Listening While Driving #2

Thursday, 2/26/15, 2:40 PM:

1. The Flaming Lips "Do You Realize??" Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

If you are reading this, let me tell you that I realize that life goes fast. It's hard to make the good things last. I realize the sun doesn't go down; it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round. Ah, Wayne Coyne, you enigmatic son of a bitch. This was a landmark single from The Lips' 2nd-best album, beautiful and grand and asking one pretty hard question: "Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?" This song is a call to ponder, question and live. I especially like the fact that this is one of two songs on this album to end with two question marks. It's not - "Hey, bro, do you realize?" It's - "Hey. Man. DO YOU REALIZE what's going ON here??" Life (and death) is just crazy to think about sometimes.

2. John Murphy "The End" 28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album

Weird song to have, and it's only two minutes long, but I heard this in my friend's car years ago and found all the tracks on this soundtrack that sounded like this. It's clean (guitars), wordless and sounds like it could go on forever if it really wanted to. Again, this falls into the "Max likes post-rock and just wants shiny/clean guitar playing to lull him into comfort" segment of my music tastes. Also weird that this comes from a bleak horror film about the end of times due to a manic zombie takeover, but this track has a later-in-the-credits type of feel, past the chaos and in the start of the acceptance phase.

3. Modest Mouse "Lounge" This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About

One of two Modest Mouse songs called "Lounge," though the second one has "(Closing Time)" at the end of the title, on their major full-length debut, The Lonesome Crowded West. This one, presumably created first since it's on their prior album and debut LP, is kind of like two songs in one. The first third has Isaac Brock shouting about "he" doing this and "she" doing that and it's all kind of scattershot and hard to follow, but it's like riding on a shaky boat - before We Were Dead... The second two thirds are like a meditative state with pretty strings over the guitar lines that don't over-saturate the song and have no words. This is one of the best things that mm does. This part kind of reminds me of the very ending of "The Stars are Projectors" that will come later on in The Moon & Antarctica.

4. Tommy Tutone "867-5309/Jenny" Tommy Tutone 2

Haha. This was a fun song from 1981 that I first heard probably in 2002. It sounds sort of cheesy and not as full in comparison to the music today, but is there a better song about a phone number? This song is about this guy, presumably Tommy Tutone, finding a girl's phone number on a wall somewhere and deciding that she's the one for him - before even meeting (or seeing her face)! Sure, you can't make a call today without adding the area code, but I hear that if you call 867-5309 today, Jenny still answers.

5. Tame Impala "Music to Walk Home By" Lonerism

I was initially hesitant to get this album, but I'm very glad I did. This is the music of Australian Kevin Parker, and you could call it 'psych-rock.' It's called Lonerism, and he often sings about past relationships, not being noticed, being by himself and lying to others. So, things aren't going so great for him right now, but at least he has good music to listen to. His warbled voice sounds like it's struggling even to gain the attention of the music around him. The guitars and synths surround and attack, especially during the last minute of the song. This is a small part of a great 52 minutes.

6. Deltron 3030 "3030" Deltron 3030

Before this space-rap saga got a mediocre sequel last year, this was a standalone classic. Every beat, all the music, the rapping and the lyrics were on point. This 7-plus minute track is the introduction to the album, and it sets the tone well. Our hero, Deltron Zero, aka the Year 3030 space alter ego of rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien, who really rose to prominence on the heels of his feature on Gorillaz' first single "Clint Eastwood" back in 2001, teams up with beat-maker/producer Dan the Automator and turntable scratcher Kid Koala to tell us what life is like on this intergalactic planet in the year 3030. Spoiler: things are bleak. And technical. Here are some of the words and phrases used just in this song: "technology, futuristic spacecraft, receptors, handgun blast bioforms, portal, megaspeed, soundwaves, cataclysm, magnetism," etc. But the cherry on top is the music. It is a grand symphony; they released a version of the whole album without all the words.

7. Sum 41 "Never Wake Up" All Killer No Filler

#TBT. Where to begin with Sum 41? They became very popular off their hit "Fat Lip" from this same album in 2001, and after their next big single, "In Too Deep", I was in too deep and got the full thing. Yeah, I paid for it. CD in hand. This track is less than a minute long, I can't understand what the fantastically-named Deryck Whibley says during the verses and the choruses are "I plan on never waking up." So, you know, fun times had by all.

8. Death Cab for Cutie "A Movie Script Ending" The Photo Album

This could be called the pinnacle of Ben Gibbard's songwriting career, though that would seem to discredit everything that came after. And even that qualifier sounds wrong, because DCFC is coming out with new music in March. This is not my favorite - or even 2nd-favorite - album of theirs, but this song is great. Even disregarding the lyrics, though I love the title and its placement in the song, the guitars here are what make it. The shininess of the lead guitars throughout the verses are pristine and again, like Modest Mouse, a huge part of what DCFC - and departing guitarist/producer Chris Walla - do best.

9. Coldplay "Don't Panic" The Blue Room (EP)

Nope, not the one from their debut album, Parachutes. I had this version first but didn't realize that it wasn't the official lead track from Parachutes. I figured out that this was from an earlier EP and got the official "Don't Panic" but I actually like this one more, maybe. It is virtually the same as the Parachutes version, but there are a few subtle differences. The production isn't as clean as the Parachutes single (also on the Garden State Soundtrack), but, for example, I like the way he sings the "We live" part of the chorus here: Half a beat for "We" before he goes into "live", whereas he sings one full beat for each in the Parachutes version. Minor differences, but from an earlier, more innocent Coldplay.

10. Outkast "Ain't No Thang" Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

Is it weird that I, a white Jewish man who has never done drugs or lived in the south, like Outkast, rapping or this song in particular? I don't know. You tell me. Outkast is the best rap duo of all-time and was my favorite (and largely only favorite) rap music growing up, though I only knew the singles. I got Stankonia based on its stellar reviews, but never liked it as much as this album and ATLiens, the two of which I copped (I can use that language here) a few years ago for my first trip down south with my brother. It really helped put the music in the right setting and enhanced my appreciation for Big Boi and Andre 3000's craft. This track is largely about sitting in their recording studio and smoking, and threatening people with their toughness and awesomeness. I can't totally relate to it. But I can tell you it's good.