Anonymous Communist

Part 1

This installment finds us moving south from the head and neck. Click the link above for those parts, and right-click the tunes to steal download.

“Break My Body,” the Pixies – This is sort of cheating as well, as I have no songs with “thorax” in the title. But this is one of my favorite songs off “Surfer Rosa” and is the first song I ever taught myself on bass, so it just begged for inclusion.

Lo Boob Oscillator,” Stereolab – The lyrics are in French and the song is about 3 minutes too long, but damned if it doesn’t lift you up and put a smile on your face. (NOTE: Quality of this file is pretty bad. I hope to have a better one up soon. Better-quality file up now.)

“Dyslexic Heart,” Paul Westerberg – This insanely catchy tune is off the “Singles” soundtrack and is among Westerberg’s first solo efforts following the demise of the Replacements.

“My Iron Lung,” Radiohead – The intro features the unmistakable sound of the Digitech Whammy pedal, a foot-controlled pitch-shifter and one of the most fun-to-play-with musical toys ever invented. Right, Steve?

“Belly Dancin’ Dina,” Jungle Brothers – The JBs were more or less the founding members of the Native Tongues Posse but have received the least amount of fanfare compared with De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. In fact, Q-Tip’s first appearance on record came on the Jungle Brothers’ 1988 LP “Straight Out the Jungle.” The JBs also pretty much pioneered mining jazz records for samples during a time in which James Brown loops were all the rage.

“One-Armed Scissor,” At the Drive-In – This is the first single off ATDI’s final LP, 2000’s “Relationship of Command,” after which the singer and guitarist went on to form The Mars Volta. The lyrics on this song (and the rest of the album) make no sense to me, but Cedric Bixler-Zavala is a good screamer and the music and production are both excellent.

“Chesley’s Little Wrists,” Pavement – For this track, I think the engineer surreptitiously pressed record while the band was warming up during the “Slanted and Enchanted” sessions.

“Soul Finger,” the Bar-Kays – I don’t want to oversell it, but “Soul Finger” is one of the greatest songs in all music history. It was a staple of the early 1990s-era Southeast High School (stand tall, Spartans) pep band, during which yours truly rocked the funky beat on the drums. As much as teenage white boy could get funky, anyway. “Soul Finger” also was the tune the marching band played in front of the judges during parades. It’s surprising that we won so many awards, because half the band was totally shitfaced during those parades. Good times.

The upcoming Part 3 will go south of the equator.