Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.

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Adrian (me):
the Mountain Goats - Sax Rohmer #1 (mp3) (pre-order)

I was trying to think if I’ve been obsessed with anything this week and then I remember that I listened to the new Mountain Goats track about ten times in a row yesterday and a few more repeat listens today. It’s not the best MG track ever, but I really wanted to hear how the production sounds, whether producer John Vanderslice’s touch was Midas-like as it often is. The production definitely isn’t bad.

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Keith:
Codeine - New Year’s (mp3) (buy)

In celebration of a new year let’s start out with a cautious pace … very cautious. Extremely cautious. As is Codiene cautious. This band makes Low’s lowest moments seem like a Herb Alpert jamboree. But sometimes letting the pot simmer for a long, long time delivers double the flavor.

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Natalie K:
Elliott Smith - Thirteen (mp3) (buy)

My favorite cover of my favorite Big Star song. The original is great, but Smith’s voice lends a vulnerability to it that just about breaks my heart. It’s included on New Moon , which I just got for Christmas. I must have listened to this song at least 5 times on the plane ride back to California.

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Dave:
Sun Kil Moon - Ocean Breathes Salty (mp3) (buy)

It’s amazing how much more I like this version than the original. If I didn’t know better I’d say that these lyrics were written to be performed this way, but I guess that’s just a testament to Mark Kozelek’s awesomeness.

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Natalie (aka Natalie RT):
Aaron Ross - Mississippi Burnin (mp3) (buy)

This is a track off of Aaron’s debut solo album Shapeshifter put out by Grass Roots Records. Aaron is the lead singer of crazy math-rock band Hella. That piece of info makes this album all the more AWESOME! Aaron’s solo work really showcases his vocal range and shows that he definitely has strong roots in folk, americana, and psych rock music. The track “Mississipi Burnin” starts off soft and sweet with his vocals floating through the air. Something you’d listen to on a warm and sunny afternoon. And then BAM! heavy fuzzed out guitar comes in and the song changes into a great psych rock garage song. The song switches back and forth once more and rocks out at the end with a hint of jagged guitar that is common in Hella. With this song and many others on the album, Aaron swims fluidly from one sound/genre to another with mostly just his unique voice and guitars. Totally epiiiiic!

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Tune in next week. Same bat time. Same bat channel.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 10:18 am Posted by adrian in SF bay area, blogs, mp3s, song obsessions. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.