Back in the days before 'The Witches of Eastwick'

Every year, Yo La Tengo play a huge set of covers during the WFMU Marathon fortnight, and here's a song from this year's shindig. Everyone knows Iggy Pop's 'The Passenger' but do you know the second verse? Me neither. Ira's knowledge of the words fails him halfway through, so it turns into a profound meditation on the career highs and lows of one Jack Nicholson. It's pretty great.

[download Yo La Tengo - The Passenger (Live on WFMU)] [alt link]



[Yo La Tengo myspace / official]

Slide, slide, slide down the waterslide

I'm still angry about Epic Movie. To calm me down, I watched 'Kicking and Screaming' (the good one, not the rubbish one) and the quotations from it will be circulating for a while. I also watched this Chris Rock video repeatedly. It helped take away the pain.

Oh yeah, last Sunday I saw Yo La Tengo at the Moon in Tallahassee. Their name means "I have it" and they sure do. I'm not sure what it is, though. They've been around since the Korean War, and I only really know their newest record - which is 99cents cheaper from the merch desk than "air quotes Best Buy" according to Ira - and so there were vast swathes of the gig where I was a little underwhelmed. Also, there are songs like today's download, which are very very very long and grated after a while. In their defense, they played for two hours, a couple of encores, some covers, and the part in the middle where they played 'The Weakest Part', 'Beanbag Chair' and 'Mr Tough' was smooth-ass perfection. Good show, I just wish I knew more songs, then I'd have got into it more.

[download Yo La Tengo - Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind]

My nightgown sweeps the pavement

Hey! My finals are over! Hooray!

Today's selections are stuff that many other bloggers also seem to love. I obviously don't make any conscious decision to not go with the crowd or anything like that, but looking at many sites' "best of..." lists, I keep thinking "I don't like many of these, what's wrong with me?" and demanding reassurance from my nearest and dearest. But here's a few songs from 'Best of 06' mainstays which I, too, enjoy.

Best new slang word: Clipse - Trill

It's a combination of 'true' and 'real'. As a dorky Indian without an ounce of street cred, I really like this. The beat is sicker than smallpox, and there's much boasting about drugs, fear and... ahh, just mostly drugs. And a Billy Ray Cyrus shout out. It sounds like the future. I like that.

Best "I can't really think of a category but I love it" of the year: Neko Case - Star Witness

Nuff said. If you don't like it, you're probably already dead.

Best song about the hometown: Lily Allen - LDN

Can you believe it? Yeah, it's even better than this song about the big L. Even though her dad is that bloke from Fat Les and the rest of her album isn't very good, this song really stands out. It's chirpy, sunny and really infectious. So much so, in fact, that you don't even pay attention to the fact that an old lady gets mugged in the lyrics.

Best ubiquitous song of the summer: Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks

Written about by everyone and their mother. Nothing to add. Whistle it loud, whistle it proud.

Best song about furniture: Yo La Tengo - Beanbag Chair

One of those songs that it's impossible to hate. Completely different to the nine minute monster it follows on their record. It's warm and horny, just like... Oh it's too easy.

[download Clipse - Trill]
[download Neko Case - Star Witness]
[download Lily Allen - LDN]
[download Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks]
[download Yo La Tengo - Beanbag Chair]

Bonus: I gave Mogwai some props recently, and today rbally has a full live set of theirs from the summer. Look out for that apocalyptic closing 'My Father My King'.

And instead of a picture, here's an episode of 'Look Around You', a show I've been getting really into lately. It's under ten minutes long, so give it a look.