Friday Playlist: All Right, Already

By Lesley | August 23, 2010

NB: Right, so, I wrote this for Friday and then completely forgot to post it.

Okay, one more week with Playlist.com! I still haven’t had time to play with Grooveshark, darn it. For my international readers: evidently the licensing issue is going to be a problem no matter what service I use, and as I said before I am reluctant to host tracks myself and risk the wrath of the RIAA. I’m bummed about it, but unless anyone else has a new suggestion, I’m at a loss here.

1. “Doing the Unstuck” // The Cure. “It’s a perfect day for letting go — for setting fire to bridges, boats, and other dreary worlds you know — let’s get happy.” Anytime anyone disparages The Cure as uniformly depressing, I play them this song. It also transports me, without fail, to my sophomore year of high school.
2. “Float On” // Modest Mouse. I am not one of these old-school Modest Mouse fans. Indeed, my lack of radio exposure means I had never even heard them prior to “Float On” appearing on Rock Band, a game which has introduced me to many a pop song that otherwise would have slipped between the cracks of my awareness. I’m still not a Modest Mouse fan — I bought the album from which this track is taken years ago, but ridiculously, have only listened to it maybe once all the way through — but I still really love this song. (Aside to my dad, who really digs these playlists: lyrics!)
3. “Dream a Little Dream of Me” // The Mamas and the Papas. This is, in my humble opinion, one of the most epically underrated pop songs of all time. OF ALL TIME. Magical.
4. “One two three four” // Feist. Speaking of magical. This was the song that finally got me on the Leslie Feist bandwagon, my suspicion is that the horn section is what did it. I am oddly picky about my folksy artists — the ones I love (Suzanne Vega, Robyn Hitchcock) I love tons, but it takes something special to get me on side. This song, and her collaboration with Kings of Convenience, were sufficient.
5. “Extraordinary Machine” // Fiona Apple. “If there was a better way to go then it would find me / I can’t help it, the road just rolls out behind me / Be kind to me, or treat me mean / I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine.” Enough said.