okay, so i got a couple of emails from people asking me not to hide the playlists, so i’ve acquiesced…they’ll show up on the main page and will be available in an rss feed. blog reader danielle alerted me to a site that will (legally) allow me to post the entire playlist. there are a few limitations to the service (like advertisements and the fact that the playlist will not retain the same play order during after the first play), but it’s better than nothing. you’ll find the playlist widget at the bottom of the post, just before the comments section (i also posted the playlist for the first week here). as always, if you like the tracks, i encourage you to support the artist and buy the music via your favorite method. and as i mentioned last week, i encourage you to discuss the songs that have been posted, and to let me know what you’re listening to in the comments section below or via email.

so…below is weekly playlist #2.

01. “crazy for you” by best coast – from the album, crazy for you – not the madonna song. this one is 1 minute & 50 seconds of pop perfection. there are soooo many bands out there right now trying to recreate the sounds of 60s girl groups (there are at least three others in this playlist alone), but no one does it like best coast. so good even your grandparents would love it. trust me.

02. “don’t cry” by deerhunter – from the album, halcyon digest – the perfect companion piece to the best coast song above. similar in sound and tone, but this is far slower than than “crazy for you.”

03. “there is a light that never goes out”” by the dum dum girls – from the ep, he gets me high – a cover of a song by the smiths. i’ve never heard the original. in fact, up until 2008 i had never heard a smiths song in my life, but one day the woman who cuts my hair was like, “you need to hear a smiths record” so she took me to amoeba and she bought me a copy of one of their greatest hits records (i think there are at least two). now i don’t hate the smiths, but they’re still not my favorite band, either. side note: the fixie-riding hipster kids in my neighborhood all look and dress like morrissey, which makes me want to dislike the smiths.

04. “light of the light”” by six organs of admittance – from the album, asleep on the floodplain – sort of a one-man-band kinda thing, this guy and some of his friends once soundtracked a novel. there was a vinyl version (now sold out) and a cd version (still available here) that came included with the book. the book, empty the sun by joseph mattson, happens to be about the best novel i’ve read in years. i often spend my days daydreaming that someday i will be cool enough to have a band soundtrack my book. oh. about the song. beautiful and soft guitar with hushed vocals. you’ll feel haunted. in a good way.

05. “little by little” by radiohead – from the album, king of limbs – i know, i know…another band you’ve never heard of. wait. you have heard of them? nevermind then. this song is from the new album. you might like it.

06. “my cloud” by gil scott-heron & jamie xx – from the album, we’re new here – okay. i usually hate remixes about as much as i hate nickleback, and a whole album of remixes is about as appealing to me as a thousand paper cuts, but i just couldn’t pass this one up. it’s basically gil scott-heron’s 2010 record, i’m new here remixed by the dude from the xx. the original version of my cloud was on the bonus disc that came with the vinyl version of i’m new here, and to be honest with you, the song didn’t make a big impression on my until i heard it remixed. the softness of the song is preserved and and enhanced by the pounding bass. i know that doesn’t seem possible, but it’s true. just listen to the song. it’s really good. oh. and if you have no idea who gil scott-heron is, then you should read this. now.

07. “tree by the river” by iron & wine – from the album, kiss each other clean – i’ve heard a lot of people bitching about the “strange new direction” iron & wine has taken with this new album. well. i guess you could say that if you’ve only heard sam beam’s first record, but if you’ve been paying attention, he’s been heading in this direction for awhile. really, the only reason anyone is complaining is because he jumped to a major label and provided at least one (maybe more?) songs for the twilight soundtrack. anyway. yes, it’s weird to hear flutes in his songs, but it’s weird to hear flutes in any song, so just be quiet and enjoy everything else. this song in particular is really wonderful. it sounds like what the 70s should have sounded like if the 70s had actually been awesome. if you insist on only supporting the old sam beam, go to daytrotter and download the same song (for free!) done in an acoustic fashion more suited to your old fashioned sensibilities. (btw, daydrotter is one of the greatest music sites out there).

08. “the heron and the fox” by little scream – from the album, the golden record – if you listened to this song through headphones on your ipod as you were walking down the street and suddenly turned to see who was following you (because you could just feel that you were being followed) you’d see song birds, squirrels, raccoons and other non-threatening woodland creatures smiling and walking instep behind you.

09. “cold canada” by the luyas – from the album, too beautiful to work – sometimes all it takes is a good album title for me to buy a record. i made a good decision this time.

10. “southern decline” by apex manor – from the album, the year of magical drinking – see above. it’s only march and this is the best album title of the year. no doubt about it.

11. “badaboom” by tapes n tapes – from the album, outside – these guys were like, “not only do we not need a major label to release our music, we don’t even need a major indie label to release this shit. fuck it. we’re going to start our own record label and release it without anyone’s help.” they were that confident in it’s awesomeness. i sort of imagine them as the charlie sheen of indie rock (but i doubt they are because they’re from minneapolis and that automatically means they’re nice). but what band would put a song called, “outro” in the middle of a record? these guys, that’s who. so maybe they truly do think they’re the charlie sheen of the indie rock world. either way, you should hear this record.

12. “everybody’s sick” by puro instinct – from the album, “headbangers in ecstasy” – i hope that this is the kind of song that soundtracks madeline’s adolescence, but i kinda think it’ll be some shitty music i don’t like. why do children like to torture their parents?

13. “you’re going to cry” by la sera – from the album, la sera 320 – “matt…why are there so many songs about crying in this playlist?” well, there are only two, so that’s 10%, but come to think of it, 10% is an awful lot. but i bet you didn’t notice that 10% of the songs on this playlist also have the word, “light” in them, did you? anyway, this is a happy-sounding song about crying.

14. “what did he say” by nite jewel – from the album, good evening – nite jewel doesn’t give a damn about the 60s. she thinks that the 80s is the decade we should all be stuck in. i’m fine with that. plus i heard she lives in my neighborhood. she seems cool. i wonder if she wants to hang out with me?

15. “the righteous wrath of an honorable man” by colin stetson – from the album, new history warfare vol. 2 – and this is where i lose you. a guy blows a horn in a way you’ve never heard and you wonder whether or not i’ve lost my mind for including this song. the answer? no, i have not. love it or hate it, no one, and i mean no one else in the world can play music like this.

16. “uncut diamond” by warm ghost – from the ep, uncut diamond – this guy used to call himself paul duncan, but now he goes by warm ghost. warm ghost sounds almost nothing like paul duncan. paul duncan’s music was characterized by vocals surrounded by some lush atmospheric sounds. warm ghost’s music is characterized by not-as-lush atmospheric sounds completely enveloping the vocals. i’m not sure which i like better, but they’re both nice.

17. “i stole the lime” by andrew graham & swarming branch – from the album, andrew graham’s good word – the mexican summer record label releases consistently great records. i’ve bought a lot of them, and only one or two have totally sucked. they put this record out recently and i can’t stop listening to it. the guy singing sounds like he thinks he’s lou reed. to some that’s a sin, but i kinda like it. lou reed hasn’t done shit in a long while (except deny susan boyle the ability to sing one of his songs on tv) so it’s kinda nice to have someone else filling the void.

18. “electric eliminator” by beans – from the album, end it all his guys sings fast, but i caught something about dana plato and mark david chapman.

19. “seeing black” by lucinda williams – from the album, blessed – a song expressing her anger about her friend’s decision to commit suicide. her friend was a musician named vic chestnutt. he wrote great songs. i was sad when he died.

20. “mermaid” by okkervil river – from the ep, mermaid. thanks to the little mermaid, madeline is obsessed with mermaids. wait until i tell her i have a song called “mermaid” on my ipod. i imagine it will be the only thing we listen to for the next few months.