"She Blinded Me With Science!"

Heading up to New York for a three-day weekend tomorrow (hurray for taking the day off from school!), but before I left the science teacher here at school asked me to put together a playlist for the Science Fair tomorrow. Being the music nerd that I am, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to foist my musical tastes on other people, even if (especially if) I wasn't going to be there to do it in person. He asked for mostly mellow, low-key stuff, and I only had whatever was available on my computer (as opposed to the external hard drive where the vast majority of our music lives), so it was an interesting challenge. Thought it might be something worth sharing.

Interesting side note: many of the songs are from this year, which is surprising for me...since, y'know, I usually only really dig stuff recorded before I was born.

1. Jakob Dylan, "Something Good This Way Comes." I have a soft spot for the Dylan family and any project it's involved in, and I really dug the younger Dylan's solo record from this year. Probably in my top ten for the year (but that's a post for another time).

2. Ingrid Michaelson, "Over the Rainbow." This was a year for indie girls for me, I guess. She does a beautiful read of the old standard with just an acoustic guitar to back her vocals.

3. Jackson Browne, "Oh, My Love." Jackson Browne doing John Lennon? Sure, why the hell not! Definitely one of the best tunes to come off the otherwise bland (or occasionally infuriating) double-album Lennon covers thing.

4. Graham Dolby & the Grahamophones, "Jeeves & Wooster." Because you can never have too much Jeeves and Wooster in your life. Or your playlist.

5. Jack Johnson, "If I Had Eyes." The laid-back surfer shtick is one of my guilty pleasures.

6. Hem, "Jackson." I think every cover I've ever heard done by Hem has been perfect. Yes, perfect.

7. The Dave Clark Five, "Because." British Invasion goodness from the band that once went toe to toe with The Beatles.

8. Martin Sexton, "Diner." I love this song entirely because it was used in an episode of Scrubs. That quite possibly makes me very lame.

9. Delaney & Bonnie, "Piece of My Heart." Not as well-known or as definitive as the Janis Joplin version, but a nice read of the song nonetheless.

10. The Watson Twins, "Fall." I have a soft spot for these sisters after their turn as the backing vocalists for Jenny Lewis's first (excellent) solo album.

11. Marc Cohn, "Walking in Memphis." I have no excuse. Really.

12. The Weepies, "Wish I Could Forget." Dunno what prompted me to download them in the first place, but they're exactly what I wanted out of strummy indie folk pop (that is totally a genre).

13. She & Him, "Sentimental Heart." I've listened to this song over 20 times easily this year. It's that catchy.

14. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irgolva, "Falling Slowly." I really dug the movie Once, though I feel the music loses a bit of something outside of the context of the film.

15. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, "Killing the Blues." Whoever decided these two needed to make an album together deserves some sort of award.

16. Don McClean, "Vincent." I'm a sucker for Don McClean, I can't help it. And this was way less obvious than "American Pie."

17. The National, "Gospel." Still one of my favorite albums from last year, Boxer just sounds better and better with each listen. I totally missed this song somehow last year, but I love it now.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Hem, "Jackson"