When hecklerspray was born, the doctor immediately put us in a big jar of formaldehyde, where we were safely preserved straight through to the second grade. That's the year we developed a concept of self, and realised our jar had little disgusting bits of mayonnaise still clinging to it. We started banging on the jar's insides until our mother paid us mind, when she saw we were making desperate 'un-screw the lid' motions with our hands, she obliged within the year.

And when we emerged from the stink of preserving liquid and seven years of our own filth, these six tracks were what we heard playing through the good speaker of our Mother's decrepit boom-box. And what a glorious sound it was! We're talking about tracks from Al Green, Regina Spektor, Sigur Ros, Crash Test Dummies, Engineers, and Wheat.

What a grouping!

Al Green: Take Me To The River off Compact Command Performances: 14 Greatest Hits
(Heaven shines brightly upon public radio. Our alarm clock is set to a local station, and not a day goes by where our socks aren't knocked off by a tune or two. Yes – we sleep in socks. This week it's Al Green expressing his burning desire be near a river of sorts. Mr. Green, might we suggest you don't try the Thames, at least not today. We're gonna be down there spraying for giant mosquitoes. West Nile and what-not.)

Regina Spektor: Fidelity off Begin To Hope
(Here's another one brought to you by the grace of public radio. We've heard the name Regina Spektor tossed about from time to time, but we never had an inkling she'd be so stupendously good. Seriously, check this one out, and if you don't like it, hecklerspray will sit on your face for free. Hey – where'd 'sit's' 'h' go?)

Sigur Ros: Glosoli off Takk…
(These guys are probably from outer space, because they don't speak English and everyone on Earth does speak English. That's OK though, because space ships have awesome stuff on board, awesome stuff to play and record cool music on. And laser guns. Space ships always have crap-loads of laser guns. This particular song is very anthem-ish, and keeps building and building until it reaches a glorious end. Thanks aliens, and hey – our leader is that-a-way!)  

Crash Test Dummies: Keep A Lid On Things off Give Yourself A Hand
(Right around 1999, the Dummies decided to step a bit away from their usual mega-deep vocals, and do something a bit higher pitched. This fine tune is the product of that change-up, and we love it more than a lion loves gutting various baby animals, like kittens.)

Engineers: How Do You Say Goodbye? off Engineers
(There was a time not so long ago, when we could only depend on Engineers to make haphazard buildings structurally sound, and keep calculator companies swimming in green. Well that's still mostly true, but now we can add 'make super-cool slow rock' to their list of duties too. Were these guys ever popular? We have no idea, but this whole album makes us dizzy. Good dizzy.)

Wheat: Roll The Road off Hope And Adams
(Wheat's a powerful good band. They've got two albums that we know of, and this fine number comes off their first. This song's a bit slow, but carries itself quite well – like an ostrich with two perfectly working legs. Yes, yes that's a fine comparison.) 

Now listen to these beautiful choices via the magic of Napster

[story by Shawn Lindseth]