MY POD

The end of a long and draining week...

What have you got for me, o mighty shuffle feature?

1. Abernant 1984-85, The Mekons
Yeah, that'll do. A little sloppy moral outrage.

2. Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts, Wolf Parade
“But God doesn't always have the best goddamn plans, does He?” Cute.

3. Chop That Child in Half, The Mekons
Whoa, what's with more Mekons? And now we've moved from God to Solomon. What's next, Jesus from the third Velvets album? Maybe a cut from Speaking in Tongues?

4. Twist and Crawl, The English Beat
I Just Can't Stop It really is a great album. I saw in the paper today that these guys are playing locally soon. I wonder how many original members are in this iteration. Maybe Ranking Roger and a Dave Wakeling-alike?

5. Halfway to a Threeway, Jim O'Rourke
Gotta love that nutty post-rock math. This is a little creepy the first few times you hear it, then it eventually becomes kind of pretty. Then: creepy, creepy, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, creepy, pretty, creepy, creepy, pretty, creepy. I'm not sure what happens after that...

6. Raquel, The Specials
The ska bands borrowed a bunch of cool stuff from the punks. It's a shame that The Specials had to borrow the misogyny as well. And no, this isn't the only example.

7. Slack Motherfucker, Superchunk
“I'm working/But I'm not working for you!” Now that's a Friday lyric. A 1990 lyric, too.

8. Jaqueline, Franz Ferdinand
These guys knew what they wanted to do right out of the box (be a stylish Gang of Four), and they did it well. And look, another Friday lyric: “It's always better on holiday/So much better on holiday/That's why we only work when we need the money.” Aye, me wee bairns...

9. Live at Dominoes, The Avalanches
Ooh, listen, I think they just sampled an old “How to Shoot Snooker” instructional record. You know, the one that came out on Deram in 1968. The one with the green and red cover. Kooks.

10. Ladyflash, The Go! Team
OK, iPod, I have about 5,000 songs on there. There's no way you could've followed The Avalanches with The Go! Team by accident. Nice.