The year’s almost up; and more importantly, I’m done travelling for the year. Of course, I pick up again the first full week of January, but I’m not going to think about that right now, as that way lies madness.

Here’s some tunes, as the name suggests, chosen at random by my mp3 player:

1. “Naive” – The Rentals
2. “Ride” – Old 97s
3. “Rock N Roll Train” – AC/DC
4. “The Beat Dies” – The Raveonettes
5. “Salvation” – The Cranberries
6. “Just A Toy” – Barenaked Ladies
7. “I’m Gonna See You” – that dog.
8. “Love Story (pop mix)” – Taylor Swift
9. “Nullarbor Song” – Kasey Chambers
10. “Neon Tiger” – The Killers

It’s a very listenable mix this week, including two appearances by bands featuring the criminally underappreciated Petra Haden, the timeless sounds of AC/DC, who sound exactly the same today as they did 20 years ago, which is exactly as it should be, and the incongruous presence of Taylor Swift.

I make no apologies, but I guess I have to explain myself on this one: my taste for disposable pop tarts tends to veer more toward faux punk than faux country, and I’ll admit “Love Story, lyrically, is as deep as a puddle in my driveway and exhibits a profound misunderstanding of the literary allusions it trys to apply. However, it’s got a catchy melody, the vocal phrasing on the verse bears more than a passing resemblance to Susanne Vega, and the mix for top 40 radio sounds like it should have been recorded in 1983 by Scandal or the Motels. That, and I really like tastefully sparse guitar break (and the guitar tone in general). It’s certainly more than enough to make up for the cheesy “happy ending” puncuated by the ham-handed gear change modulation.

What can I say, sometimes my appreciation for retro-sounding fluff overwhelms my insufferable music snob tendencies…