What I Say and What I Mean

Date:
May 4, 2009

Miracler:
Amanda Zweerink

Location:
San Francisco

Mix is here.

About Amanda, By Amanda
My fellow Miraclers have already met me through my naughty nighttime activities, so it might also be worth mentioning that I'm an ad agency girl who ran away to join the media circus and work for Al Gore's television network. In my spare time, I obsessively organize recipes that I've printed from the Internet, bake loads of cupcakes that fit into my 36-cupcake carrying case, and think about how to eat the farm-fresh produce I have delivered to my door every two weeks -- which is hard in light of the fact that I only started eating veggies about two years ago. I live in Berkeley with my super cute and talented photojournalist husband (who shot my cover art) and two large and ridiculous dogs, Cooper and Huck.

Liner Notes!

1. June Gloom: The Like: These girls came across my desk several years ago when I was writing for a little independent online pop culture magazine. They are the daughters of Tony Berg (Geffen A&R/Producer), Mitchell Froom (producer, ex-hubby of Suzanne Vega), and Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello's drummer). The oldest one was 19 when I saw them perform at Cafe du Nord, and they were still kind of awesome and adorable. The drummer's name is Tennessee. So cute!

2. Every Word Means No: Let's Active: We've seen Let's Active around these parts before, and I don't have much to say except that I've had this song stuck in my head since 1989 when my first skater boyfriend put it on a mixed tape. His name was Brian.

3. Pushin' On Featuring Alice Russell: The Quantic Soul Orchestra: One day the husband comes home from spending eight hours in his car out on assignment and tells me that he ordered a CD from Amazon. Certainly not a crowning achievement, but you should know that when we met he had two CDs, and one of them was Rush. (I, on the other hand, had 2000 CDs, all indexed on an Excel spreadsheet.) Fast-forward 10 years, and he hasn't added a single CD to his personal collection. So this was a big day. The CD that moved him enough to seek it out and buy it? This one.

4. Anywhere Anytime: Sara Melson: Another artist that came into my life via label PR. Whenever I receive music in this fashion it goes into the disc changer in my car, where I will give each song exactly 30 seconds before I make a judgment about it. This whole album is not good. There are maybe three solid tracks, but this one is nice-n-catchy.

5. The New Love Song: Joshua James: About ten seconds into this song, I almost dismissed this guy as a Brett Dennen rip-off. And while it's true that they sound very similar, my vote goes to Joshua James. The whole album is listenable, which almost never happens these days.

6. Nice Clean Shirt: Eastern Conference Champions: What a terrible name for a band, and its only working website is a MySpace page. Still worth a listen. Josh Ostrander (lead vocals) gives me a little Gordon Gano vibe.

7. Supertheory of Supereverything: Gogol Bordello: Oh, man. The Current TV music team did a feature on these guys early last year, and they were so amazing. There are, like, 17 of them. And their fans are insane. Hands down one of the best live music experiences. Ever.

8. Sly: The Cat Empire: I'm a sucker for a horn section.

9. Porchrail: Jenny Owen Youngs: Yeah, I'll admit it. I also like ladies with strummy guitars. But I like Jenny because she sounds old-timey.

10. You're A Wolf: Sea Wolf: On multiple recent listens, it dawned on me that this is a pretty subtle tune. But it has about a zillion listens in my iTunes, which means that even though it's subtle, I keep coming back to it. Must be doing something right.

11. Quiet Town: Josh Rouse: Josh Rouse was interviewed on All Things Considered, which means he also gets the NPR seal of approval from my mister. I've seen him live a couple of times, and he's sexier than you think.

12. Sway: The Perishers: Sway appears on the soundtrack for the TV show Veronica Mars. I loved Veronica Mars. Independently, I love the first album from The Perishers, even though it's super mopey. My favorite song off that album is called "Pills," but it's so damn depressing I don't like to share it with people lest they worry about my mental state.

13. Summer of the Evening: Goldenboy: I have lost this album three times, and each time found it hiding in another artist's CD sleeve. Finally, I made sure to rip it to both my home computers and my work computer (saving a copy in the network archive), just so it would always be around.

14. 1940 (AmpLive Remix): The Submarines: I saw The Submarines at 330 Ritch a couple of years ago, and they didn't sound a thing like this. This, I like. That, was suffocating and involved a lot of men in skinny jeans and fedoras and scarves. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

15. If You You Say You Love Me: El Presidente: "Ha!" the mister said. "You put El Presidente and the Scissor Sisters back-to-back!" "Eh?" I asked. "El Presidente is often called the Scottish Scissor Sisters," he said. There endeth the lesson.

16. Intermission: Scissor Sisters: I don't think this sounds much like the Scissor Sisters, and even though I like them just fine for catchy road trip music, I like this better.

17. Girls: Eleni Mandell: I almost deemed Eleni TOO strummy, but here's the deal -- she's made of win. And has a song about a salt truck, and also has a song about a guy she calls "the makeout king." I like almost everything about her, and this song is precious.

18. Ghost Town: The Coctails: It's 1990ish, and I'm a student at Logan Rogersville High School in Springfield, Missouri. I have broken up with the aforementioned skater boyfriend Brian, and am dating the captain of the debate team but secretly in love with the captain of the drama club. My on-again off-again best friend is dating a SENIOR, and he's an artist. His big brother is in this band: The Coctails. And they provide me with my first cool concert-going experience. They are bohemian and funny and nerdily cute and play reed instruments.

19. I Remember: Whitley: I listened to this album once, last year, and decided that track four would go on my 3MPMP mix. And then I misplaced the CD and forgot the guy's name (but not forgotten the song). Thankfully, a co-worker had ripped a copy and had it handy. Phew.

20. Cry Me A River: Glen Hansard: One more confession before we're through -- I bedazzled t-shirts and went to *NSYNC concerts in my early 20s. I'm not ashamed. That was good, clean fun. As is this cover of a Justin Timberlake song. Don't hate.