If you’re ever in a karaoke bar at midnight, unable to fight the urge to do a duet, you’ll want to bring someone like Lisa Christiansen along. She’ll know about 90 per cent of the songs in the beer-soaked catalogue, doesn’t need the teleprompter and can tell you the unspoken rules of the game: “A high kick off the top always sets the right tone.” 

Lisa hosts Appetite for Distraction on CBC Radio 3, and she can also be heard on CBC Music’s hosted rock stream.  
We asked Lisa to put her iPod on shuffle and tell us about the first 10 tracks to come up.   

1. “Ana,” Pixies. 
“This song is from their third album, Bossanova. Not their best but still sounds like the Pixies, and that’s always good.”



2. “Place Called Grace,” Saidah Baba Talibah. 
“We added this single one day at Radio 3 and I loved, no LOVED, it instantly. I’m sure my head moves quite strangely when this song comes up.”

Listen




3. “Never Had No One Ever,” the Smiths.
“From one of my favourite albums ever, The Queen is Dead. This song always speaks to my sad inner teen, which has now become my sad inner adult.”



4. “Born to Lose,” Motorhead. 
 “I had an interview booked with Lemmy when Motorhead came to Vancouver. He cancelled after I listened to this new album a few times. I think of what could have been.”



5. “The High Road,” Broken Bells.
 “One of the best things about music is music collaborations you never expect: Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the Shins. This song makes me happy about music and also is just so dreamy and spooky at once.”



6. “Telephone,” Shad. 
“Few rappers make me listen as carefully as Shad. Clever and insightful and sexy.” 



7. “We Gotta Secret,” C’Mon. 
“So I joined a gym this year. And when I get on that horrid elliptical, C’mon’s last album makes the whole thing worthwhile.” 

Listen




8. “A Truly Happy Ending,” Junior Boys.
 “Love, love, love this song. Perfect mix of electronic and pop. Doesn’t get much better.”

Listen

9. “Guiding Light,” Mocky.
“This album “Saskamodie” is one of my go-tos when I want to disappear. It’s hard to isolate just one song as being better than any other. This one’s sort of instrumental. The whole thing just flows from one sort of jazzy tune to the next.” 



10. “The Spiderbite Song,” The Flaming Lips.
 “Seeing the Flaming Lips should be on everyone’s bucket list. Whenever I hear any Flaming Lips’ songs, I instantly see Wayne Coyne in a bubble floating across the audience. And who doesn’t like to see that in the middle of the day?”

 

What do you think of Lisa’s playlist? Let us know in the comments.