The Playlist: October 2007

This month, we’re looking at songs that are our personal soundtrack to the change of the seasons. The leaves are changing color, the air is getting crisper, the sun is setting earlier, and this is what we’re listening to…

1. “Sweetness and Tenderness,” The Rentals.
- When first we encountered the Rentals, they were an analog-synthesizer-laden side project of Weezer. In the years since the first album, Rentals frontman Matt Sharp has left his gig in Weezer, and apparently ditched the synthesizers. This song features piano, acoustic guitar, and violin prominently and may be the most achingly gorgeous thing I’ve heard in ages, due largely to Rachel Haden’s cooing second-lead vocal.

2. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi,” Radiohead
- We’re hoping to have more about the new Radiohead album, “In Rainbows,” shortly. This track has become an instant highlight of the album for me, thanks largely to the swirling, ambient guitars. While Radiohead has forsaken typical verse-chorus-verse song structure, it’s nice to see that they can use their guitars and use them beautifully.

3. “Girls In Their Summer Clothes,” Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
- Leave it to Bruce to release the best summer song I’ve heard in years at the very end of summer. Sigh. Classic E-Street song, complete with great piano, keyboards, and saxophone.

4. “Room At The Top,” Tom Petty
- Through the magic of DVD, I’ve been reintroducing myself to the television series “Undeclared.” Watching this has made me nostalgic for college, not because the show sugar-coats the experience of being away at school for the first time, but rather because it gets it so very right. The denouement of the first episode, where lead character Steven Karp (Jay Baruchel) confronts the fact that he’s absolutely terrified, while the other characters go through not-dissimilar moments, features this song. So spot-on and wonderful.

5. “Chelsea,” Counting Crows
- Another month, another Counting Crows song – this one, the “hidden” track from the disc featuring the band’s VH1 Storytellers performance on their “Across A Wire: Live In New York” set. It’s a sparse song about one of my favorite New York City neighborhoods, featuring mournful horns, piano, and Adam Duritz’s voice. Graceful and elegant, like the best parts of autumn.