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Here's your chance to be just like Dave- or listen to his favorite kinds of music anyway...

Top 10 Albums

This was hard to pick! There are certainly other songs I value heavily, but these are all songs that I have to listen to at least twice EVERY time i play them:

David Bowie - Blackout (from "Heroes")
There's a DJ in L.A. named Jed The Fish. I hate everything he has ever had to say except once, when he described this song as follows: "If there is a 4th dimension, that must be where Bowie was when he wrote and recorded this." I couldn't agree more. I've also heard this song be referred to as "schizophrenic" and that's pretty dead-on too. It seems like every musician is playing something different at the same time (probably owing to Eno's 'role playing' cards) - while Bowie sounds like he's genuinely having a breakdown - and somehow it works.

Built To Spill - I Would Hurt A Fly (from Perfect From Now On)

Eurythmics - Love Is A Stranger (from Sweet Dreams)

Ida - Shrug (from a Trash Heap `zine 7")

Portishead - Only You (from Portishead)

Prince - Irresistible Bitch (b-side to "Let's Pretend We're Married")
Nasty, nasty, nasty. This song drips sex, starting from the song's 'false start' on. Wendy (or is it Lisa?) coos backing vocals, while Prince's bass funks us from one side of the floor to the other. Most Prince songs inject funk and R&B into rock'n'roll - this song is the funk itself.

Spoon - Partyup (from the Do Me Baby!: Austin Does Prince compilation)
The best cover ever? The original Prince version of the song is clear in its message: we'd rather party than go to war, end of story. The Spoon cover ups the ante: we'd rather party than go to war, but if you try to make us fight, we'll fight you. The lyrics are the same, but the harsh percussion, the shrill organ and the howling vocals (courtesy of Britt Daniel, admittedly taking a page from the Black Francis playbook) give the song an aggressive edge that borders on threatening. Daniel's shrieks are almost so frightening, you wouldn't want to make him do anything. If you didn't know the original, you might not realize he's shouting "revolution of rock'n'roll" - and Daniel's leading the charge. Watch out.

Superchunk - Foolish (from the First Part CD single)

Those Bastard Souls- These Things Will Slay You Every Time (from 20th Century Chemical)
Dave Shouse (then still a member of The Grifters) went into a studio and banged out a record on his own. Perhaps this accounts for the gritty sound of this track (as well as the whole record), but that only adds to its charm. Equal parts glam, blues and garage rock, this song breathes menace, fueled by the musical perfection beneath its surface grit. From the drum stutters near the song's end to Shouse's swaggering vocals (with its glitter-tastic faux-British attitude), it's the perfect song to slay you...every time.

Yo La Tengo - A Sudden Organ (from Painful)

aboutfaces>>
* 9/22/03 change > Michael Penn's "Try" removed; Portishead's "Only You" added

"Cut Your Hair" - Pavement

Content: The band goes to get a haircut, but odd things transpire each time a member goes to get his own haircut.
Comments: The main strength is that the band (and the barber) pull off all the oddities (frogs, cats, kings, and the like) as if nothing was strange. In fact, they almost seen bored. The shot that makes the video is Malkamus' utter joy at being crowned king and then the karo syrup tear that immediately follows.
>This can be found on the Matador Records - Everything Is Nice compilation DVD.

"Driveway To Driveway" - Superchunk

Content: At a party on a Southern estate, Mac tries to reclaim the love of Laura, but must challenge another prospective suitor (Jon) to do so. Additionally, the "real" Superchunk is the band playing at the party.

Comments: So rarely do videos have PLOT! Not only that, for musicians, they pull off some good acting. Throw in a few good split screen shots (with both Superchunk "the band" and Superchunk "the actors") plus "Superchunk" bandstands and you've got one classic mini-movie with music.
>This can be found on the Crowding Up Your Visual Field DVD

"Dirt" - Death In Vegas
Content: A six-armed militaristic transvestite. An androgynous vampire with slanted teeth. Good and evil as little girls. Three scholars and marked pigs. In actuality, there is no way to explain this video.
Comments: The video has many intriguing images that are only shown in quick glimpses so that the viewer questions what he or she actually saw. If possible, find a copy of the unedited video because it includes some imagery that MTV thought was "unacceptable" but is actually more visually amazing than the replacement footage. I can't think of any other video that provides such perfect visual imagery for a song.

"Love For Sale" - Talking Heads

Content: The Talking Heads become commercial products (toothpaste, candy, etc.)

Comments: Aside from the fact that most of the footage comes from the True Stories movie, the video packs punch after punch as it blends fake commercials with real ones (as well as ones so ludicrous, you wonder if they're real or not) that allows the band to spoof advertising culture. In any case, thrill to watch the band be dipped in chocolate.

>This can be found on the Storytelling Giant video collection (VHS) or the Talking Heads box set Once In A Lifetime (DVD)

"Windowlicker" - Aphex Twin

Content: Starts off like a hip-hop video with two players bungling a pickup, but quickly switches gears when Aphex Twin shows up and breaks out into dance. Suddenly, the girls involved in the pickup wind up having Aphex's face and then get funky with Aphex in his super-stretch limo. Then it turns into a musical dance number (with bikini-clad dancers who also have Aphex's face)- and then it gets weirder.

Comments: This video has disturbed everyone who's seen it. The make-up effects are flawless, the humor is both shocking and bizarre, and the song is great. Trust me, all you have to do is see the video cover - a well-endowed bikini model with Aphex's face - and you'll want to see it.
>This can be found on the Warp Vision: The Videos 1989-2004 DVD

runners up: Bjork - Human Behaviour, Madonna - Bedtime Stories, Chavez - Break Up Your Band

TOP VIDEOS OF 2003:
Electric Six - "Danger! High Voltage"
Queens of the Stone Age - "Go With The Flow"

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...MUSIC NAV...
ALL-TIME FAVORITES - CD CABINET - CONCERT LOG - ROCKDOTS.COM RADIO + DAVE'S SONG OF THE DAY - YEARLY TOP 10s

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