By Jenn Sussman aka DJ Belladonna

1. The Veils “The Wild Son” – This week’s playlist was inspired by one of my favorite people, a quirky and wonderful friend of mine who we’ll call “B” to protect the innocent, the guilty, and the innocent who are considering doing something they’ll feel guilty about later on. It begins with a favorite track of mine by a band I discovered a few years ago by accident as I browsed through the now-defunct Virgin Megastore in Times Square, looking for something I hadn’t heard before. In a way, I had heard The Veils before; their sound harkens back to the best days of The Smiths, and Nick Cave, melancholy, literate, spiritual and vaguely sinister. The Veils take it to a fresher place, updating the vibe, pouring their souls into it, leaving no emotion to the imagination. If you haven’t heard their 2004 Rough Trade debut The Runaway Found, you’re missing out on lines like this one from this playlist pick and album opener, “Darling I need you far more than I say / None of my fears are as dear to me”. Emotional honesty has never sounded better.

2. The Times “I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape” – The late 1970’s and early 1980’s saw a major resurgence of the classic “nuggets” sound, an amalgam that originated in the 1960’s from psychedelic rock, mod, and British pub rock. Bands influenced by the original sound were now taking it to new places, spawning early psychobilly, noise rock and even prototypical punk, but many stayed true to the roots of the genre. The Times weren’t well known but had success with this witty tribute to 1960’s TV show “The Prisoner” which starred Patrick McGoohan as an ex-secret agent who gets trapped in a village by forces who want to know why he resigned. A silly premise to be sure, but then again, it was the 60’s. I’m pretty sure that my friend “B” would be leading the effort to bust McGoohan out of the village. Anyone interested in taking a walk through the “nuggets” genre should check out Rhino Records’ two amazing box sets, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (1965-1968) and Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era (1976-1996).

3. The Soft Boys “(I Want To Be An) Anglepoise Lamp” – Another of my favorite Rhino Records box sets (no one does genre-based compilations better) is No Thanks! The 70’s Punk Rebellion, which contains this track by England’s The Soft Boys alongside other gems and rarities from the early days of punk and post-punk. This weird and short-lived act was formed in 1976 by Robyn Hitchcock, who would later go on to a distinguished solo career. Their sound was a brilliant mix of 60’s psychedelia, post-punk absurdity and off-kilter humor, which tended to produce bizarre but accessible songs about wanting to be modern desktop illumination.

4. New Radicals “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too” – I had no basis for comparison when I first heard New Radicals’ 1998 debut (and only) record Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too. To be honest, I still don’t; there’s just been nothing else like it since it was recorded. Most people remember New Radicals for their 1998 megahit “You Get What You Give”, but that was just the bright and shiny pop surface of the deeper, emotionally raw, and quirkily twisted underbelly of New Radicals founder Gregg Alexander’s songwriting. Take the album’s third track, “I Hope I Didn’t Just Give Away The Ending” for example; in a nutshell, the song is a jazzy and downtempo piano-driven groove about running off with a girl who wanted to be a nun, doing Japanese porno films in exchange for cocaine, and the girl ultimately overdosing on her father’s stash that was hidden in the sugar bowl…and those are just the highlights. The album is one of my favorites, and this playlist pick is just one of my many favorites from the album.

5. Poe “Fingertips” – A sample of an old female blues singer drifts into your consciousness at the beginning of this jazzy ode to yearning for someone, by one of my favorite artists. I first heard Poe when I worked in music retail in high school and college, and her sound was so unique; jazz samples, funky breaks, and emotionally raw and borderline vitriolic lyrics sung in a slightly nasal yet angelic voice – 17 year-old me was hooked. Back then, and even still, not many people know about Poe, so whenever I come across someone who does it’s like meeting an old friend with a shared history. Her 1996 debut album Hello remains one of my top ten favorite albums, and I had the pleasure of seeing Poe open twice for Depeche Mode and once as a headliner at NYC’s Village Underground. Her 2001 release Haunted is also a worthwhile listen, but extreme difficulties with her record company have prevented other releases and left most Poe fans feeling unfulfilled by a career interrupted.

6. Edith Piaf “La Vie En Rose” – Revered as an icon of French music in the classic torch singer style, Edith Piaf was a raw and passionate singer known as much for her dramatic and emotional style as for the string of tragedy that wound through her shortened life. From growing up the streets of Paris in a life filled with illness, danger, prostitution and hustling, to an almost meteoric rise to stardom, the death of a child, a murder investigation, an unending parade of lovers, and finally death from cancer at the age of 47, Piaf’s life was truly legendary. Those unfamiliar with her music should not only invest in a good compilation but also see Marion Cotillard’s Oscar-winning turn as France’s beloved “Sparrow”, as Piaf is known, in the 2007 Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose.

7. The White Stripes “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues” – The majority of The White Stripes’ music is lost on me; when it comes to rock music, I worship devoutly at the church of the bass guitar, and, well, the Stripes don’t use one. That doesn’t keep me from acknowledging the brilliance of Jack White’s songwriting, though, but I often listen to WS tunes like “Little Cream Soda” and “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” and imagine how much better they would sound with a bassline, no matter how minimal. However, “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues” from the Icky Thump album (2007) is somehow different; it harkens back to a time and a songwriting style that Jack White reveres, when old school bluesmen like Son House were playing the depths of their souls with barely more than an acoustic guitar and primitive recording equipment. I heard this song for the first time last summer as part of the film It Might Get Loud, which focused on the musical passions of Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge, and White. I was very taken by the introspective nature of the song and saw clearly for the first time that White is most certainly a student of the old blues masters. We need more like him.

8. G. Love and Special Sauce “Leaving The City” – I consider Philadelphia natives G. Love and Special Sauce’s 1995 album Coast To Coast Motel to be a hidden treasure. A treasure because of its musical richness and fusion of genres from blues and jazz to latin and funk, and hidden because like many of my favorite albums, only a select few know it exists. I remember my cousin, who’s ten years older than I am, giving me a copy of Coast To Coast Motel when I was around sixteen. It took me a few years to really get what G. Love was all about, but once I did, I spread the word like gospel. They’re best known for their 1994 single “Cold Beverage”, but G.L.A.S.S. really knocked it out of the park on Coast To Coast Motel for reasons made evident by this playlist pick. You can almost picture a group of musicians sitting, on a street corner in Philly on a hot summer day, just jamming on “Leaving The City”.

9. Hot Hot Heat “Bandages” – Frontrunners of the indie dance music phenomenon, British Columbia’s Hot Hot Heat offers up some of the more aggressively catchy music of the genre. Their 2003 Sub Pop release, Make Up The Breakdown, is one of the better dance rock records around, with “Bandages” and its mod-style Moog organ line as the shining star. I got to hear Hot Hot Heat warming up for their show last night in the front room at Public Assembly in Williamsburg as I got ready to spin at a party in the back room, and it made me recall just how good this album really is. When the indie dance craze has finally run its course, Make Up The Breakdown will be one of only a handful of albums that stand the test of time instead of making us wonder what we were thinking.

10. Shriekback “Faded Flowers” – Shriekback’s music defies categorization. Influenced by funk yet beloved by gothic music fans, haunting yet subtly interwoven with pop and dance beats, a whole new musical entity created by former members of XTC and Gang of Four but not recognizable as either. Evocative and intelligent lyrics are surrounded by dueling vocals, sung, spoken and sometimes whispered, blurring the lines between man and animal on songs like their best known single “Nemesis” off of 1985’s Oil and Gold LP. Also recorded for that album, I hadn’t heard “Faded Flowers” in many years until last weekend on a satellite radio program that I listen to, and the lyrics resonated with me during a time of major personal change; it speaks of the end of things, but also a leap to things that we don’t yet understand. It also reminded me very much of my friend “B” and the journey she’s been on towards greater personal happiness. May the road be filled with good friends along the way.