monthly mix

Well, that was August

I don’t think there’s any denying that was a Tuesday. Nope, no sir. Definitely a Tuesday.

But since nothing much of interest happened on this Tuesday, I thought I’d just use this opportunity to share my August mix. This is new music, or newly discovered music, or newly rediscovered music that made an impression on me over the course of the month.

  1. “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” by Stevie Wonder
  2. “Brokedown Palace” by Adrienne Young & Little Sadie
  3. “Addicted to Love” by Florence + the Machine
  4. “Robots” by Dan Mangan
  5. “Arabella Angelique” by Grendailla
  6. “Check it Out” by Caspar Babypants
  7. “Tonight Tonight” by Dan Zanes & Friends
  8. “New York City’s Killing Me” by Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs
  9. “Come Undone” by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
  10. “Down on Love” by Sarah Blasko
  11. “One Match” by Sarah Harmer
  12. “Blackbird Through the Dark” by Patrick Park
  13. “Clementine” by Sarah Jaffe
  14. “Stolen Car” by Bruce Springsteen
  15. “Walls (Circus)” by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
  16. “Four Dreams” by Jesca Hoop
  17. “Black Sheep” by Metric
  18. “Movie Star” by Saint Thomas
  19. “Boy” by Ra Ra Riot
  20. “Run to the Hills” by Hellsongs
  21. “Waiting Around to Die” by the Be Good Tanyas
  22. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Emm Gryner
  23. “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse

It’s hard to believe, but until just recently, I thought I wouldn’t have many songs to list here. It’s been a busy couple of weeks, I guess.

I do this — like most everything else I post here — mostly for myself, but as always, if you’re interested in a mix exchange, just let me know.

♪ July, July, July! It never seemed so strange… ♪

Wondering what new, or newly discovered, music I was listening to in July?

  1. “1985 (live)” by Richard Thompson
  2. “21 Guns” from American Idiot (orig. cast recording)
  3. “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
  4. “Welcome Home (the SFWA Song)” by Janis Ian
  5. “Black Winged Bird” by Nina Persson
  6. “Nirvana, by Kurt Cobain” by Drew Danburry
  7. “Creep” by Scala and Kolacny Brothers
  8. “Take It In” by Wye Oak
  9. “Square One” by Tom Petty
  10. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” by Jill Hennessy
  11. “Audience” by Cold War Kids
  12. “Youthless” by Beck
  13. “Stop in the Name of Love” by Toadsuck Symphony
  14. “Holocaust of Giants” by Rasputina
  15. “Call It a Ritual” by Wolf Parade
  16. “Terrible Things” by April Smith and the Great Picture Show

June in song

So, if you’ve been breathlessly waiting for news of what I was listening to last month, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief:

  1. “Love Reign O’er Me” (live) by Bettye LaVette
  2. “Crash Years” by the New Pornographers
  3. “Oh, the Divorces!” by Tracey Thorn
  4. “Monster” by Bronwen Exter
  5. “Freddie’s Dead” by Curtis Mayfield
  6. “Sound and Vision” by David Bowie
  7. “To Travels & Trunks” by Hey Marseilles
  8. “Beautiful People” by the Books
  9. “Black Mirror” by Arcade Fire
  10. “Road Regrets” by Dan Mangan
  11. “C’mon Baby Say Bang Bang” by Jane Vain & The Dark Matter
  12. “Wide-Eyed, Legless” by Laura Veirs
  13. “15 Years” by the Soft City
  14. “The Weakness in Me” by Joan Armatrading
  15. “Counting Back to 1” by Beautiful Small Machines
  16. “Find the Torch, Burn the Plans” by Paul Weller
  17. “Please Don’t Leave Me” by Pink
  18. “Sweet Disposition” by the Temper Trap
  19. “Television” by Baaba Maal
  20. “The Cave” by Mumford & Sons

By the way, my offer from last month still stands: one mix of 10-20 songs for this month’s songs, plus and my “Band Songs” mix.

May Music Madness

What was I listening to in May? Well, there’s this…

  1. “Cheap and Cheerful” by the Kills
  2. “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol
  3. “Change of Time” by Josh Ritter
  4. “No Regrets” by Aesop Rock
  5. “I’ve See it All (live)” by Björk
  6. “Rock Bottom Riser” by Smog
  7. “Wicked Game” by Giant Drag
  8. “I Don’t Need No Doctor” by John Mayer
  9. “Down With the Sickness” by the String Quartet
  10. “Animal Festival” by Stricken City
  11. “Sweet Sister Delia” by the Loves
  12. “It’s Money That Matters” by Randy Newman
  13. “Atomic Power” by Uncle Tupelo
  14. “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” by Pete Seeger
  15. “Which Side Are You On (live)” by Ani DiFranco
  16. “When the Roses Bloom Again” by Sally Timms
  17. “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” by the Pogues

…which is my regular mix of the month. But there’s also this…and be careful, because that way lies madness.

See, it all started a couple of weeks ago with a post at theinferior4 about MGMT’s new song about Brian Eno (named, appropriately enough, “Brian Eno”). Paul Di Filippo called it “A new entry in that small category of rock songs whose subject matter is named fellow rockers.” And, because I am slightly touched in the head when it comes to these things, I decided to go off in search of all the other songs in that category.

I probably should have known better. The last time I got it in my head to do this kind of musical research, I ended up with this crazy covers project. I actually still find it really interesting — lots of songs we don’t think of as covers in fact are — but it was pretty unwieldy as a mix CD to send out to people. But this time the focus seemed narrow enough to keep the final product under four CDs.

Well, almost. I think this probably clocks in at three discs, and even that took some doing.

My mix of “Band Songs” is by no means exhaustive; even at 50 tracks, there are plenty of songs I left out, excised from the final list because I didn’t like them or couldn’t find them, because they name-check but aren’t really about the other artist, or simply because I had way too many songs on there already. There’s a certain line between mix CD and Wikipedia entry, and I was already erring too far on the side of the latter.

And the truth is, I do want to share this, because there’s some really good music on here. It’s a lot of music, to be sure, and maybe a little overwhelming, but for what’s essentially a gimmick run amok, I’m pleased with the final contents of these discs. (Even if I’m equally pleased to be putting this project to bed.)

So here’s the thing. Send me a single mix CD, anywhere from ten to twenty songs, and I’ll send you a copy of all of this, my May mix and “Band Songs.” I like hearing new music, music you think I’ll like or just music that you like. And, at least for the next month, I’ll send you these two mixes in exchange.

What fun is my insanity if I can’t occasionally inflict it on other people?

April’s music

My monthly music mix for April went something like this:

  1. “Frank and Jesse James” by Warren Zevon
  2. “Yellow Haired Girl” by A B & the Sea
  3. “Monkey Man” by the Rolling Stones
  4. “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” by Elvis Costello
  5. “Tainted Love” by My Brightest Diamond
  6. “Bloodbuzz Ohio” by the National
  7. “Santa Monica Dream” by Angus & Julia Stone
  8. “Cleo’s Song” by JBM
  9. “The Killing Moon” by Echo & the Bunnymen
  10. “The Lobster Quadrille” by Franz Ferdinand
  11. “Slow Show” by the National
  12. “Como Uma Nuvem No Céu” by Ana Moura

I wasn’t so sure about including two songs from the National, but they’re from different albums, I liked them both, and I’m pretty much the only person who ever hears these mixes anyway.