One of the great things about all the Best of the Decade lists that have started circulatingly lately has been rediscovering records that you may have slept-on or too hastily dismissed the first time around. So it's been for me the past couple weeks with the Avalanches' sampledelic odyssey Since I Left You. Originally released in 2001, I errantly judged the record by the US single "Frontier Psychiatrist," which at the time—and recall, this was a crazy, pre-Girl Talk era in which people still enthusiastically employed the term "turntablism"—struck me as just another scratchy sample collage: a hip hop break, a big looming choral/symphonic part, a mess of spoken samples. (I also recall thinking that the video was annoying—it's in fact awesome.) And so I never really gave the record a chance.

So, yeah, it's an amazing album—crate digging as musical world tour, precursor of nu Balearica, etc, etc. Just the vocal on the introductory title track completely kills me. Or the chirpy dial cranking and ducking beat of "Radio." I've even really warmed to "Frontier Psychiatrist" in the context of the album, where it's pomp and chatter and humor land as not a relief but as kind of a detour from the half hour of breezy, beachy beats that precede it. I've come to appreciate the odd aleatoric effect of all those those dialogue samples (and they get bonus points for use of John Waters' Polyester).

I'm leaving on a little trip tomorrow night, and although I'm not sure how I'll be bringing my music with me—burn some CDs? buy an old, disposable iPod?—I know for sure that this record will be coming.

“This is one of those bands that, thank god no one knows about, so I can keep them private.”

“I smoke outside. I don’t care about my lungs but I don’t want to ruin my records.”

Dude. Epic.

One of my favorites from when I was working at Everyday Music in the dark days of 2003-04, directed at me: "Has anyone ever told you that you look like Perry Farrell? Because you do." And then there was the EM classic, "Do you sell CDs?" No, really.

Add your own hilarious encounters in comments, if you wish.

Revisiting my Witchman records recently, I came to the realization that some of the material he was creating in the mid ’90s foreshadowed dubstep.

On his 1997 LP Explorimenting Beats and the EPs compiled on the double-CD collection Heavy Traffic, Witchman (Britain’s John Roome) fused illbient with drum & bass, forging expansive tracks that foreshadowed Burial's mournful, desolate atmospheres (but minus the soul/R&B vocal samples). See especially "Offworld" and "Amok II." And titles like "Chemical Noir," "Light at the Edge," "Post Trauma Blues, and "Heavy Mental" are redolent of Burial, too.

Sadly, no Witchman videos exist on YouTube. But the curious should seek out the aforementioned CDs or scan eBay and gemm.com for the vinyl. Witchman's work has aged well; he was a maverick during drum & bass' last really innovative phase.

1/2 of the duo (John Flansburgh, foreground in the photo) just left Oddfellows accompanied by the Long Winters' John Roderick. They can't have made it much further than Rancho Bravo yet.

Quick, go ask them something quirky about science!

They Might Be Giants perform tonight at Showbox SoDo.

This is where you come in. Present your favorites in comments and fill me in on what I’ve missed over the last 16-17 years. YouTube links are welcome (however, you must register for your links to work).

Sanford & Son (composed by Quincy Jones; sampled by Diplo for M.I.A.’s “URAQT”; converted into a Baltimore club joint and remixed at least a few times)

Barney Miller (composed by Jack Elliot and Allyn Ferguson)

Dr. Who (composed by Delia Derbyshire [of White Noise] and Ron Grainer)

The funniest part of the piece, though, occurs when Licht tells Reed the LP title, and Reed asks his "assistant" to write it down. Lou Reed has an assistant?

I encourage you to read the whole interview (I don't think it's online, so find a hard copy; Broadcast are on the cover). Lou Reed is a curmudgeon, but an eminently lovable, brilliant curmudgeon who's still voraciously curious about music at the age of 67. Plus, he's written more immortal songs than most mortals have. Recognize.

Right?

It makes me love them both just a little bit more.

(Photo of Craig Finn by Shawn Hinojosa, via Flickr's Creative Commons.)

This video is a serious nerd session, but I'd be pretty stoked to sit around there and play with that stuff for a while, preferably without Moby.

h/t: Chris Cairns

*substitute your preferred mp3 player.

...the rave-accordian "hardcordian" stylings of Ed Cox? Or juggalo kings ICP*?

*On a related note, ICP has a new album and tour. The tour does NOT include Seattle.

• Clayton Ryan
• What, no boat shoes?

Something occurred to me over the weekend: Throw Me the Statue are the closest thing Seattle has to its own Vampire Weekend. Both bands are slightly, harmlessly preppy (with—gasp!—college educations to match), both make pretty and playful pop rock that balances wordiness and/or nerdiness with a not entirely chaste charm, both have a good ear for a hook and an arrangement, etc, etc, etc. This shared musical/aesthetic DNA is no doubt part of why I'm so fond of Throw Me the Statue.

(More on the Line Out-commenter-infuriating Vampire Weekend here and here.)

Yeah, the same group that went on to record such dentist-office fluff as "If You Leave Me Now" and "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" were on some proto-Sonic Youth (hell, proto-Glenn Branca and proto-Rhys Chatham, too) shit. Even Jimi Hendrix, whom Kath was homaging with "Free Form Guitar," reportedly thought the CTA axe master was better than he was.

(You're welcome, Trent.)

Steely Dan perform Aja (plus various hits from other albums) and The Royal Scam (plus various hits from other albums) Oct. 12 and 13 at Paramount Theatre.

ht: Ryan Richter

Just as interesting to consider is the number of classic artists whose initial efforts don’t merit inclusion here (ymmv, of course): The Beatles, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones, Captain Beefheart, Black Dice, Animal Collective, Tim Buckley, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, etc.

Contribute your ideas in comments, if you’re so inclined.

*Indicates an album’s first track after what I consider an insignificant “Intro.”

Neu!- “Hallogallo” (Neu!)

Kraftwerk- “Ruckzuck” (Kraftwerk)

Funkadelic- “Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic?” (Funkadelic)

Hawkwind- “Hurry On Sundown” (Hawkwind)

Can- “Father Cannot Yell” (Monster Movie)

Roxy Music- “Remake/Remodel” (Roxy Music)

The Velvet Underground- “Sunday Morning” (The Velvet Underground & Nico)

Jimi Hendrix Experience- “Purple Haze” (Are You Experienced)

The Who- “I Can’t Explain” (I Can’t Explain 7”)

M.I.A.- “Galang” (Galang EP)

Public Enemy- “You’re Gonna Get Yours” (Yo! Bum Rush the Show!)

Mercury Rev- “Chasing a Bee” (Yerself Is Steam)

The Move- “Night of Fear” (single)

LCD Soundsystem- “Losing My Edge” (Losing My Edge 12”)

Lucifer (aka Mort Garson)- Black Mass (Amazingly, this was the record I was most hoping to find.)
Tonto’s Expanding Head Band- Zero Time (Amazingly, this was the second-most-coveted record I was hoping to find.)
James Brown- Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off
Tony Williams Lifetime- Believe It
Quincy Jones- Walking in Space
Fleetwood Mac- Kiln House
Fleetwood Mac- Tusk (2LP for $1)
Bob James- BJ4 (for $1)
Alice Cooper- Killer (for $1)

Here are the LPs that I dearly wanted, but that were out of my price range or about which I didn’t know enough to risk the gamble, but looked very intriguing:

David Axelrod- Seriously Deep
Cannonball Adderley- Soul Zodiac
Goblin- Tenebre (title track sampled by Justice on "Phantom")
Julian Priester- Polarization
James Blood Ulmer- Tales of Captain Black
Gil Mellé- Tome VI
Alice Coltrane- Universal Consciousness
Alice Coltrane- World Galaxy

You find anything noteworthy?

“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.

“Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan.

Tough break, Milan.