CAR CDS 2: THE CASE OF THE MISSING CASE

More errands than usual and trips to my parents' house and Joliet for a wedding left me even more time to listen to music in the car this past week. Here's the list...

1. Back To Me - I loved Kathleen Edwards debut the other year and her follow-up is almost as good. Not as many rockers on this week but she melds melodic countryish rock with solid lyrics. Unfortunately, the CD case disappeared. That's not a regular occurence for me - my anal retnetive nature has produced as system for where the cases are kept and so on. This case just up and disappeared. My wife thinks someone was in our cars (she was missing all of her change) - I'm not sure why they would take an empty CD case and leave the next one on the list alone but it could explain what happened to it.

2. Kimi Ga Suki - One of my favorite CDs of last year, this was originally released only in Japan but ended up being one of two new Matthew Sweet albums in the States. It's short and full of power pop goodness - crunchy chords and layered harmonies and ballads and full-on rockers. And you know, I still haven't picked up Living Things, his other album from last year. Hmm.

3. Rendezvous - I got Luna's latest (and last, yes?) for Christmas last year and played it a few times before forgetting about it. I should remember it more often, as it has a number of good songs. Dean Wareham's delivery is reminiscent of Lou Reed, of course, but I can dig that.

4. Hollywood Town Hall - This came out in 1992 and is still one of my favorite albums of all time. I love the Jayhawks and hope the reports of their demise were as exaggerated as Gary Louris claimed. Let's have some new Jayhawks in 2006!

5. Let's Bottle Bohemia - Another favorite album from last year. I dug "One Horse Town" from The Thrills' debut but never got around to picking up that one. Their second is great, full of melodic rock and fun lyrical twists. Highly recommended.

6. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - Yes, the U2 of today is not the same as the U2 of 10 years ago. I still enjoy their music, though, and this album continues to grow on me more than a year after it came out. Maybe it's just that I still love hearing the Edge play guitar.

7. Anything & Everything - A mix I made earlier this year and titled for the first two songs - "Everything Hits at Once" by Spoon and "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)" by Dramarama.

Currently playing - My best of 2003 mix, titled for "From Blown Speakers" by New Pornographers. They will be on my best of 2005 mix as well. Word.