Alex Rose grew up in Santa Fe, played in Albuquerque bands, then moved to Seattle to further his audio engineering career. Our native son has enjoyed a professional music career ever since joining prog / indie rock band Minus the Bear, which stops at the Sunshine Theater this Tuesday in support of Omni (released May 4). In anticipation of the rock that’s to come, here are random selections from his collection—this time with two bonus tracks!
Song Roulette
1) "Nothing & Nowhere" • Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton • Knives Don’t Have Your Back “Not sure I’ve heard this song before, but I love Metric [which is fronted by Emily Haines] and it’s great to just hear her lyricism presented in a different way. She’s got this really cool stream-of-consciousness style.”
Song Roulette
2) "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" • Talking Heads • 77 “Whoa. Sweet tropical steel drum theme in this one. Not my fave, but there’s something interesting about every Talking Heads song.”
Song Roulette
3) "Cavity Carousel" • These Arms Are Snakes • Tail Swallower and Dove “Great fucking band and some of my favorite people in the world. Their live show was always exciting because anything could (and often did) happen. Had the pleasure of touring with them. They will be missed.”
Song Roulette
4) "Losing A Whole Year" • Third Eye Blind • Third Eye Blind “Whoops! Actually, I really loved this album for a while and it still brings me back to my late teens and a summer spent in San Francisco. Recently learned the singer is a big Minus the Bear fan. Weird, huh?”
Song Roulette
5) "Smells Like Teen Spirit" • Nirvana • Nevermind “Had to turn this one way up! It’s the opening song from the album that may be most responsible for me picking up the guitar and pursuing rock ‘n’ roll as a life path.”
Song Roulette
6) "I Got The News" • Steely Dan • Aja “And it comes full circle. Probably the group I’ve listened to most in the past year. I started learning music on saxophone and studied jazz and improvisation pretty early on. This band brings that aesthetic to the pop/rock realm and adds ridiculously imaginative lyrics to boot.”
Song Roulette
7) "Text Me" • R. Kelly • Untitled “RIDICULOUS lyrics. The melodies and production are like audio crack. Scandal be damned. His song ‘I’m a Flirt’ with T.I. and T-Pain is responsible for my musical sensibilities completely shifting.”
