Did you know....?

...that Jackson Browne wrote the song "These Days"? You may remember the song from when Wes Anderson used Nico's sultry cover in his movie The Royal Tenenbaums. I didn't know this until I read it today on MusicRocker, another great Rhapsody blog that posted a playlist with both versions of the song. God bless the Internet.

Song of the day: Jem/"They (Cut Chemist mix)"

Earlier this week, my friend Linda put a remix of the Jem song "They" on a mix CD for me. The remix was done by one of my favorite DJs, Cut Chemist, and it takes the Welsh singer's vocals and puts them over a tasty breakbeat. I was pleasantly surprised to find it in Rhapsody. Highly recommended -- like Dido and Beth Orton with a little more spring in their step. Enjoy the music.

Song of the day: The Smashing Pumpkins/"Mayonaise (Acoustic)"

In the early and mid-1990s, I had a Smashing Pumpkins bootleg tape of an acoustic show the band performed at a Chicago Tower Records the night before Siamese Dream was released. The performances were stunning, and beautiful, and I would listen to the tape over and over as I drove up and down the east coast from my parents' home in Massachusetts to college in scenic Maryland. As these things tend to happen, a "friend" later borrowed the tape and never returned it, eventually denying I had ever lent it to him in the first place.

This week, I had a rare chance to re-live the past, with the release of Rarities and B-Sides, a digital-only compilation of rare Smashing Pumpkins material that includes an acoustic take of the song "Mayonaise." It's a highly recommended listen, like having a private concert from the moody-but-oh-so-talented Mr. Corgan.

Song of the day: The Album Leaf/"Thule"

Blogger and I are having relationship issues, and we may need to break up. I've been unable to post for the past few days for some strange reason. So I present you on Wednesday with Tuesday's song of the day, a delightfully mellow cut from indie ambient band The Album Leaf. I saw them in Austin a few weeks ago and the key word for their sound is mellow, preferably slurred out over the course of 10 seconds -- mmmmmeeeeeeelllllloooooooowww. Click here to check out the song "Thule."

The Ultimate Blood List

Blood is a circulating tissue composed of fluid plasma and cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets). Medical terms related to blood often begin in hemo- or hemato- [more]

This playlist contains the absolute best songs about blood currently on Rhapsody. Over 45 tracks about blood and bleeding.
Playlist Link (Via: The Rhaposody Radish)

Best of 2005, so far....?

My friend Isaac from Widespread Confusion posted an excellent playlist today featuring his picks for the best releases of the past 3 months. Click here to listen. The list includes music from Keren Ann, Pit Er Pat, Brazilian Girls, Blind Boys of Alabama, and my Bloc Party single of the week, "Here We Are." Enjoy the music!

Song of the day: The Stone Roses/"Elephant Stone"

Robert from the Rhapsody Radish asked me today what song I would pick if I was trapped on a desert island and could pick only one song from the Rhapsody library to keep me company. My choice was The Stone Roses song "Elephant Stone," a danceable slice of music that (depending when you first heard it) bridged the gap between the sounds of the late 1980s and early 1990s UK music scenes. The link above includes the version on the band's highly, highly recommended debut album, as well as the longer single version of the song.