Off Topic With Ashley

You know I’m scraping a new low (awesome cliché mash-up, hey?) on ideas when I start with the general blog memes.

Regardless, I was tagged on Facebook, and I’m listening to music on random today, so I figured I’d do this the long way and micro-review my way through twenty-five tracks.

Once you’ve been tagged:

1. Turn on your MP3 player.
2. Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
3. Write down the first 25 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please.
4. Choose 25 (or less) people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you.

I start my journey with Hot Chip’s “And I Was A Boy From School”. This technically doesn’t count because it was a part of a random playlist I selected earlier. From here on out though, it’s all mixed up.

1. De/Vision — Love Will Find A Way — Already we’re onto the cheesy synthpop. This one’s a bit of pulp electronica from 2007 that’s kicking around my library. Rating: 2.5 stars, for the trippy almost trancelike bridge before the chorus at about the 2:00 mark. Linked video is the same song, different version.
2. Phoenix — Long Distance Call — Much better, the namesake track of the 2006 album “It’s Never Been Like That”. This is an iconic album I will always love.
3. Enon — Sold — Another awesome track, from another awesome band. Fantastic bass line, awesome use of what sound like tone generators. “You’re just a name on a shelf and while the colours amaze, they don’t cover the lies.”
4. The Chemical Brothers — Do It Again (feat. Ali Love) — Not a bad track. My music player’s tagged it as electronica, but it’s more a kind of alternative electro-pop. Vaguely reminiscent of a more dancey Fatboy Slim. Pros: Distressed rubber ducky. Cons: recreational drugs required to appreciate all five and a half minutes of it.
5. Basement Jaxx — U R On My Mind — Can you tell by the title how shit this track is? It’s a kind of chillout tripout pop track that doesn’t really go anywhere. In fact the entire album is a bit of  a waste of time. 1 star.
6. Davwuh — Running Man — An experimental dubstep track. Worth a listen if you’re into that kind of thing. Awesome production values for something you can download for free.
7. Chromeo — 100% — Super-cheesy pop track. Fantastic in that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a fun album, actually, and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something silly for the car.
8. Maxïmo Park — Karaoke Plays — Quite an epic track, sometimes makes me want to cry.
9. Okay — Peaceful — A really sweet album. An eclectic assortment of instruments smooshed together under a delicious indie pop shell.
10. Pop Levi — From the Day That You Were Born — A bit of a slow track, but it’s the last one on the album so it’s okay. Generally brash garage-indie album (Yeah, I’m making up genres now) with lots of clipping. This track is mostly just guitar and strings and piano and piano played backward.
11. PAS/CAL — O Honey We’re Ridiculous — Awesome album. I overplayed it to shit when it came out last year, and as such I’m now completely sick of it. Awesome indie rocky-poppy track which is all over the place.
12. Kings Of Leon — I Want You — Cruisy rock track. Pretty meh otherwise.
13. Ben Folds Five — Song for the Dumped — I think I copied this off Scott a while back. I always presumed that I enjoyed Ben Folds and his posse, but I never sat through an entire album of his. This is the last track of “Whatever and Ever Amen” which is the exact sentiment you’ll be feeling by the time you finish listening to it. Harsh?
14. They Might Be Giants — If I Wasn’t Shy — Clarinet extraordinaire. It’s about time to run across some They Might Be Giants. This is one of their earlier drum machine tracks, and it’s a classic even if it’s not for everybody. I’ve linked to a live version from 2008 which has been rocked up with some real drums, but you get the point.
15. Gwen Stefani — Hollaback Girl — Heh. Need I say more?
16. Sneaker Pimps — Cute Sushi Lunches — I think this is just a filler track on one of the Sneaker Pimps’ more below-average albums. Half Life, Low Five, and Superbug are some better tracks from the album.
17. Bloc Party — Better Than Heaven — I’ve mixed feelings about this band; I like them a lot, but they make me feel terrible. A lot of the songs, this one included, are very lyric heavy and you can’t really enjoy them without paying some attention. This one has an awesome instrumental piece, but isn’t for everybody.
18. The Sounds — Mine for Life — Generic new wave electropop, nothing to write home about, although there’s a pretty cool keyboard piece toward the end. These guys released a new album in June which is quite good.
19. The Presets — Kitty in the Middle — A short track from their 2005 album. The Presets have been overplayed something chronic since their latest album was released in the first half of 2008. I’m frankly sick of them.
20. Minus the Bear — El Torrente — One of those ambient chillout tracks you expect to break into some awesome guitar driven hard rock affairs when the chorus comes around. Instead, it doesn’t. A soft alternative track suited to 2 AM driving through the city.
21. LCD Soundsystem — On Repeat — Track six on the iconic self-titled dance-punk  album. This is in the cruisy lull in the middle of the album, so the better tracks are on either sides. Not worth a listen outside the context of the entire album. Also, it’s 8 minutes long.
22. 65daysofstatic — Goodbye, 2007 — An instrumental industrial track which you’ll want to turn up NOISE once it builds up. Would be super epic if it wasn’t so flat on the high end.
23. TV On The Radio — Let The Devil In — These guys are a bit hit and miss. This particular track is a miss. Unless you’re in the exact right mood.
24. The Dandy Warhols — Nothing (Lifestyle Of A Tortured Artist For Sale) — What would a list be without The Dandy Warhols? They’re brilliant, but infuriatingly prone to filler tracks. This track (and indeed the album) is a patent blend of chillout stoner rock that evokes yearning for self-destructive weekends on the couch in some random’s beach house.
25. The Automatic — This Ship — New album released today, I think. This track is giving me a strong sense of deja vu; I think I’ve heard it before.

So that’s it. If you’re so inclined, you can always watch the compendium of my musical taste aggregated in nearly real-time on last.fm.