affirming/nerdily fist-pumping the last minute and half or so is. Good job, guys. You've got my vote for zoning board chair at least. (Liz)

Animal Collective, "Cuckoo Cuckoo"
I haphazardly got really into this song around the time Heath Ledger died, so in some corner of my brain it was decided that this song is actually about Heath Ledger. Which it's not, but I just looked at the lyrics for the first time and it's kinda uncanny how accidentally intuitive I am. (Up until now I hardly knew one complete line of "Cuckoo Cuckoo" - for me, Animal Collective's vocals aren't so much words as they are just swirly-whirly sounds layered over all the other swirly-whirly sounds, and it's generally best not to try to unravel much.) Soooo...the reason I'm posting this is I saw The Dark Knight a couple Fridays ago and loved it wildly of course, and now I wish I could watch it everyday for as long as it's at the picture show. R.I.P. Joker. (Liz)

The Fiery Furnaces, "Norwegian Wood"
Boy! Was I ever thrilled to death (x 49085749873 to the power of 3.14) when I learned this song existed! I actually telephoned my ex-boyfriend the exact second after hearing it to let him know the awesomeness of what had happened for me. Some things just can't be kept to oneself. I attempted to sing him the Friedbergered melody variation, but it came out sounding like an awkward/highly shoddy Bob Dylan impersonation, which led me to believe that Eleanor may be consciously aping Dylan with her vocal on this one. Which is cool, because this is a "consciously aping Dylan" John Lennon song, and so this proves that "it all comes full circle" (maybe?). Sadly, my vocal abilities are nowhere near advanced enough to capture the intricacies of "Eleanor Friedberger aping Bob Dylan aping John Lennon aping Bob Dylan." Whoa. (Laura)

Maximillian Colby, "One Gallon Alda"/Rye Coalition, "Dover"
I'm doing something kind of strange this week and putting up an entire 7" single from 1994 as my contribution to this week's "Heavy Rotation." I predict there are about three readers out there that will appreciate what a wondrous thing this is or understand how utterly, fiercely psyched I am -- it's taken me years to find these songs on mp3, having searched high and low and hunted websites devoted to post-hardcore and/or proto-emocore and contacted many a strange and eccentric character through tape- and record-trading venues. Basically all you need to know is this: Maximillian Colby were from Virginia, were beloved by a fervent few in the early 90s hardcore scene for combining the chaotic hardcore with the oblique song structures and dynamics of art-rock bands like Slint, released a few 7" and 12" records on really obscure labels and then various MC members went on to bands like Sleepytime Trio and Rah Bras. Rye Coalition had a different fate: they originally were part of that same scene but were from New Jersey, went on to develop a more (unfortunate) jock-rock kind of sound, opened up for Foo Fighters and now are in some sort of weird record label/band limbo I believe. Rye Coalition are not nearly as interesting now, but back in the day both Rye and Maximillian Colby made music that was urgent, dynamic, chaotic, intuitive and beautifully noisy -- the sound of hearts and speed and smoke and fever. Now, if anyone out there has the Shotmaker/Maximillian Colby 12" on mp3 -- I'd love you forever. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Harry Nilsson, A Tribe Called Quest, Tilly & the Wall + More!

Harry Nilsson, "Gotta Get Up"
I recently came to the conclusion that I have devoted way too much of my life to ignoring the existence of Harry Nilsson for no reason. It makes no sense why I never thought it might be a good idea to listen to his music until a week ago; I guess we can chalk the whole fiasco up to plain old learned behavior. "Gotta Get Up" is the first Nilsson song I ever consciously listened to, and guess what? It's the ultimate perfect Laura Jane pop song of all time! Now, I listen to it every single morning while getting ready and have even made up a little pantomime-dance for it, which I would gladly perform for the entire world if I could. I will listen to this song on a semi-regular basis for the entire rest of my life. I will play it in cars and I will play it for my children and I will dance to it at my wedding and I will force everybody I know to listen to it with me ad nauseum forever. Go to Hell, Learned Behavior! (Laura)

Tilly and the Wall, "Black and Blue"
An adorable but slightly-musically-cooler-than-thou dude I know once said to me as he was perusing the abnormally high play count for Tilly and the Wall on my iTunes player, "I can't believe you'd fall for this!" To which I replied, "Why not? At least I have the joy of falling for things, instead of existing in this emotionally tepid ambiguous limbo regarding perpetually everything in my life!" (Just to clarify, we've never been "involved" but we have contemplated marriage, if only because we enjoy busting each others' chops so much.) So yeah, for their joy and buoyancy, I fell for Tilly and the Wall, and my life is infinitely more fun for it. (Kat)

A Tribe Called Quest, "Can I Kick It?"
I saw The Wackness last weekend and found it fairly adorable despite some majorly icky feelings about its female characters. (Apparently in Wackness world, women have four options: They can be kinda bitchy, kinda cruel, kinda pathetic, or Mary-Kate Olsen. I pick choice D.) At the beginning of the "Can I Kick It?" scene I briefly misheard it as the Lou Reed song Tribe's sampling here and got super-nervous that the movie was going to turn into something like the video for "Wildside" by Marky Mark, which would've been quite the misstep indeed. But then it didn't and all was well. And I'll never love A Tribe Called Quest even half as much as I love De La Soul, but this track makes me love them at least about one-third as much. I'm sure Q-Tip is so overjoyed to hear that. (Liz)

Suede, "Metal Mickey"
Suede makes me think of Donovan Leitch, of Donovan Leitch's defunct Suede rip-off band Nancy Boy, and of some dumb quote from Donovan Leitch about how he's/was a "bisexual who's never had a homosexual experience." Despite the fact that I just called Donovan Leitch dumb, I'm actually really fond of him, mostly because of his handful of scenes in Gas Food Lodging and because I dig his sister so much I named my iPod after her. And I've always wanted to check out a Camp Freddy show, but sadly that's probably the last thing anyone I know would ever want to do with his/her precious time. Boo-hoo, being stuck in 1993 is just soooo lonely sometimes. (Liz)

Jackie Lomax, "Is This What You Want?"
Jackie Lomax is important for two reasons: 1) He was one of the first artists signed to Apple Records and therefore is automatically awesome in my books, 2) In 1968, he was the Sexiest Man Alive. His first album, which has the same title as this song, is pretty damned okay. His voice has a weird growly texture to it that might sound bad if he weren't so sexy about everything, but he is, so cool. I love this song a lot and I wondered why I loved it so much for a long while, and then realized it was because it is pretty much exactly "I am the Walrus," so there you go. I also particularly love the lyric "I'm buying things for all the boys," because I imagine that by "the boys" he means "The Beatles" and then I think of hot Jackie Lomax going out and buying presents for the Beatles to thank them for signing him to Apple Records, and that just cutes the hell out of me. (Laura)

Devendra Banhart, "The Other Woman"
On the one hand, there's something vaguely creepy and weird about Devendra poorly aping a genre with such strong cultural associations as reggae. On the other hand, there's something really fascinating and terrific about him occupying the particular lyrical point of view of this song, in which he makes fine use of his vague creepy weirdness. I don't know; it's just an oddly good song in the way that so many Devendra songs can be. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Sonny & Cher, Courtney Love, Liz Phair + More!

Sonny & Cher, "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done"
This is Sonny & Cher ripping off Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra, and it is one of life's myriad examples of how bubblegum approximations can really knock Real Art's socks off. I wanted to shoot myself in the face when I first discovered this song's existence, because I knew right then and there that I would probably put it on every single mix I ever made for anybody for the rest of my life. And I did, pretty much. I don't know where Sonny Bono's gravestone is, but if I were in charge of choosing his epitaph, I would have made it: "I was so handsome women cried/And I got shot but I never died." Actually, you know what? I think I'm just going to request in my will that it be my epitaph. (Laura)

The Pretty Things, "Talkin' About The Good Times"
This song positively radiates the intangible and indescribable essence of cool that remains completely inaccessible to 98% of the human population (if not more). It's not heavy or soft, fast or slow, happy or sad, whatever or the-opposite-of-whatever. It's only one thing: insanely cool. It's too cool for you, too cool for me, too cool for everyone, except for itself and maybe Yoko Ono for a couple of days in 1970. Because of its Who-esque undertones of masculinity, this is a good song to play for gun-totin' loser-dudes who have an arbitrary personal bias against psychedelia (I meet about a million of these per second); also, I beg you to stick around for the fade-out. I have an attention span of about 0.04 minutes, and even I find it gripping. (Laura)

Jonathan Fire Eater, "I've Changed Hotels"
I have the best memories of dancing all night at Shout!, this mod/soul night in NYC that was big back when "the kids" wanted to be stuck in the 60s instead of the early 80s. There were three things that were really great about Shout!: 1. The fact that straight dudes really danced; 2. The cheap drinks and 3. The music, of course, which was this great mix of northern soul, 60s R&B, garage and rock 'n roll. The shrill chime of organ blast at the beginning of this track used to send everyone out onto the dance floor in droves, and it's still tremendously exciting to stomp around to. (Kat)

Courtney Love, "Zeplin Song"
The New York Times ran a really vile photo of Courtney Love this week, so posting this track is sort of my way of saying, "I still love you, Courtney!" Anyway: This record came out when I was getting over a boy who was not entirely like the dude from "Zeplin Song," and sometimes I liked to pretend I'd authored it in some parallel universe where said dude and I had somehow shacked up together. Also, I always thought it would've been funny to put the song on a mix for him and label it as "'Why Do Fools Fall in Love?' by Avril Lavigne." Comedy gold, guys. (Liz)

John Parish & Polly Harvey, "Civil War Correspondent"
I think the best way you could listen to this would be after waking up from a nap on a very hot mid-summer Saturday evening, with the shades drawn and that groggy/sweaty post-nap sensation you'll probably never shake off all night. Then you should drink some white wine and still not open the shades. Or better yet, if you want to make it really moody, have a glass of red wine that's all hot from sitting out on the counter. Kinda gross, but hot wine's a pretty great pairing of words, no? (Liz)

Liz Phair, "Shane"
I have this love/hate thing with Liz Phair, which I may or may not write a Magnum Opus about one day, because I have these epic trains of thoughts about Exile in Guyville, sexuality, feminism and other such things. This recording, though, is off her second record, Whip-Smart, and it's always been one of my favorites of hers, even when it appeared in more roughshod form on her legendary Girlysound demos. I like the oddly tender vignette that's at the heart of its lyric, which is well-matched by the intimacy of the New Zealand-y guitar work and that hush of strings that comes in at the end of the song. I always liked it better when Liz Phair went all cinematic with her songwriting -- sometimes I think she was always better channeling Bruce Springsteen rather than the Stones. The slightly distant lens of storytelling suited her wry, nervy braininess well, especially at a moment when she was on the verge of being one of pop's great conceptual artists. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Madonna, Visage and the Small Faces + More!

Madonna, "Physical Attraction"
Apparently lots of crazy things are going down in Madonna's world lately. Who cares? I don't care! (And please imagine me sing-shouting those last two sentences just like Cibo Matto in "Beef Jerky".) In the past few years, I've come to find Madonna wildly boring in all things not directly related to her music and performance, and anytime I try to read anything about her I only get about three sentences in before I start snoring like my cat. But I'll probably never be bored by her records, most of them anyway, even the one where she raps about soy lattes. Some Brooklyn band did a cover "Physical Attraction" recently and I'm not into it, but I'm happy to have been reminded that this track is hot and awesome. (Liz)

Beck, "Get Real Paid"
God, I hope my portion of this week's jukebox isn't too sexy for you. I'd hate to make nogoodforme just explode from some big crazy overload of sexy. Anyway, I can't remember when I started to think Beck was a big lame-o, but I do know that his sex record was the second and last album of his I really loved (the first being Odelay). I've been playing it a lot lately 'cause I'm on this kick of being exceedingly nostalgic for when I first moved to L.A., and Midnight Vultures was in heavy rotation for me back then. It was mostly all about the reference to Zankou Chicken on "Debra," which I avoided posting here out of uncertainty as to how slow jamz might fare in the jukebox. But you can go download it at Mixtape 4 Melfi, and then you can buy me a Zankou t-shirt, and also some pickled turnips and hummus. Thanks. (Liz)

Visage, "Fade To Grey"
I am not going to claim that I was hip to this New Romantic synth classic when it was big in England in 1981. In 1981, the only things I was big into were the Muppets, "Three's Company," ballet and horses. I also did not live in England in 1981, much to my eternal consternation. But I've been into the song for a few years now, and that's all that matters. (Kat)

The Jesus and Mary Chain, "Sidewalking"
JAMC wrote a lot of bad-ass songs, but this is one of the best. I first heard this song in 1989 while riding in the backseat of a car driven by a jerk who liked to blast the music so loud no one could talk. He also drove like a maniac. My irritation and fear did not get in the way of me appreciating the fuzzy-loud perfection that is JAMC, however. My ears bled for days, but when it's in the service of the feedback-clanging death-surf gods who are the Reid Brothers, you don't mind as much. (Kat)

The Archies, "Justine"
For some reason, people who would not normally respond to the Archies totally flip out over this track. If you are a diehard Archies fan and wish that you could communicate their razzling-dazzling genius to all the Archies haters in your life, just play them "Justine"; they will think it's as good as "Baby You're a Rich Man." I like it because I think its funny to imagine everybody's favorite ginger-headed All-American teen singing this lovey-dovey ode to Justine Frischmann of Elastica. (Laura)

The Small Faces, "Lazy Sunday"
This song tells the story of every relationship I've ever had with my next-door neighbors; another thing about this song is that it trumps Andy Samberg & Chris Parnell's infamous SNL video short of the same name by about seventeen billion to one. I like to listen to this song and think about what a marvelous place this oft-troubling world would be if only I could make it so that every dude on the planet spoke in Steve Marriott's bone-chillingly sexy Cockney accent. One day, Laura Jane. (Laura)

Heavy Rotation, Special Edition: Seven Songs for Summer

The Look picked us to do that "seven songs for summer" meme that has been going around. Naturally, we are game for anything related to music. And naturally, being the concept-loving ladies we are, we were going to pick one summer song from every decade since the '60s that we're loving so far. But whatever, man, it's summer and things get a little sloppy. You can find the result of our half-assedness on the homepage, top-right hand corner, in the little jukebox thing. Anyway, the original instructions were thus:

And we are officially tagging: Bunnyshop, Fashion is Spinach, Cat Party, Royal Quiet Deluxe, Touch Touch Publishing, Threadbared, and dreamecho.

The Rolling Stones, "Tumbling Dice"
I do believe this is the first Stones song to ever make it into the nogoodforme jukebox. Yowza! What took us so long? Anyway, in the fantasy version of my life (in which I've also got the exact same hair and house as Frances McDormand in Laurel Canyon), most summer days are spent driving up and down the Pacific Coast Highway in a hot convertible with "Tumbling Dice" on the stereo, and somehow it's always dusk. And I do realize I just inadvertently described the closing scene from the episode of Entourage where Eric and Sloan go to Napa, but that's all right: I'm totally cool with my deepest dreams mirroring Hollywood make-believe at its most mundane. Besides, I'm pretty sure I thought of it first. Oh, and almost all of Exile on Main Street is such perfect summer music, even those overly white-boy-bluesy songs ("Shake Your Hips," "Casino Boogie") that I'll probably never really get into. (Liz)

Notorious B.I.G., "Party and Bullshit"
Biggie lives! It blows my mind that this goes all the way back to 1993, because it's still one of the best rave-up party jams ever from one of the greatest MCs of all time. Biggie eventually went on to get, uh, bigger in his sound and his notoriety, but this song always makes me want to jam out in the best way. Way back in the day some friends and I made up this little fly-girl dance to go to this song, and I can still do it -- only now at the end I get this weird urge to jump into a Bonzi boat. And on an only-tangentially related note, do you guys remember the "Hypnotize" video with the boat chase, the car chase, explosions and mermaids? I wish they would make videos like that more. That's what summer should be like for all of us. (Kat)

The Geraldine Fibbers, "House is Falling"
I wish Carla Bozulich (singer for the Fibbers) would write many many books: Her songs tell beautifully fucked-up stories, and the imagery's always really sexy in that scary kind of way. This track's off 1995's Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home, and it's got everything you could ever want from summer (like: sunlit thighs, howling dogs, mint juleps and honey, "butter moon" and "earthless sky," and lots of lying around with someone you're really hot for). Go to your nearest record store and buy Lost right now, and while you're at get yourself a copy of Butch too, especially if you're a girl prone to obsessing over stuff like Angela Carter's short stories and Courtney Love's lyrics sheets. Also, I met Carla in a bar once; she was cool. (Liz)

The Dukes of Stratosphear, "Pale & Precious"
It always strikes me as a little bit weird that my favorite Beach Boys song was written by a psych-parody XTC side project in the mid-1980s. My second favorite Beach Boys song is "Be True To Your School," but that song doesn't have much to do with summer at all. So there you go. (Laura)

KAK, "Lemonaide Kid"
I know that a person should never say never, but maybe a person should just shut the hell up. Something I will never do in my life is attend the Burning Man festival. Occasionally, in life, you meet someone who once attended Burning Man. He or she will passionately attempt to convince you that going to Burning Man is the best thing you could ever do for yourself. You will try your best to envision yourself redefining your soul amidst the fest's burning vibrations of positivity, but you know what? You'd hate it. You'd get a sunburn and freak out. So instead, I strongly urge you to just sit in the grass nearest to your current place of residence and listen to "Lemonaide Kid" by KAK. It'll BLOW YOUR MIND!!!!! (Laura)

Nu Shooz, "I Can't Wait
Summer music is an inherently nostalgic genre for me, so pretty much anything I think of as "summer music" comes from the time of double dutch, ice cream trucks and making up dances on the front lawn to Miami Sound Machine. I was going to put something like "Billie Jean" to rep my childhood summers, but instead I picked this song because it's kind of the most perfect one-hit wonder ever in an age where there were so many great ones to choose from. My specific memory of this comes from being at my best friend's house and watching MTV while making our Barbies have orgies in a hot tub. (Kat)

The Rondelles, "Like A Prayer"
So, when it came to the seventh song of this meme, we at nogoodforme were going to try to be all organized and pick an anthem that represented all of us in our totality, beyond all time and space and ego boundaries. But in true nogoodforme style, we kind of let it float for awhile and now I'm trying to post this quickly because my day is turning into crazyville. We were going to pick something off Funhouse by the Stooges, but in all honestly this came up randomly after Nu Shooz on my iTunes player and I kind of dug it. Outside of my current Billy Idol fixation, this song has been rocking my iPod-like device since then. Plus, it's my birthday tomorrow and nothing would make me happier than knowing lots of people are listening to this stellar cover all at once. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation, Special Summer Edition Part Un: Love, Wings, Lil Wayne + More!

This week's Heavy Rotation may just be my personal favorite: who else would put Sir Paul McCartney right next to Lil Wayne in their mixtape? Just who, I ask you? Get the good vibes going on our homepage, near the top right corner as usual. You can always count on us for a good time.

The Beach Boys, "All Summer Long"
This is how weird I am: Last weekend I was driving down the 5 and spontaneously started sulking about how the summer's just flying by and will probably be over before you know it. And then I realized, "Hey, wait - summer's not even here yet!" And it's still not here now! But it will be here tomorrow, and that's when it'll make sense for me to start spontaneously sulking on the freeway. But since I actually don't care much for sulking or sulky people, I'm posting this track in an attempt to take some of the sting out of summer's inevitable end. I don't know if it'll work or not, but at least the song is perfect. The detail of the girl spilling Coke on her blouse gets me every time. (Liz)

The Beatles, "I'm Down
In case you're wondering if the Beatles invented punk rock (and possibly hair metal as well), the answer is HELLS YEAH, and the proof lies in Paulie-Paul's frenzied, spastic, hyperkinetic, and pre-Helter Skelter (though decidedly Helter Skelter-ing; I mean, it helter skelters the helter skelter outta me, for one) vocal on "I'm Down." Speaking of Helter Skelter, I believe that this particular McCartney vocal might even go so far as to trump his trogolodyterrific wailings on HS, therefore securing it the official title of "Paul's finest hour as Beatles' vocalist." The great paradox of "I'm Down," however, lies in the utter and abominable fallacy that is the lyric: "We [me, Paul McCartney, and a hot groupie] all alone/Ain't nobody else/But you still moan keep your hands to yourself"- okay, this is obviously a lie. No woman in her right mind, not even a Jehovah's Witness, would ever have told a randy 22-year-old cherub-era Paul to "keep his hands to himself." Also: the Beatles' Shea Stadium performance of this song is sheer insanity and sort of like sonic cocaine- can y'all believe how awesomely amped John Lennon is? There you go: even on Paul McCartney's birthday via some weirdo mp3 tribute in 2008, John overshadows Paul. I like life. (Laura)

Salt 'N Pepa, "Expression"
This song takes me back to summers where ice cream trucks, double dutch and playing all day till the street lights came on ruled my world. Back then, and as now, summer means moving what the good Lord gave you to beats, rhymes and life! I give winter to dirges, drone, fuzz and beautiful depression, but come summer all I want to do is dance. Salt 'N Pepa, man -- these ladies are so pioneering and full of good vibes that it really only makes sense to listen to them in the broad summer sunshine. (With sunblock, of course.) Even now I appreciate their sassy, streetwise girlfriend vibe and their flawless pop technique. Positivity! (Kat)

Love, "Seven and Seven Is"
This song is featured in the greatest movie ever made, Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break. I'm doing a little summer theme with this Heavy Rotation - actually, with almost every single thing I'm posting this week on nogoodforme - and for me nothing is more summery than Point Break. Not so much the parts about sky-diving and bank-robbing and murdering and eating meatball sandwiches, but just the whole thing of the beach and Neptune's Net and going to parties where Jimi Hendrix plays loud and girls breathe fire. Also, buy me this t-shirt. (Liz)

Paul McCartney & Wings, "Single Pigeon"
I can only assume that Paul McCartney wrote this song on the most melancholic day of his entire life; this really is Paul at his most emotionally honest. Sure, Paul's dealt with the dirty underbelly of what I know he'd refer to as his "black moods" in song before, but he generally tends to mask the reality of depression with silly, contrived narratives about barbers, reverends, dead women named Eleanor, and other such British people. Even though this song sometimes makes you (read: me) think, "Oh, get over it, Paul, you big complaino-baby! Grow a pair! Was your relationship with your soulmate Linda really so bad?" but other times it makes me think, "When the usually jaunty Paul McCartney is feeling like life is empty, wow, life must really suck after all." This is one of my favorite songs to listen to when I am in the mood to brood, sulk, mope, whine, wallow, whimper, and so on. Also, I am the most ornithophobic person I've ever known, and the majority of my irrational phobia of the avian community is directed specifically at pigeons- the creepy, scary, weird scum of the earth. Leave it to Paul McCartney to make pigeons palatable to even me. You know what Paul McCartney is? He's a genius. (Laura)

Lil Wayne, "Lollipop"
Um yes, this song is kind of everywhere, but it is so awesome that omnipresence is inevitable. I won't even pretend to have kept up with all of Lil Wayne's mixtapes, YouTube clips and guest appearances, but he's a genuine phenomenon -- who else could just completely GIVE AWAY tons of free music that for the most part is awesome and still sell millions of records? Vibe gave him his own "Top 77 Lil Wayne Songs of 2007" list in a year when he didn't have his own record out! His brilliantly surreal new record, Tha Carter III, is so full of genuine eccentricity that it makes any freak folk band pale in comparison. He's kind of just a weirdo, but in a field dominated by the same old posturing, that's why his oddball stylings are so fascinating. This song is pretty much a bunch of random non sequiturs and innuendos and it's kind of incoherent, but the musical backdrop is so sleek that you just roll with it. I'm always amused at how he says the word "wrrraaaappppuuurrrrrr" like a very stoned Steve Urkel. There's always one totally awesome hip hop song that rules a summer as well as nearly every single car stereo blasting itself down the street, and this one is it for 2008. And it isn't even the best one on the record! (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Joan Jett, the Who, the Fiery Furnaces and More!

This week's installment of Heavy Rotation is probably one of the hottest ones ever -- just in time for weirdly early heat waves, no? Hole up in an air-conditioned room with your laptop and catch our jukebox on the homepage.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "Crimson and Clover"
It somehow seems woefully wrong not to have this song mentioned anywhere in this blog, so here I am makin' it right. 'Cause that's what we do here: we make wrongs right, especially when it involves a song with one of the swooniest first notes ever. (Kat)

The Dandy Warhols, "Smoke It"
My own little theme for this week's Heavy Rotation is "TV Shows with Killer Music Supervision," mostly because "music supervisor" is one of my number-one dream jobs (right up there with "bakery owner" and "best-selling novelist"). This one was used in an episode from Veronica Mars' second season, the one where Veronica takes down the big bad corporate man and "Smoke It" plays amidst a crazy flurry of paper-shredding and office-fleeing. Dudes, if I ever get busted for real-estate fraud, I so want this to be the soundtrack to my renegade helicopter escape! Also, I give Courtney Taylor-Taylor props for making a potentially clunky lyric like "People got more baggage than JFK/And I'm talkin about the airport, man" totally work. Good for you, Courtney Taylor-Taylor. I know I'm supposed to think your band's kinda lame, but I've never heard a Dandy Warhols song I didn't like. (Liz)

The Fiery Furnaces, "Bow Wow"
I've decided that a significant component of my agenda for nogoodforme.com right now is going to be bringing up the Fiery Furnaces as frequently as possible so that when nogoodforme.com blows up and surpasses the Fiery Furnaces' present level of fame, they will have no choice but to ride our coattails and take advantage of their cultural affiliation with the three most illustrious avant-wack music bloggers on the planet. One of my favorite things about the Fiery Furnaces is that, over the course of their seventeen trillion albums, you can hear Matthew Friedberger become progressively more brazen and audacious about indulging his weirdo/avant-wack geniusish tendencies. And now who would I be if I didn't compare this progression to that of the Beatles? What I mean is, Gallowsbird's Bark is like the FFs equivalent of Meet the Beatles; it's less breathtakingly innovative than Widow City, but equally good nevertheless. Plus- what an adorable song title! And I like when Eleanor & Matt sing the chorus part together; it reminds me that they're brother and sister, which always really cutes me out. (Laura)

Bo Diddley, "Who Do You Love"
I first encountered Mr. Diddley after one reviewer ages ago referred to PJ Harvey's "50 Ft. Queenie" as "Bo Diddley goes riot grrrl," so you know I got myself schooled shortly afterward. (It's amazing how much I learned through the cultural references surrounded Polly's early work; I can't think of another musician that would propel me to ingest all of William Burroughs' work in one sickening inhale.) Mr. Diddley passed onto the great beyond recently, so let us say a good word for the man who played one of the meanest guitars ever, and without whom a little band called the Stones (among many, many other bands) would not be possible. (Kat)

The Who, "Eminence Front"
Okay, the music supervision on Entourage is almost too good. Their consistent use of classic-rock songs I adore is pretty much always perfect in the moment, but ultimately it just messes with my head. Like, for instance, right now it seems impossible that I'll ever hear "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix again without going, "Vince just told the Paramount dude he wants $20 million to do the next Aquaman! Oh, snap!" And in my pre-Entourage days, whenever I heard "Monkey Man" by the Rolling Stones, I'd mostly just think of that time I went to see the Rolling Stones and they played "Monkey Man." But now it's like, "OMG, Ari's getting ousted from the agency! Code red, Lloyd! Tsetse fly!" (And so on and so forth - you get the picture.) But "Eminence Front" is a different story: I'm sure I heard this song 8 million times on my dad's stereo and on the car radio before I ever saw Entourage, but for some reason I never realized it was The Who till I nerdily looked it up online after watching the pilot. It's the song playing while the boys are walking into the Head On premiere and the effect is pretty fantastic, what with the intro's slow-building-ness and all. By the way, sometimes I feel like Entourage should be titled Dudes of Varying Levels of Attractiveness Walking Purposefully Together - excepting all stuff Ari- and Lloyd- and Billy Walsh-related, that's maybe the one thing the show always gets just right. (Liz)

The Bee Gees, "Spicks & Specks"
Like Liz, my contributions to this week's installment of Heavy Rotation are based upon a theme, which in my case happens to be: "When it comes to plucky piano-based counter-melodies, a little goes a long way (and here are two songs that exemplify this concept in action)" This 1966 Bee Gees non-hit was actually shortlisted for my "Songs I Want Played at my Funeral" roster, but sadly did not quite make the cut, because sadly, this song is just not quite sad enough. At my funeral, I want people to be sobbing, having nervous breakdowns, and screaming "WHY GOD WHY?"- this song would just make them peacefully reflect upon my existence; that is simply not good enough. Anyway, the Bee Gees were one of the five best bands of the 60s; the modest, uncluttered sincerity of this song makes it an ideal soundtrack for "bored melancholy" days, and since "bored melancholy" describes the general attitude I project to the world about 95% of the time, I listen to it a lot. The only bone I have to pick with this single is that when the boys ask, "Where are the girls?" I'm like, "Gimme a break, Maurice and/or Robin and/or Barry Gibb, more like WHERE ARE THE DUDES???"- Seriously. Where are they? (Laura)

Heavy Rotation: Jimi Hendrix, Jackson C. Frank, the Millenium and More!

Wow, Heavy Rotation gets seriously old-school with this week's installation -- our youngest track here dates from 1993. But you know what they say -- brand new, you're retro, and of course you can catch these at the jukebox on our homepage.

Jimi Hendrix, "Ezy Rider"
I have a rule for myself that whenever "Ezy Rider" comes up on my iPod or iTunes shuffle, I can't ever skip it and I have to listen all the way through: It's just got some magic power that's not to be ignored. To that end, on the morning after my most recent birthday I decided that this song should definitely be the anthem for my 30th year on Planet Earth. I also think Barack Obama should consider using it as his campaign song - the parts about angel dust and motorcycle mamas might be weird, but we can make it work. (Liz)

Queen, "Get Down, Make Love"
Apparently when I was a baby, my parents would play Queen and it invariably would make me cry. Perhaps Freddie Mercury was too intense for my brand-new ears? At any rate, I effectively destroyed my parents' Queen fandom, and it's a burden I carry with me today. I carried over some of that infantile hostility to Queen for awhile, but I've been slowly coming around due to the collective efforts of various significant others over the years. I heard this the other day at Rainbo Club in Chicago and really enjoyed it -- and this is pretty much one of their freakiest songs ever. So who knows? Perhaps there is hope for my parents, Queen and me after all! (Kat)

Jackson C. Frank, "Milk and Honey"
Jackson C. Frank had the type of life that could be one of the saddest movies ever made: there's a fire from when he was a child, and Woodstock, and a model, and things like severe depression, the death of a child, hospitalization, a bullet to the eye and a tragic ending. Perhaps in the wake of all of that, not getting the fame and acclaim he so clearly deserved pales in comparison, but it still mystifies when the songs themselves are this stately, melancholy and so beautiful that it's unreal. This song just haunts and haunts you, and it gains more power the more you listen to it. (Kat)

The Millenium, "I Just Want to Be Your Friend"
The Millenium's Begin is one of my Top Ten Albums Of All Time, and the band's mastermind, Curt Boettcher, is my fourth-favorite person of all time, after John Lennon, myself and Paul McCartney. But I need to cut myself off from talking about this right now, or I will accidentally turn my Heavy Rotation write-up into a Magnum Opus about what a genius Curt Boettcher was. Boettcher's "thing" is making the schmaltziest and most annoyingly perfect melodies and arrangements sound completely genuine and almost emotionally raw. He's also a master of starting songs off kind of slow and gentle, and then kicking them up seven thousand billion notches mid-way through so that if you're listening to them while walking down the street you have no choice but to punch the air in celebration of their magnificence. I chose this song over all the other Millenium tracks I'm obsessed with because the lyric, "You know I just want to be your friend/'Cause I'd like our little drama/To have a happy ending" is just SO relatable. Who doesn't have some crazy-frustrating relationship with some jerk that's summed up exactly by that lyric? Maybe a nun or a hermit, but that's about it. (Laura)

Tomorrow, "Shy Boy"
In my life, I have devoted an inordinate amount of time to pondering whether or not I would hypothetically date Tomorrow's Shy Boy. The truth is, I totally wouldn't- I think he'd be really needy, and require energy and attention from me that I just couldn't be bothered to give him. In reality, I'd way rather hypothetically date the hypothetical sexy Cockney asshole who would hypothetically steal the Shy Boy's milk money to go buy alcohol. While this song's narrative is at times pretty questionable (what kind of lunatic freak would waste his money on buying an engagement ring for a girl he's never even spoken to?), it is also the sweetest little ditty I ever done heard. It's so rare that life provides one with a novelty tune that manages to transcend its overbearing concept; I wouldn't date the Shy Boy, but I'll certainly never tire of listening to his story. (Laura)

The Afghan Whigs, "My Curse"
Boy oh boy, this one's a doozy. The first time I ever heard it was really late on an early-summer night when I was about 19, driving home from a party and sitting in the back while a too-hot-to-trot boy in the passenger's seat sang along very passionately/drunkly at the second verse. That's probably the best way you could ever hear "My Curse," but anytime it's dark and kinda sweaty out should work real nice too. (Liz)

Heavy Rotation: Dramarama, Cream, Jay-Z + More!

Ah, yes, summer -- are you coming, leaving, hanging around or what? Why is it still cold at the end of May? (Yes, we know, global climate change.) Despite it all, we think this week's Heavy Rotation is especially hot; find it on the top right corner of our homepage.

Dramarama, "Anything, Anything"
I feel like I've been waiting forever for an excuse to put this one in the nogoodforme.com jukebox, and here it is: The other night I had my first Rodney Bingenheimer sighting, apart from the time I saw him do a Q & A after a special screening of Mayor of the Sunset Strip. It was at Canter's, of course, where I ate matzo ball soup and the most heaven-sent piece of chocolate rugelach and tried not to gaze adoringly at Rodney as he sat in his special booth in the corner. Anyway, Rodney loves Dramarama, and Rodney's basically the reason I love Dramarama too. Also, "Anything, Anything" is the most romantic song ever written; it makes my heart grow three sizes every time. (Liz)

The Kills, "Cheap and Cheerful"
Like so many things in life, I had such conflicting feelings about the Kills. Of course, a band inspired by equal parts Polly Harvey and Royal Trux could be nothing but somewhat awesome, but half the time I've wondered if they weren't digging themselves into kind of a schtick. It's taken their latest record, the fast-and-loose Midnight Boom, for me to come back around. The whole album is kind of a party rave-up for the narcotically-inclined, and some songs -- like this one -- actually kick up some dust with some serious dancing shoes. I really like to bop around to this one. I mean, really -- bopping around to a song by the Kills? Did hell freeze over or something? Who would've thought? (Kat)

The Fifth Dimension, "Sunshine of Your Love"
This week's Heavy Rotation is my little tribute to Cream, the band from the sixties I care least about. The only Cream songs I ever listen to are "Scrapyard," this 5D cover (5D is a new nickname I just made up for the Fifth Dimension; tell everybody!!!), and occasionally "Badge," but only because it's Beatles-affiliated. Summer songs are the best songs. Who wants to listen to a winter song; they're really depressing. In particular, I'm thinking of "River" by Joni Mitchell, which makes me want to cry just remembering that it exists. Anyway, this is the third-sweatiest song of all time, after Martha & the Vandellas' "Heat Wave," and "Dancing in the Street," also by Martha & the Vans, oddly enough (Martha sure loves the summertime!). I wish I was DJing this song to a room full of Leos on August 5th. I wish it was a hundred and ten degrees out and I was wearing almost no clothes but still dripping sweat. I love days when you are absolutely disgusting from sweating so hard, but so is everybody else in the world, and it all balances out. Reeky perspiration is the great unifier. I wish I was drunk. (Laura)

Cream, "Doing that Scrapyard Thing"
The downside of constantly speaking in hyperbole is that you end up accidentally lying a lot. For instance, I have claimed about seventeen billion times (literally!!!!) on this blog that a given pop song is the "theme song to my life," but I was fibbing all along, because this song is actually the theme song to my life. For one thing, the word "scrapyard" is in the title. For another couple things, this song is both jaunty and asinine, just like me. The best thing about this song is that it proves what a totally irrelevant and mind-blowingly anti-innovative band cruddy Cream were: it's from nineteen sixty-frickin'-nine! The rest of the pop music landscape was totally over portemanteau lyrics and bold-faced psych, already moving on into boring roots-rock Leon Russell territory, yet Cream were only just discovering the possibilities of sonic trippiness. The most embarrassing part of all is that this song actually employs the word "walrus," as if nobody could possibly remember the time two years ago when that word was used in like the most famous song ever. Oh, Cream! Your redundancy is too charming for its own damn good. (Laura)

The Young Rascals, "You Better Run"
If'n you ever become irksomely smitten with some uncooperative dude, one really hot thing would be to put this song on the bar jukebox, give him about 1.5 seconds of steely eye contact, swig your beer, then ignore him for a little while. I tried that once with "Chain of Fools" by Aretha Franklin; it was effective but "Chain of Fools" is a little too defeatist. "You Better Run," on the other hand, is just the right amount of tough and mean. And I only recently discovered that Pat Benatar is not the song's author, though her rendition is still my favorite in all her catalogue - I have no idea why radio DJs don't spin it more often instead of "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" and that annoyingly karaoked-to-death "Love is a Battlefield." Muh. (Liz)

Jay-Z, "Coming of Age"
Do I really need to explain Jay-Z? He's become such an institution that sometimes I forget: before he was an exemplary capitalist, he was a straight-up hustler whose first record, Reasonable Doubt, has a certain hungry "now or never" quality, not to mention a dark reflectiveness that bestows a kind of elegance you don't usually hear in his later works. I thought about putting "Can't Knock the Hustle" because this blog needs more Mary J. Blige, but this has always been my favorite song off Reasonable Doubt -- it kind of bridges early and later Jay-Z to my little ears. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Missy Elliott, Franz Ferdinand, the Vogues

Welcome to a special Primp edition of Heavy Rotation, where we bring you our favorite songs to get dolled-up to. Whether you're headed out to your favorite dive bar or some super-fancy soiree, there should be something here for every occasion. (God, how Cosmo-sounding is that?) Find the Heavy Rotation jukebox on our homepage, get your lip gloss out and strike a pose or something.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Do You Love Me?"
If I were a fashion designer, this would so be my runway song. There's nothing subtle or wallflower-y about this track by my ever-beloved Nick -- it's pure drama, a perfect symbiosis of the sinister energy that Cave brought to the Birthday Party with the literary theatricality of his solo sensibility. That murmuring bassline at the beginning, the stately piano line, those cascading guitar chords -- it just screams a kind of anarchic elegance. I think "anarchic elegance" is a nice thing to strive for in terms of social life, and not a bad thing to have on your side when you're psyching yourself up for the night. (Kat)

Franz Ferdinand, "What You Waiting For?"
I'd actually forgotten about this cheeky little Gwen Stefani cover till I heard it in a rilly, rilly bad store at the mall a few weeks back. I don't know if I've ever actually "primped" to it, though I do know I've jogged to it many many times. And there's something kinda "whaaa?" about the Franz Ferdinand dude telling me I'm a superhot female and a stupid ho, but it's all in good fun. My favorite thing, though, is how it changes into "White Wedding" at the end: Lately I'm all about tapping into the secret genius of Billy Idol. "Hot in the City"? YESSS. (Liz)

Missy Elliott, "I'm Really Hot"
I don't think it's such a bad thing to be so literal in your primping music -- after all, aren't you just reaffirming your hotness when you get up in it? I love the slinky original of this song and have this whole dance to it, but I think this remix by Ratatat is super-rad, especially because it is always this close to busting my speakers when I blast it loud before I head out for the night. I live on the edge that way, can't you tell? (Kat)

Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight"
Um, how you doin', apex of pop perfection? Clearly a killer primping song; it invites its listener to imagine that "you" are the "she" of the title. So as the song blasts and you're applying your fourteenth coat of mascara, you can say to yourself in the mirror, "Well, Tommy & Bobby, tonight I'm going to go hang out at my friend's apartment and maybe watch a movie, walk the dog, eat some food, have a glass of wine, and then take the train home at around twenty to midnight." The moment when Tommy Boyce says, "C'mon, Bobby" near the end of the song fills my heart with glee. I love self-referentialism in pop music, like in "Glass Onion" by the Beatles when John Lennon sings, "The walrus was Paul." Speaking of Paul McCartney, Tommy Boyce is his doppelganger. See? The Beatles relate to everything. (Laura)

R.E.M., "The Wake-Up Bomb"
Like the other track I picked for this entry, this one feels kinda like a parody of a primping song, which is what makes it not completely terrible when Michael Stipe sings that wacky lyric about his jeans. But then it gets all anthemic at the bridge and makes you wanna run around the house, and that's a good way to feel when you're getting ready to paint the town red. Oh, Stipey: so complex! Sometimes I'm so busy being annoyed and bored by him that I forget he's so fabulous. (Liz)

The Vogues, "Five O'Clock World"
There are some songs from the '60s that make me think, "Wow, I wish more than I've ever wished anything that I could have been 22 years old in 1967 and have had the experience of hearing this song for the first time," and then there are songs that make me think, "Wow, this song rules, but if I had been my age when it first came out, I probably would've hated this MOR drippiness as much as 2008 Laura hates Danity Kane or the Jonas Brothers." I've actually never heard Danity Kane or the Jonas Brothers, but I've heard "Five O'Clock World" seventeen billion trillion times. Maybe 1965 Laura would have thought it was losery schmaltz, but 2008 Laura thinks its exciting as hell. (PS: I just found out via the Wikipedia entry for "Five O'Clock World" that it was the theme song of The Drew Carey Show, which makes me feel really lame, but whatevs) (Laura)

Heavy Rotation: The Ramones, Herman's Hermits, Can

The Ramones, "Surfin' Bird"
So, everyone knows that the greatest film ever made is 1987's Back to the Beach, starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, and Uncle Jesse's wife from Full House. But until I rewatched it last week, I'd kind of forgotten about the part where Pee Wee Herman crashes the nighttime beach party and performs his own rendition of "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen (probably 'cause I was too caught up and reminiscing about the other beach singalong scene, starring my beloved Fishbone). Since then I've been "Surfin' Bird"-obsessed, playing the hell out of the Ramones version - it's probably my favorite of all songs to incorporate "papa-oom-mow-mow" as a lyrical refrain (though "Matthew Modine" by Pony Up! and "Die Schule Ist Aus" by Die Sweetles would be fairly close runners-up). It's also one of the two best-ever pieces of music to be playing right when you walk into a party. (The other, in case you're wondering, is 2:30 - 2:51 on "Novacane" by Beck). (Liz)

Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo, "Girls Like Me"
More Valley Girl love! This track's both in the opening credits and in my favorite non-Nic-Cage scene, that spazzy slumber-party lip-sync bit with all the girls in their underwear. I don't know much about Bonnie Hayes, but I've decided to make one of her couplets from the first verse ("I'm gonna do just what I wanna/I'm going drive to Tijuana") my credo for the summer. Though I think I'd maybe rather go to, like, Rio Caliente than Tijuana - but that's just me. (Liz)

Herman's Hermits, "Museum"
Donovan, Donovan, Donovan: you'll always be the man I love to hate. As much as "Atlantis" and "Superlungs My Supergirl" are two of my favorite songs ever and I will probably listen to them consistently until the day I die, I wish that they were by anybody else in the world besides crappy Donovan. I really dislike Donovan as a human being. It bugs me that he infiltrated the Beatles' Rishikesh trip, and how he always makes such a damned grand deal out of how he's "Britain's answer to Bob Dylan." That claim is so inaccurate! Why can't he just be confident and secure in being Donovan? As far as things go, it gets a lot worse than being Donovan. Anyway, my all-time favorite Donovan song is this Herman's Hermits version of "Museum." I didn't realize it was a Donovan cover my first listen, and thought, "Whoa! Peter Noone! You really pushed yourself lyrically on this one! I'm impressed!" before realizing the truth of the matter. But it all works out- Peter Noone looks way more like Peter Pan than Donovan does, although it makes perfect sense that loserface Donovan would want the world to perceive him as a fey, gorgeous little elf-boy. "Meet me under the whale at the Natural History Museum," is such a charming lyric it makes me want to jump for joy, or maybe just go to the Museum of Natural History. Though definitely NOT with Donovan Leitch. (Laura)

The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, "Why Did I Get So High?"
This is a GREAT drug song by a GREAT hippy-dippy psych band with a GREAT band name and a GREAT sophomore album title (The Peanut Butter Conspiracy is Spreading- GET IT???) My favorite thing about this song is that for the majority of its duration, it forces you to wonder if the lyric pertains to actually getting high or if it is just a metaphor for losing touch with your inner balance or self-worth or something. Then you get to the last line and you're like "OH! It's totally about smoking pot!" You'll just have to listen for yourself to find out what I mean. (Laura)

Can, "Mother Sky"
I'm really into very long songs lately because I'm very lazy, and I can keep them on the stereo without having to change them. Plus, they go on long enough to become kind of wallpaper-y, an effect I find oddly soothing and comforting. Take any noisy, crazy song, play it long enough and it becomes sort of background music. This long, long track from Can manages that trick of being kind of skronk-y and noisy, but there's something very hypnotic about it as it elongates and goes and goes and goes, becoming this kind of monument of experimental rock psychedelia. And it's sort of a prime example of the crazy nonsensical genius of singer Damo Suzuki. I have no idea what he's singing at all; no one really ever does, and it's spawned a cottage industry of "Mother Sky" covers by the likes of Calla, Th' Faith Healers and many others where they all interpret his lyrics to increasingly creative effect. "I think madness is too pure like mother sky"? Okay! (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Jan & Dean, No Age, the Stooges + More

Death and sexual mayhem are the subtexts we're working with for this edition of Heavy Rotation. As always, the jukebox's on the homepage and the angst is in your heart.

Jan & Dean, "Dead Man's Curve"
I love surf a whole lot, but nowhere near as much as I'll love surf in a couple months from now: my annual bout of SoCal-centricity tends to reach its fever pitch around mid-July, for obvious reasons. Jan & Dean's tragically unrecognized Drag City is one of my all-time favorite records; its a proto-concept album about all the different types of cars (hearses, "schlock rods," Stingrays, Popsicle trucks) and all the different things you can do in said cars (drag race, give girls the time, drag race). "Dead Man's Curve" is one of the most breathtaking songs I've ever heard, and is easily the most melodramatic pop song of the sixties. It's one of my favorite songs to DJ- it's fun to watch people's faces go ashen at the theatrical intro, then flip out as it reaches its thrilling climax. This song is also pretty amazing to walk around listening to on headphones, if you're able to resist the urge to act out a pantomime of the hyper-engaging narrative. I rarely am. So if you ever see me running down the street punching the air and miming a car crash, you can safely bet that there I was, on "Dead Man's Curve." (Laura)

Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus, "Quick Joey Small"
This is the second-most punk rock song of all time, trumped only by Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction." That's all. (Laura)

No Age, "Things I Did When I Was Dead"
If you're into doing as you're told, you will have already purchased a copy of No Age's new record Nouns by this point. And if not, maybe this track will urge you in the right direction. You could get the record on iTunes, but then you'd miss out on its accompanying booklet of beautiful pictures, so better to head on down to your local record store or Insound or wherevs else you please. I fully guarantee that more of those slasher-movie effects and droney vocals and really pretty guitar will await you there, along with poppier/slammier stuff like "Ripped Knees" (which probably ties "Things I Dead When I Was Dead" for my personal favorite track off Nouns). It's all so triumphantly great, I've been spinning it even more than the new Madonna - and I LOVE the new Madonna!! (Liz)

The Beta Band, "Dry the Rain"
Speaking of record stores and Nouns, I was kinda hoping that when I went to dutifully buy my second copy at Amoeba on Tuesday, the checkout person would look at the CD and go "This is good," just so I could answer with a semi-smug/dickish "I know" a la John Cusack in High Fidelity. He does that a few times throughout the film, but the best is in the "Dry the Rain" scene. I'm not totally sure why, but that 30-second bit is one of my favorite parts in the whole movie - maybe it has do with my getting some possibly perverse pleasure out of watching people listen to music. I also adore that self-satisfied yet secretly curious expression on John Cusack's face as he glances around the store - totally priceless. Oh, and the song's just golden and so hopeful in that springtime-perfect sort of way. The Beta Band e bom! (Liz)

The Stooges, "Dirt"
I'm only doing one song this week, but it's like seven minutes long so it's like two tracks in one! How economical! Anyway, I feel like I should issue a warning before you listen to this. Don't worry, there aren't any really offensive lyrics or anything like that, unless the idea of Iggy Pop singing about how he's dirt but he's okay with it unnerves you in any way. Then you might not want to listen, because that's pretty much all he says here. No, I must warn you because this sexy, sweaty hot mess of a rock dirge might incite you to leap over your cubicle wall and make out with that guy from Sales or something. So be careful, okay? You never know what the Stooges will make you get up to or get down with; that's why they're so awesome. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Van Dyke Parks, Imperial Teen, the Black Angels + More!

We always take the "mixed-up" maxim of fashion at heart here at nogoodforme.com, and so we've got nearly everything this week: perfect pop gems from the 60s, sexy Euro faux-disco, straight-up rock stompers and French chanteuses. (Okay, we don't have everything, but one day one of us will find that perfectly compact black-metal-meets-Motown hit and then our Heavy Rotation collection will be complete.) As always, hit it up at the jukebox on our homepage and let us know what you think!

Van Dyke Parks, "Do What You Wanta"
This song exemplifies precisely why I am incapable of "getting over" the sixties. Songs just aren't this good anymore! I don't know- maybe all the A+ melodies that exist were used up forty years ago, and now songwriters are stuck with D-grade hooks for the rest of eternity? It amazes me that this little kicker is only one minute and fifty-nine seconds long; in a spirit similar to "She Loves You," it packs those two short minutes densely full of fun, folly, gaiety and unabashed positivity. Van Dyke Parks' intensely adorable speech impediment doesn't come across so much on Song Cycle, but on this 1966 single, his delivery sounds sweetly askew, as does a toddler's. His blissful pronunciation of "Waw-awn-ta" strikes a chord with my maternal instinct in a way that I can safely say no other rock song ever has. (Laura)

Mirwais, "Disco Science"
I haven't gotten the new Madonna record yet and I feel real bad, since it's been out a whole three days and all. Instead I'm revisiting Music, which was produced by Mirwais, whom I know virtually nothing about except that he's responsible for this piece of genius I scored off the Snatch soundtrack. Snatch is basically pretty bad (sorry, Mr. Madonna!), but I was mega-obsessed when it came out, mostly because I either wanted to be Benicio Del Toro or at least go out with Benicio Del Toro. Still, there's a whole bunch of pretty killer scenes, especially the Dog vs. Rabbit one that "Disco Science" plays in. Plus, all songs ever created should totally sample "Cannonball," don't you think? (Liz)

The Raveonettes, "Lust"
I predict I'm going to post nearly every song on this record eventually, that's how much I'm digging the latest Raveonettes record. This song is like a perfect introduction to this band: it has this sugary girl-group pop core, but it's dressed up in the noise of nihilism and despair. If that's too high-concept for you, here's a more poetic take: it sounds like L.A. at night, when you've got a sunshine hangover from the day and are settling into your desolate high-rise at dusk. And if that's too obtuse to get a grasp on: this song is great to make out to. If that doesn't help you grasp the gorgeous core of how this song works, well, I can't help you at all. (Kat)

Imperial Teen, "Yoo Hoo"
My favorite thing about Imperial Teen is that the one time I went to see them - fall of '96, opening for the Lemonheads in Providence - Roddy Bottum and I had the same shirt on. It was this ugly, white-stripe-collared, red polyester short-sleeve I'd found at a Salvation Army in my hometown, and somehow Roddy had chosen to wear the exact same thing on the exact same night. Magic! Anyway, they played "Yoo Hoo" during that show, even though What Is Not to Love was a few years away from being released - I remember staring up at one of the amazon girls in the band as she sang the back-up vocal, completely gaga for her. I've kind of lost track of Imperial Teen over the years, but this album and Seasick still sound boss to me. (Liz)

The Black Angels, "Young Men Dead"
I was going to post a Black Angels song from their latest record, Directions To See A Ghost, but alas, the opening section of it was so eerily similar to Liz's Imperial Teen track that it was weird. (Does this prove Laura's theory that top-grade melodies were used up four decades ago? I have no idea.) So instead I'll give you the opener of their last record, Passover, which is gloriously anthemic swamp-rock at its sexed-up best. You can debate all about the relevance of rock 'n roll and the death of guitar-based music or whatnot, but the song just rocks, and sometimes that is all you really need in a track. (Kat)

Sylvie Vartan, "Baby Capone"
If I were facing off with Frank Sinatra at a roulette table in Monaco circa 1963, I would tip the cocktail waitress and request she put this song on while getting me my next Bloody Mary. In this fantasy, my name would be Baby Capone, and I'd wear red lipstick and probably overdo it on the leopard print. This song is uncanny in its ability to evoke the semblance of a time or place that I can feel, though don't necessarily understand. I listen to a lot of music from The Past, and mostly it just sounds like "good" or "music" to me; this historical relic of a pop song, however, has a compelling and sort of spooky energy that makes you feel like you've been transported back to the days of jet-setting, white collar crime-heavy, James Bond-ian livin'. This single's B-side, "Zum Zum Zum," is equally nostalgically fascinating; perhaps more appropriate for soundtracking those hazy, lazy long-ago afternoons I spent tanning on a yacht wearing a white monokini while Dean Martin fed me strawberries. Oh, those were the days! (Laura)

Heavy Rotation: Os Mutantes, Tommy Roe, Linval Thompson + More!

We've got everything full of sunshine and wonder this week: tropicalia, super-sweet psych-pop, an old school ganja anthem and Jay-Z. Hit it up on our homepage as per usual!

Tommy Roe, "Moontalk"
Once, when I was working at a secondhand children's shop in Brooklyn, someone sold us a Cold War-era Golden Book about a little boy who dreamed of becoming an astronaut. My boss and I sat behind the cash reading it aloud to one another; we both gasped at the book's closing sentiment: "My dream," said the boy, "is to go to the Moon. No man has ever set foot on the Moon, but one day soon, America will!" or something similar. It really was a "trip," in the truest sense of that word's colloquial usage. "Moontalk" by Tommy Roe is the bubblegum pop equivalent of that pre-Apollo kid's book; hearing people from the past talk about the future is always brilliantly uncanny. This song positively drips with synthy molasses-esque sweetness, and is so catchy it makes "Dizzy" sound like David Banner. (Laura)

Os Mutantes, "Baby"
Did I mention that I loved Forgetting Sarah Marshall? It's true! My favorite musical components of the movie were those performed by Jason Segel, especially the extemporized angry piano ballad about his needing to see a psychiatrist, but the rest of the soundtrack's pretty all right too. For one, there's this sweet little flashback montage of lovey moments set to "Baby" by Os Mutantes, everybody's favorite Brazilian tropicalia band from the 1960s. The problem with me and Os Mutantes is that, whenever I remember they exist, I get wicked excited and play Everything is Possible till I'm SO SICK of it and never want to hear it again. I'm trying to resist that this time. Anyway, I've always loved "Baby" most for its oddball attempts at lyrical seduction: "You must try the new ice cream flavor," "Look here, read what I wrote on my shirt." Those sound like things I'd say. (Liz)

Calla, "Stealth"
Do you hear that evil laugh? That's me -- now that I've outed my crush on Calla, I feel suddenly liberated to spread the gospel of their music everywhere. This jewel of a track is actually one of their more obscure bits, but it's got all the prerequisite elements of their music that I love: intriguing soundscapes, twist-y song structure, sinewy guitar work that's super-subtle but super-hot, vague yet suggestive vocals, and a penchant for mysterious one-word titles. It's kind of like if Can did a really sexy film noir or spy movie soundtrack or something, which is just about the most perfect thing I can imagine these days. (Kat)

Linval Thompson, "Jamaican Colley (Version)"
You know how the weather gets all nice and all the college kids decamp en masse to the quad to sit in the grass and play hackey sack? And you know how there's always that one dude who brings out his acoustic guitar to play Bob Marley? Well, if that guy were really cool, he'd play Linval Thompson instead, who was way more hardcore and trippy than Marley. I mean, just listen to the passion and conviction beginning with the first line of this song! This guy really loves marijuana! Shit is crazy! (Kat)

Jay-Z, "U Don't Know"
There's a lot of Jay-Z energy in my life lately, which is never a bad thing. On the contrary, it's probably one of the best things in all the world. I'm getting re-obsessed with The Blueprint right now and "U Don't Know" is maybe my favorite track - I like to put it on my headphones and pretend that Jay-Z is either my financial advisor or spiritual mentor or some hybrid of the two. Also, last week I received news that made me feel less than powerful, and "U Don't Know" is always great at making me feel totally mighty all over again. (Liz)

Ananda Shankar, "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
If I were trapped alone in a recording studio for two weeks, forced at gunpoint (or not at gunpoint) to arrange, produce and engineer my own solo album, I'd probably end up with fifteen songs that sounded exactly like this, only with stupider lyrics and scuzzier bass. It would be the most important album ever made. This is the best song to listen to at an obscenely loud volume when you're getting ready in the morning. It actually provides its listener with an adrenaline rush akin to how you might feel after your longest-running rock star crush just asked you for your hand in marriage. It hypes me up so bad that I end up doing things like running across the length of my apartment at full-speed and then taking a flying leap into the front door and injuring myself. Totally worth it. (Laura)

Heavy Rotation: S.F. Seals, Black Sabbath, The Real Kids

Being the complex emotional creatures that we are, this edition of Heavy Rotation dresses up heartbreak and sadness in the guise of pure pop magic. (Well, except for the Sabbath track; that's just full-on angst.) As per usual, check it out on the top-right corner of our homepage.

The S.F. Seals, "S.F. Sorrow"
A few weeks ago I was in a bar and the original version of this song (which is by The Pretty Things, FYI) came on the stereo, and I realized it'd been waaaay too long since I'd listened to the S.F. Seals. The problem with the Seals is they can be kind of forgettable like that. And the bigger problem is that most people probably never knew about them in the first place, which is a crying shame, cuz they were so great. Or maybe everyone in the world totally knows about the S.F. Seals and goes around thinking about them all the time, and I'm the one with the big problems. Just in case that's not the deal, though, allow me to inform you that this is the opener on 1995's Truth Walks in Sleepy Shadows, and it would very much behoove you to go to iTunes right now and buy yourself this track, along with "Ipecac" and "Pulp" (aka one of the greatest breakup songs ever written). (Liz)

Sinead O'Connor, "Jump in the River"
When I was uploading "S.F. Sorrow" for the jukebox, I entered the word "sorrow" into the little "Choose File" field, and the first mp3 that showed up was Sinead's "You Cause As Much Sorrow." So then I was all, "Yeah! A sorrow-themed Heavy Rotation this week!" But that's kind of a drag of a theme, and anyway "You Cause As Much Sorrow" isn't much of a jukebox song. Not a lot of Sinead O'Connor songs are meant for the jukebox, but "Jump in the River" totally works: I wish she'd done more rock-ish stuff like this and "Mandinka" instead of putting out a record of jazz and pop standards next, but oh well. I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got came out when I was 12 and I remember being really freaked out when she sang that lyric about "the times we did it so hard/There was blood on the wall." The cartoon-gunshot sound effect is a nice touch, too. (Liz)

The Kinks, "Yes Sir No Sir"
I am in the exact middle of Ray Davies' autobiography, and I am just so curious to find out how the hell the Kinks got from "You Really Got Me" to this. Arthur (Or The Rise and Fall of the British Empire) is laughably heavy-handed in the consistency with which Davies applies a "damn the man" sentiment to near every last moment. Ray Davies is not a genius, which is kind of what makes him great. I don't even want to know what this song would sound like if it was written by an actual genius! This song totally hits me; when I lived in a converted 19th-century opera house in Bushwick, there was a really shoddy gym in the basement and sometimes I would blast this exact song as I ran on the treadmill and would FREAK OUT adrenalined-ly at "Give the scum a gun and make the bugger fight" lyric and then think, "Wow, Laura, you are so cool for being the only person in the world, probably, whose number one workout jam is "Yes Sir No Sir" by the Kinks." (Laura)

The Real Kids, "Common at Noon"
This is the saddest song there is. I can barely even listen to this song 90% of the time because I know if I do I'll start to cry a little bit. I used to to play this song at four in the morning when I used to DJ -- there'd be nobody in the whole bar except for me, my co-DJ, and a bunch of old winos. I'd stare into my vodka-grapefruit and think about everything sad that ever happened to me, all the while struggling to keep my eyes open from extreme fatigue. (Laura)

Lush, "Ciao!"
This duet with Jarvis Cocker of Pulp is probably one of the bounciest "fuck you after the breakup" songs ever, when you declare yourself completely over someone and how you can't have ever imagined being all into them and What were you thinking? and Everything is so much better now that they're gone from my life! The thing is, after listening to this song a few times, you really start to believe it all because the track is so ridiculously buoyant and you've danced around the room about a million times as it played ad nauseum on your stereo. And then you don't need the song as much anymore, which of course is a beautiful thing. (Kat)

Black Sabbath, "Changes"
From one of the perversely happy break-up songs to one of the genuinely saddest, brought to you by none other than Ozzy Osbourne and company. Really, there is nothing more to be said about Black Sabbath except that they are heavy and awesome, and you really need to stop reading this blog and starting listening to Paranoid if you haven't been schooled in all matters Sabbath. Then come back to nogoodforme.com after the sound has been etched into the dark recesses of the soul. You will completely understand everything, and I can finally have that Ronnie James Dio vs. Ozzy Osbourne lead singer debate I've always wanted to have. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Margo Guryan, Helium, Elastica + More!

Margo Guryan, "Sunday Morning"
What is so damned great about Sunday mornings that so many musicians feel compelled to pen odes heralding its utter fabulosity? Personally, I think Sunday mornings suck. They're boring. I'm always in an especially bad mood on Sunday mornings because I know everything is going to close at 5 PM and so am unmotivated to even bother trying to go out. And then there's the unbearable tension that arises from knowing tomorrow is work and/or school and that any peace you may find in the moment is fleeting and will soon be painfully disrupted. If I were going to write a song about a particularly pleasant time of the week, it would probably be called "Thursday Evening at 9 PM" because that is when new Lost episodes play. But all that aside, this song is swoony, dreamy girl-pop at its apex, and if I were ever going to totally cornball out and listen to a Sunday AM glorification tune on actual Sunday morning, I would pick this one over the Velvet Underground's in a half a heartbeat. (Laura)

The Charlatans, "Number One"
This song has been my theme song since the first time I heard it. In my not-even-the-tiniest-bit-humble opinion, The Charlatans are the most overlooked band of the 1960s, which I believe is because they were just too perfect to make much of an impact in a musical climate defined by charming imperfections and anti-structuralist tendencies. Plus there is the whole draggy coincidence of the boringest band of Britpop, The Charlatans (UK) accidentally ripping off their name and making it impossible to productively e-research the first Charlatans. My favorite thing about this song is how the lead singer spends the majority of the lyric discussing how he wants to kill himself pronto, yet his delivery is yawny, blase and even kind of uplifting! Definitely the chillest song about suicide ever written. (Laura)

Helium, "Ancient Cryme"
In celebration of my finally posting the Mary Timony interview I conducted a thousand years ago, I decided to post one of my favorite-ever Helium songs. This is off The Magic City, which came out my junior year of college; I remember playing it on my car stereo while driving onto campus with a friend, and when "Ancient Cryme" came on she said to me, "This song sounds like you, like 'la la la, la la la'!" I still take that as a big huge compliment. Also around that time I saw Helium for the second time, the first being when they opened up for Sonic Youth at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in '96, and Cibo Matto were playing next door and sort of crashed the show and played a whole set, with Sean Lennon on whatever instrument it is that Sean Lennon plays. It was my first Helium experience and I thought they were boring, but that's almost entirely because I was stupid 18-year-old. Helium are actually the opposite of boring. I miss them so. (Liz)

Sonic Youth, "Purr"
Speaking of Sonic Youth! I'm still on my retroactive Thurston Moore crush and listening to Dirty and Washing Machine a wicked lot. Dirty's the first SY album I ever bought; I had it on cassette and it took me a while to get all the way to "Purr" cuz I'd usually just play "Nic Fit" over and over. I think "Purr" is kinda overlooked in general, but whenever I actually remember it exists I get super-excited and dance around a little. It's probably one of the most rawk Sonic Youth songs out there, without being all that rawk at all in the grand scheme of things. And if they'd kept on making more pop stuff like this I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have ever started sporadically hating them, but I guess the upside is that sporadically hating Sonic Youth leaves time for lots of other fun things. So it all evens out in the end. Thanks, gang. (Liz)

Elastica, "Never Here"
Elastica's self-titled debut record from 1995 is so underrated, but it's probably one of the best records of that decade. It manages to ooze both the post-punk stylishness and pure pop perfection that could have made this band the Blondie of the new millenium; if it had come out in 2003 amidst the dance-punk phase of indie bullshit, it'd have kicked all those records' asses in a "Wire-and-Buzzcocks-Referencing Records Death Match" or something. The thing no one wants to admit is that while Elastica copped from all those rock dude bands like the aforementioned Wire or the Clash or the Stranglers, Elastica was ten times better in one record because of their hooks, their playful sexiness and a secret weapon in the form of Justine Frischmann, a dark-eyed, foxy tomboy whose nonchalance at her general rockingness revealed how the "Women in Rock" label was as condescending as it was. This song is the longest on their first record, but it's epic and vulnerable and kind of perfect. (Kat)

Thrones, "Django"
This song just makes me laugh. I picture this crazy video where some guy sings in a bad wig and a wrestling costume in a bowling alley; I don't know why. It's like it should be the theme song of a Alejandro Jodorowsky movie or something. (Did you ever see El Topo? Nutso, dudes.) Instead, this track is actually a cover of the theme from a 1966 Italian spaghetti western starring an impossibly charming actor who once told me I was really pretty. (Not in 1966, though; I wasn't alive yet.) Thrones are a one-man sludgy metal outfit from Joe Preston, a guy who used to be in the Melvins. I don't know if he ever performed this cover in a costume when it came out in 2000, but he should have. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young

Yes, it's practically Neil Young Day here at nogoodforme.com. In honor of our final, most beloved style icon. It's almost required we do a Heavy Rotation that's all Neil, all the time, no? As always: top right, homepage, where you will find our especially-for-you Neil-y goodness. Swoon!

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "Helpless"
I first heard this song when Patti Smith sang it to me (and about a thousand other cats) in beautiful Boulder last August. I don't know how I nearly made it all the way through the first three decades of my life without ever experiencing "Helpless" before, but I like to think there's a reason it came to me when it did. (What that reason might be, we're still not totally sure.) Anyway, I figured we should get at least one weeper in here, and this one definitely qualifies. But like all the best epically sad songs, it's just as quietly exhilarating as it is heartachey (which essentially sums up everything I love most about listening to Neil Young). "Helpless" is off of the oh-so-classic Deja Vu by CSNY, and all those dreamy background vocals should just take your breath all the more. (Liz)

Neil Young, "Revolution Blues"
Exactly one year ago, I was living in Bushwick with an evil roommate who I loathed so hard that I forced myself to leave the house every day so I wouldn't have to see or speak to him. I would wake up at around ten in the morning, take the train into Manhattan, and spend my days traipsing aimlessly about the city until around ten at night, listening to On the Beach and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere on headphones, over and over and over. Out of every brilliant song on both of those albums, "Revolution Blues" was the one that saved my life. No matter how many people stared at me like I was a weirdo, I could not help but mouth spitefully along to "Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon/Is full of famous stars/But I hate them worse than lepers/And I'll kill them in their cars." I always say that everything is the best whatever-it-is of all time and am usually exaggerating, but that lyric is the best use of the rhyming couplet I've ever heard, of all time, in my entire life. (Laura)

Neil Young, "Cinnamon Girl (Live)"
I had to make one of my Neiler-themed "Heavy Rotation" selections a track off of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, as that's the record that birthed my obsession with Neil and still remains my favorite today. The song that lured me in is "Cowgirl in the Sand," heard for the first time on my car radio a few winters ago (in my mind, this all happened while I was driving deep in the barren desert, but in actuality I was heading home from a bar in Glendale). That one's probably my number-one Neil song, but I'd feel kind of blasphemous being responsible for bringing it to your ears via anything but your own car radio (so maybe you could just go buy the song yourself and then play it next time you're cruising through the desert and/or the dusty streets of Glendale, California). But yeah, "Cinnamon Girl"! I picked it because it's the opener for Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, because it's perfect for jumping around to, and because I like to pretend it's about me. Also, the sleeve art for the 45 is just to die for. (Liz)

Neil Young, "Computer Age"
"Computer Age" was the first Neil Young song I ever went out of my way to listen to, which is weird because it is such a huge misrepresentation of everything I eventually grew to treasure about his music. This song is from Trans, his synthesizer and vocoder-heavy 1983 long-player, an album so utterly un-Neil that stupid David Geffen sued him for releasing uncharacteristic music with no commercial viability. Get a life, David Geffen! It may be a bit of an oddity, but this song RULES. Sonic Youth did a semi-okay cover of it in 1989 that sounds like every other Sonic Youth song, but whatever- compared to Neil, Thurston Moore is NOTHING. (Laura)

Neil Young and Crazy Horse, "Cortez the Killer"
It's so hard to pick just two Neil Young songs, and I've surprised myself this time by not picking the love/heartbreak songs that I'm usually over the moon for. (Lately, it's all the songs from the unreleased Homegrown record from 1975, like "Homefires." Damn, that song hurts.) But how can you neglect this genuine masterpiece? Slint did a cover of it, that's how fucking awesome the song is. The truth is, Neil Young with Crazy Horse is just kind of the best stuff ever. You get your sensitive Neil, and then you get your punk-rock crazy Neil. Both Neils are necessary and key to a balanced existence. I don't know how this song can both amble and yet completely rock, but it does. It only proves he's the best. Duh! (Kat)

Neil Young, "Throw Your Hatred Down"
This song is from the era where I had the least amount of Neil consciousness in life -- when I was too busy listening to music made by overwrought post-adolescent males or asexual indie popsters to even pay attention to anything on a major label. (I knew there was a reason why life sucked back then.) I was a total snob, and therefore had no patience for a record made with dudes from Pearl Jam. But finding this acoustic recording a few years ago made me realize that it doesn't matter who Neil Young makes music with, something about his phrasing and melodies will always be pure and beautiful. This is obviously one of Neil's "political" songs, but it's rendered as a gorgeously fragile one here, reminding us how things like hope have to be fought for and protected like everything else. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Alice Cooper, Bell Biv Devoe, Lizzy Mercier Descloux

This edition of Heavy Rotation is brought to you by the springtime sunshine and the voices of 1990s alt-rock angels. And of course, all songs are located in the jukebox there on the top right of our homepage.

Alice Cooper, "Sun Arise"
Here's what I used to think of when I thought of Alice Cooper: Milwaukee is Algonquin for "the good land"; that Marriott commerical where Alice is jumping rope with the little kids; and the episode of Freaks and Geeks where Mr. Rosso (who I sometimes run into at the bank and the health-food store) sings "I'm Eighteen." Then I read Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighborhood by Michael Walker (who we never got to thank for deeming us foxy - thank you, Michael!) and discovered that Alice's got some serious Laurel Canyon roots. So last week I bought Love it to Death used at Amoeba and quickly became obsessed with "Sun Arise," the mellowed-out closing track. I'm guessing it's one of most Laurel Canyon-y songs in the Alice Cooper catalogue, as it's wicked sing-along-able and full of "whoa-oh-oh"s and so lyrically perfect for welcoming the springtime sunshine. (Liz)

The Lemonheads, "My Drug Buddy"
One of my unrealized goals for SXSW was to catch one of the Lemonheads' shows. I've seen them lotsa times, but the most exciting one was at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in the fall of 1996: My friend and I accidentally met Evan Dando beforehand and asked him to play "My Drug Buddy" and he said surrrrre and was just generally a cutie-pie dollface dreamboat. And then we met him again a few months later and he was far less adorable and sort of sexually harassed a 15-year-old. And then the next time we saw him he was so out of his mind he fell off the stage mid-show. So it was all kind of grisly downward spiral, but last time I saw him - singing for the MC5 in 2004 - he totally had it together and all was pretty much forgiven. Anyway, "My Drug Buddy" will forever have a special place in my heart; I still get a little goosebumpy when Juliana Hatfield comes in on the second verse. (Liz)

Ultra Vivid Scene, "Special One"
I have fond memories of taping episode upon episode of "120 Minutes" on MTV and trading the videocassettes (!!!) back and forth with friends throughout early junior high and high school. There's a certain kind of band that I associate with the seminal alternative music show, the kind where the guitars jangle amiably and the vocals are sort of wispy and imperfect and wry and witty: Kitchens of Distinction, Aztec Camera, that sort of thing. But the video for this song stands out the most for me in that grainy blur of memory, if only for the perfection of Kurt Ralske's early-90s floppy quasi-skater haircut and a beaming, adorable Kim Deal sitting and singing along next to him, resting her head on his shoulder and being cool and completely fucking cute. Ah, how things change: Ralske went on to become a fancy video artist and a visual art professor and Kim Deal went on to be a bit of a mess, but for a shining moment in 1990 they sang together on this valentine-in-a-bottle and were everything I wanted in love. (Kat)

The Move, "Fire Brigade"
Roy Wood, the singer/songwriter/wacky-pants genius behind The Move, is a household name in the United Kingdom. This is one of the many billion reasons why Great Britain is cooler than North America (another one is that their Diet Cherry Coke tastes waybetter.) The Move are one of the only groups of the late-sixties that came close to hitting McCartney-level catchiness. Actually, they're one of the only groups who even bothered to try, so extra kudos for that, Roy. Songs as good as "Fire Brigade" are the reason why pop music was invented. This song is as delightful as British Diet Cherry Coke, American Diet Cherry Coke, Regular Cherry Coke (both British and American), regular cherries, maraschino cherries, and a decadent chocolate sundae mixed together. With a cherry on top. (Laura)

Lizzy Mercier Descloux, "Mais Ou Sont Passes Les Gazelles?"
My love for this song is somewhat dogged by my belief that it was playing in the background for the entire duration of the vacation my family took to Orlando when I was six years old. I am incapable of listening to it without my mind's eye insisting on visualizing my childhood self sitting poolside beneath palm trees and wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt that changes color from neon purple to neon orange when you breathe on it. Realistically, it is highly doubtful that "Mais Ou Sont Passes Les Gazelles?" was playing at any point during said Disneyworld vacay, but it should have been. Lizzy invented Worldbeat five years before glimmers of "Graceland" even appeared in Paul Simon's mind. I listened to this song over and over a few nights ago when Montreal was subjected to a mid-March blizzard of epic proportions, and it granted me momentary respite from Winter Hell. It makes you feel like you just drank a Pina Colada, rode Space Mountain, and swam with the dolphins, even though all you really did was rent Season Two of Veronica Mars from the video store and get snow in your boot. (Laura)

Bell Biv Devoe, "Do Me"
A friend of mine was visiting last week, and as what happens often, our conversation often turned to music. In between discussing Finnish avant-rock and whether or not Motorhead is better than AC/DC, talk turned to what Bell Biv Devoe song was better: "Do Me" or "Poison." He picked "Poison," and while I wasn't really ready to commit to an opinion, I can't deny that "Do Me" was always my favorite of the two. "Poison" does have that awesomely skittering beat and a proper song structure, and the harmonies between these former members of New Edition make the track a new jack swing classic. But "Do Me" is kind of sweatier with a dead-proper groove, and the way the boys just sort of lose their shit or get preoccupied with all the things they want to do to your (hypothetical) body sort of hint at a libidinal agony that transformed their image from scrubbed-clean bubblegum kids to dudes who really, really, really like girls. "Do Me" has just enough cheesiness and perv factor to keep things eternally interesting. And points for mentioning the Swatch watch, too. (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Raveonettes, Brakes, Kaleidoscope

After a few Heavy Rotations, it's kind of clear what our roles are: Liz brings California sunshine and spark, Laura mines beautiful nostalgia and I am the bringer of darkness. Right on! The following tracks are at the jukebox, dudes, top right on our homepage. Enjoy!

The Raveonettes, "Aly, Walk With Me"
I always pegged my feelings for the Raveonettes between degrees of "okay" and "just fine," but something about their new record Lust Lust Lust really amazes me. Their game is completely tight now, and the result is sex and death in a way that doesn't exist in the often limpid likes of most indie rock. It's like they take the sunniest pop tropes and damage and demolish them with distortion. Like Jesus and Mary Chain channeling a 60s girl group, yes, but underneath those ghostly-sweet harmonies, this song is totally hot and desperate and shyly sincere. Perfect to put on eyeliner to, perfect to make out to. But I'm sure you figured that out. (Kat)

Brakes, "You're So Pretty"
For a while now I've been working on this piece of fiction that I hope to send out into the world at some point in the not-terribly-distant future. (Care to publish me? Anyone?) In the movie I'm watching in my head, this song is playing while some adorable science-nerd boy rides his bike around a half-ugly beach town very early in the morning. Brakes really know how to set the mood; totally track down their lovely covers of "Sometimes Always" by Jesus and Mary Chain and "Jackson" by Johnny Cash if you can. (Liz)

Kaleidoscope, "Flight From Ashiya"
If you looked up '60s psych in an audio-dictionary, this song would surely be playing. While their slightly more well-known "A Dream For Julie" is more along the lines of hippie-dippie sunshine & rainbows style psych (even featuring the lyric Strawberry monkeys are smiling for Julie), "Flight from Ashiya" is more Tibetan prayer flags, Beatles-in-Rishikesh, and the rising dawn. I mean, really, it actually sounds like the sound of the sun rising. (Laura)

Lyme & Cybelle, "Follow Me"
Is there anything better in this world than a flawlessly-executed boy vs. girl vocal switch-off? Lyme & Cybelle are a short-lived and super-early-early project of Warren Zevon's (he's Lyme), who I know absolutely nothing about, except for that I really love his work on Lyme & Cybelle's "Follow Me". This song is plaintive and delightful, a bit of a chameleon really- it always sounds perfect, no matter what mood you're in or what season it happens to be. (Laura)

Lucas, "Lucas With The Lid Off"
When I was 15 or something I babysat every afternoon for the little brother of one of The Most Popular Boys In School. The kid and I used to play basketball and dance around a lot to MTV, and one of the songs we dug most was "Lucas With The Lid Off." (He also really fancied "Cantaloop" by US3, but whenever "Dirty Deeds" by AC/DC came on the radio he'd literally roll on the floor laughing, for whatever reason.) I'd forgotten all about Lucas till very recently, but this track still sounds all new and fresh, and the video (directed by Michel Gondry) is way worth revisiting. (Liz)

Scientist, "Dance of the Vampires"
People argue whether or not Scientist Rids the World of the Curse of the Evil Vampires is the best dub album of all time. I'm going to say yes because the record is pure insanity in a genre already noted for its head trips and loopiness. Dub isn't right unless it's sinister and haunting and soul-devouring but (and this is important) kind of goofy. This song lilts and drifts seductively into the rest of the record, which turns kind of nightmarish and crazy-cakes and gets all Donnie Darko-like. No wonder they used it in the Grand Theft Auto III game. (Which, by the way, Scientist received no royalties for. Thanks a lot, Rockstar Games!) (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: Heroin, the Duke Spirit, Cher and More!

It's like Entertainment Day at nogoodforme.com, but don't worry -- we'll have more pretty pictures of what's coming out of Milan later tonight. Until then, skew yourself solid with a whiplash mix that veers from pure noise to sweetest 60s-flavored pop to a honey-voiced indie ballad. It's at the usual place, right there at the top right of our homepage. Enjoy!

Heroin, "In General"
Someday, someone will write an big important book on the importance of mid-90s Gravity Records bands within some slipstream yet oddly influential strand of cultural history. Till then, why not experience one of the great post-hardcore bands on that label? Crash and burn, stasis, crash and burn, stasis, repeat with even more inexpressible angst...somewhere out there, some boy in tight pants and a hoodie is weeping furiously. (Kat)

Cher, "I Go To Sleep"
We all know about disco-era Cher, winning an Oscar for Moonstruck- era Cher, G-string bodysuit on a Navy ship-era Cher, etc. But what about pre-Sonny & Cher-era Cher? Well, first there was "Ringo, I Love You", released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason, her cashing-in-on-Beatlemania Ringo-worship cantata- a fun novelty, though severely lacking in the, um, goodness department. Then came a series of solo records (All I Really Want to Do, Cher, The Sonny Side of Cher) that are alternately rollicking, sulky and angelic-- this song is all three. Utterly perfect. (Laura)

The Duke Spirit, "Wooden Heart"
I have really fond memories of driving around to the acoustic demo of this song while out on a coffee run one sweltry morning two summers ago in Florida. Now this version's on The Duke Spirit's new record, Neptune, and it's not as dreamy as the demo but I still love it just fine. Leila Moss is a honey-limbed lovely, as Natalie Portman would say in Beautiful Girls. (Liz)

The La's, "I Can't Sleep"
Riffy, hooky, and as absolutely Brit as a glass of blackcurrant Ribena on a rainy afternoon. In a perfect world, this song would have been the theme song to Friends, or at least Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane. Instead the way inferior "There She Goes" has been plaguing the world via Verizon Wireless commercials and Movie of the Weeks since I was born. (Laura)

Opus III, "It's a Fine Day"
I just realized that for the past 15 or so years I've been picturing the vocalist on "It's a Fine Day" to look exactly like the shiny, bug-eyed witch woman from the second half of the video for "Stay" by Shakespeare's Sister. My only explanation is that both songs came out in '92, and both were discovered by me via the once-legendary Providence radio station WBRU. Also: WHAT IS WITH THE "STAY" VIDEO? Nothing is ever that weird these days. Nostalgia consumes me yet again. (Liz)

Madonna, "I Deserve It"
I think this is one of the sweetest Madonna songs ever. For such a starry-eyed lyric, it is also inexplicably melancholy and modest, which imbues the whole thing with a quality not often found in the icon's oeuvre: a sort of twilight-hour mystery and prettiness. Dean and Britta did a limp cover of this on some record or another and almost ruined the song for me, but I'll never let those hussies take Madonna from me. Plus it's easy to play on guitar! (Kat)

Heavy Rotation: The Sharp Ease, Susan Christie, the Boggs and More!

It's Valentine's Day and as our present to you, we've got a new toy to play with! We have a little music player now -- check it on our homepage up there on the top right, ready and waiting to play you some of our most recent, most beloved (and distinctly non-Valentine-y) songs. It's kind of like our version of a pop-up store -- we'll keep the songs up for a little bit and then take them down for new ones, so listen up while they're hot. We get no kickbacks or anything like that for this; it's all about our pure love of the music. This week:

The Sharp Ease, "Desert Song"
Why oh why did my maybe-favorite L.A. band have to break up? I got this song the other day at Gimme Tinnitus and it's so easing my ache for more of The Sharp Ease's gorgeously clattering high-drama pop. (Liz)

Susan Christie, "For the Love of a Soldier"
Perhaps the most romantic anti-war tune ever written? This genre-defying song is a passionate and excited hybrid of gospel, folk, and sunshine pop. Good choice if you're making someone a mixtape to fall in love with you by. (Laura)

Company B, "Fascinated"
Why complicate things? One of the best songs to come out of the 1980s Miami freestyle movement, and a dance floor classic. Strap on your roller skates and go. (Kat)

The Boggs, "Forts"
All I really need in life is a bit of twang and some swagger. This song is like the best men's vintage suit: sharp, stylish, authentic and a bit lived-in. Also completely and totally fun!(Kat)

Tin Tin, "Talking Turkey"
This post-psych pre-glam gem shimmers, spangles, and straight-up rocks, all the while shouting out submarine travel, the KGB, the Trans-Siberian Railway, ecclesiology and so much more! (Laura)

The Mo-dettes, "Paint It Black"
A few weeks ago at some coolie-cool French restaurant in Hollywood I heard an en francais cover of "Paint it Black" and figured that had to be the slickest "Paint it Black" cover imaginable. But I was wrong: This one's 99 times hotter. (Liz)

Bats for Lashes, "What's A Girl To Do"

We are this close to having a girl crush on Bats for Lashes, the improbable, poetic moniker that the mysterious singer/songwriter Natasha Khan records under. There's her lovely voice, of course, and that super-adorable British accent that pops up in her singing. And she's got that whole sword-and-stone thing going in her lyrics and imagery that can lure Joanna Newsom fans in, but she has an infinitely more mytho-electro musical sensibility happening on her debut record, Fur and Gold, that recalls the lush soundscapes of Kate Bush. She dresses like a very fashion-aware hippie, which never hurt anyone making this kind of mystical, sensuous music, and horses pop up often in her press photos. But I think the thing that will do it is the video for her new single, "What's A Girl To Do," available in July from her new record label Parlophone. It's like the best part of Donnie Darko, only with choreographed bike ballet or something.

M.I.A. = Nu Rave Messiah? Nouveau Neneh Cherry?

I have a lazy theory that super-hot British/Sri Lankan musician M.I.A. was the aesthetic leak that began the nu-rave revival. But nu-rave is kind of lame, musically speaking. (Fashionably speaking, I'm still on the fence, because Christopher Kane kind of rocks but neon still hurts my eyes.) Really, M.I.A.'s awesome because she's like the millenial Neneh Cherry, whose record Raw Like Sushi totally rocked my world way back in middle school. I mean, look at M.I.A.'s new video for "Boyz," the lead single off her new album Kala, out on August 21 on XL/Interscope.

And then look at this old joint from Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance":

Or while we're YouTube-trolling, this Technotronic video, which is just as "trippy":

And just in case that's way too much neon for you for your Monday morning, you can chill out a little to the relatively subdued "Move Any Mountain" by the Shamen:

Random Picture Entry: Syd Barrett

We usually reserve this type of post to put up pictures of creative ladies whose style we totally sweat. But yesterday it was all over the news that Syd Barrett - songwriting genius, psychedelic icon and a founding member of Pink Floyd - passed away, and so I wanted to put up one of my favorite pictures of him:

>> Read an article in the Telegraph
>> An essay by Rick Moody on Barrett