Real Party Mix

This is a 'getting ready to go out' party mix I made, and is perfectly architectured to accompany pre-gaming and putting on nice clothes, while dancing around the place like an idiot.

It's short (just over 30 minutes) and to the point:

1. Ratatat - 'Seventeen Years'
2. Girl Talk - 'Hold Up'
3. Justice vs. Wale - 'W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.'
4. Das Racist - 'All Tan Everything'
5. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - 'Let's Make Out'
6. Streetlight Manifesto - 'Linoleum'
7. Sleigh Bells - 'Infinity Guitars'
8. Rjd2 - 'The Horror'
9. The Go! Team - 'The Wrath Of Marcie'

Incidentally, for more mixes, I've made an 8tracks account, which is like this blogspot, but better...since you can actually listen to the music!

It's Winter In My Mind (Winter Playlist)

Just to clarify, it's summer for me right now, and although I'm aware of the particularly harsh winter being encountered by friends and family back in Europe and the States, I made this mix one sunny day when I was feeling a little homesick and remembering winters in Canterbury and Amsterdam.

As a result of that, some of these songs might not actually have anything to do with winter - lyrically speaking - to a third party. But perhaps because of associations or memories they conjure in my mind, they all make me think of the colder months, and so listening to them in sequence is a treat for when I want to feel cosy, until I eventually see another winter.

1. Anna Ternheim - 'I'll Follow You Tonight' (Somebody Outside)
2. Duke Special - 'Ballad of a Broken Man' (Songs From the Deep Forest)
3. Basia Bulat - 'In the Night' (In the Night EP)
4. Sigur Rós - 'Untitled #1 (Vaka) ' (( ))
5. Neko Case - 'Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis' (New Coat of Paint: Songs of Tom Waits)
6. The Reindeer Section - 'The Opening Taste' (Y'all Get Scared Now, Ya Hear!)
7. Madeleine Peyroux - 'Between the Bars' (Careless Love)
8. Bright Eyes - 'Lua' (I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning)
9. The Decemberists - 'Shankhill Butchers' (The Crane Wife)
10. Guggenheim Grotto - 'A Lifetime in Heat' (...Waltzing Alone)
11. Elliott Smith - 'I Didn't Understand' (XO)
12. Death Cab For Cutie - 'I Will Follow You Into the Dark' (Plans)
13. Rilo Kiley - 'Paint's Peeling' (The Execution of All Things)
14. The Pipettes - 'A Winter's Sky' (We Are The Pipettes)
15. Bloc Party - 'So Here We Are' (Silent Alarm)
16. Explosions in the Sky - 'With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept' (Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever)

Cover This! (Cover Versions Playlist)

So here's the first (of what will probably be many) of a particularly lucratively themed playlist category; that of the almighty cover version. These are perhaps my favourite cover songs right now, and I was sparked into making a brief compilation of them by hearing the second song on the list, I Fight Dragons' sweet blip-rock version of Weezer's 'Why Bother?' (first linked to, here).

I jotted these down just before driving up to Auckland last week, and after a little reshuffling - almost by accident - the songlist began to follow a distinctive split between the more rockin' first half, and the downbeat, quieter second half. I quite like that dichotomy, so I left the list as it was. As a result, I'll probably make supplementary lists of cover songs in the future, rather than adding to this particular one.

I've listed the original artists afterwards too. And added credit goes to Self and Teen Heroes who both tick off more than one song from their chosen artist in the same cover. Try to name each song referenced.

1. Self - 'Ana Ng' (Hello Radio: The Songs of They Might Be Giants) (They Might Be Giants)
2. I Fight Dragons - 'Why Bother?' (Weezer (The 8-bit Album)) (Weezer)
3. Ted Leo - 'I'm Looking Through You' (This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute To The Beatles' Rubber Soul) (The Beatles)
4. Teen Heroes - 'Manta Ray' (Where is My Mind?: A Tribute To Pixies) (Pixies)
5. Lily Allen - 'Mr. Blue Sky' (La Musique de Paris Dernière, Vol. 6) (Electric Light Orchestra)
6. OK Go - 'This Will Be Our Year' (Future Soundtrack For America) (The Zombies)
7. Death Cab For Cutie - 'Dream Scream' (The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered) (Daniel Johnston)
8. Mates of State - 'These Days' (Wicker Park OST) (Nico)
9. Basia Bulat - 'Touch the Hem of His Garment' (In the Night EP) (Sam Cooke)
10. Karate - 'Strange Fruit' (In the Fishtank 12) (Billie Holiday)
11. Madeleine Peyroux - 'Between the Bars' (Careless Love) (Elliott Smith)
12. Beck - 'Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime' (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind OST) (The Korgis)

Den Som Läser Detta Är Snygg (Swedish Playlist)

A few years ago I totally got into Swedish music, and as a direct consequence of this sudden and harmless shift in my musical preference, the amount of Swedish music in my collection increased by about 4000%. I had been toying with hand-picking my favourite songs to go onto numerous playlists for some time, but this particular selection is the set I picked for a CD I sent to Emily last year.

It shows off the unique brand of wintery AlternPop-TweeRock that Swedes pull off so well.

1. Hemstad - 'Patrik Sjöberg' (Hemstad)
2. Hello Saferide - 'My Best Friend' (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
3. Maia Hirasawa - 'And I Found This Boy' (Though, I'm Just Me)
4. Laakso - 'Aussie Girl' (I Miss You, I'm Pregnant)
5. Billie the Vision & the Dancers - 'A Beautiful Night In Oslo' (Where the Ocean Meets My Hand)
6. Lasse Lindh - 'Vilse i Det Svarta' (Jag Tyckte Jag Var Glad)
7. Frida Hyvönen - 'Once I Was a Serene Teenaged Child' (Until Death Comes)
8. El Perro del Mar - 'Dog' (El Perro del Mar)
9. Bo Kaspers Orkester - 'Undantag' (Hittills)
10. My darling YOU! - 'LAST4EVER' (The Winter Will Take Us All)
11. Florence Valentine - 'Pokerkväll i Vårby Gård' (Pokerkväll i Vårby Gård)
12. Säkert! - 'Sanningsdan' (Säkert!)
13. Marit Bergman - 'You're With Me' (Baby Dry Your Eye)
14. Jens Lekman - 'You Can Call Me Al [live]' (Radio P3 Session)
15. Håkan Hellström - 'Äntligen På Väg' (Luften Bor i Mina Steg)
16. Anna Ternheim - 'I'll Follow You Tonight' (Somebody Outside)
17. Cardigans - 'Carnival' (Life)

For more, check out the Swedes Please blog, which I've been reading ever since my interest in Swedish music was sparked; it's a veritable treasure trove of all the latest nuggets of wonder from Sweden.