1. Dorothy Ashby | Soul Vibrations
An wondrous groove... One of the more Psychedelic tracks by Dorothy Ashby. I like to put this song on in the early stages of the evening while I am toasting pumpkin seeds.
2. Grace Jones | Waking In The Rain (Flash And The Pan Cover)
I love the atmosphere in this song. It makes me picture a hot wet night in a post apocalyptic city... Wandering in search of somebody special. This song was originally written by Harry Vanda and George Young of the classic Australian band The Easybeats.
3. The Easybeats | Friday On My Mind
This has got some of the coolest guitar playing of all time. I wish I wrote this song.
4. Os Mutantes | Panis Et Circences
Os Mutantes are from Brazil and I only recently discovered them and their self titled debut from 1968. This is the first song on that record and it is intoxicating. Perfect for a sunny morning at the beach drinking a Bloody Mary. They are still playing live... I saw them last year and they were pretty awesome... Quite Rock... But cool riffs.
5. Tonetta | $Viral$
Tonetta is a reclusive upholsterer from Toronto, Canada. Look him up on YouTube. His music all sounds loud crunchy and raw... I don't know how he gets his tracks sooo much louder than everything else on my iPod. He has been doing it since the 80's and makes sexy cross-dressing Dance videos for each of his songs. There are hundreds!
6. Kanye West | New Slaves
Maybe almost as strange a character Tonetta, Kanye's delusions are a fascination of mine. I really like this last record he made, such intense aggressive synth sounds... This song doesn't even have a beat... But has all the excitement of one.
7. The Chills | Pink Frost
This is a CLASSIC NZ song from Flying Nun band The Chills. It is so dark and I love the guitar and bass interplay.
8. Fugazi | Waiting Room
There are many other Fugazi songs that I prefer over Waiting Room... But this one is such an anthem and I play it while we set up on stage, during changeover to get excited. It still goes down well at parties... There's even a wicked mashup of this with Destiny's Child's Independent Woman.
9. Devo | Gut Feeling
This is one of my favourite Devo songs... And it also plays in a really great scene in The Life Aquatic. I saw some footage of them playing this live for the first time and it was mesmerizing. Such a long build up of tension and doesn't disappoint in the wild department a the end.
10. Modern Lovers | She Cracked
I recently got to play this song live with the original Modern Lovers' bass player Ernie Brooks at a show of mine. It's got great words, cool singing and I love the sound of the recording even though Ernie said they were always a bit self conscious about it.
+11. Arthur Russell | Soon-To-Be Innocent Fun/Let's See
Ernie and I have also been working on a track for an Arthur Russell tribute record. This is the song I originally wanted to attempt to cover... But it is so unique to Arthur's cello playing and crazy phrasing that I felt that anything I did would just genericify it. This song is truly haunting.
+12. Enigma | Return To Innocence
This is a very memorable song from my childhood... But isn't fun to sing/chant with your mates now in a drunken nostalgic buzz?
