Flak Magazine: Yancey Strickler's 2002 annotated mix CD, 01.31.03

James Murphy (aka LCD Soundsystem) is the Ray Stevens of dance music. Or so this track would suggest, with its knowing lampoon of High Fidelity-esque obsessiveness (if you get the joke then it's on you!). The highlight comes when, with a fuzzy riff bouncing behind him, Murphy blankly states:

I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City
I was working on the organ sounds
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band
I told him, "Don't do it that way, you'll never make a dime"
I was the first guy playing Daft Punk, to the rock kids
I played it at CBGB's
Everybody thought it was crazy
We all know
I was there

"Losing My Edge" ends with a laundry list of bands (This Heat, Pere Ubu, Nation of Ulysses, Gil Scott-Heron, the Sonics, etc.) any self-respecting rock snob would have on mint-condition vinyl before a sing-song vocal mockingly sneers, "You don't know what you really want." Brutal.

2. "No One Knows" | Queens of the Stone Age | Songs for the Deaf | Interscope | 4:40

Like all radio rock, "No One Knows" owes its success to a guitar riff — in this case a dominating staccato groove. While to closed ears it's a goatee hair away from bland modern schlock rock, the melody, always stretching higher and wider, alone warrants praise.

3. "Let's Push Things Forward" | The Streets | Original Pirate Material | Vice | 3:53

"Around here we say birds, not bitches," is the potent quotable, but that ignores the anti-stasis stance Mike Skinner takes in this 2-step marvel. "You say that everything sounds the same/ Then you go buy them," goes the crisp hook. Skinner rants against pointless consumerism in a way that must make leftist folkies and rockers shed red tears — it's listenable!

4. "Soft Hoop" | Metro Area | Metro Area | Environ | 4:48

"Soft Hoop" is the rarest of dance tracks: While possessing a jingling, disco-ish rhythm, it's no slave to the beat. Instead, meaty synthesizers and an enviable bass line coax this cut along until a vibraphone's soothing tones ease back the throttle.

5. "Miles Away" | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP | Phantom | 2:22

Opening with a chugging single note, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' best song is minimal rock at its apex. Karen O shifts gears from a pensive pang (complete with some heavy breathing sure to constrict some already-tight jeans) to an unbridled yelp in the chorus that recalls Hole's glory days. And nailing home the less-is-more aesthetic, it ends in just over two minutes.

6. "Rose And Licorice" | Liars | Atheists Reconsider | Arena Rock | 3:49

Karen O's boyfriend, Liars frontman Angus Andrew, does her one better with this Oneida cover that laments the Incredible String Band's conversion to Scientology. Upping the original's testosterone considerably, "Rose and Licorice" is wonderfully murky, sounding like ? & the Mysterians performing deep below Lake Michigan. Aside from Andrew's standout vocals, the key to the cut's success is the fluttering organ riff, which struts at the end of each measure.

See the main mix.

8. "A Stroke of Genius" | Freelance Hellraiser | All over the Web, P2P networks and various bootlegs | 3:40

See the main mix.

9. "House of Jealous Lovers" | The Rapture | "House of Jealous Lovers" 12" | DFA | 4:56

See the main mix.

10. "Suicide Invoice" | Hot Snakes | Suicide Invoice | Swami | 3:28

A descending guitar line and skipping snare snaps set the table for Rick Froberg’s weary vocals in "Suicide Invoice." "And when I dream/ I keep my promises to you/ I really do," he resignedly sings. Just like Drive Like Jehu, a branch up Hot Snakes’ family tree, guitars intersect and circle each other, unsatisfied by the simple riffs that most other groups proudly employ.

11. "Matte" | Broken Spindles | Broken Spindles | Tiger Style | 5:39

Another tune compiling layers of instrumentation, "Matte" is the work of Joel Petersen, bassist for neo-wavers The Faint. An accomplished, glitchy composition, the song meanders through several movements — the first led by a chorus of clicking beats and simple piano tones, the second eerie chimes and the third act a glorious, melodic interplay of all of the above, plus some buzzing, heavily effected electronic disonnance. Hypnotic without resorting to any cut and clicked clichés, it's a stunner.

I saw Hella play at the CMJ Music Festival in New York in November, and for 30 minutes my jaw was nailed to the floor. I’m not typically awed by instrumental prowess, but this Sacramento metal-math-noise duo kicked my biases to the curb with an avalanche of notes and beats that never slowed. Merely a guitar and a drum kit, Hella manage to display their chops while maintaining a strong sense of melody, which is not an easy thing to do, for sure.

13. "All You Need Is Love Was Not True" | Xinlisupreme | Tomorrow Never Comes | Fat Cat | 8:31

There's a melody here, but it's buried under mounds of white noise. A reverberating vocal peeks through the chorus of guitars occassionally, serving to spook the bejesus out of you with its indecipherable mutterings. Xinlisupreme stick to the pop formula in this nearly nine minute opus, but it's played with a heavy, textural slant.

14. "Feeling Like I Do" | Superdrag | Last Call for Vitriol | Arena Rock | 5:19

Best known for its mid-'90s modern-rock staple, "Suck," Superdrag still hasn't gone away. "Feeling Like I Do," from the group's fourth and perhaps best record, Last Call for Vitriol, is like a malaised "Suck." Essentially drone gone pop, it's heavily melodic, but with the hook burrowed deep in the arrangement.

15. "Let the Distance Keep Us Together" | Britt Daniel and Bright Eyes | Home Split EP Series Volume IV | Post Parlo | 3:25

"Let the Distance Keep Up Together," a collaboration between Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and Britt Daniel of Spoon, is damn-near perfect pop. Sung by Daniel, the tone is light but with a hint of depression.

16. "Automonument" | tenEcke | Block Terrain | K20 | 5:33

Texture! Texture! Texture! It's the key to great IDM, and it's no exception with tenEcke, an electronic project by Wayne Magruder, drummer for the New York band Calla. Guitar, keyboards and ambitious beats jell seamlessly in "Automonument," which pulses, skips and stutters through five minutes of intense melody.

17. "Adam Wake Up" | Country Teasers | Science Hat Artistic Cube Moral Nosebleed Empire | In the Red | 2:05

Country Teasers are a Scottish group that put a mild twang on the collapsing sounds of the Fall. "Adam Wake Up" combines two of the group's favorite topics — sex and religion — by narrating an orgy in the Garden of Eden that's as raunchy as it is bewildering. Fortunately, the tune itself is easy to grasp, as singer Ben Waller slurs his way through the catchy melody.

E-mail Yancey Strickler at ystrickler@yahoo.com.