OK, I’m all blogged out. I did promise you MP3s, though. So here it goes.

At the risking of forcing you to expand your musical tastes, I’ve got two songs from the jazz soundtrack to American Splendor, a movie I rewatched the other night. Great, great movie. Still can’t believe that’s Judah Friedlander as Toby. Yeah, the hugging guy from DMB’s “Everyday” vid (Windows Media)! He also recently played a borderline autistic in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Don’t get typecast or nothing dude. You can see him weekly on Best Week Ever.

I digress.

Here’s music:

• Joe Maneri – “Paniots Nine”Download

• Marvin Gaye – “Ain’t That Peculiar”Download

“Paniots Nince” plays early in the film and sets the mood. However, it’s “Ain’t That Peculiar” that’s the oddball selection on a soundtrack of obscure jazz numbers. Instantly accessible (and a Top 10 soul hit in 1965), it was also used in the Splendor movie trailer.

Harvey Pekar has this to say about the soundtrack: “It not only supports the film’s narrative action, but is a collection of entertaining and substantive performances that could stand by themselves without reference to the film’s narrative flow.”

I understand if Maneri scares you off, but I want to say this about the Marvin Gaye cut. It’s what Rob Sheffield said last year about Outkast’s “He Ya.” “If you don’t like this song, you don’t like music.”