Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City is one of the best books of the year. So sayeth me; so sayeth the sage critterpoos at the New York Times, who include Lethem's eighth novel in their holiday gift guide. (Speaking of guides, check out ours!) While a good friend of mine alleges that Chronic City, which is about a group of pot-smoking friends who live in an alternative-universe-like Manhattan, is slow out the gate, she concedes that it paid her back ("with interest," as the bankers say). In honor of the book's goodness, Washington City Paper asked Lethem to create an annotated playlist for his novel's most compelling character (and a nerdy simulacrum for Lethem himself): former rock critic Perkus Tooth.

Ladies and gents, we give you "Perkus's Fugue State: Ten songs for rewiring your limbic system while surfing the Web for chaldrons."

Nico "I'll Keep It With Mine"  (3:20)  Chelsea Girl

Lethem says: "A brief overture to a suite of looooong songs, the most nurturing song Dylan ever wrote echoes in the abandoned gothic cathedral of Nico's voice. What's "it", and who'll keep it where? The answers to these questions have yet to be determined."

Al Green "Beware"         (13:39)  Living For You (long version)

Lethem says: "Paranoia rendered suitably seductive by the Reverend. Note how he begins a call and response with himself as the song progresses. I also like the giggles at the end."

Mahmoud Ahmed "Tezeta"        (12:32)  Ethiopiques, Vol. 10

Lethem says: "Sometimes a language you don't understand is the best way of expressing what you don't know how to say."

Van Morrison "Try For Sleep"  (6:06)  The Philosopher's Stone (Disc 1)

Lethem says: "The keyword here is "try". Good luck with that, once you begin to stumble through Van's hall of gender mirrors."

Animal Collective "What Would I Want? Sky"       (6:46)         Fall Be Kind

Lethem says: "Sure, sky is what I would want, but I'd settle for a persuasive simulation."

Cat Power   "Willie Deadwilder"   (18:18)               Speaking for Trees

Lethem says: "Very much in the tradition of Bob Dylan — not to mention Thomas Pynchon–in this apparently endless song Cat Power spins a meditation about everything and nothing at once."

Kraftwerk  "Kling Klang"        (17:30) Doppelalbum (rare)

Lethem says: "Then again, sometimes better to focus on the bass and drum. Early Krautrock is a sublime alternative musical world, like a whole rock-nation of Brian Enos. Sometimes a language you don't understand, etc."

Red House Painters  "Make Like Paper"   (12:04)         Songs For A Blue Guitar

Lethem says: "The opposite tack from Cat Power; The Red House Painters don't need a million lyrics to carve an epic. The guitar figures do it instead, until the brief written lines resound like a waker's dream."

Gillian Welch "I Dream A Highway"  (14:40)             Time (The Revelator)

Lethem says: "And now Gillian Welch splits the difference between the Cat Power and the Red House Painter approach: the refrain resonates, while the verses are like the proverbial river you can't step in twice."

Fripp/Eno  "Evening Star"       (7:50)          Essential Collection

Lethem says: "Night is falling at last for you — the night of the mind, I mean, since it's been dark outside for hours already. Fripp and Eno bring the healing, at least until tomorrow."

But while Cat Power's cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity" at least made some postmodern, thematic sense in the context of the sexified, futuristic Lincoln MKS, Newsom's "Sprout and the Bean" (off 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender) has nothing to do with Victory's Secret's Dream Angels Push Up bra, in which woodland nymph/model Miranda Kerr meanders through a forest. Yes, Newsom's ethereal harp/avant-garde folk would be the perfect accompaniment to a care-free arboreal frolic. But no, the frolicking fantasy, in my mind, would not involve a padded, underwired, gravity-defying bra, a device that's hardly conducive to feeling free and breezy.

And maybe that's the point. Perhaps ad execs thought, "Let's naturalize the unnatural expectation that the ideal woman possess a full, erect bust"; the whimsy and innocence of Newsom's song is meant to highlight/imbue the product with similar characteristics. And trees. Lots of trees–"We must keep the associative leap from spandex to nature as effortless as possible for viewers."

I like Joanna Newsom. I do not like Victoria's Secret–aside from fetishizing mammary glands and essentializing "woman," they charge too much. Will my opinion of either change because of this union? No, and I'm not sure Newsom's other fans will give a hoot, either. But I will have some difficulty getting through "Sprout and the Bean" without being reminded of recession, baristas, and bus fares. At least for a while.

Photo of Joanna Newsom by Pete Newsom, via Dragcity.com.

Friday

• Caverns, Deleted Scenes, Hammer No More The Fingers, Acedia. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10. All ages.
• Sweet Interference CD Release Party, Carousel Rogues, Earth Note Syndicate. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.
• Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Joan Jones. 9:30 club. $25. All ages.
• Lonely Hearts Club with DJ Decibelle, DJ Jackie O. and AK Slaughter (from Baltimore). Velvet Lounge. Free. +21.
• DJ Eskimo. Cafe Saint-Ex. Free. +21.

Saturday

• Shortstack, These United States, The Minor White. Black Cat. $10. All ages.
• Once Okay Twice, Theory-Cast, Minus One, Conshafter. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10. All ages.
• Eat It Raw, Verse The Tempest, Deville. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.
• BLOWOFF featuring DJs Bob Mould and Richard Morel. 9:30 club. $12. +21.
• DJ Will Griffin, DJ Sean Haney, special guest DJ Chicus. 18th Street Lounge. Free. +21.
• DJ DK. Cafe Saint-Ex. Free. +21.

Sunday

• Cat Power, Dex Romweber Duo. 9:30 club. SOLD OUT! (So hit up Craigslist.) All ages.
• The Morning Benders, The Submarines (that band from the iPhone commercials!), Dawn Landes. Black Cat Backstage. $12. All ages.
• The Stereofidelics, Whiz Bang Three. The Red & The Black. $6. +21.
• Young Concert Artists Series: Wonny Song, piano. Kennedy Center. $30.