Attempting to represent 65 years of music born in New York in a set of compilation CDs is indeed "insane," to quote the liner notes. But what makes this debut volume so fun, and the series so promising, is that canon-making gets trumped by vibe. So you get Duke Ellington ("Take the 'A' Train"), Frankie Lymon ("Why Do Fools Fall in Love?") and John Cage ("Indeterminacy [Part 2]"). But you also get drummer-bandleader Cozy Cole, whose raunchy 1959 instrumental "Bad" nails the city's pre-Sixties swagger; singer/civil rights activist Josh White, a hero of the Greenwich Village folk revival; and electronic-music pioneer Raymond Scott, the Brooklyn-born inventor known for his soundtracks to Looney Tunes cartoons. A 68-page book provides backstories, while the tracks tell tales that roar like subway cars. Bring on Vol. 2.

Listen to Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train":

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“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.