Special FIRST-EPISODE-OF-SEASON-5 AND ALL-NEW-MUSIC-FROM-NYC-BANDS episode!

(In honor of the late, great Senator Pink Ears, who passed away last week (on January 20th, 2008), I am re-posting this extremely special, extremely weird, extremely long, all-talking episode called: 30 hours in prospect park) In this highly unusual episode of The Sounds in My Head, I tell the story of why I spent 30 hours in Prospect Park this Fall. It involves me and my girlfriend's cat, Senator Pink Ears, a poodle, the police, some firemen, a super hero, blood, and oh so much more. You don't want to miss it! But be prepared to pay attention for about an hour for this episode of The Sounds in My Head which is far more like This American Life. To see a video of the Senator exhibitting some of his mad fetching skills watch this video. The video Kelli references can be seen here. The Music I talk over is as follows, in this order: "Cat Scratch Fever" by Moog Cookbook, "An Evening in Park Slope" (iTunes) by 33.3, "The Pink Panther Theme" (iTunes) by Henry Mancini, "Fuzzy" (iTunes) by The Incredible Moses Leroy, "Kitty's Waltz" by Caleb Sampson, "Fall Two" (iTunes) by Matt Pond PA, "Wild Cats of Kilkenny" by The Pogues, "Up a Tree Again (import version)" by Looper, "Climb the Ladder" (iTunes) by Of Montreal, "Cat O'Nine Tails" (iTunes) by Combustible Edison, "Dick Tracy" (iTunes) by The Ventures, "Kitty" (iTunes) by The Presidents of the USA, "Big Green Tree" (iTunes) by The Essex Green, "Running Meredith" by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, "Sleeping Pill" by Luna, "Sparkplug Minuet" by Mark Mothersbaugh, "Good Morning Good Morning" by The Beatles, "Kitty's Waltz" by Caleb Sampson, "Impossible Mission" (iTunes) by Danny Elfman, "Main Titles (The Dick Tracy Theme)" (iTunes) by Danny Elfman, "Wild Cats of Kilkenny" by The Pogues, "Christmas Time is Here (instrumental version)" (iTunes) by Vince Guaraldi

(LAST SHOW OF SEASON FOUR!) First up, Wales' answer to Architecture in Helsinki, Los Campesinos! did "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives" from their debut Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). Then we heard two excellent songs from London's Noah and the Whale, first their incredible "5 Years Time" then a song for Christmas called "Rocks and Daggers". The former can be bought on a fine 7" from here, and the latter can be found on their Myspace page. Definitely watch the video for "5 Years Time" on YouTube. Next NYC's Quintus did their 70's infused "Old Guitar" from their largely mediocre The Shape We're In EP (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). Then Florida's Black Kids did "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You" from their debut Wizard of Ahhhs EP (free download). Next Dallas' indie pop makers The Happy Bullets did the title-track from their album The Vice and Virtue Ministry (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). And finally NYC's soon-to-be-huge and one of my new favorite bands Vampire Weekend did a live version "M 79", a song which will be on their debut album when it comes out next month. In the meantime you can download the studio performance of it as well as 3 other songs for free from the Daytrotter Session website. This episode contains clips from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Amazon, Netflix) and from The Rachell Maddow Show where she mentioned Alan Keys inclusion in the final Iowa Republican debate where she mentioned this interview.

(SPECIAL CHRISTMAS EPISODE!) We start with some excellent mashups from last years A Very Bootie Christmas album (FREE download!), which is not only a must-have, but also free making it that much better! It was hard for me to pick what to play from it, but ultimately went with "Are You Gonna Stop the White Xmas" by Bad Tattoo and "Christmas in Boston" by Go Home Productions. Next we heard two songs from 2 of the 3 Hark! The Filthy Angels Sing (FREE download!) christmas compilations which can also be downloaded in their entirety for free we heard a "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" (a Ramones cover) by Britain's Helen Love and "December Will Be Magic Again" (a Kate Bush cover) by Wojtek Godzisz also from the UK (a band i would never play if that song weren't completely unlike anything else he's ever shat out). Then California's The Bird and the Bee did "Carol of the Bells" a single track released just this year and given away free in iTunes for a while. Then TSiMH favorite Norway's Erlend Øye did "Last Christmas" a partial Wham cover from an out of print compilation called Seasonal Greetings (Amazon) but is fairly easy to find on the internets. Then UK's The Puppini Sisters did "Jingle Bells" from their EP by the same name which came out this year (iTunes, Amazon). Next was Boston's Aberdeen City doing a cover of one of my favorite xmas songs, Low's "Just Like Christmas" (FREE download!). Then the UK's KIDS Allstarz did "Merry Xmas Everybody" (a Slade cover), from the record label compilation The Best KIDS Christmas Album in the World Ever Ever Ever!!! (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). And finally, one last free xmas download, this one offered by NYC's own Nellie McKay and called "Christmas Dirge" (FREE download!). This episode features clips from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Netflix, Amazon). Other free christmas mashup albums are offered by Boston's DJ BC here and here.

(SPECIAL ORIGINALS EPISODE!) In this episode I played uncommon original versions of songs that I like later versions of, be they songs that have been well-covered or cleverly-sampled. First up we heard the song "Sho Nuff" by Fatboy Slim from the single for his classic "Praise You" (iTunes, Amazon) which was created in part using samples from the original song "Jeans On" by David Dundas from his self-titled 1977 album, that can be obtained on a compilation called Naughty By Nice (Amazon). Next, we heard the original version of "Tainted Love", most popular by the 80's new wave band Soft Cell (Amazon, iTunes), we heard the version from 1964 recorded by Gloria Jones (Amazon). Then Blondie's "The Tide is High" (Amazon, iTunes) has always been one of my favorites, but it's actually by reggae legend John Holt, whose original version we heard, from his album Anthology: John Holt - The Tide is High, 1962-1979 (iTunes, Amazon). Then, rounding out the 80s, we heard the original version of 80's dance party favorite "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic), the original provided by The Strangeloves with a version that can be found on I Want Candy: The Best of The Strangeloves (iTunes, Amazon). Then TSiMH favorites The Go! Team's "The Wrath of Marcie" from their new album Proof of Youth (iTunes, Amazon) was created in part by sampling the song "Turn it Around in Your Mind" by the Rhinestone Cowboy himself Glen Campbell and can be found on his 1977 record The Glen Campbell Goodtime Album (iTunes). And finally, They Might Be Giants did "Yeah, Yeah" from their album Mink Car (Amazon, eMusic), which is a cover of Georgie Fame's "Yeh, Yeh" which can be found on his album Get Away With: The Very Best of George Fame and the Blue Flames (Amazon, eMusic).