Mixtape 5: Early March 2005

1. Blonde Redhead – Falling Man

2. Hymie’s Basement – 21st Century Pop Song
3. Nico – These Days
4. Jay-Z – My 1st Song
5. Guided by Voices – I Am a Scientist
6. Silver Jews – Advice to the Graduate
7. Bloc Party – Helicopter
8. Beck – Go It Alone
9. The Decemberists – Eli the Barrowboy
10. cLOUDDEAD – Dead Dogs Two (Boards of Canada Remix)

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I saw Interpol (whose album Antics was my favorite of 2004) at Radio City Music Hall on March 3. Interpol was pretty good, but the opener, Blonde Redhead, was sublime. I immediately purchased Happiness is a Butterfly and was pretty sure that "Falling Man" would open my new playlist. The inclusion of Hymie's Basement is another indication of my burgeoning Anticon obsession. Yoni Wolf aka Why?, one half of this bizarre team-up (the other half being Andrew Broder aka Fog), will shape up to be a major musical force in my year, but more on that soon. As Hymie's Basement, the boy geniuses team up and make delirious rap rock that makes the whole world sing. Early March also marks the period at which I "got" Guided by Voices. While I had listened to Bee Thousand dozens of times, it didn't really click for me until "I Am a Scientist" announced itself for the fiftieth time or so. I don't know if it's good or bad that it took me that long. This is also the first mix that I remember consciously padding to get to ten songs. I was never really psyched about Bloc Party the way everybody else was, but I found this song somewhat enjoyable and figured I would go ahead and add it. The Decemberists song fits into this category as well--though I definitely think it's a better song than the Bloc Party one, it too is not something to which I was listening very heavily at this time. As a result, I think this is one of my weaker playlists. Oh well, we all have off-weeks, and that Jay-Z song is still pretty good.