Drive-By Truckers - Birthday Boy

Uh, hmm. This one is grim, but it makes me happy.

School of Seven Bells - I Am Under No Disguise

The sheer bloody-minded determination in here sets my arm hair on fire. Music for kicking gods in the face.

Fastbacks - One More Hour

Not to be confused with the Sleater-Kinney song. Bratty enough to be self-explanatory.

Quasi - Repulsion

Guitar crunch and Janet Weiss's railgun arm.

Res - Leave Here Tomorrow

Another song I think of as being burly.

Hidehito Aoki, Kenichi Tsuchiya, Masaki Kurokawa - Lively Knight

Yes, it's video game music, try and stomach the synth strings. The point is that this is what the inside of this particular character's head sounds like, and the inside of his head sounds like an okay place to be.

Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive (Teaddybears Mix)

Not to be confused with the other 2008 song called "Still Alive." In which yr. narrator is weak against electronic handclaps.

Theresa Andersson - Japanese Art

I think one of my biggest dissatisfactions with adulthood is that no matter where I am, I can still get homesick. This song seems to be a decent physic for that.

Haley Bonar - Big Star

Maybe the opposite of the song above, but I still love it.

Pato Fu - Nada Original

I know absolutely nothing about this, it rolled in on a huge packet of stuff from one of the SXSW podcasts. It is great.

Zac Brown Band - Toes

Without a doubt the absolute worst song in this set. Seriously, it's terrible. It puts a smile on my face anyway.