Sixpence None the Richer
“Breathe Your Name”, from Divine Discontent

Even though the entire song makes me think of a yet-to-be-produced teen-drama that might play on The WB, it has yet to fail to make me smile. The vibes used on the bridge into the chorus are especially nice.

The Smashing Pumpkins
“Stand Inside Your Love”, from MACHINA | the machines of God

This song is the soaring pinnacle of their career. Why? Because poor little Billy sounds like he’s actually having fun. If you have an issue with this, you have too much angst. Go eat some cotton candy.

FC Kahuna
“Nothing is Wrong”, from Machine Says Yes

That damned bloopy-beepy track from the Hummer H2 TV ad has buried itself into my brain. Unprofessional opinions I’ve received on the subject say that it is not harmful, but I’m not sure that I agree. Pro: it makes me want to dance and go “uh MMM MMM mmm” all day long, which garners weird looks from coworkers. Con: it makes me think of H2s crushing the world with steel-belted glory.

Autechre
“Chicli”, from Chiastic Slide

Gorgeous melancholy by way of a heap of crappy Radio Shack parts. This is the song I’m always going to connect with Operation Iraqi Freedom, which, might I add, is the dumbest. name. ever. for the War on Iraq.

Tori Amos
“Taxi Ride”, from scarlet’s walk

This song eats other mid-tempo adult-alternative rock songs for breakfast. Then it goes to work, where it sits around all day long and thinks about flying off to somewhere exotic, perhaps Fiji. As a testament to my bad predictions of what will be popular, I fully expected this song to blanket the airwaves by now. (I also expected that Ben Fold’s “Still Fighting It” would knock ’em dead.)