For Your Achy Breaky Heart: Sampler #2 Tracks 6-10

What's more exciting than a nightclub downtown? DONUTS! Particularly, Dunkin Donuts. Soon our town will be blessed with the sweet angel's touch of the double D. This little child of the suburbs couldn't be happier. The donut drought has come to an end, we're all going to be so terribly fat.

The teeshirts, which those of you who made it out to the last Twice Shy Tuesday got to see in various sizes, are done and turned out pretty wonderfully. If you'd like one, let me know. They're going fairly fast, but I may do another printing if demand demands.

And what's more exciting than teeshirts, donuts and nightclubs? Tracks six through ten!

She Sees the Good in Everyone (Because She's Not Very Bright)- The Capstan Shafts
Dean Wells is The Capstan Shafts. Before I finish this post, The Capstan Shafts will have released another EP of ultra lo-fi, clever, hypershort pop songs which I think they do every week or so. Guided By Voices comparisons are inevitable, so I’ll let you make them on your own. Like the best GBV stuff, the Capstan Shafts songs leave you waiting for that hook to come around again, but opt for concision over satisfaction. Luckily, the hooks are memorable enough that you can play them back in your head.

Julie- Jens Lekman
I would like to vote for this song as the “Cecilia” of the coming century. At least until something better comes along. Swede (Swede!) Jens Lekman’s collection of EPs, “Oh You’re So Silent, Jens” brings together the best in wuss-rock with samples from Belle and Sebastian, the Left Banke and a Beat Happening singalong! Who wouldn’t want to sing along with Beat Happening? This song has the loose feeling of a pickup band forming itself around Lekman’s sweet vocals and guitar.

I Turn My Camera On- Spoon
Spoon have been turning out solid albums for years, but Gimme Fiction (I'm always tempted to put an exclamation point after every gimme I write) rocks in so many ways, from the spacy first track to tight Stones tributes like "Sister Jack", but this bassline is the funkiest thing I've heard from an indie rock band in a while. Yup, I said funkiest.

Incinerate- Sonic Youth
Pop song and Sonic Youth might not be synonymous, but "Rather Ripped" strips away a whole lot of the standard SY experimentation and noisery in favor of concision. Plus, Kim Gordon is back to actually singing, which can be chalked up in the column of good things. The trippy "Do You Believe in Rapture?" is still my current favorite off the album, but this is the one that jumps out on a first listen and holds your attention after a couple go rounds.

Burn- Pink Nasty
I know I've already voiced my disapproval of hiphop covers by caucasians with acoustic guitars, but I'm giving this one a pass since I heard it before the Usher original. Pink Nasty is the sister of the mildly disturbing Black Nasty and is a backup singer for Will Oldham on his most recent live album. What I like about this song, in addition to Pink Nasty's delivery and phrasing, is that I can't for the life of me figure out the motives of the speaker. The first verse is a send off, but the rest seems to be a get back together plea. Plus, I just wanted to put "Burn" and "Incinerate" back to back, because it brings me amusement to do so.

I'm looking for advice on the upcoming 70s-based incarnation of Twice Shy. Anyone know of any secret geniuses of the 1970s? It would be extra added wonderful if these secret geniuses were something other than guitar based rock.