Staff Blog
10-Track Mind: Like Italian food, The Beatles present a love/hate
Every week (slight hiatus here!), we have a staffer, freelancer or friend/enemy/frienemy of The Clog put their iTunes or iPod on shuffle and tell us about the first 10 songs that come up. The only rules: No skipping, no cheating and you don’t need to be all music critic-y about it. (If you’d like to submit a 10-Track Mind of your own, contact Drew Lazor at drew.lazor[at]citypaper[dot]net.) This week, Daniel Delaney (@danieldelaney), host of the soon-to-be-launched street food podcast VendyTV and creator of the Rittenhouse / Twitter experiment, makes sound waves.
 |
1. Stevie Wonder – "Overjoyed"
As if I was living under a rock for the first 20 some odd years of my life, Stevie Wonder was simply this name I knew. He was anonymous musician "other" people listened to, and far too mainstream for anything I would dare to put on my iPhone. One evening while forging up the FDR Drive, "Superstition" came on. At the time, I didn't know it was Stevie, but somehow knew the lyrics and loved the beat. I rolled down my windows on that 30-degree evening, blasted the heat and cranked the radio for all to hear. The rock was lifted, and I found my new musical love: Stevie Wonder.
 |
2. Bach – "Goldberg Variations: Aria"
Renowned psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi was the first to document the concept of Flow. A state of mind so intense, so focused, that all external feelings, troubles and woes fade away. While doing my undergraduate studies in Philadelphia at The University of the Arts it was imperative for me to achieve or come close to Flow for my work. As such, I set out on a quest to control my environment to edge closer toward flow. I altered the lighting, temperature and workspace. Still, something was missing. ENTER: Bach. Bach got me into Flow. He was the missing piece of the puzzled that capped off external stimulation and allowed me to focus on my work.
 |
3. Herbie Hancock feat. Luciana Souza – "Amelia"
Combine Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, heaps of amazing artist and the album's Grammy and it's hard to NOT have River: The Joni Letters in your library. I first got into Herbie while in my freshman year at college. I was lucky enough to have dormed with a jazz head eager to share his passion. We went to see the likes of Winton Marsalis, Chick Corea and Ornette Coleman. I was intrigued, confused, and excited about this newfound genre, and have been hooked ever since, snatching up every album that passes through my ears.
4. The Beatles – "Penny Lane"
You know when a smell, sound or phrase grazes your senses and sends you back to childhood? Well, this song does that for me. I was raised in a household that blasted The Beatles and Dylan. We'd listen to them on trips to the Poconos, or while driving down to Sesame Place. Sadly, oversaturation can cause a person to shy away from something later in their life. So, like Italian food, The Beatles present a love/hate. I know they're great, but listening to them tastes like baked ziti, and god knows I've had enough of that.
 |
5. Victor Wooten – "Tappin' and Thumpin'"
I think it was Rob McClue, one of my best friends and current star of Avenue Q (plug), who got me into Victor Wooten. We'd drive around in his Neon jamming our burned CDs into his player and cranking it up. We kept Victor on for a long time. He's incredible. I was so pleased to see him in Philadelphia while touring with Bela Fleck and Stanley Clark! So, if you don't know Victor, make sure you change that.
 |
6. Zap Mama – "Follow Me"
One cold winter day, I ran into the Virgin Megastore in NYC for warmth and temporary shelter with some friends. I was complaining to my friend Ryan that I didn't have new music. To shut me up, he grabbed the first thing he saw and apathetically said "here." The album was Dimanche Á Bamako by Amadou & Mariam. the blind couple from Sénégal. I bought it just to spite him and made him listen to it on the car ride home. To my frustration, the album was AMAZING. And it got me hooked on European- and African-influenced music, which eventually led me to Zap Mama. With some ties to Philadelphia, I think Zap Mama is a fantastic artist who uses the human voice as an instrument unto itself. Definitely worth checking out.
 |
7. Beck – "Black Tambourine"
You know that question, "If you could only bring one CD to a desert island ... "? Well, my answer is always undoubtably Beck's Midnight Vultures. And while "Black Tambourine" isn't included on that album, it is easily one of my favorites. I really dig Beck's use of instrumentation and his wild lyricism which varies in style from album to album. Guero, which came out during my freshman year, was by far the most-played album of the semester and served as the soundtrack for many a wild evening.
8. Dean Martin – "Jingle Bells (Dan the Automator Remix)"
I'm writing this on November 21st, and have been listening to this song eagerly awaiting the first snowfall since September. If you're a bit sick of the conventional Bing Crosby, or want your home to sound like an Apple Store (both of which are applicable to me, hehe), this album is for you. It presents catchy remixes of all of the classic holiday songs and is by far the most played album in the Holiday genre of iTunes.
 |
9. Boney M – "Rasputin"
I'm hard-pressed to find many Americans who are know the wonder that is Boney M, primarily because they didn't make as big of a splash in the states as ABBA did. This German pop group, however, was huge in Europe. In fact, it was my ex-girlfriend (an Eastern European native) who introduced me to them. I think the first time I got ahold of their songs, I listened to them on repeat for an entire week lipsyncing the whole while through. Download them, or even better, check out their music videos on YouTube. They're ridiculous. :)
 |
10. Honeycut – "Exodus Honey"
If you didn't get it by song 10, I am a huge Apple Fanboy. So when they use a song in the opening segment of their Leopard operating system, it was imperative that I found the artist and downloaded everything they made off of (you guessed it) iTunes. Turns out the rest of Honeycut's album is kind of rubbish. Nonetheless, I've looped this one song over and over. It now sports a play count of 38 ... well, 39 now.
[...] I just wrote a short music related article for the Philadelphia City Paper thanks to an invite from Drew Lazor (@drewlazor). Check it out! [...]