SOUNDTRACK: Future Soundtrack for America (2004).
This CD came with the McSweeney’s Future Dictionary for America. It was released on Barsuk Records (home of Death Cab for Cutie and other great bands) and it was compiled by Spike Jonze and one of the Johns from They Might Be Giants.
This is a solid compilation of indie rock tracks. At the time of the release most of the songs were rare or hard to find (since then I’ve seen a number of these tracks elsewhere).
TMBG obviously include a piece (a rendition of the old political song “Tippicanoe and Tyler Too”). Other featured artists include: OK Go, David Byrne, Jimmy Eat World (covering Guided by Voices), Mike Doughty (with a song called Move On, that I have to wonder if it was written for this compilation as proceeds went to MoveOn.org), Ben Kweller (great song title: “Jerry Falwell Destroyed the Earth”), Blink 182 (with the only song I know by them, “I Miss You” that reminds me When in Rome’s The Promise“), the much missed Sleater-Kinney, a remix by R.E.M., a great track from Nada Surf, a live piano version of “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” from The Flaming Lips, a staggering song by Laura Cantrell (who I only know from her work with TMBG, this song is a cover of a John Prine song), Tom Waits’ amazingly powerful and very emotional “Day After Tomorrow,” and a rocking piece from Elliott Smith.
Proceeds for the disc went to MoveOn.org in an attempt to raise money to defeat Bush in the 2004 election. We know how that turned out. But, as that is not relevant anymore, if you like your indie music good, this is a wholly worthy collection.
[READ: December 17, 2009] Maintenance Volume 1
Now this is a comic that I can get into. And I’m already delighted to see that there are two more volumes out.
The premise of the comic is that the two guys on the cover, Doug and Manny, work as maintenance men for TerroMax, Inc., the world’s biggest and best evil science think tank! Their work is sometimes scary, often disgusting and always interesting.
There are three stories in this volume. In the first one, the guys encounter a ManShark. In the second, they are sent back in time to the cavemen era (where they learn that a scientist has already visited them) and in the third, a minor character from the first story comes back to play a large role in an alien invasion. (more…)