Top 25 Most Played Tracks on iTunes (Part One)

01. Neko Case - I Wish I Was the Moon
I first knew Neko Case as the front woman of the New Pornographers¹. I picked up her album Blacklisted upon recommendation from the same person who introduced me to the New Pornographers, and it quickly became one of my favorite albums. When I first start liking a song, I play it over and over and over again, put it on multiple playlists, listen to it until I can't listen to it anymore. I'm still not tired of this one.

02. Neko Case - Star Witness
I'm clearly still not tired with Neko Case, either. She's my number one most played artist according to last.fm, substantially above the rest. I listen to her when I'm reading, when I'm writing, when I'm trying to sleep, when I'm having sex or walking by myself or riding the train or folding laundry. I like this song because of the twangy guitar and because of the way she sings the line Hey, pretty baby, get high with me².

03. The Blow - Jet Ski Accidents (Cover)
I love this cover so much more than the original by Wolf Colonel. There's just something about Khaela's voice and the ba ba bums and spare notes in the background that makes this version so deliciously sweet. This is totally a crush mix staple³.

04. Pink Nasty - Burn (Cover)
This is a cover of an Usher song and mostly I'm just really into very sincere covers of songs, especially when they are done completely differently than the original. Her voice is so pretty and wonderful.

05. Beirut - Elephant Gun
The first Beirut song I ever heard was "Postcards from Italy" and to be honest, I didn't really like it that much. But Dafna played this song in the car once, and I became obsessed. I'd never heard anything so rich and textured and beautiful. The layers of accordion and horns and Zach Condon's voice punched me in the stomach, and when we got home I laid in bed listening to it (and all the Beirut I could find) for hours.

---

¹ I saw them live in Tucson, AZ (my hometown and incidentally where Case has recorded a few of her records) the summer before my senior year of high school. The Organ actually opened for this show, but my friends and I opted to skip out on their set after the first song ("Brother," which I saw performed on the L Word a couple years later!) and proceeded to drink Parrot Bay rum out of a water bottle in the covered bed of my friend's truck. That was the first time I ever got drunk. I had a crush on one of the girls that I was with, and she held my hand through crosswalks when walking back to the show. During the New Pornographers' set, she came and slung her arm around my shoulder, hips shimmying shaking against mine and all of a sudden the room wasn't spinning anymore.
² I haven't gotten high in like three years.
³ Though sometimes I feel bad for having put it on multiple mixes for different crushes despite the fact that it is such a sweet song and totally screams "I have a crush on you!!!" because each crush is usually different and deserves a different staple crush song probably. But whatever, I think the idea of making out while Husker Du is playing is totally hot and awesome, especially "New Day Rising" but even moreso "Green Eyes," omg.