The Accidental DJ

PHOENIX
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Thomas Mars (vocals)
Deck D'Arcy (bass)
Laurent Brancowitz (guitar)
Christian Mazzalai (guitar)

I had never heard of these guys before, but I liked the album title and seeing their song title "Lisztomania" made me think of Ken Russell's schlocky Roger Daltry film, so I took it home. Further Wikipedia and Pitchfork research determined they were a French alterna rock band from Versailles (the city across the Atlantic, not the apartment complex across from Towson University) with electropop leanings so, excitedly, on the drive home I popped the disc into my car CD player, eagerly anticipating the next Daft Punk, Prototypes, or at least another ambient Air, and was rewarded with something even better: a French Hot Chip. Subsequently, the next day's b free daily paper had, as their WTMD radio pick, Phoenix's "Lisztomania," which they mentioned was featured in the recent crappy romantic comedy with the two Jessicas (Alba and Biel) Valentine's Day. Good for them, I thought, high-profile exposure.

I really, really liked what I heard, so when I got home I fired up the laptop, created a playlist in iTunes, and clicked to burn. When it looked like my burn was a done deal, a fait accompli in Phoenix parlance, I clicked to eject the disc. But something happened, as it usually does with my Dell laptop, and I couldn't eject the disc. Weird, I thought, but after going through the logoff, reboot, re-eject routine, I finally got the disc out. It looked OK, so when I drove into work that morning I popped it in the car CD player and heard nothing but one riff from "Lisztomania" repeated endlessly over and over: "So sentimental...Not sentimental no! Romantic...not disgusting yet...Darling I'm down and lonely...So sentimental...Not sentimental no! Romantic...not disgusting yet...Darling I'm down and lonely..." Then it ended.

Wow, I thought, I don't remember that - was it an alterno version hidden track? But no, that was it, a 5-minute loop of electropop was all that had recorded on my CD. My accidental remix was downright catchy (Phoenix should record it!), but I realized I would never be able to replicate it again. My iTunes copy musta crashed mid-burn during that song. A simple, digitized twist of fate.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Related links:
"Lisztomania" video (YouTube)
www.wearephoenix.com
Phoenix on MySpace
Phoenix on Wikipedia
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Pitchfork review)