The other week The Guardian had a really clever feature where different artists from different musical genres were given each other’s iPods and asked to comment on the music contained within, and guess who got whose. The Scottish dance producer Mylo was given Devendra Banhart’s, and was quite scathing about the almost forced “coolness” of the music on it.
I often like to wander around with my iPod on Shuffle Play. On occasion this can be a challenge when it throws up too many slices of obscurantist Norwegian free electronica, but in general I like the way it skips through my varied musical tastes. Sometimes I hear an old song I’ve not listened to in a long time, sometimes I hear something I loaded from a brand new CD or one I’ve almost never played all the way through and think: Wow, that’samazing. (Step forward, on this count, ‘Bubblegum’ by The Mark Lanegan Band, loaned to me by my great chum Kieran and never actually listened to until it hit me by surprise on a boring tube journey to work.)
Shuffle was on relatively good behaviour this morning on my longer-than-normal walk to the office, via some camping gear shops on Sauchiehall Street. But I couldn’t help thinking if Mylo would be as cheeky about my selection as he was about Devendra’s – so I thought I’d list it to see how high I score on the Pretension Meter. Thus:

MANNEQUIN Wire
CHERRY BLOSSOM GIRL Air
KUNTZ Butthole Surfers
WEEK-END EN MER Serge Gainsbourg
PROVIDENCE Sonic Youth
LE PACHA Serge Gainsbourg
HEAVY FLOW OF EVIL The Hidden Cameras
DELTA SUN BOTTLENECK STOMP Mercury Rev
TAPER JEAN GIRL Kings Of Leon
LEAVES Oneida
GEMINI CHILD Kevin Ayers
IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING King Crimson
DOG ON WHEELS Belle and Sebastien

Hmmm …