This double-set of playlists is for the month of May. I felt that I had been listening to such good new, recent music lately that I had to devote one mix to just that, hence “May I.” The “May Tu” mix is just random.

As for the titles, I thought they were extremely clever, but I’m not sure other people do. See, “May I” = “May 1” and “May Tu” = “May 2.” Likewise, “I” = me and “Tu” = you (in Spanish). I thought I was being smart. You can be the final judge.

May I

1. “All Alone” by Gorillaz from Demon Days
   I think one of the reasons I love this song is its randomness — it’s almost like three or four songs all in one. My favorite part is the change that takes place about 2:00 into the song and then at 2:29 when the speed picks up a little bit. For some reason this sound haunts me and touches me. It also reminds me of the book Mysterious Skin which I read at the time I got the CD.
2. “I Told You So” by New Order from Waiting For The Sirens’ Call
   When I first saw the title to this song I was like, “Um, that is a really lame title.” The music totally makes up for it though. I’m still unclear about what it is New Order told me, but I guess I should’ve known?
3. “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay from X&Y
   My favorite story about Coldplay is how it was the only CD we could listen to at the Trail that everyone liked. Let’s hope the next album, X&Y is as good as A Rush of Blood to the Head.
4. “Ghettochip Malfunction” (8-bit’s Hell Yes Remix) by Beck from the “Hell Yes” single
   My coworker found this song on iTunes. I love the talking computer.
5. “Get Him Back” by Fiona Apple from Extraordinary Machine
   I’m not sure whether “I’m going to get him back / and he won’t have a back to scratch” is a good or bad thing. Nonetheless, the rocking back-and-forth keyboards of this song are awesome, and sorta mimic the lyrical content.
6. “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” by LCD Soundsystem from LCD Soundsystem
   I don’t get this whole “LCD Soundsystem is such a great band! We love James Murphy!!” (maybe I’m exaggerating, but see Pitchfork). I just love the idea of Daft Punk playing at my house.
7. “DARE” by Gorillaz from Demon Days
   This is probably the catchiest song I’ve heard since… well, I don’t know. But it’s damn catchy! I love the falsetto.
8. “Human After All” by Daft Punk from Human After All
   One critic (I forget where?) reviewed Daft Punk’s Human After All album by noting that the album itself proved that Daft Punk were human after all (and not anonymous robots) because it was so erroneous (i.e. bad). Nonetheless, the song “Human After All” is kinda cool.
9. “Guilt Is A Useless Emotion” by New Order from Waiting For The Sirens’ Call
   I’m not sure whether guilt is a useless emotion or not, but I know this song makes me wanna dance. Especially the part where it’s building up to and repeating “I need your love… I need your love… I want your love…” etc. etc.
10. “Used to Love Him” by Fiona Apple from Extraordinary Machine
    “Why did I kiss him so hard last Friday night?” Good question. We’ve all been there, yeah? Even if we haven’t, I think we all have regrets, and this song touches on that.
11. “Losing My Edge” by LCD Soundsystem from LCD Soundsystem
    My aforementioned note about how a certain web site I read loves LCD Soundsystem was made evident by this song, which they claimed was the third best single of 2000-2004. Sound-wise, it doesn’t do much for me, but I do love listening to the story of the lyrics and bathing in the irony of Pitchfork loving it so much.
12. “Dracula’s Castle” by New Order from Waiting For The Sirens’ Call
    The thing I love most about this song is the introduction. It’s sorta like a fading pulse. And, of course, I like vampires and I do think it might be nice to visit Dracula’s castle just for kicks. Oh, and the lyrics are cheesy and lame, but that’s new order.
13. “Not About Love” by Fiona Apple from Extraordinary Machine
    … but if it’s not about love, what is it about? Ohhh Fiona, you are so angry I love it,
14. “Robot Rock” by Daft Punk from Human After All
    This song is about to be remixed, so expect to see a different version on another CD. Anyway, if robots do indeed rock out, is this really what they would enjoy? Mayhaps. Appreciate this song for its lyrical complexity (no, I’m kidding… don’t). “Robot rock.”
15. “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz from Demon Days
    If there was indeed a Feel Good Incorporated somewhere, this is what I would want it to sound like. And I would want Damon Albarn to be there singing this song playing with windmills. This is Gorillaz’s first single from Demon Days and I think it’s way better than “Clint Eastwood,” the first single from their first, self-titled album, Gorillaz.

May Tu

1. “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” by The Flaming Lips from the Yoshimi Wins: Live Radio Sessions EP
   Kylie Minogue’s original version of this song was probably the first pop (or, rather, non -indie, -alt. rock, -indie, etc.) song that I actually liked. What makes this cover extraordinary is that it doesn’t mock the song at all (which could be a pretty easy thing to do considering its poppiness and whatnot. It actually comes across as somewhat sad and longing in this version.
2. “Yeah Is What We Had” by Grandaddy from Sumday
   I’m not sure what I like about this song, but I suspect it has to do with the ambiguity of what having “Yeah” means, exactly. It could be a casual “eh, yeah…” type of boring thing, or it could be an exciting “Yeah!” type of exciting thing. What do you think we had?
3. “The Athlete” by Erlend Øye from Unrest
   The beep-bopping or whatever beat that this song has reminds me of running, and athletes run, so this is another neato example of electronic form-fits-the-fiction.
4. “Clocks” (Röyksopp Trembling Heart remix) by Coldplay from The Remixes
   The original version of “Clocks” was the first Coldplay song I loved (despite the fact it went on to win tons of awards at the Grammys) so it will always have a place in my heart. Röyksopp is without a doubt one of my all-time favorite remixers (Felix da Housecat — see below — being one of the main contenders with Röyksopp for #1). Their remix of “Clocks” makes it even more bittersweet and beautiful than the original. Far better than most of the generic “techno” remixes I’ve heard.
5. “Happy Together” by Danny Chung from the Happy Together soundtrack
   Wong Kar-Wai is my new favorite director (yes, probably dethroning David Lynch). At the end of Happy Together, the first WKW movie I saw, this song plays. I think it may be live or something, but it’s great nonetheless. The end of the movie, I think, is pretty sad, and the juxtaposition of a sad situation and a happy song always blows me away (the best example of this is probably Michael Moore‘s Roger & Me when “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys plays during a survey of the empty, depressed city streets. Ever sine then “Good Vibrations” has become a bittersweet song for me. Now “Happy Together” (originally by the Turtles) falls into that category as well.
6. “The Big Hurt” by Miss Toni Fisher from The Big Hurt
   They play this song as bumper music for Coast to Coast AM and I’ve always liked it. Nothing more to say. It’s old.
7. “Sex Born Poison” by Air from 10,000 Hz Legend
   Air collaborated with Buffalo Daughter on this song. I think it’s one of the more “dreamy” songs from 10,000 Hz Legend, an Air album that I have total mixed feelings about. I love how the song sorta changes gears a few times, first being a total mellow soundscape, then about 1:40 into the song it changes into something you’d expect to hear in a haunted house with strange people singing, then it goes back to the mellowness. Finally, around 3:55 a strange sputtering noise returns along with vocals and descends into something sounding sorta epic. Mmmm the song makes me melt. And oh yeah, what is sex born poison??
8. “Gossip Folks” (Mousse T’s Original Alternative) by Missy Elliott from the “Gossip Folks” single
   I love this song and recently bought the single so I had to throw in this remix. It’s good. Maybe not as good as the Fatboy Slim one (which isn’t as hip-hop as this one).
9. “American Life” (Felix Da Housecat’s Devin Dazzle Club Mix) by Madonna from the “American Life” single
   Hear how Felix da Housecat totally gets the bass beating? That’s his signature remix style, and although it’s pretty much the same on all of his remixes (“Toxic” by Britney, “Get Yourself High” by the Chemical Brothers,
   “Y Control” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs [see below], etc.), it’s fun and bouncy. Of all the “American Life” remixes I’ve heard (which is maybe six or seven), this is my favorite.
10. “Novacane” by Beck from Odelay
    I first heard this song on a compilation called Buy Product 2: Brief Encounters. The song, of course, is also available on Odelay, which is my favorite Beck album (though I’m really liking Guero, his latest, as well. This song just has a hissy, feedbacky, noisey sound that I love.
11. “Land: Horses” by Patti Smith from Horses
    When I first bought the album Horses, I intended to give it to my mom for some reason or another. Then, since I bought it used, I decided to give it a listen. I was blown away by how awesome it was, so I ended up keeping it for myself and gave her something else. “Horses” is, I think, the most epic part of the album (and part of the “Land” trilogy).
12. “The Crystal Lake” by Grandaddy from The Sophtware Slump
    Does anyone know where “Crystal Lake” is? And who lives there? And what happens there? I doubt Grandaddy intended the title to be an allusion to Friday the 13th, but since I’m Jason and the bad guy’s name is Jason and I just recently watched the first two films, I wanted to included it. Oh yeah, and the song is all awesome and rockin’ too.
13. “Love Is Blue” by Paul Mauriat from Love Is Blue
    “Love is blue. Not white or red or yellow. Love is not green. It’s blue. That is the brilliance of this music… It makes me so mad when people call this elevator music. See, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, they could never compose this music… Only the truly gifted can understand. You’ve felt blue.” — Lucy Butler, the representation of absolute evil from the television show Millennium.
14. “Y Control” (Thee Majesty Remix) by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from the “Y Control” remix EP
    “Thee Majesty” is codename for Felix da Housecat. Since I’m including two of his remixes (see “American Life” above), it’s obvious that I love him, yeah? Even without his remixing, though, this is a cool song. The Faint remix is also really good, if you are so inclined.
15. “Secret Girl” by Sonic Youth from Evol
    No, my mother never told me that I was the boy who can enjoy invisibility, but I wish I was. I forgot how much I loved this song until it came up on my iTunes’ party shuffle. It’s so dark and mysterious — very early Sonic Youth, if you will, before they became the “grandparents of grunge.”
16. “Three Miles” by Heather Duby from Come Across The River
    Normally Heather Duby’s stuff is very soft and ethereal, and I love it. Maybe that’s why I like this song so much — because it demonstrates her ability to be somewhat poppy. And, of course, sad at the same time.
17. “Remind Me” by Röyksopp from Melody A.M.
    In case you were wondering, yes, Erlend Øye (from earlier) does do the vocals on this song. If you weren’t wondering, now you know. I love Röyksopp all around, but his would have to be my favorite song. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, I love bittersweet songs, and I think this is yet another. One of the things that sucks about living in one place for a long time is that you start to build-up memories — happy and sad — that become associated with things around you. As the lyrics say, “and everywhere I go / there’s always something to remind me / of another place and time / where love that traveled far had found me.” I feel that almost daily. Maybe it’s a sign of me being too nostalgic, but I don’t know. The ultimate irony, however, is that now this song itself reminds me of another place and time where love that traveled far had found me.
18. “1969” by Boards Of Canada from Geogaddi
    Listen carefully, kids, for Satan himself is hiding in this song. Seriously, this song mentions the Branch Dividians (“Although not a follower of Quick Facts about: David Koresh, she’s a devoted Branch Davidian”, song length = 4:19 = April 19 = day of Waco Massacre) and 1969 is, of course, the year of the Manson murders. The group is known for strange sampling and this song has to be one of the most surreal.