My attempt to listen to the entire contents of my iPod on random without skipping hit a snag: the necessity of charging. Once iTunes loaded, I said goodbye to my old random playlist. I had 167 songs down before iTunes intruded on my fun, but I realized that I could sort by last listening date, which made it easy to grab the rest of the songs, put them in a playlist, and shuffle that playlist. The purity of iPod Chicanery has been lost, but at least I can still continue with the project.

I'm currently near the end of song 193, John Coltrane's "Locomotion." Here are the recent trends, highlights, and lowlights of note:

Biggest Rebound: After almost nothing happened in the first few minutes of Múm's "Sunday Night Just Keeps on Rolling," a horrible condition for late-night driving, I almost reconsidered my fondness for Yesterday Was Dramatic—Today Is Okay. But as I remembered that Múm songs have a tendency to begin with little or fall apart halfway through, "Sunday Night" started to gain steam, helping keep me awake until I reached my destination.

Stealthy Long Song: I seemed to recall something being amiss with the Rolling Stones' "Going Home" (from the US edition of Aftermath, but it wasn't until the three-minute mark that I picked up my iPod and recognized that eight more minutes remained. Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but I don't expect eleven-minute jaunts from the Rolling Stones. I leave that to Tarentel.

Best Pairing: Hearing Múm's "Smell Memory" (my favorite track from Yesterday Was Dramatic followed by Clark's "Roulette Thrift Run" made particular sense in terms of genre, but following up the ebb and flow of the former with the emphatic pulse of the latter just clicked. "Roulette Thrift Run" wasn't my favorite song from Body Riddle, but this combination helped it step out from the shadow of "The Autumnal Crash," "Ted," and "Frau Wav."

Surprise Appearance: I drew an absolute blank when Solbakken's "Relaxing Yourself to Death" came on, but then remembered that I had put the excellent Klonapet on, drawing from the strength of "Love Interest," "Space Bordello," and "Dung." My blank might have been due to how Solbakken is Dutch, but sounds like late '80s/early '90s Boston indie rock (Volcano Suns, Flying Nuns).

Breakthrough: I've always appreciated Television's Marquee Moon, but when "Elevation" came on, I didn't think about that and actually, you know, enjoyed it. Tom Verlaine's vocals have always bothered me a bit, but considering how many contemporary bands do a similar style of slightly unhinged vocals, I've probably had that impulse tempered since I last pulled out Marquee Moon.

Worst Timing: I considered blowing off this entire project on Monday when I needed something to drown out the din of nearby conferences at my office but not something that featured prominent vocals. After listening to Accelera Deck's "Passerine," which worked well with Debord's The Society of the Spectacle, I tried (and failed) to listen to Echo & the Bunnymen's "Bring on the Dancing Horses" while retaining any knowledge of the text. Seeing that Bottomless Pit's excellent "The Cardinal Movements" was up next, I opted to put away the iPod and save that song for the ride home.