The Get Up Kids Mixtape

This entry deals with one of my all-time favourite bands, who also recently reformed and began putting out new material. Often considered to be among the founding fathers of emotional hardcore punk, and with a handful of the most influential early albums from that subgenre, including Four Minute Mile and Something To Write Home About, The Get Up Kids found a niche writing energetic, raw punk rock in the late 1990s, and began to pursue other sounds and influences as with 2004's gloriously poppy Guilt Show and the acoustic folk of 2002's On A Wire. The Kansas City 5-piece released a handful of EPs and LPs, a rarities compilation and a live record over a ten-year period before ultimately disbanding in 2005. Upon reforming in 2008, they began to record material for a new EP, Simple Science, which came out earlier this year.

This playlist spans the lifespan of the GUK through all their flirtations with different styles, but nonetheless represents a catalogue which remains remarkably cohesive.

1. Last Place You Look (Four Minute Mile)
2. The One You Want (Guilt Show)
3. I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel... (Something To Write Home About)
4. Close To Me (Eudora)
5. Man Of Conviction (Guilt Show)
6. Don't Hate Me [Live] (Live! @ The Granada Theater)
7. Action And Action (Something To Write Home About)
8. Woodson (Woodson)
9. Your Petty Pretty Things (Simple Science)
10. Washington Square Park (Four Minute Mile)
11. Sympathy (Guilt Show)
12. Coming Clean (Four Minute Mile)
13. The Breathing Method (Eudora)
14. Overdue (On A Wire)
15. Shorty (Four Minute Mile)

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)

Augustus Pablo Mixtape

Well, it's summer; and summer means lying out in the sun; and lying out in the sun means listening to some chill dub; and listening to some chill dub means listening to Augustus Pablo. (Wow, what an opening sentence.) I've been thinking about this playlist for a while, and I briefly thought I was going to do a less specific, anything-goes dub mix with numerous artists on it, but then I thought, how can I deny Augustus Pablo the attention? After all, to me, he *is* dub. Maybe later on, I'll do further dub mixes which incorporate more than one producer.

This mix borrows a lot from King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, one of my absolute favourite records, although I've tried to spread the load over a lot of his selections. As with dub in general, there are some prominently recurring musical motifs, in this case the killer 'King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown' / 'Baby I Love You So' / 'Black Gunn' and 'Silent Satta' / 'Satta Dub' melodies. So all that's left is the listing. I hope you enjoy this one:

1. Satta Dub (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown)
2. El Rockers (El Rocker's)
3. 555 Dub Street (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown)
4. East Of The River Nile (East Of The River Nile)
5. Up Warika Hill (Original Rockers)
6. King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown)
7. Silent Satta (El Rocker's)
8. Hot & Cold (The Great Pablo)
9. Memories Of The Ghetto (East Of The River Nile)
10. Sahara Rock (The Essential Augustus Pablo)
11. Skanking Dub (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown)
12. Far East (The Essential Augustus Pablo)
13. Unfinished Melody (East Of The River Nile)
14. Stop There Jah (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown)
15. Black Gunn (El Rocker's)

Tom Waits Mixtape (Mellow)

Here's one I've been meaning to do for a while, but as you'll know if you're even partially familiar with Tom Waits, he's not the easiest of characters to define.

And as with anyone of that ilk, I find myself going through phases related to individual clusters of his previous albums. Sometimes I'll like his early, croonish, folkier output with just him and a piano, and other times I'll be more drawn towards the insane stuff where it sounds instead like he's shouting into a megaphone while banging on a nearby pipe with a wrench. Of course, those are just the two most notable extremes of his remarkably unique body of work.

Judging from the shortlist of songs I made for this mix, it looks like I'm currently in the former of the two aforementioned phases. So this mix has a comparatively gentle feel to it, with the earlier blues-styles from Closing Time, The Heart Of Saturday Night, and Blue Valentine, and even the eerie, dour fairytales of Alice, pulling focus. Maybe when I'm feeling so-inclined, I'll come up with a less reserved selection of alternate Tom Waits songs from the raucous megaphone/wrench camp.

Without further stalling, here's the mellow Tom Waits tracklist:

1. New Coat Of Paint (The Heart Of Saturday Night)
2. Please Call Me, Baby (The Early Years Vol. 2)
3. Alice (Alice)
4. Time (Rain Dogs)
5. All The World Is Green (Blood Money)
6. I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You (Closing Time)
7. Gun Street Girl (Rain Dogs)
8. Blue Valentines (Blue Valentine)
9. The Part You Throw Away (Blood Money)
10. No One Knows I'm Gone (Alice)
11. I Want You (The Early Years Vol. 2)
12. Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis (Blue Valentine)

XTC Mixtape

To be honest, the reason it's taken me so long to get around to uploading the tracklisting for this mixtape, for Swindon New Wavers XTC, is that I haven't been able to find a decent profile photo of the band to go along with it, who seem instead to have all but disappeared from the face of the internet (or, more likely, been drowned under a sea of other sites trying to sell me party pills).

That aside, they cracked out some of the best pop records of the 70s and 80s, combining impressive musical subtlety with comforting pop sensibilities. Needless to say, I immediately regretted not taking their career-retrospective singles collection, Fossil Fuel, away to New Zealand with me, and listening to it again was among my top priorities on my return.

All of the following songs are singles, and so can be found on the aforementioned compilation CD set, and so I haven't listed the original releases after each song like I usually do.

1. This Is Pop
2. The Mayor Of Simpleton
3. Senses Working Overtime
4. Statue Of Liberty
5. Wake Up
6. Are You Receiving Me?
7. The Meeting Place
8. Life Begins At The Hop
9. Grass
10. Science Friction
11. Making Plans For Nigel
12. Dear God
13. The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead

Randy Newman Mixtape

Phew, it's been a while since my last post. I think I'm going to blame me moving back to the UK from New Zealand as the largest contributor in that supposed apathy. Not to mention several months of possibly the most hectic activity it's possible for an unemployed ex-student to get wrapped up with. Yep, that's it. But none of that is relevant here. I've still been formulating plenty of ideas for mixes, and will now kick off this wonderful little renaissance with the equally wonderful Randy Newman.

Not unlike, I'm sure, most people of my generation who have caught on to the brilliance of Mr. Newman, I was first introduced to his work through 'Toy Story'. You know that cracker of an opening tune which has successfully carried the soundtracks of two (and in a few weeks, three) 'Toy Story' films? Well that's not the half of it. Get past the film-score friendly sheen of the his music, and you have a fantastically eccentric sense of humour rarely, if ever, found in mainstream popular music. Randy writes most of his songs from various alternative perspectives: by turn xenophobic, nostalgic, defeatist, optimistic, money-grabbing, misanthropic, aggressively right-wing, and zambianoliangioticaloigisticologphobic (that's the fear of short people, says Google!), and turns the popular song format into something which walks the borderline between fantastical character prose and some sort of exaggerated (though ironic) confessional.

The tracklist goes as follows:

1. It's Money That I Love (Born Again)
2. Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear (Sail Away)
3. Mama Told Me Not To Come (12 Songs)
4. I Think It's Going To Rain Today (Randy Newman)
5. Short People (Little Criminals)
6. My Life Is Good (Trouble In Paradise)
7. Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad (Randy Newman)
8. Birmingham (Good Old Boys)
9. Lonely At The Top (Sail Away)
10. Baltimore (Little Criminals)
11. You Can't Keep A Good Man Down (Randy Newman's Faust)
12. Political Science (Sail Away)
13. I Love L.A. (Trouble In Paradise)
14. Sail Away (Sail Away)
15. I Will Go Sailing No More (Toy Story OST)
16. Let Me Go (Guilty: 30 Years Of Randy Newman)

Hello Saferide Mixtape

Continuing on the Swedish Pop trend I started with my Swedish Playlist a while ago, a more detailed look at one of the artists featured back then: Hello Saferide.

With songs revolving around the universal experiences and sentiments of one Annika Norlin, and pepped up with a catchy hook or two to complete the package, Hello Saferide is very much a product and spokesperson of the confusion of today's young-adult. Her songs draw inspiration from internet stalking and pen-pals, living with OCD, talking in the middle of Seinfeld, and planning to give someone an iPod nano for Christmas, all the while searching for the love of someone who ticks all the boxes.

1. If I Don't Write This Song, Someone I Love Will Die (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
2. I Was Definitely Made For These Times (I Was Definitely Made For These Times CD Single)
3. San Francisco (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
4. 2006 (Would You Let Me Play This EP 10 Times a Day?)
5. I Don't Sleep Well (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
6. I Wonder Who is Like This One (More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide)
7. I Can't Believe It's Not Love! (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
8. The Best Night of Your Life (Would You Let Me Play This EP 10 Times a Day?)
9. Saturday Nights (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
10. Anna (More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide)
11. My Best Friend (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
12. iPod Xmas
13. The Quiz (Would You Let Me Play This EP 10 Times a Day?)
14. Get Sick Soon (Introducing...Hello Saferide)
15. Middle Class (More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide)

M.Ward Mixtape

Phew! It's been a hectic few weeks what with us moving house and going on holiday and all, but I think we're finally settled into a routine. Time to relax, I think. And on that note, here's a mix of good-time, soothing, sepia-toned goodness, courtesy of Mr. Matt Ward.

Today at work I was doing some painting, and since it was just me on my own, I allowed myself to listen to some music so as to avoid going insane from a combination of RSI and solitude. So I listened to all of my M.Ward albums, and it was a really enjoyable way to spend five hours, let alone thinking that I would get paid for it! But while that would be too much M.Ward for a normal person to listen to on any normal day, it made me realise quite how brilliant this man is, and how enchanting his best songs are. And so, as a little preface to this playlist, I'd whole-heartedly recommend grabbing whatever M.Ward albums you might have to hand, particularly Transfiguration of Vincent, as well as End of Amnesia and Post-War (and that's just for starters), and giving them a good old run-through.

That said, the 45-minute introductory dose goes as follows:

1. Rollercoaster (Post-War)
2. Outta My Head (Transfiguration of Vincent)
3. Paul's Song (Transistor Radio)
4. To Go Home (Post-War)
5. You Really Got A Hold On Me (with She & Him, Volume One)
6. Sad, Sad Song (Transfiguration of Vincent)
7. Right in the Head (Post-War)
8. Carolina (End of Amnesia)
9. Vincent O'Brien (Transfiguration of Vincent)
10. Chinese Translation (Post-War)
11. Shangri-La (Hold Time)
12. Involuntary (Transfiguration of Vincent)
13. So Much Water (End of Amnesia)
14. Deep, Dark Well (Transistor Radio)

And for the first time, I'm going to cheat the whole 45-minute rule thing because there are plenty of songs which didn't fit on the playlist, but which still deserve an airing:

• Epistemology (Hold Time)
• Beautiful Car (Duet For Guitars #2)
• From a Pirate Radio Sermon, 1989 (End of Amnesia)
• I'll Be Yr Bird (Transistor Radio)

And I'll leave it at that, before I get carried away...

The Smiths Mixtape

As promised a little earlier, it's a Smiths playlist! Perfect for spending those warm, summer days indoors, and sinking into a solemn teenage slump with your jangle-pop loving Irish-Mancunian mates.

Being a child of the 90s rather than of the 80s, I was a little late in getting my hands on my first Smiths records; and when they did finally begin to find their way into my possession, they didn't arrive with the sensible, chronological order you'd tend to want when newly discovering a band's back-catalogue, but dropped in according to whatever my older sister casually remarked I might like next.

The one advantage to hearing The Queen is Dead first, however, particularly having had no previous exposure to the band that carves such a work of genius, is that it completely revolutionises your ideas about music almost immediately. I vividly remember thinking to myself that this 'Smiths' thing is a big deal, and that I wanted to attack it correctly from the outset. So I transferred the CD from the HMV bag to my CD player, put my big headphones over my head, and laid down on my bed staring at the ceiling (and occasionally flicking through the accompanying booklet for lyrical clarification), giving every song my total attention. As it turns out, that was a pretty significant moment of my adolescence.

As most Smiths fans would tell you, it simply doesn't get any better than The Queen is Dead (although since hearing Strangeways, Here We Come, it's very much been a two-horse race for me), and so listening to the masterwork first may have had a downside to it. Still, alongside Meat is Murder, the truly excellent compilation Louder Than Bombs, and the aforementioned Strangeways, only the rarest Smiths track lacks potency and credibility from an otherwise spotless repertoire (looking at you, 'Golden Lights'). As such, forgive the absence of representation of the band's eponymous debut (or their 'unofficial debut', Hatful of Hollow), but 45-minutes is simply not enough time for the brilliance of The Smiths.

1. I Want the One I Can't Have (Meat is Murder)
2. Still Ill [Live] (Rank)
3. I Started Something I Couldn't Finish (Strangeways, Here We Come)
4. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby (Louder Than Bombs)
5. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (The Queen is Dead)
6. Oscillate Wildly (Louder Than Bombs)
7. A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours (Strangeways, Here We Come)
8. I Know It's Over (The Queen is Dead)
9. Nowhere Fast (Meat is Murder)
10. Is It Really So Strange? (Louder Than Bombs)
11. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before (Strangeways, Here We Come)
12. Ask (Louder Than Bombs)
13. Asleep (Louder Than Bombs)

Incidentally, following my memorable first exposure to The Queen is Dead, I later did the very same thing with all of my Smiths albums in order, listening silently on my bed for over six hours. I recommend it.

Pixies Mixtape

I'm back from Melbourne (which was amazing!), and so I'm revved up and eager to start contributing some more playlists. First up, something appropriately raucous and energetic: Pixies.

I was leafing through a copy of '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die' in Wellington Library this afternoon, and as far as I could tell, every Pixies album was featured (except for possibly Trompe Le Monde, which I feel has always been unduly overshadowed by its older brothers). In a similar vein, I made a Pixies mixtape some weeks back, for which I tried to borrow a little from each one of their albums in succession - even grabbing the great version of 'Hey' featured on the Live at the BBC compilation - so as to illustrate the consistently impressive genius of the alternative Boston four-piece.

Sticking to this site's standard 45-minute 'mixtape' motif, the Pixies nonetheless have ample time to knock out as many as 20 songs, such is the lightning-fast delivery and frenetic fury with which they pound the listeners' ears. Incidentally, this is one of my favourite traits of Black Francis' songwriting; his insistence that a 2-minute track has no less force than a song twice that length (a philosophy about composition he drew, I gather, from Buddy Holly). As you'd expect, the songs featured here also showcase his music's other instantly notable characteristic: visceral and often graphic lyrics portraying sex, violence, abduction, rape, incest, and the supernatural, among other bedtime-reading topics.

A few notes about the selected songs: firstly, I kicked off the mix with 'I'm Amazed', which, aside from being one of my favourites from the back-catalogue of Pixies' disjointed songbook, is also recognisable for its eccentric opening skit ("All I know is that there were rumours..."), something which seems to work equally well as an introduction as it does a mid-album intermission. Following that, the playlist visits several of the band's heaviest numbers ('Rock Music', 'Planet of Sound', 'Tame', 'Something Against You'), interspersed with some cooler breathers (the introductory and final verses to 'Mr. Grieves' and 'Havalina' being the notable rest-periods); my attempt at doing Francis' loud-quiet-louder dynamic some justice.

Finally, I noticed that the songs on this mixtape seemed to come together much more naturally than the tracks on some of my other playlists do. Maybe it's a testament to the unique style of Pixies that means that their songs just sound right at home alongside one another, regardless of whatever album they originally called home, but whatever the reason, it's definitely a lot of fun to listen to.

1. I'm Amazed (Surfer Rosa)
2. Cecilia Ann (Bossanova)
3. Dead (Doolittle)
4. The Holiday Song (Come On Pilgrim EP)
5. Isla de Encanta (Come On Pilgrim EP)
6. Rock Music (Bossanova)
7. Mr. Grieves (Doolittle)
8. Allison (Bossanova)
9. Planet of Sound (Trompe Le Monde)
10. Tame (Doolittle)
11. Wave of Mutilation (Doolittle)
12. River Euphrates (Surfer Rosa)
13. I Bleed (Doolittle)
14. Where is My Mind? (Surfer Rosa)
15. Havalina (Bossanova)
16. Debaser (Doolittle)
17. I've Been Tired (Come On Pilgrim EP)
18. Hey [live] (Pixies at the BBC)
19. Something Against You (Surfer Rosa)
20. Nimrod's Son (Come On Pilgrim EP)

Eels Mixtape

Not too much to say about this one. I've always held Daisies of the Galaxy and Beautiful Freak in high regard (as you can probably tell by the track selection), while Souljacker and Shootenanny! have taken a little longer for me to grasp. Nonetheless, there are plenty of amazing Eels songs to choose from for a playlist, and I like the contrast between E's very delicate utterances and his flat-out rockers, both of which are fully represented here.

1. I Write the B-Sides (Rotten World Blues EP)
2. That's Not Really Funny (Souljacker)
3. Tiger In My Tank (Daisies of the Galaxy)
4. I Like Birds (Daisies of the Galaxy)
5. My Beloved Monster (Beautiful Freak)
6. Your Lucky Day In Hell (Beautiful Freak)
7. It's a Motherfucker (Daisies of the Galaxy)
8. Souljacker, Part II (Souljacker)
9. Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) (Blinking Lights and Other Revelations)
10. The Sound of Fear (Daisies of the Galaxy)
11. Guest List (Beautiful Freak)
12. Jeannie's Diary (Daisies of the Galaxy)
13. Friendly Ghost (Souljacker)
14. Novocaine For the Soul (Beautiful Freak)
15. A Daisy Through Concrete (Daisies of the Galaxy)

Incidentally, the new Eels record, End Times, comes out today.

Morrissey Mixtape

Even though I would say I ultimately prefer songs from The Smiths' canon to the solo output of their former gladioli-wielding, bespectacled frontman, there's no denying that Morrissey's later work is far more interesting to look upon. As an artist who has fallen in and out of public favour multiple times in the two decades since leaving Marr, Rourke, and Joyce behind, and who has consequently made a habit of his own reinvention, his music covers an incredibly varied set of bases, both in terms of instrumentation and genre.

Yet at the same time, a Morrissey song can only be a Morrissey song. Marked by his witty and learned wordplay and intertextuality, injected with his morose worldview and introspective self-obsession, and cherry-topped with his uniquely off-kilter singing style, even the most contrastive of Morrissey's tracks nonetheless come together as one; they unite and take over, if you will.

For the purpose of consistency, then, the first half of this playlist focuses mainly on Steven's most recent renaissance trifecta, You Are the Quarry, Ringleader of the Tormentors, and Years of Refusal, while the latter half shifts back a little earlier to Kill Uncle and Vauxhall and I. There'll also be a Smiths playlist to follow (which works well on the b-side of this cassette).

1. It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small (Swords)
2. How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel? (You Are The Quarry)
3. Something is Squeezing My Skull (Years of Refusal)
4. Irish Blood, English Heart (You Are The Quarry)
5. Hold On To Your Friends (Vauxhall and I)
6. Asian Rut (Kill Uncle) / You're The One For Me, Fatty (Your Arsenal)
7. I Will See You in Far Off Places (Ringleader of the Tormentors)
8. All You Need is Me (Years of Refusal)
9. Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice (Swords)
10. I've Changed My Plea To Guilty (My Love Life [single])
11. I Am Hated For Loving (Vauxhall and I)
12. (I'm) The End of the Family Line (Kill Uncle)
13. I Don't Mind if You Forget Me (Viva Hate)
14. There's a Place in Hell For Me and My Friends (Kill Uncle)

Elliott Smith Mixtape

Another Artist Mixtape; this time, Elliott Smith. The late, great, Portland-based songwriter has probably been my most consistently listened-to artist of the past two years (another artist I discovered, once again, thanks to the soundtrack of The Royal Tenenbaums), and it's not hard to see why. From the minute you first hear his "spiderweb thin" vocal delivery, intricate finger picking guitar style, and his Beatles-esque pop craftsmanship, the endearingly introverted yet uniquely captivating quality of his music hits you with full force.

But at the same time, his influential songwriting, along with that of a previously featured artist, Daniel Johnston, is just as hard to pin down as it would be to replicate. Each of his albums stands out as an entirely separate entity. Their respective sets of songs work together both musically and thematically, showcasing a specific area of Elliott's psyche appropriate to the present stage of his life; early solo recordings made while in Heatmiser, his shift upwards from indie- to major record label, his sudden reception into the mainstream with an Oscar nomination, his ongoing alcoholism, and finally his descent towards suicidal depression. To a fan, any particular song when listened to on its own would conjure up feelings similarly felt with the other songs on the same album, such is their flow and cohesion.

As such, it's hard to get the same flow to a compilation, which has to veer between the quiet, guitar-plucked / drum-brushed, whispery numbers of Roman Candle and Elliott Smith, and those fully-instrumented grandiose songs from Figure 8 and XO which fly with the full effect of Elliott's musicianship. So the songs in this mix are simply my favourites. The ones which, at some time or another in the last two years, I have been completely obsessed with, and which I could listen to forever. As for the arrangement, I tried to make each song lead into the next, but out of the context of their own albums all that usually happens is I'll want to go off and listen to each song again, surrounded by its original counterparts.

1. Between the Bars (Either/Or)
2. Everything Reminds Me of Her (Figure 8)
3. Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands (XO)
4. Memory Lane (From a Basement On the Hill)
5. Whatever (Folk Song in C) (New Moon) / Bottle Up and Explode! (XO)
6. Single File (Elliott Smith) / Wouldn't Mama Be Proud? (Figure 8)
7. Waltz #2 (XO)
8. No Name #2 (Roman Candle)
9. Alphabet Town (Elliott Smith)
10. Somebody That I Used To Know (Figure 8)
11. Angeles (Either/Or)
12. Kiwi Maddog 20/20 (Roman Candle)
13. King's Crossing (From a Basement On the Hill)
14. Son of Sam (Figure 8)
15. I Didn't Understand (XO)

Cat Empire Mixtape

Just a quick post before I go to work, with an Artist Mixtape of the Cat Empire, Australia's answer to the high-flying subgenre of reggae / ska / jazz / funk-fusion.

Although it may seem short, the Cat Empire are renowned for delving into long, apparently improvised breakdowns and bridges, and so their songs often grace the 6-minute mark. As such, at only ten songs this playlist nonetheless reaches the full 45-minutes, along the way showcasing their exceptional talent in world-conscious songwriting and sublime musicianship.

1. The Chariot (The Cat Empire)
2. The Car Song (Two Shoes)
3. One Four Five (The Cat Empire)
4. Saltwater (Two Shoes)
5. Rhyme & Reason (The Sun)
6. The Lost Song (The Cat Empire)
7. Sol y Sombra (Two Shoes)
8. The Wine Song (The Cat Empire)
9. Fishies (So Many Nights)
10. How To Explain? (The Cat Empire)

Daniel Johnston Mixtape

Making a compilation which best surmises DJ's talents / insanity is difficult for several reasons. For one, he has a lot of albums with a LOT of songs, and there is often a distinct sound to each one, particularly those recorded in the 90s and onwards with real...better musicians. To put it another way, smudging together a song recorded as a demo on an old cassette recorder in a basement in Texas in 1985 and a song recorded in a studio on a budget of more than $0 often sounds bad, and accentuates neither songs' best features. Then there are the little 'skits' which occupy about half the total track time on each early album: recordings made of the young Johnston's interactions with family, friends, and his beloved Laurie, not to mention garbled sound effects and child's toys ("the coyote goes...hroooowwwwwww"). The lad was nothing if not a passionate archivist, but they hardly contribute to a cohesive mix.

Furthermore, since Danny's influential music reads almost in biographical harmony with his personal mental health, it's hard not to place his best works simply in chronological order, and let them tell that story on their own. Add to that the fact that even listening to these songs is an experience in itself; you get overwhelmed thinking they are among the most amazing and inspirational, happy, yet sad songs ever written, but not being able to pinpoint quite why. All in all, it's a challenging ordeal.

So this mix is about as exemplary as I could make it, even if it is a little Songs of Pain-heavy. And while it does draw mainly from those pivotal early scrappy recordings about love, loss, (premarital) sex and God, I've included a handful of those more recent tracks where Daniel's haunting voice is somehow sucked to the forefront of a full band ensemble, even though in my mind that is not what Daniel's music is supposed to be. But even without an organised tracklist, each song on its own successfully illustrates the inner workings of a tortured musical genius, someone who was on MTV at least four times.

1. Grievances (Songs of Pain)
2. Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Your Grievances (Yip/Jump Music)
3. I Had Lost My Mind (Don't Be Scared)
4. Like a Monkey in a Zoo (Songs of Pain)
5. Devil Town (1990)
6. Lousy Weekend (Fun)
7. Held the Hand (1990)
8. Wild West Virginia (Songs of Pain)
9. Running Water (Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album)
10. Casper the Friendly Ghost (Yip/Jump Music)
11. Premarital Sex (Songs of Pain)
12. Laurie (Artistic Vice)
13. Crazy Love (Fun)
14. Some Things Last a Long Time (1990)
15. Joy Without Pleasure (Songs of Pain)
16. Walking the Cow (Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album)
17. Go (Respect)
18. True Love Will Find You in the End (1990)

If you have an iPod touch or iPhone, make sure to check Hi, How Are You?, Daniel's own game application.

Weezer Mixtape

This playlist was fun to make as I got to totally ignore the fact that Weezer even existed after 2002. As a result, it leans prominently on their two best (and first) albums, The Blue Album and Pinkerton, while borrowing a few of their later pop-rock scorchers. Best of all, 'Hash Pipe' is nowhere to be found.

This is one of my favourite mixtapes to listen to, since it's almost as good as listening to Pinkerton.

1. Knock-Down Drag-Out (Weezer (The Green Album))
2. Getchoo (Pinkerton)
3. The World Has Turned and Left Me Here (Weezer (The Blue Album))
4. The Good Life (Pinkerton)
5. Holiday (Weezer (The Blue Album))
6. Photograph (Weezer (The Green Album))
7. Dope Nose (Maladroit)
8. El Scorcho (Pinkerton)
9. My Name is Jonas (Weezer (The Blue Album))
10. Why Bother (Pinkerton)
11. Keep Fishin' (Maladroit)
12. Only in Dreams (Weezer (The Blue Album))
13. Across the Sea (Pinkerton)

When googling 'Weezer', I came across this 8-bit covers album. Worth a listen if that's your bag.

Paul Simon Mixtape

First on the chopping block: the legend that is Paul Simon.

I've been something of an admirer of the shorter half of Simon and Garfunkel since childhood, when a cassette copy of Graceland was a permanent resident of my dad's car and would occasionally find its way into the tape deck on road trips to Cambridge. However, it was only after watching Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums in my teens (which is responsible for carving not only a significant portion of my subsequent taste in music, but also perhaps my current worldview), that I began to actively research what is now one of my all-time favourite performers.

The song of his from that particular soundtrack, 'Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard', kicks off the mix, which goes on to chart most of his popular solo tracks as well as one or two hidden gems buried in his oeuvre, before closing on another soundtrack appearance, 'Father & Daughter' from The Wild Thornberrys. As such, there is little room for his work with Art Garfunkel, although I am also a fan of S&G. Nonetheless, this mix is very much The Paul Simon Show.

1. Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard (Paul Simon)
2. You Can Call Me Al (Graceland)
3. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (Still Crazy After All These Years)
4. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Graceland)
5. Something So Right (There Goes Rhymin' Simon)
6. Song About the Moon (Hearts and Bones)
7. Still Crazy After All These Years (Still Crazy After All These Years)
8. Run That Body Down (Paul Simon)
9. The Cool, Cool River (Rhythm of the Saints)
10. Slip Slidin' Away (Greatest Hits: Shining Like a National Guitar)
11. Father and Daughter (Surprise)

So there you have the format of this site. If you check the labels of each blog entry, you'll find the category of the post as well as the genre of its artist(s). I'll try to keep it organised. Keep posted!