The shuffler: Emily Haines, best known for her work in the venerable Canadian band Metric; also an auxiliary member of Broken Social Scene. Her solo album, Knives Don't Have Your Back, hits U.S. shelves September 26.
Autolux, "Turnstile Blues"
Emily Haines: I'm so glad that one came up first. I make a pre-show CD for whenever we're on tour. It's kind of my attempt at DJing, and we put this on there because everyone in the band really likes it. And those guys got their start at the Silverlake Lounge also, like we did, right around the same time. And I think Carla [Azar] is a great drummer. They're one of those bands that you're glad they exist.
Broken Social Scene, [song unknown due to technical difficulties]
EH: Hold on. Oh my God! Don't die, battery! Weird. Okay, Broken Social Scene. [Laughs.] I'm not faking this! Is that allowed?
T. Rex, "She Was Born To Be My Unicorn"
EH: This is good, because we brought the band that used to be the Unicorns, they're called Islands, on tour. I like that T. Rex had the love for unicorns, too. I do like T. Rex. "Bang A Gong," I don't really ever need to hear again, but a lot of their other stuff, I like. I like the weird acoustic glam.
Elliott Smith, "Say Yes"
EH: I can't say enough about Elliott Smith. I miss him. I think we need more poets, and I wish he hadn't left. I'm trying to keep him alive by listening to his music all the time.
Kings Of Leon, "Soft"
EH: I know a lot of people refer to them as the Kings Of Revlon, but I really like this particular song, because it's all about guys who look really good but can't get it up, and you can't tell that from the first listen. I really like that record, actually. I saw them in North Carolina, Chapel Hill. We had the day off there on our last tour, so we all went to Cat's Cradle and watched the show, and then everybody went to the Orange County Social Club, which is like the one bar in Chapel Hill down the street. It was funny because my friend who bartends there, who's actually in the band Les Savy Fav, was saying that the whole night looked like a late-'60s show, because everybody dresses in vintage eBay items. [Laughs.]
TV On The Radio, "King Eternal"
EH: All their music is on my iPod because even the modern world needs gospel. A couple of them were floating around the same loft in Brooklyn as us, and Joshua [Winstead] and Joules [Scott-Key] from Metric are better friends with those guys than I am. I'm just acquaintances with them, really, but they're people that you really respect, and you watch happily as you see the rest of the world catch on to what they're doing.