September Playlist: Come What May

Blimey, another month over - this place will be filled with Christmas music before long!

In the meantime, here are 10 of the tracks that have been tickling my fancy over the last 30 days. Click here for last month's playlist.

1. Grown-Ups - The Burning Hell

(from People)
I spent roughly 700 words analysing this album's closing track last week. Today, I'd like to draw your attention to the equally ace opening track - from the awesome first line ("You were a Nazi hunter...") to the wistfully ambiguous ending ("By the time you read this..."), Grown-Ups is the perfect representation of what it's like to not be a kid any more.

2. Driver 8 - R.E.M.

(from Fables of the Reconstruction)

Fables of the Reconstruction, as I discussed earlier this month, is a storytelling album. Driver 8, its second single, isn't particularly strong evidence of this - the 'story' is basically just a train driver needing a nap - but it is a smashing song nevertheless.

3. Before We Stopped to Think - Yo La Tengo

(from Stuff Like That There)

I've never listened to Great Plains, the band who originally wrote and recorded this song - I wonder if they sound as much like Lambchop as this low-key cover would suggest?

4. Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem

(from Sound of Silver)

I've been revisiting Sound of Silver a lot this month (here's a thing I wrote about it), and I honestly can't decide which of its tracks I like best. It's a toss-up between the sparkling, insistent, emotive brilliance of Someone Great and the sparkling, insistent, emotive brilliance of All My Friends; I think the latter probably clinches it, but Someone Great is easier to work into a playlist so that's the track I've chosen to include here.

5. Don't Worry Baby (I Don't Love You Any More) - The School

(from Wasting Away and Wondering)

There's a finality to this track that's almost overwhelming, which is obviously why I've placed it smack-dab in the middle of this month's playlist; to hear it situated any closer to the end would simply be too much. As I suggested in my recent review of Wasting Away and Wondering, I doubt any collection of words sounds more crushing than "I don't love you any more".

6. The Sparkle in Our Flaws - Chantal Acda
(from The Sparkle in Our Flaws)
I stand by the description of this song I made here: it still sounds like it was written for the end credits of a Lord of the Rings film. Y'know, in a good way.



7. Last Problem of the Alps - Jason Lytle
(from Dept. of Disappearance)
I was rather dismissive of Jason Lytle's solo work at the other end of September, but after writing that blog, I went back to Dept. of Disappearance and discovered that - holy smokes! - it may well be as good as an actual Grandaddy album after all. It's a very feely-weepy album; Somewhere There's a Someone is perhaps the prime example, but Last Problem of the Alps carries its share of emotional weight too. I adore the bit that comes in at 2:45 - the "we'd always be each other's, come what may" line just demolishes me.



8. Dead Fox - Courtney Barnett
(from Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit)
God, that album title is a pain in the bum to type out. This is the song where Courtney Barnett worries about food that's "pumped up with shit" - read about some of the other things she worries about here.



9. Mistakes - Tindersticks
(from Tindersticks II)
A little over a week ago, I found myself debating which self-titled Tindersticks album I like best. In retrospect, Tindersticks II was always going to be the clear winner, if only for the gorgeous, swooning counterpoint that glides into this stunning composition at 4:47. Da-daaaa-daaa-daaa...da-da-daaaa....



10. Ariel Pt2 - Matthew Pastkewicz
(from Quarters EP)
We'll finish on this triumphant-sounding instrumental piece from Matthew Pastkewicz's brilliant Quarters, which I reviewed here. Clapping along is recommended.