FOOOOBAAWWWWWWW!

The Superbowl: we has it. Here's some songs to root on The Steelers (and whatever lame team they are playing against who will surely lose.)

This post is dedicated to and in honor of two very important people to us! One being our blog-mate Lizzie, a Pittsburgh native and mega-Steelers fan. The other being the creator of these songs, Peter Peter Hughes, aka DiskothiQ. But you probably know him as the bassist for the Mountain Goats. At this very moment, he's loading his gear aboard a cruise ship headed to Mexico to play for Ships and Dip V with the Barenaked Ladies, Sloan, The Weakerthans, and many other awesome bands. Unfortunately, as the event was booked by Canadians, who were unaware of the importance of today's date, he is going to miss the game!

So here you go, Lizzie and Peter. These are for (and, uh, by) you!

DiskothiQ - Steelers.mp3
DiskothiQ - Cardinals.mp3

June's Top Songs of 2008, pt. II

Songs released in previous years, that influenced me or that I loved this year, in no order:

Jens Lekman - F-Word.m4a
buy Oh You're So Silent Jens
This song is half the reason I've been so lazy this year. An entire month of procrasturbating to this song should be more than enough.

Beck - Debra.mp3
buy Midnite Vultures
I didn't beleive this song was Beck at first either. This one is a rediscovery. I loved it when I first got it on a mixtape when it came out, and recently dug it up. Best line: "Lady, step inside my Hyundai!"

Howard Jones - No One Is To Blame.mp3
buy Dream into Action
Something I related to a little too well.

The Starlight Mints - Goldstar.m4a
buy Built on Squares
This song is "kooky like some girl from Mars" with spooky strings and creative percussion, but don't be put off by the voice that sounds like a dude doing a bad impersonation of a woman's voice--it's actually the guitarist's girl.

Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You.m4a
buy Seven Swans
A classic that for me will never die. Perfection in simplicity, a highlight from one of my "top 10 desert island" albums.

The Opposites - Pillar of Salt.mp3
You can't buy anything by them, sorry: This is a friend's now-defunkt band from NJ circa 2003. Drunken spoken intros contrasting with a playful ending FTW!

DiskothiQ - Tulsa Imperative.mp3
buy The Wandering Jew
This was written by John Darnielle, but initially discarded. Peter Hughes picked it up for his solo project at the time, and since then, the Mountain Goats have occasionally performed it live.

Sia - Death by Chocolate.m4a
buy Some People Have Real Problems
Deeply soulful in two parts, with heavy hand of gospel as by an Australian (and produced by Beck)!

Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours.mp3
buy Some Great Reward
A special song for the holiday season, for those of us who are still bitterly recovering from oppressively religious upbringings (though, ex-Mormon is the new ex-Catholic).

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Tamacun.mp3
buy Rodrigo y Gabriela
Spanish guitar flair. I'd love to see Gabriela and Kaki King battle it out, acoustic guitar style!!

the Mountain Goats - Mole.m4a
buy We Shall All Be Healed
For all those who came to see me up there in intensive care, with tubes coming into me and coming out of me, and for all those I visited, handcuffed to their beds.

Monday Night Football

Let me say this up front: I am not a football fan. Peter Peter Hughes (whom you might know as the second half the Mountain Goats), however, is. So much so that he made an album about it, a collection of songs for every team of the American Football Conference.

Under his own release name of DiskothiQ, Peter's put out 5 funny, bitter, insightful or just lovely albums between 1994 and 1999 (one available as free-download only). But seeing how it's now autumn, it's the season for the sport. What better way to celebrate than to highlight the two teams playing tonight?

DiskothiQ - Bengals.mp3
DiskothiQ - Patriots.mp3

Oh, but what if you're a fan of a team on the National Football Conference? Not to fear, there's an album for you too!