Chris Shuffles the Pod

Inspired by The Onion's Random Rules, let's shuffle the pod...

1. "Two Points for Honesty" by Guster

The two times I've seen Guster, they've come out to an brief orchestral version of this song. It's my favorite song from them, but I guess they don't play it live anymore. Incidentally, one of the best concerts I've ever seen was Ben Folds with Guster and Rufus Wainwright at Wolf Trap in Virginia back in 2004. The fact that everyone jammed with everyone else (plus Rufus' mom, too!) made the whole thing feel really special.

2. "A Groovy Place" by Mike Flowers Pops

Nu-Lounge at its finest. The whole A Groovy Place album is pretty awesome, although Mike loses points for trying pass off as his own the arrangement Pat Williams did of "Light My Fire" for Jack Jones. Although the fact that he's heavily influenced by Pat Williams regains those points. Pat Williams wrote the theme to The Bob Newhart Show, by the way. You own him your allegiance.

3. "Mary" by Scissor Sisters

Mellow number from the first album. It's okay, but it just kind of sits there.

4. "The Sun and the Rain" by Madness

Even their maudlin ballads are chipper. It sounds like an ad for soda from the late 70s. Not one of their better numbers, but still pretty cool.

5. "The Treatment" by Dead Disco

Zippy Klaxonsy rock number with a female singer. A bit slick, but lots of fun.

6. "Running Out of Time" by Hot Hot Heat

Probably my favorite Hot Hot Heat song. It's catchy as hell, and it's got a great sense of pathos for an upbeat song.

7. "The Angry Mob" by Kaiser Chiefs

This one takes a couple of minutes to get going. One of the problems with the Kaisers is that their albums don't capture how great they sound live. This was their closing number (before the encore) when we saw them at the 9:30 Club in D.C., and it rocked from start to finish. Here, it doesn't really take off until the "We are the angry mob" chant.

8. "Woman Trouble" by Artful Dodger w/ Craig David

This is the funky remix version, not the generic R&B original. It's much better this way. Craig never really took off in the States, although his song "What's Your Flava?" is being used in a Popeye's ad. Sadness.

9. "Repo Man" by Iggy Pop

Aw, yeah! The theme song to the movie of the same name, which was one of the oddest films ever. Repo Man had one of the best soundtracks ever, and it's not often you see cameos from the Circle Jerks in a movie. I'm going to be so bold as to say that this is Iggy's best contribution to a movie soundtrack ever. I would like to see an ad agency try to use this song in a commercial for a cruise line, though.

10. "Gunpowder & Lead" by Miranda Lambert

Don't fuck with Miranda. She'll cut you. She'll cut you for real.