Sense Field

I was sick at home with the flu yesterday, and between sleeping and generally feeling sick I came up with some illness-related tracks for your entertainment.  I hope these can help you through the inevitable day when you too find yourself with the sick-at-home blues.

It all starts out with a fever.  Not necessarily on the freeway (or in the morning, in the morning).  And I guess, to be perfectly honest, it doesn't always start out with a fever either.  Sometimes it starts out with a head cold, or a mass of congestion.  But yeah, it begins...

[mp3] Starsailor - Fever

After you realize that you are, in fact, sick, there comes a point where you have to make a very crucial decision.  That decision:

It's tough, no buts about it.  I opted no medicine, and it worked out alright for me.  Buy hey, not necessarily something I would recommend to everyone; you've got to know your own body and what it needs.  Pick your dosage below:

[mp3] Guster - Medicine
[mp3] Sense Field - No Medicine

The next stage in the sick-at-home blues usually occurs right before or shortly after the medicine decision.  It's the part where:

No one's calling you weak for having this feeling either; you generally feel like crap and you absolutely hate it (plus it seems like a sensible enough thought at the time).  Hopefully either the medicine kicks in quickly, or you just start feeling better in the thereafter.  Something eventually gives you the hope you need to start thinking again:

which is probably a smarter thought in general anyway.

[mp3] Fiction Plane - I Wish I Would Die
[mp3] Rhett Miller - I Want To Live

And, once you get better, you won't want to be:

anytime again soon.  Because who likes being sick anyway?  It's no fun, people don't like to hang around you, and you tend not to accomplish a whole lot.

[mp3] Richard Cheese - Down With The Sickness

Visit: Starsailor, Guster, Sense Field, Fiction Plane, Rhett Miller, Richard Cheese
Buy some: Starsailor, Guster, Sense Field, Fiction Plane, Rhett Miller, Richard Cheese

Sometimes 12 songs just isn't enough. Sometimes, you're just listening along to a new cd, and that last song ends, but it doesn't end. Or sometimes it'll just be an extra track thrown your way, as a very special thank you for buying the cd. You'd better buckle up, because you've entered the realm of bonus tracks, baby. I (Brock) will go first this time around.

Air Stereo is hands down one of my favorite albums. "Accidental Man," "I've Got You," and "I Am a Leaver," just to name a few incredible tracks. Why they chose the title track as a bonus track is beyond me, but I'm more than willing to accept an odd decision with such a good album.

[mp3] The Damnwells - Air Stereo

 
Buy some Damnwells: iTunes | Amazon
Visit the site: Official | Myspace

Everything in Transit is the (so far) only album from the former frontman for Something Corporate, and it's a great record. It "ends" with a song called "M.F.E.O./You Can Breathe" that is a giant run-on sentence of beautiful pop-punk-piano songwriting. Then there's a little spoken thing about the end of the record, and how there won't be another record for a while because of laziness. Then "Into the Airwaves" starts up, right out of nowhere.

[mp3] Jack's Mannequin - Into the Airwaves

Buy some Jack's Mannequin: iTunes | Amazon
Visit the websites: Official | Myspace

Brock and I recently reviewed Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, Counting Crows' latest release. While we were slightly disappointed with the album itself, we didn't directly address the bonus tracks that came with an iTunes purchase of the album.

Strangely enough, Counting Crows followed in the footsteps they themselves set in This Desert Life by keeping some of the best work off of the proper album, instead saving it for a bonus track. Similar to "Kid Things" from This Desert Life, "Sunday Morning L.A." is a very strong track - which further boggles my mind as to why it couldn't make the cut over some of the other duds that did.

[mp3] Sunday Morning L.A.

Buy some Counting Crows: Amazon | iTunes
Visit them online: Official | Myspace

As I discussed in a previous post, Howie Day's post Australia career has left me wanting a bit more. Stop All The Wold Now was a fair album (on a good day) with a few strong tracks and a lot of songs that were trying too hard to hit top 40 radio. It seemed almost like Howie was trying to distance himself from the sound he created on Australia.

That, in itself, was probably the reason I fell hard for the bonus tracks that popped up in the Special Edition releases and on the Japanese release. These tracks had more passion and depth then the rest of the album - it was Howie, not some cheap TRL clone! Not surprisingly, my favorite cuts from the album ended up being "bonus tracks". Most were included after-the-fact on import or special editions, including this one, "So, Goodbye".

[mp3] So, Goodbye

Buy some Howie Day: Amazon | iTunes
Visit Howie online: Official | Myspace

First, I just want to say that Brock stole one of my bonus tracks, that dirty sneak! But I will echo his sentiments on The Damnwells - Air Stereo; most days I feel like this is the best song on the album. Usually on those days Kraig calls me an idiot, but I shall continue to stick to my crazy notions and opinions!

Back when Pete released Nightcrawler either his label, his management or the man himself decided that, in order to better promote the record, they should throw out a bunch 'o bonus tracks that were "exclusive" to different stores. This meant that you got different bonus tracks if you bought Nightcrawler from Circuit City rather than from Best Buy or iTunes, and vice versa. (Pete talks about it in an old interview with BrooklynVegan)

On one hand, it was nice that all these new Pete Yorn tracks were being released. On the other, it made the couple days after the album was released quite hectic while we were trying to round up all the bonus tracks. (Check out these old posts from Heather and Bryce for most of 'em). Go With It is the most rockin' of the bonus tracks, and probably should've been put in the meaty part of the CD instead of being an iTunes-only song.

[mp3] Pete Yorn - Go With It

Buy some Pete Yorn: Amazon | iTunes
Visit him online: Official | Myspace

So I think the story goes that one day Kraig was browsing around in our local independent music store (which, sadly, no longer exists), and randomly found Sense Field's Living Outside and picked it up on a whim. I managed to get a hold of it ('cause that's what happens when you live with a dude), and it didn't leave my grasp for quite a while.

It makes me sad that these guys broke up, Living Outside was downright awesome. Powerful vocals, great keys, nice drummin' and strummin'; it's very good stuff! And The Horse Is Alive is one of the best types of bonus tracks: the hidden ones. I hate when they call a song a "bonus track" when it's got its own track break. That's too easy! Your bonus should come after much hard work and due diligence (like fast forwarding for like a minute 'til you're at the exact right moment where the bonus track starts). Yeah, that's what it should be. Anyway, I figure most of you don't want to fast forward through a bunch of silence, so I cut the bonus track out of the nearly 11 minute final track. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I.

[mp3] Sense Field - The Horse Is Alive

Buy some Sense Field: Amazon | iTunes
Visit them online: Myspace (tribute page)

Bonus Tracks: Now what would a six-pack about bonus tracks be without some bonus tracks? Unless you pre-ordered the deluxe version of Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, you probably didn't get these songs. I don't think that's terribly fair, so here are two bonus bonus tracks (along with my apologies for the delayed post [Brock's fault]):
[mp3] Counting Crows - There Goes Everything
[mp3] Counting Crows - Come Around (Acoustic)