Songs About Sleep

"Sleep is a fundamental anabolic process common to all life forms, plant and animal. In animals, the sleeping state is characterized by an absolute minimal degree of consciousness and decreased responsiveness to the surrounding world.

The cycle of sleep and wakefulness is regulated by various hormones produced by the hypothalamus, the brain stem and external stimuli, the level of sunlight being the most obvious example. The body's levels of certain neurohormones are highly correlated with sleep and wake states. For example, the levels of the orexin (hypocretin) neurohormone pair rise sharply to mark the transition from the anabolic, sleep state to the catabolic, wakened state. In addition, melatonin level is high at times during the night. Adenosine, a nucleoside which plays various roles in biochemical processes, gradually accumulates in the human brain during wakefulness but decreases during sleep. Caffeine's stimulant properties are attributed to its effects on adenosine." That's probably more than you wanted to know but learning never hurts, right?

Something interesting about this playlist is that many of the songs are quiet and/or slow. Just because a song is about sleep doesn't mean it has to put you to sleep, right?

Listen to Songs About Sleep

New Feature - Ten Years After

CMJ has, for some years, been putting out a monthly magazine called CMJ New Music Monthly that comes with a CD sampler of newly released music. While I'm told that the magazine has faltered somewhat in recent times (often skipping months or delaying issues), it was a definitive source of new music info in the early-to-mid 90s.

While organizing my extremely scattered CD collection, I came across a stack of CMJ discs, starting with the June 1995 issue, my very first CMJ purchase. The resulting playlist I compiled from the CD contains few tracks, but it's a small snapshot of the mid-90's music scene. As the ten-year anniversary of my other CMJ CD's come around I'll try to post a playlist with the songs available on Rhapsody.

Listen to CMJ - June 1995

* "Heroin Girl" - Everclear
* "Stars" - HUM
* "Ono Soul" - Thurston Moore
* "Marta's Song" - Deep Forest
* "Shame" - Low
* "Eric's Had A Bad Day" - SNFU
* "Suffering" - Satchel
* "Fiery Coffin" - Scud Mountain Boys

World Leader Pretend - Punches

After being hotly tipped on music-industry blog Coolfer for the past couple of months, it was with a lot of anticipation that I looked forward to listening to this album from New Orleans band World Leader Pretend. This debut album does not disappoint, with its jangly rhythms and garage-rock feel. These kids have big things in store. How great is it to know that there are bands this new making music this good? The future looks bright indeed.

Listen to World Leader Pretend - Punches

The Music Game

Inspired by a thread on the WXPN message boards, it's time for a round of The Music Game. Despite its generic name, it's a fun group activity (for the musically knowledgeable) or solo Rhapsody endeavor. Start with any song, and use a word from that song title in the next song. Stop when you get tired of it or get stuck. With the excellent Rhapsody search engine, what a great way to hear from bands you might have forgotten about.

Listen to my playlist for The Music Game

The Sunday News

Here are the latest additions to the playlist of The Sunday News for June 26, 2005. Features Tracy Bonham, OK Go and The Posies.

Listen to The Sunday News, 6/26/05

* "I Wanna Be Sedated" - The Ramones
* "This Was Built To Make You Dance (The Dance Dance Revolution)" - Secret Lives Of The Free Masons
* "Cold Wind" - The Arcade Fire
* "Something Beautiful" - Tracy Bonham
* "Better Bring Your Friends" - Secret Machines
* "Torn Man Down" - Weather
* "The Revolution Solution" - Thievery Corporation with Perry Farrell
* "Do What You Want" - OK Go
* "Second Time Around" - The Posies
* "Armed to the Teeth" - Abandoned Pools
* "Streetcar (Album Version)" - Funeral For A Friend
* "Riot Radio" - The Dead 60s

Don't you worry 'bout a thing baby

Normally, I am blissfully oblivious to anything even remotely popular on the radio, but after seeing the video a couple of times, there's nothing I can do about it. Sometimes you just have to give in to the pop madness and like a song for the empty-headed confection it is. If this song turns into your ear worm for the week, I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry.

Listen to Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk With My Heart, because I have, several times today...

P.S. Is anyone else seeing a whole bunch of blank space after my top post? Do I have an open tag in my template somewhere, because I notice it ends at the bottom of my sidebar. Somebody please email me and help, because I may be a big nerd, but my HTML skills are paltry.

Future Dogs Die in Kaiser Ferdinand Hot Hot Car Party

On Friday, there was an article in The Guardian about the state of song lyrics today.

My beloved Coldplay takes a thrashing, but after listening to X&Y enough times to form an opinion, I have to grudgingly agree with the writer's assessment. You have to ask if music can make up for lyrics of questionable quality.

The article has a decidedly British slant (it is The Guardian after all), but the songs and bands mentioned in the article make for an interesting playlist. Listen to some of the worst (and best) lyrics and decide for yourself.

Riddle of the Bands