The 6ths - Wasps' Nests

Stephin Merritt is by far my favorite living pop song writer. I can almost honestly say that not a day goes by that one of his songs (-hundreds of songs released under almost as many band names) doesn't get stuck in my head. Heartbreaking melodies with words that make fun of heartbreaking melodies. His lyrics are hilarious, depressing, haunting, and joyful all at the same time.

The 6ths' first album was created by Merritt as a tribute to himself. Apparently he felt the need to create one since no one else had by 1996. As with many of his recordings up to this point, Merritt wrote and plays each instrument on these songs. Each track (other than one) has a guest artist to fill in the vocal duties: everyone from Mark Robinson (Unrest, Flin Flon), Chris Knox (Tall Dwarfs), Mac McCaughan (Merge Recs, Portastatic, Superchunk), Anna Domino, Ayako Akashiba, Mitch Easter, and Lou Barlow.

Here's a couple songs from the debut album, "Wasps' Nests," which furthers the tongue-twister of the project name. Georgia Hubley (a love of my life second only to Ro Nay Nay) from Yo La Tengo guests on the first one, followed by Dean Wareham from Galaxie 500 and Dean & Britta. Perfect summer pop. I absolutely adore the production of both of these songs, but the Arthur Russell-esque drum sound on Georgia's song.

Movies in My Head (feat. Georgia Hubley)

Falling Out of Love (With You) (feat. Dean Wareham)

Rene Hell - Porcelain Opera

Rene Hell's Porcelain Opera has been in my head(phones) constantly for the past couple weeks. It's dark but enjoyable, inspiring and invigorating. Works well in many settings and moods.

ROEDELIUS - CAFE CENTRAL - JARDIN AU FOU

I walked into Other music yesterday and they had Roedelius's album Lustwandel playing (Bobby have you heard this yet? Bobby, you should hear it....) and that sound, this sound from Jardin Au Fou, immediately brings back the blissed out feeling of youth. Maybe you'll understand when you hear, but the associations I have with Cluster will never grow far from those late nights spent aimlessly driving to nowhere in particular, just enjoying the ride, enjoying my time.

Boyd Rice/NON - "Terra Incognita: Ambient Works 1975 - Present"

I feel like I've posted this track already, but hey...

Chet Atkins - Mr. Sandman (TV 1954)

Øystein Sunde - Nattoget

My life just got a little brighter

Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek - Bird, Lake, Objects

Absolute beauty. This one takes its time to develop and the outcome couldn't be nicer. The higher the volume, the better.

R.I.P. Harvey Pekar

"Alex Meets Autotune"

Stereolab - "(Varoom!)"

One of the earlier Stereolab releases that I'd never heard before. I absolutely love this one. A perfect throwback to the hey day of Too Pure. This makes me want to hear nothing other than old Electrelane's drone pop and Th' Faith Healers/Quickspace's noise pop.

Just make sure you wait for the Suicide/Cluster-homage at roughly 3.5-minutes.

Tommy Lee Jones - Japanese Alien

Watching Tommy Lee Jones scowl and grimace in his films is one thing. Watching him use the same effect as he plays an alien visitor attempting to decipher Japanese culture.....