Brant's September 2010 Playlist

September is birthday month, so I took the liberty of changing directions. This month's selections are from way back in the day. I kinda feel like the 80's club music gets forgotten somewhere between disco of the 70's and the techno of the 90's. But the 80's were when I was just beginning adulthood and these were the songs we were listening to. Some of these are out of print and tough to track down, but I have fond memories of them all. I make no claims as to their musical merit other than at some point in my life they put a smile on my face. Enjoy!

1. Serious (Donna Allen) - a kickass song, but the album cover alone was worth the purchase price
2. I Can't Wait (Nu Shooz) - my freshman suite was ready to murder me for playing this on an endless loop in the dorm
3. Whenever You Need Somebody (O'Chi Brown) - one of the first 12" singles I ever listened to
4. Be Your Man (Jesse Johnson) - I was just talking about this song with my friend Stacy today, great solo effort by one of the guys from The Time
5. Boys Do Fall in Love (Robin Gibb) - solo effort from a Bee Gee, never was a hit but this was a summer fave for me & my friends the year it came out
6. Obsession (Animotion) - proof that synth pop can rock
7. The Object of My Desire (Starpoint) - classic 80's R&B
8. Boy (Book of Love) - church bells + gender bending vocals = happy Brant
9. Mercedes Boy (Pebbles) - flirty dance pop
10. Jukebox (the Flirts) - cult favorite that we spent a lot of nights dancing to
11. Manhunt (Vanity) - Nasty girl gets more coy, less graphic. Her autobiography comes out this year. I'm sure Prince is nervous.
12. The Politics of Dancing (Re-flex) - Great unappreciated New Wave groove
13. Lovesexy (Prince) - Prince in his helium-huffing phase still throws down
14. 99 1/2 (Carol Lynn Townes) - I think I was the only one in the world who LOVED this song
15. High Energy (Evelyn Thomas) - The first song I ever remember hearing in a dance club. Still makes me smile every time I hear it.

Brant's August 2010 Playlist

1. Zorbing (Stornoway) - for some reason this makes me want to drive through the Scottish moors in a convertible with the top down.
2. He Hit Me /It Felt Like a Kiss/ (Hole) - twisted little Valentine's Day song from Courtney Love performing on MTV's Unplugged in 1995. Took a while for me to track it down. Thanks Josh! Also previously sung by the Crystals in 1962 and the Motels in the 80s.
3. Dancing on My Own /Rex the Dog remix edit/ (Robyn) - sounds like something Berlin would've done back in the day
4. Alejandro's Holiday (DJ Corey Craig) - Inevitable mash-up of Lady Gaga & Madonna's "Holiday". Not a huge Gaga fan, but it's fun poolside music.
5. Birthday Boy (Drive By Truckers) - southern rock!
6. A Little Opera Goes a Long Way (Sky Sailing) - Owl City's Adam Young goes "unplugged", perhaps hoping for more hugs from lightning bugs?
7. Topsy Turvey World (Natalie Merchant) - hmmm...nursery rhyme set to a reggae beat? only Natalie could make this work.
8. Flushed Down the Pipes (Great American Trailer Park Musical cast) - "Like clothes from Walmart my life is falling apart". Genius.
9. Journal of Ardency (Class Actress) - trippy electronic beats; free on Daytrotter.com. I had to look up "ardent/ardency". It means fierce intense feeling. I use it in a sentence in #17.
10. Free the Night (Aquene) - glittering, shiny, glorious disco
11. Evil Thoughts (Foxy Shazam) - more Freddy Mercury-style pop rock!
12. Firecracker (Frazey Ford) - folksy female with a banjo
13. They Say It's Wonderful (Susan Lucci) - soap star gets her Diana Krall on; not as bad as you'd expect!
14. Nightingale (Dana Falconberry) - beautiful haunting female vocals; free on Daytrotter
15. Losin' Yo Head (Monsters of Folk) - Conor Oberst & friends rock it out
16. Alive /Dave Aude club mix/ (Goldfrapp) - an instant dance floor classic
17. I'm Losing You (Uptown) - This month's throwback. Fantastic 80s dance version of the Temptations song. iTunes, which is normally ardent (see #9) in their greed, for some reason only has this available in the UK store, not their US store so you can't order it unless you have a credit card with a UK billing address. For once they don't seem to want my money! I had to get a friend in England to buy it for me. Thanks David.