John's August Top 50 (pt. 2: 40-31)

So I started a bit of a series here, thinking I might schedule a couple posts to drop in while I'm on vacation next week. Keep your eyes peeled for the remaining segments of my current listening list, and hopefully with high speed internet in the cabin where we're staying even some updates on the mountains of North Carolina.

Here are my songs #40-31 for August of 2008:

40. Busta Miles (by The Apple Juice Kid)
This is off a really enjoyable album of Miles Davis music remixed. The album treads a nice line aesthetically between keeping some of the edgy playfulness that is so central to much of mixing and sampling in hip-hop while also letting the originality and brilliance of the source material shine through.

39. I Summon You (by Spoon)

38. Cut Your Hair (by Pavement)
I went through a big Pavement and Pixies phase recently, pulling back out old CDs to rip tracks to the ipod, picking up a nice copy of the delux re-release of Crooked Rain Crooked Rain by Pavement, and this is one of a handful of tracks I've kept in steady rotation ever since.

"Darling don't you go an cut your hair do you think it's gonna make him change?
I'm just a boy with a new haircut and it's a pretty nice haircut!"

37. One Armed Scissor (by At the Drive-In)
Fun to crank up, hadn't heard this song in awhile, but tracked it back down via Emusic, I believe, and have enjoyed playing it in the car a lot lately.

36. Trapped By Love (by Manu Chao)

35. Leave You Behind (by Sleater-Kinney)

34. Dress Up In You (by Belle & Sebastian)
I have been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for awhile, listened to Tigermilk a lot while studying abroad in college, laughed when they were the butt of a joke in High Fidelity. After all this time, I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up a copy of The Life Pursuit. Their songs have consistently been enjoyable over the years, but often had a similar feel and pace, so it was nice to hear this new CD push their sound in ways that give a real sense of newness while capitalizing on the elements that have kept fans close to B&S over the years. Anyway, this is just one of a couple tracks I really like of the disc.

33. Check Yo Self (by Ice Cube)

32. L.E.S. Artistes (by Santogold)

31. White City (by the Pogues)
Along side my Pavement and Pixies revival of late has been a broader punk, alt, guitar driven music revival. I have developed this habit over time of seeking out all kinds of music, but while my tastes have wandered and strayed I still do love some of the sounds that helped me jump off the land of top-40 radio into my own efforts to explore music on my own terms.