monthly mix

September songs

My monthly mix for September, if you’re interested:

  1. “Early Train” by Lucy Wainwright Roche (feat. Girlyman)
  2. “The Way it Seems to Go” by Rachael Yamagata
  3. “Splitter” by Calexico
  4. “I Wanna Go Away” by the Very Best
  5. “Restless Farewell” by Mark Knopfler
  6. “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night” by Ulver
  7. “Do Wah Doo” by Kate Nash
  8. “American Tune” by Paul Simon
  9. “Lake Marie” by John Prine
  10. “Who” by David Byrne & St. Vincent
  11. “Keep Me in Your Heart” by Warren Zevon
  12. “One Lovely Day” by Citizen Cope
  13. “Stone Rollin’ by Raphael Saadiq
  14. “This Old Porch” by Lyle Lovett
  15. “Think I’m in Love” by Beck
  16. “Wheel Inside the Wheel” by Mary Gauthier
  17. “Your Name Here” by the Dirty Gems
  18. “Blown Away” by Sivert Høyem
  19. “Bleed Like Me” by Garbage
  20. “Sailor & Widow” by Keren Ann
  21. “Storm Across the Sea” by Chuck Prophet
  22. “The Zombie Song” by Stephanie Mabey

August songs

I make a mix of new (to me) music every month. It’s just this thing I do. This was August:

  1. “The Boxer” by Jerry Douglas (feat. Mumford & Sons and Paul Simon)
  2. “That’s the Way it Goes” by George Harrison
  3. “Now” by Mates of State
  4. “Extreme Ways” by Moby
  5. “Lux Aeterna” by Clint Mansell
  6. “Kill Your Heroes” by AWOLNATION
  7. “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons
  8. “When I Write My Master’s Thesis” by John K. Samson
  9. “You Rascal You” by Hanni El Khatib
  10. “Talk a Walk” by Passion Pit
  11. “Follow” by Crystal Fighters
  12. “Settle Down” by Kimbra
  13. “Got You (Where I Want You)” by the Flys
  14. “Perfect Situation” by Weezer
  15. “Dreams” by Taken by Trees
  16. “Dig Gravedigger Dig” by Corb Lund
  17. “Paperbacks With Paragraphs Underlined” by Woodpecker!
  18. “I Was Made for Loving You” by Maria Mena
  19. “Goin’ Down” by the Monkees

Lighten up

If there’s one thing I like about Wednesdays, it’s how much lighter my bag is at the end of the day than at the beginning. Most Tuesdays, including this past one, I work from home, which means taking my laptop home with me every Monday night and returning with it to the office the next day. It’s not ridiculously heavy, even with the battery, but my bag does feel wonderfully lighter at the end of the day.

Also lighter — check out the dismount on that segue! even the Russian judges are impressed! — is my musical mix for July. Only four songs total:

  1. “Guggenheim” by the Ting Tings
  2. “Calabria 2008” by Enur
  3. “When I Write the Book” by Nick Lowe
  4. “Abide With Me” by Emeli Sandé

I think that “Abide With Me,” from this year’s Olympics opening ceremony, is just too beautiful not to share:

NBC, of course, didn’t agree. They cut it out from their (overall pretty lousy) coverage of the opening ceremonies in favor of an interview with Michael Phelps. As I wrote on Twitter: Anyone who could listen to Emeli Sandé’s stunning “Abide With Me” and think, “let’s replace that with Ryan Seacrest” has no soul.

A pretty decent day

Yesterday was pretty average, as far as Mondays go. Nothing spectacular, nothing to write home (or blog) about, but nothing too awful either.

Today, though, was quite pleasant. I worked from home, mostly out on the back deck, and our office closed at 3 pm today for the holiday. Next week, I have to be in the office on Tuesday, but for now I’m just enjoying the really nice weather — and a productive day to boot! — followed by the day off for the 4th of July.

Not much else to report, so maybe I’ll just conclude with my music mix for June. How did it get to be July already?

  1. “I Love It” by Icona Pop
  2. “You Woke Up My Neighborhood” by Billy Bragg
  3. “The Magic Number” by De La Soul
  4. “Mama Don’t” by J.J. Cale
  5. “Slow it Down” by Amy Macdonald
  6. “Fingerprints” by I Am Kloot
  7. “Sparrow and the Wolf” by James Vincent McMorrow
  8. “Mr. Brown” by Zap Mama
  9. “Wayside/Back in Time” by Gillian Welch
  10. “Let’s Get the Show on the Road” by the Michael Stanley Band
  11. “Maybe Not Tonight” by Glen Hansard
  12. “Hot Knife” by Fiona Apple
  13. “Israelites” by Desmond Dekker
  14. “Mickey’s Monkey” by the Miracles
  15. “I’ve Been Accused” by Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons
  16. “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy” by Jack White
  17. “New Romantic” by Laura Marling
  18. “New Lands” by Justice
  19. “A Promise to Keep” by Brandi Carlile
  20. “You Can Get it If You Really Want” by Jimmy Cliff
  21. “Rubber Biscuit” by the Chips
  22. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie

The music of Monday

Here’s a picture of a sunny day. Today was not that. Except when it was. Honestly, the weather was a bit all over the place today, and chillier I expected. It rained, because apparently that’s what it does here now, constantly, but the rain also gave way to bright sunny moments now and again.

That and some e-mails is about as exciting as the day got. So, in lieu of any real content, here’s my music mix for May:

  1. “Darkness” by Leonard Cohen
  2. “Shake the Walls” by Amanda Shires
  3. “New York City Song” by Tanya Tucker
  4. “Change” by Tracy Chapman
  5. “Beecharmer” by Nellie McKay & Cyndi Lauper
  6. “Heard it in a Love Song” by the Marshall Tucker Band
  7. “Albuquerque Lullaby” by Dan Bern
  8. “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” by the Band
  9. “Sure Shot” by the Beastie Boys
  10. “Blood Like Lemonade” by Morcheeba
  11. “New Ceremony” by Dry the River
  12. “Headlights” by Morning Parade
  13. “Leave the Lights On” by Meiko
  14. “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers

Make of it what you will.