Mike, holy wow, look at you just blogging out of the blue like that.  Impressive!  I had decided that the 16 for 16 concept was another BD exercise in musical masturbation.  Glad to see you joining me (so to speak).   Good list, and yes a few surprises and eyebrows up at my end.    There's a fairly equal balance of rock and more rootsy singer songwriter.  Remember when you used to like Rush? Ted Nugent?  John Denver?

I'm finally getting around to posting my list, having decided to focus only on songs, whether they be rock, pop, folk, or jazz.   Nothing longer than 11:00-ish here.   Once you get into choosing songs, it is of course much different than albums.   Less of an intellectual exercise, and more about little packets of joy.    It still seemed to start with favourite albums for me, but in many cases I decided against choosing a track - too bloody predictable be half,  and we besides don't you think we over-listen to our favourite records?  We just end up choosing them by rote - and moved onto to songs I hadn't heard in a while, but remembered with fondness.    So in the end I probably have an equal mix of the uber-familiar and the somewhat less so.    Lots of quieter music here, reflecting my advancing years and years in early fatherhood in this period (I'll rock out more in the next 16 years).

Also, given the time I spent on it, I have decided that I am justified in posting up two lists of 16.   Think of it as "32 for 16", or "16 more for the next 16".

The A Sides (in no order)


(1) Barbara H. - Fountains Of Wayne (first record)
(2) Time Stops  - Teenage Fanclub (Man-Made)
(3) Scythian Empires - Andrew Bird (Armchair Apocrypha)
(4) Dusk - Andrew Hill (Dusk....best jazz record of the last 16 years, imo)
(5) Kissing The Lipless- The Shins  (Chutes Too Narrow)
(6 ) Someday - The Strokes (Is This It....too bloody predictable damn it)
(7) John Wayne Gacy, Jr - Sufjan Stevens (Illinoise...yes I think the whole album is utterly brilliant)
(8) We Gathered In Spring - Midlake (Trials Of Van Occupanther)
(9) Banished - David Murray Black Saint Quartet (Sacred Ground)
(10) Angeles - Elliott Smith - (Either/Or....best songwriter of the past 16 years)
(11) Motor Away - Guided by Voices (Alien Lanes)
(12) Out Of Gas - Modest Mouse (The Lonesome Crowded West...how did this sneak on?)
(13) What Were The Chances - Damien Jurado (And Now That I'm In Your Shadow)
(14) Don't Ask - Grizzly Bear (Horn of Plenty)
(15) Young Sensualists - Throw Me The Statue (Moonbeams....unexpected favourite show of the past ten years; and yes, Throw Me the Statue is the band name)
(16) New Hampshire - Matt Pond PA (Emblems....best overly sentimental ballad about going back to your small-town home after you've lived in the big city for a few years, in the past 16 years)

The B Sides 

(1) Jessica - Avi Buffalo (self titled)

(2) Between The Bars - Elliott Smith (Either/Or....still the best songwriter ten minutes after I wrote it up above) 

(3) Sim Sala Bim - Fleet Foxes (Helplessness Blues)

(4) The Crystal Lake - Grandaddy (The Sophtware Slump)

(5) Market Girl - Headlights (Some Racing, Some Stopping)

(6) July Flame - Laura Veirs (July Flame)

(7) My Roots Are Strong And Deep - The Microphones (The Glow Part 2)

(8) Denial - Pure (Generation Six-Pack)

(9) My Gap Feels Weird - Superchunk (Majesty Shredding)

(10) The Funeral - Band Of Horses  (Everything All The Time)

(11) For Science Fiction - Maritime (Heresy and the Hotel Choir)  

(12) The Chalet Lines - Belle and Sebastian (Fold Your Hands Child...always loved this sad and slightly horrible number) 

(13) Hear Me Out- Ben Kweller (On My Way)

(14) Choose Drugs - Juliana Hatfield (Beautiful Creature) 

(15) Downtime - Gandharvas (Sold for a Smile)

(16) Winona Ryder - Egolillys (from their epochal first record, Pithy)

Derek, given that the exalted concept of a 16 x 6 playlist hasn't materialized for Saturday night,  I do expect to hear a smattering of these songs at the very least pal.