IVP - Strangely Dim

Here are a few...

- Let's Go All the Way [Sly Fox] (if you can find it -- jhum jhum ni ni ni ni jhum jhum)
- Watermelon Man [Poncho Sanchez]
- Country Road [Maynard Ferguson]
- Summon The Heroes [John Williams]
- Down In The River To Pray [Allison Krauss from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack]

There's nothing better than a bit of variety...

Eclectic doesn't even begin to describe it.

anything by Nickel Creek. Push play and relax.

or

of course there's always MC Hamer, Vinilla Ice, or Men with Hats (i think that's the "Saftey Dance" guys right?)

It's Men WITHOUT Hats, actually. Safety Dance is a good candidate, but how'd you work Nickel Creek in with MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice?

Saw Nickel Creek on the Tonight Show the other night, incidentally. Tasty as always.

i love the song go light your world, it rocks, also relient k and switchfoot!!

"Go Light Your World"--that's Chris Rice, yes? Covering Kathy Troccoli, yes? Chris Rice is great, as are Switchfoot; I'm not familiar with Relient K beyond their name.

Alright Dave...time to help you get hip and relevant. We're talking cross-culture, counter-culture, cultured culture...think cottage cheese.

1) No One Really Wins - Copeland
- Aside from Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab for Cutie, these guys are the definition of quality emo.
Standout lyric: "Change if you want, but don't you go and change for me; I can love you as you are."

2) Jesus Walks - Kanye West
- Required listening, even if this song is dated; it's a year old already. A surprising release from one of Jay-Z's prodigies that gives an interesting insight into the Savior of the hood.
Standout lyric: "I ain't here to argue about his facial features or here to convert atheists into believers, I'm just trying to say the way school needs teachers, the way Kathy Lee needs Regis, that's the way I need Jesus."

3) Que Onda Quero - Beck
- Beck is back; the new album rocks, and is, of course, joyously eclectic. This is classic Beck, and there's a sweet remix out there if you can find it.
Standout lyric: "Hey Guero. Yeah Bro? Let's go to Capt'n Cork. They have the new Yanni cassette."

4) Underwear Goes Inside the Pants - Lazyboy
- As long as you don't mind the vulgarity, and there's a fair amount of it, this song will do you in. A mix of "stand-up commentary" with a tragic-sounding chorus, this is (dare I say) poignant reflection in a can.
Standout lyric: "People love to judge homeless guys. Like if you give them money they're just going to waste it. Well, he lives in a box, what do you want him to do? Save it up and buy a wall unit? Take a little run to the store for a throw rug and a CD rack?"

5) Jesusland - Ben Folds
- A reflection on evangelical America from the outside. Accurate and insightful.
Standout lyric: "Town to town, broadcast to each house, they drop your name, but no one knows your face."

I'll check em out, but I liked Copeland back when they were Billy Joel: "Don't go changing to try to please me . . . I love you just the way you are." How emo can you get?

As for Kanye, can ye believe I still haven't heard that song? It's all Relevant Magazine talks about, and here it is, one year later, and I'm still in the dark!

Beck continues to rock; I have friends who freely loan me his new disk, though, so I'll continue to reign cheap when it comes to him. He's doing OK without my 99 cents anyway.

Killer lyric by Lazyboy; I'll keep an eye out for them too. Ben Folds is a no-brainer. He's a genius who can do virtually no wrong with a voice that'll make you laugh or break your heart, whichever comes first. Check out his "Not the Same," about a guy who dropped acid and became a born-again Christian.

Thanks for the tips, Peter. Soy sympatico.