Flashes of Panic

1. When I’m Here—[Nerissa & Katryna Nields][2]: I’ve written about this song before. It’s a kicker of a starter. They call it “Zen Buddhist Blues,” which I know is deliberately silly, but it fits.

2. Little Wings—Kris Delmhorst: Another song about being happy with our place in the world. We saw Kris open for Dar (next track) a few years ago, and this was one of the songs I remembered from the set.

3. Party Generation—Dar Williams: It was the night that he turned 34, but who’s counting… I like this one because it’s about being a bit out of step with the world, but on this one night everything comes together.

4. Silver Street—Ben Folds: This is from the “Ben Folds Live” disc. Like Dar’s birthday boy, the subject of the song is resisting growing up—in this case, living in his old college town, as I do.

5. Almost—Sarah Harmer: This one just fell in the spot, and I didn’t want to leave Harmer out.

6. Blackbirds—Erin McKeown: I first saw McKeown at a First Night Northampton show at the Academy of Music, in between Ben Demerath and the Nields (see above). She played a bunch of songs that didn’t really sink in, but this one made me sit up and take notice. And it fits the guitar tone I’ve been setting.

7. Free Will—Rich Price: Price opened for Harmer at an Iron Horse show back in April. It was a bit of a toss-up between this and “Ain’t No Lights,” but again, this fit the guitar tone.

8. Riding On A Subway—Jesse Malin: Another song I heard a snippet of (on the radio, as it happened, on my way to work one morning) and got hung up on.

9. Burning Photographs—Ryan Adams: Too many to choose from. I like the “If I had a car, I’d drive…” lines.

10. Bohemian Like You—The Dandy Warhols: I mentioned this in June as an example of a weird song to hear in an ad.

11. Next Lover—James: Who are you dreaming of now, is she flesh real, or bloodless fantasy?

12. Four Leaf Clover—Abra Moore: Optimism in the face of futility. I like it.

13. I’m Waiting For The Man—David Bowie: I think this is a live cover, found on the Almost Famous soundtrack. And boy, do they tear in to it.

14. Friction—The Church: One of my favorite bands does a Television cover. I actually like this better than the original, though it is clearly a loving attempt to be identical.

15. The Dawn Patrol—Ride: More bluesy guitar. I discovered that this album was supposed to be Ride’s worst. OK, I won’t tell anyone else…

16. Kid On The Train—Josh Clayton-Felt: This is more about giving in to growing up, and envying the kids. Again, I love the music. It’s incredible to hear what he was doing knowing that he had cancer which turned out to be terminal—it was as though his life poured out into the music.

17. Since I Found My School—Mike Scott: This has been resonating with me ever since I set my path towards graduate school. It makes a great closer:

I’m alive, I’m intact
I survived, it’s a fact
life is cool
since I found my School