Shufflin' #5

I'm taking a break from reading about the intricacies of High and Low Cultures and their subsequent applications to the study of literature to bring you another three delicious rump steaks of juicy musical goodness from the sacred cow that is my iTunes library. Can you tell I'm hungry too?

Mountain - Mississippi Queen (YSI)

I'm so glad I play Guitar Hero. I really wouldn't have found a lot of brilliant old school rock music if it wasn't for the amazing addictiveness of a game that essentially stops me from wanting to learn to play a real guitar. This song is all about the rumbling boulder of a riff that tumbles throughout the song, whilst the interjections of vocals and lead guitar just add to a song that never fails to garner some rockin' air guitar from me.

Bob Sinclair - Love Generation (YSI)

This is another one of those, well not quite guilty pleasures. Of course, Bob Sinclair got very annoying after this, but this was a shot of unbridled pop joy to the sagging arm of the charts in the UK. Plus, the whistling will never leave your head once you've heard it.

Cold War Kids - We Used To Vacation (YSI)

I am so glad this song came up, because it probably ranks amongst my favourite songs ever. This is the original EP version (it was ever so slightly polished up for the album release) which retains all the elements about it that I love most - infectious use of the piano, the merest shake of a rattle at the beginning, a wonderfully discordant guitar outro and Nathan Willett's hauntingly beautiful lament to the problems of alcoholism. I've already listened to it four times just writing this post, and I could listen to it for just as long again. If you haven't heard it yet, I implore you to give it a spin, it's incredible.