The Giver Giveth Away

I really wanted to do a simple post of a few top-shelf mp3s for the loyal Rockist faithful out there. My first idea was "Mystery" by the Apples in Stereo. But I couldn't find that anywhere and I didn't have the album (Velocity of Sound) with me today. Then I thought "I Wanna Know Girls" by Portastatic. So I searched for it on Hype Machine and found that I had actually posted that one already. So that was out.

Theeennnn I was sure that I wanted to post "The Concept" by Teenage Fanclub. Actually, I wanted to do a full-length post on it, but since I can't find a good copy anywhere, that'll have to wait (you'd do well to stay tuned to TRS to actually read that one, by the way).

I ended up rounding a couple good ones, but its harder than it looks when you have standards like mine. Really, I'm not kidding, I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

The Bigger Lovers - "Threadbare". The Rockists are prepared to offer the Bigger Lovers $500 to come to our house and play 5 songs.

Okkervil River - "A Girl in Port". Both Rob and GL can attest -- I've been humming this one for days. Will Sheff has some great lines on this one, especially the middle verse about Cindy.

Grandpaboy - "Let's Not Belong Together". From the second part of Paul Westerberg's comeback dual release, Stereo (under his real name) and Mono (under the Grandpaboy moniker). Were I to one day sit down and compile my all time top 50 albums, I imagine Mono would slide in there. There are easily four or five more tunes of this quality on it ("Silent Film Star", "AAA", "Between Love and Like"). His insistence on flubbed notes and a lo-fi aesthetic come across as a little pretentious (read the liner notes), but, like fellow Rockist Bob Pollard, it's just how he works best.