Shufflin' and Shimmyin' (minus the shimmyin')

(In which I ape The Onion AV Club's "Random Rules" by putting my Ipod on shuffle and writing about the first 5 songs that come up.)

1. "Reflections After Jane" by the Clientele- I downloaded a couple Clientele songs a couple years ago when Strange Geometry was getting a lot of buzz, and I'll admit I never got a whole lot further than great "Since K Got Over Me." I do find their stuff pretty, and love the reverby haze and mood of it all, but its a little boring. This one if from Suburban Light, and though its pretty, I can't imagine giving it much time, or being inspired to seek it out for a listen.

2. "We Cannot Lose" by The Futureheads - I actually quite liked The Futurehead's somewhat derided second album. Sure, it lacked the massive, sugar rush energy and mondo harmonies that made their debut so much fun, but the more restrained performances and the production actually showed off the quality of the band's songwriting, which on the first album tended to get a bit overwhelmed by all the huge guitars and "OH OH OHs." This is the closing track of that second album, and its a pretty good, upbeat Futureheads song, which like all of their best stuff, has a bit of an eighties New Wave vibe to it. Still, I've gotta admit, I'd probably like it better and be more excited about it if it was recorded in the style of the first album.

3. "The Lucky Ones" by Kevin Drew - For all intents and purposes, this Kevin Drew "solo" track is a pretty good Broken Social Scene song, as its got a ton of BSS people on it (plus Spiral Stairs!). It's catchy, and fun, and the Scott Kannenberg guitar bit at the end is pretty cool, and Leslie Feist sounds nice oohing and aahing in the background. It goes on a bit long, but it sounds like everybody is having so much that you understand why they maybe didn't want it to end.

4. "I Need You (For Someone)" by The Jam - Call me crazy (or don't, whatevs), but Paul Weller sounds a lot like Bob Pollard to me. I guess it should be the other way around, but I heard Pollard first, so there you go. This is good song, hooky and sweet, with some particularly nice bass parts. I don't listen to The Jam much, but I usually at least moderately enjoy them when I happen to hear one of their songs.

5. "My Moon, My Man" by Feist - I like Feist a lot. I do, and don't begrudge her the success she's had (though helping my step-mom buy "1, 2, 3, 4" on Itunes was . . . weird), and this one of the best songs from The Reminder. Feist sounds equally mournful, distressed, and sexy, and the percussive piano line is pretty killer. There's even a nice little guitar part thrown in. The thirty seconds or so of ambient sound that close it out don't really work out of the context of the album, but its tough to begrudge it that (especially since on the album, they lead into my favorite Feist song, the absolutely devastating "The Park").