Rilo Kiley Mixtape

Before posting this, I checked it over with the biggest Rilo Kiley fan I know (yep, I take this blog seriously, yo) and we agreed it's pretty airtight. The thing about Rilo Kiley is that they don't really have any bad songs; it just matters what mood you're in. And so there may be one or two songs left out here that might otherwise have been included if not for reasons of length or tone, but that are perfectly great songs on their respective albums.

Because the band's repertoire is so strong, it was pretty easy to choose an even mix from all of their releases, starting with The Initial Friend EP and coming through to 2007's Under The Blacklight. There hasn't been a new release since then (with Blake Sennett and Jenny Lewis each concentrating on separate projects) and the band is currently on indefinite hiatus.

Anyway, the playlist is as follows:

1. The Good That Won't Come Out (The Execution Of All Things)
2. The Frug (The Initial Friend EP)
3. Wires And Waves (Take Offs & Landings)
4. Smoke Detector (Under The Blacklight)
5. Does He Love You? (More Adventurous)
6. My Slumbering Heart (The Execution Of All Things)
7. Don't Deconstruct (Take Offs & Landings)
8. Always (The Initial Friend EP)
9. It's A Hit (More Adventurous)
10. Give A Little Love (Under The Blacklight)
11. Go Ahead (Take Offs & Landings)
12. The Execution Of All Things (The Execution Of All Things)
13. It Just Is (More Adventurous)

The Gamits Mixtape

The Gamits are one of my absolutely favourite bands of all time, and a substantial part of the soundtrack to my teens. They were probably amongst my first exposure to punk, and I did my best to collect everything they had ever recorded, although unfortunately without ever getting a chance to see them live (they were a well kept secret from Colorado, albeit one with an impressively strong fanbase in Japan) before changing direction marginally with a new lineup and 2004's Antidote, and splitting up altogether in 2005.

You can imagine my absolute joy, then, to hear that frontman Chris Fogal had decided to reunite with longtime drummer Forrest Bartosh (also one of my stronger drumming influences) and get The Gamits back together to perform this year, as well as to release some new material in the future. I checked out an awesome new song demo on the band's website, and I'm thoroughly pumped to hear of any new developments, so I set out to make this mixtape in honour of the reformation.

Every Gamits release is well represented here, including the amazing career-retrospective Golden Sometimes and its inclusion of demos and rarities and the recording of the 'last ever' Gamits show in 2005 (a wet dream for an enthusiastic collector like myself). Given the source material, this looks like it could easily become one of my favourite playlists.

1. I Named Her Christina (Come Get Some)
2. Reset (A Small Price To Pay)
3. Audrey's Davenport (Endorsed By You)
4. Born And Raised Afraid (Antidote)
5. Broken In (This Is My Boomstick)
6. Beach Boy (A Small Price To Pay)
7. I Don't Wanna Play No More (Endorsed By You)
8. Somebody's Baby (Golden Sometimes - Demos & Extras)
9. The Shakes (Come Get Some)
10. Hookless (Endorsed By You)
11. How To Escape (Antidote)
12. There's A Place (Come Get Some)
13. Run Along (This Is My Boomstick)
14. Dead Like An Enemy [Live] (Golden Sometimes - The Gamits' Live Show)
15. No Fun At All (A Small Price To Pay)
16. 15 Minutes (Endorsed By You)
17. Last Of The Mullets (Endorsed By You)