Soundtrack free

Today is Soundtrack Free day. It's the day I celebrate other music. Let me, a film music nut, elighten you about a handful of non-OST albums that I own that you may (or probably won't) like. If you're still reading this, congratulations, I love you.

Leaving Through The Window, Something Corporate
This power-punk-pop group from SoCal's 2002 album sounds as good today as it did back '02. Lead singer/songwriter Andrew McMahon pounds away at the piano as the e-guitar spins gorgeous melodies. Complete with strings arranged and conducted by film composer Paul Buckmaster, this is a sweet, emotional album ("Cavanaugh Park", "Not What It Seems") that will have you lonely nerds pining for a cute young woman. Click through to Amazon.com for sound samples if you dare.

Everything In Transit, Jack's Mannequin
Something Corporate's frontman McMahon's side project, this '05 disc is "Leaving" pushed up a few notches and even more gorgeous. "The Mixed Tape" is the album's first major single and has even appeared on the WB's One Tree Hill... Ah, I found it, a tenuous soundtrack connection! Check out samples of "Dark Blue" and "Miss Delaney" at Amazon.com.

If these are a little soft for your hardcore types, you might like Hawthorne Heights' If Only You Were Lonely and My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. Or not.

Just remember, unlike our beloved film music, you can actually play this stuff in your car with the windows down.