It’s about time I made and shared a monthly mix of songs that call out to me in some way. Instead of going the illegal route and handing out a downloadable mp3 playlist, I figured I’d capture the collection on video where possible.

I know… I’m 2 months behind. But this is truly my April playlist sitting in iTunes, with May and June trailing right after it. Most of the songs here reflect my personal composure for the month. Sometimes the lyrics just hit the focal point, other times it’s the nostalgia of the track, and still other times when a segment of words sets a spark on my mind. Instead of going through the intimate details of my personal life, maybe you can interpret why these songs qualify as my monthly life soundtrack (though sometimes there may be no reason). And maybe you’ll find these fitting for a chapter in your music diary.

Named “Predicting April” because it definitely set the tone for things to come. I do not claim to be a psychic or a prophet though.

I could not get this out of my head. Only snippets though. I’m a big fan of the album this comes off of: Through Being Cool.

“Good Times.” The Rolling Stones pull this one off well. I really enjoy their rendition of a basic happy number. A good sister song to this might be “And the Healing has Begun” by Van Morrison for its optimistic qualities.

Wilco when they stuck to their alt.country style. Gotta love the “wBah Bah Bah.”

My playlist has Andy Kaufman singing “Carolina in the Morning.” He’s doing the Tony Clifton act with the Las Vegas lounge singing style somewhat akin to Al Jolson. It’s the rhythm of the words that definitely jumps at me. The accent has to be there for the rhyme to be right (nothing could be finah than to be in Carolina).

The Jesus & Mary Chain with “Head On.” This pumps me up! It was great for a drive home.

“Little Mascara” is a song of many I could belt out a lung to. Not the best video though (It’s the only one on youtube). It’s a fan covering the ‘Mats and exposing all of his facial muscles without any second thought of how crazed he looks. If there was an original online, I’d link to that instead. But you have to admire the charisma of the guy, and dare I say it might have a ounce more passion than the Replacements’ studio production. To be fair, Westerberg handles it well in the bootlegs I’ve heard, thought not as gritty.

Poor songs not cool enough to have videos:

Paul Westerberg – “Fugitive Kind.” [Listen] I didn’t care much for this song when I first heard it, but it keeps up with the profound language in his other songs. I especially like the melody when he sings “Is this where I belong?” and the words “Ain’t got time for your to grab your stuff, what’s flowing through our veins is good enough.”

Yo La Tengo – “Moby Octopod” [Sample] Nice bassline and cool drony voices; overall shoegazing dreamy quality about it.