Friday Genius Ten "A Day Without Writing" Edition

I decided not to really write anything yesterday, just to take the day off. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't do work, because I'm a little messed up, but it was good to think, "What do I need to get done besides writing?" In the evening, I realized that my MP3 collection really is a shambles. Specifically, there's a lot of stuff I copied off my big folder of mix CDs (some I made, some others made for me) that I haven't labeled, plus stuff that's labeled, but badly. I got through what looks to be 30% of that stuff last night, concentrating on stuff that had no labels at all. Most of that stuff I have on CD somewhere, but I found one song that I had thought I had lost in the various moves and computer switches and losing CDs through scratching them up. I was ecstatic, because this song isn't exactly the easiest track in the world to find, which is a shame, because it's got a loopy brilliance to it. And by "loopy brilliance", I of course mean it's a Joe Meek track, a song he recorded with The Sharades. It's called "Dumb Head", and it's got all sorts of things I love---60s girl group, weirdness, and really obnoxious synthesizers that don't try to sound like anything else.

The lyrics, of course, are the sort of thing that gives a feminist indigestion, but it's an interesting snapshot of what was acceptable in the early 60s. It reminds me of the first episode of "Mad Men", where Joan tells Peggy that her typewriter was designed to be easy enough for a woman to use.

I put it into Genius, and it actually turned up results. Which were sort of strange.

1) "To The East"---Electralane

2) "Damaged Goods"---Gang Of Four

3) "When You Sleep"---My Bloody Valentine

4) "Whoo! Alright - Yeah.... Uh Huh"---The Rapture

5) "Ladyflash"---The Go! Team

6) "Riot Radio"---The Dead 60s

7) "Kool Thing"---Sonic Youth

8) "Men's Needs"---The Cribs

9) "I Love You, Ono"---Stereo Total

10) "Elephant Gun"---Beirut

There's some Black Lips on there, too, which makes me laugh. It'll grab a garage rock revival band, but not any original 60s cuts, even though I have multitudes on my iTunes. A flaw in Genius, or did it just not know what to do with a song as weird as "Dumb Head"?

If you're like me, and have way too much stuff on your iTunes and need to cull out the crap you put on there because someone else recommended it, or you lost your head and downloaded crap, or even if it's not crap, but just slightly less good than stuff you want to make room for, you can do that on your computer, but also when you're going out and about on your iPod. Shuffle the songs, and any time one that you don't want comes up, hit the center button until you get to the stars. Using the scroll, rate the song with one star. After you synch your iPod and iTunes, you can organize by stars and delete all the ones with 1 star. Simple! Now that I've done my public service, some tuneage below the fold. Stereo Total:

Beirut (one of those artists I should dislike on the grounds of weenie-ness, but I like it, so shoot me):

And why not play "Kool Thing", with Thurston Moore introducing it, even!