Friday Random Five is bringing out all my neuroses.

I’m listening to the new Beck album a lot lately. The thing about this album is that the cover is graph paper, and there are stickers that you apply yourself. It’s ‘make your own album cover’. I haven’t done it yet, and I don’t really want to. Also I don’t want to examine what that might mean. Putting the stickers on is committing, and what if I get the back of the stickers all gummy with fingerprints and it doesn’t stick properly? And then it’s ruined! I think I’m just a big believer in non-destructive editing, but maybe I was one of those kids that was afraid of getting dirty. What would it mean for me to try?

In All the Wrong Places by Ulrich Schnauss Album: A Strangely Isolated Place
This is a gorgeous work of semi-ambient electronica. I say ‘semi-‘ — it’s got beats, but it’s mostly instrumental, and the production has a soft focus quality to it. A certain muffly swoosh, even though some of the details are quite crisp. You can tell it’s hard to describe. The layers of sound build into an enormous sugary wedding cake that dissolves when you touch it. It doesn’t just groove, it wobbles in that Boards of Canada way where someone’s doing something to the analogue tape.

Memories by Elvis Presley Album: Elvis 2nd to None
That’s funny. Spanish guitar usually makes things sound better. But the string arrangement goes so Mantovani on this poor sappy melody that not even Elvis’ voice can save it. There’s a fruit and veg place near my house that plays Elvis, so now when I hear Elvis, I think fruit. Or Dean Martin, which they also play. I don’t know if there’s a video to this, but I don’t want to see it. I think it would look like the stock footage from every karaoke place I’ve every been to. Even the head of Elvis is coming out to see what’s gone wrong. The severed head of Elvis, and it’s been sectioned right down the middle, right across the left eye. Ouch! What was the graphic designer thinking? Where’s the lei? It was such a motif in Elvis’ original album covers, and now it’s gone. Banished! It’s all black and bloodless, not like a real head if you hacked it in half. And then stuck a numeral 2 right in the Broca’s area.

Useless by Depeche Mode Album: Ultra
This is more like it. Ultra was a very good, somewhat overlooked album. Depeche Mode seemed deepened by their woes (rehab and lineup changes), and came out of it with a set of songs that becomes more interesting with closer listens. Listen to that guitar riff on Useless. That is a gritty riff. And the bass line slides up and down the octave in a head-nodding way. Good groove.

Crossroads by Davol Album: Mystic Waters
I wonder what Russ is doing right now. He’s the one who got me into Davol. Gave me a tape with two albums, back in the days of cassettes. And I played them over and over and then went out and bought both albums. I wonder if I’ve listened to the discs more than the tapes. I think Russ always wanted to record songs like this. He was into computers and MIDI. Funny how a song can remind you of someone. Especially a song as thoughtful as this one, like watching a river, or staring into a fire.

Hello by The Cat Empire Album: Triple J Hottest 100, Volume 11
Well, jelo, jelo. If you haven’t heard the Cat Empire’s unique brand of hyphenated Cuban ska salsa, it would probably be a good idea. You’d think you were doing something interesting, like being at a party or a concert, instead of sitting at home on the Net getting spam from someone named Tanzania Safari, like I just did. My life would be a lot more interesting with that name. Oh, Tanz, you don’t even exist, and your life is probably much more interesting than mine. Anyhow. The Cat Empire were the hot ticket a couple of years ago, though I haven’t heard anything recently. They’re probably having so much fun that I’m not even in the same universe as them. Maybe after the thesis is over, I’ll put on the dancing shoes and go find them. I’ll have to find one of those little hats first. You know the kind?