Random 10 for July 13, 2007

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1. Pink Floyd, “Arnold Layne.” Last night, at the home of a Staticblog reader, we were discussing the relative merits of a Pink Floyd reunion, and our host, Kev, said that it isn’t truly necessary: Roger Waters had all the bases covered when he saw him in Vegas recently. Even had a David Gilmour soundalike. Of course, a true reunion is impossible now, no matter how relations between the Waters/Gilmour camps sour or improve. This video shows the late Syd Barrett in all his pre-meltdown glory.

2. Patrick Watson, “Luscious Life.”

3. Wilco, “Impossible Germany.”

4. Kings of Leon, “On Call.” The Followill boys slicked it up on “Because of the Times,” dispensed with some of their “Strokes on Capricorn Records/Allman Brothers at CBGB” vibe and aimed for the arenas. I don’t mind it when it’s done right, and they did it.

5. A Band of Bees, “Listening Man.”

6. Thee Hydrogen Terrors, “Sissy Bar.”

7. LCD Soundsystem, “Watch the Tapes.”

8. Barenaked Ladies, “Fight the Power.”

9. Dizzee Rascal, “Fix Up, Look Sharp.” This samples a semi-obscure piece of strutting monster truck blather from 1980 called “The Big Beat” by Billy Squier. Oddly enough, “The Big Beat” supplied many of the early Queens rappers with their backing tracks when they were still plugging into streetlights. But for anyone to use it in this day and age took guts, and ends up being both catchy and stupid/funny.