Top Songs You Need On Your iPod Right Now #2

This week I dedicate my Top 10 Songs to those songs that you use to underscore your day. You know you all do it; picking the right song to underscore the mood you’re experiencing like some horrible episode of Dawson’s Creek. While this list is a bit ‘Actor-Living-In-Queens-centric’, it’s still enjoyable. And hell, isn’t everyone an actor living in Queens anyway?

BEST ‘END OF A LONG WORK DAY’ SONG:

Fiore De La Citta – Seu Jorge

Cru

After finishing an obnoxiously long Catering gig, fight rush hour foot and rail traffic and fumbling to open that pesky top lock on your apartment door, there is nothing like Seu Jorge to mellow you out. First noticed as the guy who accompanied the soundtrack to ‘The Life Aquatic’, his personal CD is a gem.

BEST ‘POST SHITTY AUDITION’ SONG:

‘Honest Music’ – Nico Muhly

Speaks Volumes

So you didn’t book the next big Broadway show, or hell, you didn’t even get seen for the next big Broadway show, it’s quite alright. Mr. Muhly, a classically trained pianist from Juilliard, not only will underscore your inner turmoil but he might even give you élan for your next audition. P.S. This guy is the real deal.

BEST ‘CHECKING YOURSELF OUT IN THE MIRROR BEFORE YOU GO OUT’ SONG:

‘Funplex (Peaches Pleasure Seeker Remix)’ – The B-52’s

Funplex (EP)

They haven’t had a studio album out in who knows how many years but they still got it goin on... and we ALL know that The Peaches friggin' know how to underscore a party. The combination is an electronic nugget of sexy ridiculousness.

BEST ‘RIDING THE N/R/W MORNING RUSH’ SONG:

‘Tulips (Club Version)’ - Bloc Party

Little Thoughts (EP)

First off, Bloc Party is awesome. Saw them in concert this past fall and they are incredible. This is a great song for the morning because it’s mellow enough but it has a great tempo and bite to get you through all the pushing business men and Chinese women pretending to be pregnant so they can steal your seat. If you’re forced to stand, just bop around to the great beats in this song and clear out some room for you to breathe.

BEST ‘IT’S A SUNNY DAY AND I WANT TO SWISH DOWN 9^th AVENUE’ SONG:

‘Woodstock’ – Alice Smith

For Lovers, Dreamers & Me

It’s kind of rock, it’s kind of soul, it’s kind of pop, it’s kind of weird. It’s the perfect song to swish your tushy to as you stroll down 9^th Avenue drunk after brunch. You know you all do it.

BEST ‘TRYING TO IGNORE THE ANNOYING CHATTER AT THE AUDITION’ SONG:

‘Hirondelle - Benoît Pioulard

Précis

Don’t you hate it when you get to a big call in the city and everyone is screeching and talking about nonsense and everyone is everyone’s best friend and you just want to throw up and die? Yeah. This is a very mellow and ambient CD but not to the level of Sigur Ros which might make you comatose.

BEST ‘WASTING TIME IN __________ PARK AND IN A GOOD MOOD’ SONG:

‘I Feel It All (Britt From Spoon Remix)’ – Feist

I Feel It All (EP)

Great CD, good mixes, a nice remix of a classic song. Not too much done to it but enough to spice it up. Definitely a great song to mellow out to while people watching.

BEST ‘PRE-DRINKING AT THE APARTMENT’ SONG:

‘Impossible’ – Kanye West

Graduation

As much as you might hate mainstream music, you are a tard if you don’t think this CD is good. It’s like a chocolate Easter Basket of musical acumen. Great song, great sample, great beat, fun enough to get the night going but not so good that it ruins the song that plays around 1:00am.

BEST ‘ATTACK MUSIC WHEN TRYING TO GET THROUGH TIMES SQUARE AT 7:00PM’ MUSIC:

‘Boys Want To Be Her (Tommy Sunshine’s Brooklyn Fire Retouch)’ – Peaches

Boys Want To Be Her (EP)

This crap makes you want to pull out a knife and slit all those stupid-slow-walking-building-gawking-just-in-from-Idaho-fat-soccer-moms! Just kidding. Kind of. Not really.

BEST ‘I SAW MY EX-BOYFRIEND WITH HIS NEW BOYFRIEND FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE WE BROKE UP SO I WENT PARTYING TILL 6AM AND DROWNED MY ISSUES IN ALCOHOL THEN WOKE UP SIX HOURS LATER REGRETTING MY DECISIONS SO I TAKE THE TRAIN TO UNION SQUARE AND SIT IN BARNES AND NOBLE READING MAGAZINES ON THE FLOOR TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE WHILE SUPPRESSING MY HANGOVER AND EVENTUALLY REALIZING ITS GOING TO BE OKAY BECAUSE ITS COLD AND THEY HAVE FRESH HOT APPLE CIDER IN THE FARMERS MARKET AND EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER IS ON AT 8’ SONG:

‘Transatlantique’ – Beirut

Elephant Gun (EP)

Does this honestly need an explanation?

- J. O'M.