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I'm knocked over by how much great music I can run into still. I really thank MP3 players for revolutionizing my relationship with it, and how I can buy songs piecemeal and then give 'em a few months to burn into my brain before they get thrown into the general mix. (I'm also knocked over by how I can find nearly all of them on Youtube...)

Anyway, here are the 3,4, and 5 star songs I added to my collection over the past three months.

Random Modernish Urbanish Pop - I just dig the sound and swagger.

• TiK ToK (Ke$ha)
• Pretty Girls [Explicit] (Wale)
• Don't Stop The Music (Rihanna)
• He Said She Said (Ashley Tisdale)
• Get The Party Started (P!nk)
• Piece Of Me (Friscia and Lamboy Radio Edit) (Britney Spears)

NPR had a piece on the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and they covered "Hit 'Em Up Style", which turns out to be a good song in its own right.

• Hit 'Em Up Style (Carolina Chocolate Drops)
• Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!) (Blu Cantrell) -- I heard the singer isn't too crazy about the central theme of the song, but hey.

I read a book "100 Best Beatles Song", and that introduced me to or reminded me of a few songs

• Hey Bulldog (Bill Deal) -- I could't find the original of this obscure "Yellow Submarine" track, but the Bill Deal cover is pretty rockin'.
• I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles)

Last season's mix was really where I imported a lot of song from Amber's collection, but her music still has new finds for me...

• The Denial Twist (Album Version) (The White Stripes) -- Incidentally, this is the only song this season I gave 5 Stars this season
• Icky Thump (Album Version) (The White Stripes)
• Sea Of Love (Cat Power) -- So very sweet
• Think I'm In Love (Beck) -- but it makes me kind of nervous to say so.
• Innocence (Bjork) -- there's something subtley Atari-ish about this that I dig.
• Umbrella (Marie Digby)

Q-Unit's Greatest Hits is 50 Cent crossed with Queen... kind of amazing stuff. I love the back cover art with 50 Cent sporting a Freddy Mercury mustache.

• Crazy Little Pimp Called Love (Q-Unit) -- originally I heard this in this Penny Arcade inking Boba Fett video
• Candy Bottom Girls (Q-Unit) -- I had to learn "Fat Bottomed Girls" so I could sing it with Tufts' sQ!, but I think I like this version a bit better.
• Disco Language (Q-Unit)
• If I Cant Be A Champion (Q-Unit)
• This Is How We Bite The Dust (Q-Unit)
• Under Pressure All The Time (Q-Unit)
• We Will Rock You In Da Club (Q-Unit)

In high school I was "Big Jule" in our production of Guys and Dolls, so I still have a soft spot for the music from it-- this is from the 1990s revival I saw in NYC with my mom, I think it had Nathan Lane in it.

• Guys and Dolls
• Fugue for Tinhorns
• The Oldest Established
• Luck Be a Lady
• Sue Me
• Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat

Random 90s "Alternative"

• Breakfast At Tiffany's (Deep Blue Something) -- this song still makes me want to watch the movie.
• Sex And Candy (Marcy Playground) -- I came for the "I smell sex and..." and stayed for the "like double cherry pie" -- is that even a thing?
• Push (Matchbox Twenty)

Tuba-memory music...

• Just a Closer Walk With Thee (Canadian Brass) -- their signature piece, I remember seeing them a few times with my mom.
• Mozart: Rondo alla Turka from Piano Sonata No.11, K.331 (Empire Brass) - I played this in a few bands. I love how much harder the trumpets had to work than I did.
• Rondo Alla Turca (Hooked On Classics) -- not sure why I decided to go for this one but it's kind of fun.

Songs from the Weird Al...

• Lola (The Kinks) -- Al's was "Yoda". Also kind of a rediscovery from Amber's
• Sharp Dressed Man (Remastered) (ZZ Top) - I think he through this one into a "Polka Party"

Songs from "Shake Burger and Fries" -- McDonalds had some promotional tapes once in the 80s, mixtapes of songs from the 60s-- I've tried in vain to track down a playlist, but I remember some of the songs...

• The Wanderer (Dion & The Belmonts) -- I remember doing this as a lipsynch at church camp. (I had the sax solo) Not the most appropriate song, in retrospect.
• Runaround Sue (Dion)
• Under The Boardwalk (The Drifters) -- I remember Veronika say how an English teacher tried to say that this song was about bugs - I guess he was mixing up "boardwalk" and "floorboards".
• Rhythm Of The Rain (The Cascades)

Songs off of youtube videos...

• Transformer Breakdance (ft. Soundwave and Lazer) (Lazer) -- liked this one for years, the breakdancing is great.
• gimmebackmason (Swede Mason) -- oh, will Mel Gibson flying into a frothy rage ever grow old? Um, probably.
• Birds And The Bees (Sliptone) -- (actually the video I posted was Den Meyer's Annual Report which cuts out quite a bit.

I've been seeing some IMAX at Jordan's furniture lately, and they have a thing for that 90s-era swing revival stuff...

• The Ding Dong Daddy of the D Car Line (Cherry Poppin Daddies)
• Here Comes the Snake (Cherry Poppin' Daddies) -- I've always been a bit amused by the lack of subtlety in this song
• When I change your mind (Cherry Poppin' Daddies)
• Zoot Suit Riot (Cherry Poppin' Daddies)

Random finds:

• Good Enough (Remastered Album Version) (Bonnie Raitt) - a suggestion from a therapist I see every once in a while.
• Dance Across The Floor (Jimmy Bo Horne) - Lileks wrote "How we hated disco. We wore skinny ties and were Mods! But allow me to present the brief for the opposition."
• Fresno Drum Cadence (Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band) -- I still long to hear the funk-laden of Euclid High School Marching Band circa 1990 or so... (link not quite what I have on my iPhone)
• The Girl From Ipanema (Stan Getz) -- when I am elected king of the world, EVERY elevator will play this song, by kingly mandate.
• At Last (Etta James) -- not sure where I heard this, but probably a soundtrack.
• Son Of A Preacher Man (The Gaylettes) -- didn't realize "Preacher Man" had so many old covers. This one is good, though I dislike how they change the slant-rhyming "learning from each other's knowin'" to "learning from each other's knowledge"
• Fever (Little Willie John) - I was reading about this earlier version of a song I love from the Peggy Lee cover.
• Sand In My Shoes (Dido) -- I think this song used to be in my collection, not sure what happened to it-- anyway, it's great and happy and sad.

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September Blender of Love is here!

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