Zoe 5 [Dec 2009]

I actually didn't get this to Zoe in time for her birthday in December 2009. I don't remember why but I was probably just being lazy. Listening back to it now, especially in comparison to the previously posted Zoe 2, I think it's fair to say that my tastes have evolved considerably since 2006. Which isn't to say that this mix doesn't have its fair share of instantly like-able tunes ("Distopian Dream Girl", "Temptation" and "Troubles Will be Gone" are all about as catchy as they come) but, unlike older mixes, it also goes in weirder directions with blissful instrumentals ("Hope", "Miami Morning Coming Down") and long spoken word epics ("Street Hassle", "The Three Great Alabama Icons", "End of Radio").

I've since done another mix for her (which I'll likely post sooner or later) which expands on some of the musical ideas explored here. I'm also currently dragging songs into a folder marked "Zoe 7" that I'll begin sorting through come November. I've mentioned it before, but making mixes is one of the ways in which I explore music and learn more about it.

I do hope, of course, that you, my faithful reader(s), find something to like here too.

Also: if you do like something, go buy the record.

Here's the track-list:

01. Lou Reed - "Street Hassle"
02. Built to Spill - "Distopian Dream Girl"
03. Dirty Three - "Hope"
04. New Order - "Temptation"
05. Drive-By Truckers - "The Three Great Alabama Icons"
06. Earth - "Miami Morning Coming Down"
07. The Mountain Goats - "Color in Your Cheeks"
08. Sonic Youth - "Sympathy for the Strawberry"
09. Silkworm - "Ooh La La"
10. Yo La Tengo - "Nowhere Near"
11. Smog - "Bloodflow"
12. Shellac - "End of Radio"
13. The Tallest Man on Earth - "Troubles Will be Gone"

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C1QO1O90

Enjoy.

a new war

a different fight now, warding off the weariness of
age
retreating to your room, stretching out upon the bed,
there’s not much will to move,
it’s near midnight now.

not so long ago your night would just be
beginning, but don’t lament lost youth:
youth was no wonder
either

but now it’s the waiting on death.
it’s not death that’s the problem, it’s the waiting.

you should have been dead decades ago.
the abuse you wreaked on yourself was
enormous and non-ending.
a different fight now, yes, but nothing to
mourn, only to
note.

frankly, it’s even a bit dull waiting on the
blade.

and to think, after I’m gone,
there will be more days for others, other days,
other nights.
dogs walking, trees shaking in
the wind.

I won’t be leaving much.
something to read, maybe.

a wild onion in the gutted
road.

Paris in the dark.

- Charles Bukowski

Stray Marvels: Lifter Puller - "Let's Get Incredible"

As I mentioned in my Hold Steady B-sides post from a few months back, Craig Finn is one of the lyricists I most admire. He's got a striking and original voice, complete with unique phrasing and offbeat imagery; oddly grounded and yet almost more poetic for it. He's never overtly surreal, his characters are exaggerated but remain tangible and realistic, and the streets and landmarks he speaks about are actual places you can go to. Add to that elements of crime fiction, The Replacements, wayward Catholicism and Bruce Springseen and you might begin to get an idea of what Finn---and The Hold Steady---are about.

Lifter Puller (or LFTR PLLR), Finn's first band (which also featured HS guitarist Tad Kubler as bassist on their final album), is a somewhat different beast, but no less interesting. More noisy and post-punk than bar-band, Lifter Puller offers an early peek at Finn as a developing lyricist and frontman. The song I'm posting here could even be read as a mission statement of sorts: a song-length dedication to the people druggies, lowlifes and music fans that make up Finn's vivid world.

I don't know about you, but when Finn sings the line, "Dude looks like Jesus / But sleeveless", I can't help but smile.

Here's the download link:

Lifter Puller - "Let's Get Incredible"

Enjoy.

People Fall Off Buildings Presents: An Introduction to... Built to Spill

"In America / Every puddle / Gasoline rainbow"

"I wanna see movies of my dreams / I wanna see it when you get stoned on a cloudy breezy desert afternoon / I wanna see it untame itself and break its owner / I wanna see it now."

"Without me there's nothing / I'm the only thing that dies / If it came down to your life or mine / I would do the stupid thing / And let you keep on living."

"Every thousand years / This metal sphere / Ten times the size of Jupiter / Floats just a few yards past the earth."

"No one wants to hear / What you dreamt about / Unless you dreamt about them / Don't let that stop you / Tell them anyway / And you can make it up / As you go."

"You thought of everything but some things can't be thought / You thought of everything but one thing you forgot / Is you're wrong / And you better not be angry / And you better not be sad / You better just enjoy the luxury of sympathy / If that's a luxury you have."

"The plan keeps coming up again / The plan means nothing stays the same."

"Funny thing with blood / Try to stand but neither leg is awake / Just this side of love / Is where you'll find / The confidence not to continue."

"You were right when you said / It's a hard rain's gonna fall / You were right when you said / We're still running against the wind / And life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone / You were right when you said / This is the end."

"Yeah, it's strange but what's so strange about that?"

"When I was a kid I saw a light / Floating high above the trees one night / Thought it was an alien / Turned out to be just god."

"And when you know / How few things there are worth knowing / I suppose / Anyone who tries could forget."

"Most of us are wrong / Most of us agree."

"They don't want to think about the other side / Is that grass just greener 'cuz it's fake?"

"It doesn't matter if you're good or smart / Goddamn it / Things fall apart."

Here's the track-list:

01. Nowhere Nothin' Fuckup
02. Car
03. Distopian Dream Girl
04. Randy Described Eternity
05. Made-Up Dreams
06. Velvet Waltz
07. The Plan
08. Else
09. You Were Right
10. Strange
11. Goin' Against Your Mind
12. Traces
13. Wherever You Go
14. Hingsight
15. Things Fall Apart

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U52PC8YM

Enjoy (and share).

Stray Marvels: Joanna Newsom - "Only Skin"

I meant to do a write-up for this before it auto-posted but I forgot to.

Anyway.

This is a great song. In fact, few can match it in terms of scale and pure beauty. Bill Callahan (Smog) even does backups near the end, his voice providing a lovely contrast to Joanna's.

I just hope she doesn't let Andy Samberg guest on her next LP.

Here's the download link:

Joanna Newsom - "Only Skin"

Enjoy.

Let Me Count the Waves

We must not look for poetry in poems.

—Donald Revell

You must not skirt the issue wearing skirts.

You must not duck the bullet using ducks.

You must not face the music with your face.

Headbutting, don’t use your head. Or your butt.

You must not use a house to build a home,

and never look for poetry in poems.

In fact, inject giraffes into your poems.

Let loose the circus monkeys in their skirts.

Explain the nest of wood is not a home

at all, but a blind for shooting wild ducks.

Grab the shotgun by its metrical butt;

aim at your Muse’s quacking, Pringled face.

It’s good we’re talking like this, face to face.

There should be more headbutting over poems.

Citing an 80s brand has its cost but

honors the teenage me, always in skirts,

showing my sister how to Be the Duck

with a potato-chip beak. Take me home,

Mr. Revell. Or make yourself at home

in my postbellum, Reconstruction face—

my gray eyes, my rebel ears, all my ducks

in the row of a defeated mouth. Poems

were once civil. But war has torn my skirts

off at the first ruffle, baring my butt

or as termed in verse, my luminous butt.

Whitman once made a hospital his home.

Emily built a prison of her skirts.

Tigers roamed the sad veldt of Stevens’s face.

That was the old landscape. All the new poems

map the two dimensions of cartoon ducks.

We’re young and green. We’re braces of mallards,

not barrels of fish. Shoot if you must but

Donald, we’re with you. Trying to save poems,

we settle and frame their ramshackle homes.

What is form? Turning art to artifice,

trading pelts for a more durable skirt.

Even urban ducklings deserve a home.

Make way. In the modern: Make way, Buttface.

A poem is coming through, lifting her skirt.

- Sandra Beasley

People Fall Off Buildings Presents: An Introduction to... Earth

Here's the tracklist:

01. A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, Part 1
02. Seven Angels
03. Crooked Axis for String Quartet
04. Raiford (Felon Wind)
05. A Plague of Angels
06. Coda Maestoso in F (Flat) Minor
07. Engine of Ruin
08. Hell's Winter

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FPEVVDTW

Enjoy (and share).

A Few Thoughts On The Upcoming Election

There is, by all accounts, something supremely strange happening in Canada. What a month ago seemed like a pointless election has blossomed into something else entirely: an unprecedented opportunity to radically and permanently change the political landscape of the country that we live in.

From all manner of unexpected places we are hearing news of unimaginable upsets, bizarre turnarounds and shocking defeats. The people who never lose ground are losing it. The people who never gain ground are gaining it. People are starting to get strung out on hope again. It's exciting, and a little weird.

The fact is: there is no longer a clear leader in this race. For the first time in my voting life, no one knows exactly what will happen.

All bets are off.

As young Canadians we have a profound opportunity to make a wide-reaching and lasting impact on the future of our country. If we can manage to shake off our apathy and conquer our indifference then there is simply no imagining the Canada we can build.

You and I. Right now.

Moments like this are exceedingly rare. It is up to us to seize them.

Stray Marvels: Bob Dylan - "Blind Willie McTell"

Blind Willie McTell died in 1959, just a few years before Bob Dylan became an international superstar. Decades later Dylan wrote "Blind Willie McTell", a brilliant tribute to his blues hero. Though the song was recorded during the 1983 sessions for his 22nd album, Infidels, Dylan, for reasons which remain utterly baffling, decided to omit the song from the final album. Thankfully the track was rescued from non-album purgatory and released in 1991 to instant critical acclaim. It exists now as a cherished b-side, arguably Dylan's best song of the 1980s (which isn't actually saying a whole lot). Dylan later went on to record several covers of McTell songs, such as "Delia" and "Broke Down Engine", for his two early 90s covers records, Good As I Been To You (amazing) and World Gone Wrong (equally, if not more, amazing).

Despite hearing this song (and the covers) when I was still a teenager, it wasn't until earlier this year that I finally decided to sit down and listen to some of McTell's original recordings.

More fool me, I assure you. Astonishing stuff.

Thanks, Bob.

Bob Dylan - "Blind Willie McTell"

Enjoy.

Imagining Defeat

She woke me up at dawn,
her suitcase like a little brown dog at her heels.

I sat up and looked out the window
at the snow falling in the stand of blackjack trees.

A bus ticket in her hand.

Then she brought something black up to her mouth,
a plum I thought, but it was an asthma inhaler.

I reached under the bed for my menthols
and she asked if I ever thought of cancer.

Yes, I said, but always as a tree way up ahead
in the distance where it doesn't matter.

And I suppose a dead soul must look back at that tree,
so far behind his wagon where it also doesn't matter

except as a memory of rest or water.

Though to believe any of that, I thought,
you have to accept the premise

that she woke me up at all.

- David Berman

Jesse 2 [April 2007]

When I posted Jesse 5 back in January, I went into (glorious) detail about why and how I make mix CDs, chronicling the process from the moment of inspiration (not wanting to pay for actual gifts) right on through to the finished mix. I also talked about the different ways I approach each mix depending on the personality and tastes of person I'm making it for (without forgetting to pepper in a little of my own idiosyncratic leanings, of course). In doing so, I also explained why every Jesse-mix contained exactly 22 tracks (and just how hard it is to cram that many songs on one 80-minute CD-R). Well, as it turns out, Jesse 2 actually contains only 21 tracks (!) which, you know, pretty much makes my whole struggle for mix-CD uniformity a moot issue.

Sigh. It was a noble ambition, nonetheless.

Regardless, Jesse 2 is an excellent mix. I know I say that about every mix I post but, well... why wouldn't I be biased? The thing I really love about making mixes for Jesse is that I get to throw unity completely out the window and just cram a wildly diverse roster of artists onto one track-list, creating some fun juxtapositions along the way. From electronica and punk rock to folk and hip hop, Jesse-mixes tend to have a little bit of everything that makes music great.

I know, I know. Lucky you.

Oh, and side-note: today is actually Jesse Leclerc's 27th birthday. Please wish him well. He especially loves it when people post sappy messages all over his facebook wall.

So get on that.

Here's the track-list:

01. Thom Yorke - "Black Swan"
02. Rancid - "Nihilism"
03. M.I.A. - "URAQT"
04. Bob Dylan - "Most of the Time"
05. Islands - "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby"
06. The Hold Steady - "Cattle and the Creeping Things"
07. Xiu Xiu - "Bishop, CA"
08. Neutral Milk Hotel - "The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1"
09. Mission of Burma - "Nancy Reagan's Head"
10. Sunset Rubdown - "Three Colours"
11. Clipse [ft. Pharell] - "Mr. Me Too"
12. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - "Toby, Take a Bow"
13. The Velvet Underground - "Venus in Furs"
14. Modest Mouse - "Custom Concern"
15. Fiona Apple - "Parting Gift"
16. TV on the Radio - "Staring at the Sun"
17. The Clash - "Lose This Skin"
18. Menomena - "Muscle n' Flo"
19. Califone - "A Chinese Actor"
20. Junior Boys - "So This is Goodbye"
21. M. Ward - "To Go Home"

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D72IIC09

Enjoy (and share).

Video Void: Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe in Anything"

The first Wolf Parade album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, is a real wonder. It's one of those great rock albums that somehow manages to simultaneously sound both classic and forward-thinking. Along with "Shine a Light", "I'll Believe in Anything" is the album centerpiece. Spencer Krug is just a flat-out brilliant songwriter, and it's incredible that even here, on his first album, he's playing at the very top of his game. Most bands take a while to develop a sound and style of their own, but Krug and his cohorts set a high watermark with this release that they never quite managed to reach again.

I'm not really sure what, if anything, this video has to do with the song, but it's a lot of fun nonetheless. Despite seeming humorous at first, the clip ends on a melancholic note that, if not lyrically relevant, matches the longing mood of the song. I really love the cannon duel at the end, which reminds me a bit of Barry Lyndon (but with cannons instead of pistols, obviously). I'm not sure where it was filmed (nor can I seem to find it out via a brief internet search) but, well, it's all surprisingly legit-looking, which just makes the whole affair even more surreal.

Plus: cool wigs.

Here's hoping that their recently announced "indefinite hiatus" isn't actually code for "broken up" as many suspect.

Enjoy.

People Fall Off Buildings Presents: An Introduction to... Spoon

"I had a feeling from the start of it / You could let me go if you wanted to."

"Outside between the bands / Everything comes back out / It's hard to put down / What you can't hold back / And this is like being alive / It flows right out of your mouth.

"I'm just a user / I don't make any of this stuff."

"You'll know by the look on their faces / When they pass you / You've been dropped off on the Texas highway."

"Don't want to be your victim for life / Don't want your exclusive right / I just want you to change my life / Change my life."

"I go to sleep alone / But think that you're next to me."

"One day it'll take / And they'll start to make / Shirts that fit right / Til then I suppose / I still got Dad's clothes / And that's alright."

"We go through all the same lines / Or sell out to appease / But go to sleep in a bed of lies / I made my own more than once or twice."

"We got out in stormy weather / We rarely practice discern / We make love to some weird sin / We seek out the taciturn."

"Religion don't mean a thing / It's just another way to be right wing."

"We could go kick down some doors together / Stay out til morning / Sharp as knives / The new war will get you / Will not protect you / But I will be there with you when you turn out the light."

"Now all I need is a crew / One that can act as if / One that can slay on cue / And sneeze and sniff / Uh-huh, alright / I'm going back to the water / Been landlocked too long."

"When I turn my feelings on / I turn my feelings on inside / Feel like I'm gonna ignite / I saw them stars go off / I saw them stars go off at night / And they're looking alright."

"Clubs and sticks and bats and balls / For nuclear dicks with their dialect drawls / That come from a parking lot town / Where nothing’ll live in the sun."

"I had a nightmare / Nothing could be put back together."

"I wanna forget how convention fits / But can I get out from under it / Can I cut it out of me / It can’t all be wedding cake / It can’t all be boiled away / I try but I can’t let go of it / Can’t let go of it, nuh uh."

"All of the people you used to run into but never do now / They took off for the mystery zone."

"I know nothing was planned, you just can’t help yourself / Some people are so easily shuffled and dealt / If there was only one of us you truly felt / We’re getting your all and it feels real good / But only briefly like high school poppers would / Where you lose a bit of yourself."

Here's the track-list:

01. All the Negative Have Been Destroyed
02. Waiting for the Kid to Come Out
03. Car Radio
04. Advance Cassette
05. Change My Life
06. Everything Hits at Once
07. The Fitted Shirt
08. Anything You Want
09. The Way We Get By
10. Jonathon Fisk
11. Paper Tiger
12. The Beast and Dragon, Adored
13. I Turn My Camera On
14. Don't Make Me a Target
15. The Ghost of You Lingers
16. The Underdog
17. The Mystery Zone
18. Written in Reverse

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V0N5DE6C

Enjoy (and share).

All My Pretty Ones

Father, this year’s jinx rides us apart

where you followed our mother to her cold slumber;

a second shock boiling its stone to your heart,

leaving me here to shuffle and disencumber

you from the residence you could not afford:

a gold key, your half of a woolen mill,

twenty suits from Dunne’s, an English Ford,

the love and legal verbiage of another will,

boxes of pictures of people I do not know.

I touch their cardboard faces. They must go.

But the eyes, as thick as wood in this album,

hold me. I stop here, where a small boy

waits in a ruffled dress for someone to come ...

for this soldier who holds his bugle like a toy

or for this velvet lady who cannot smile.

Is this your father’s father, this commodore

in a mailman suit? My father, time meanwhile

has made it unimportant who you are looking for.

I’ll never know what these faces are all about.

I lock them into their book and throw them out.

This is the yellow scrapbook that you began

the year I was born; as crackling now and wrinkly

as tobacco leaves: clippings where Hoover outran

the Democrats, wiggling his dry finger at me

and Prohibition; news where the Hindenburg went

down and recent years where you went flush

on war. This year, solvent but sick, you meant

to marry that pretty widow in a one-month rush.

But before you had that second chance, I cried

on your fat shoulder. Three days later you died.

These are the snapshots of marriage, stopped in places.

Side by side at the rail toward Nassau now;

here, with the winner’s cup at the speedboat races,

here, in tails at the Cotillion, you take a bow,

here, by our kennel of dogs with their pink eyes,

running like show-bred pigs in their chain-link pen;

here, at the horseshow where my sister wins a prize;

and here, standing like a duke among groups of men.

Now I fold you down, my drunkard, my navigator,

my first lost keeper, to love or look at later.

I hold a five-year diary that my mother kept

for three years, telling all she does not say

of your alcoholic tendency. You overslept,

she writes. My God, father, each Christmas Day

with your blood, will I drink down your glass

of wine? The diary of your hurly-burly years

goes to my shelf to wait for my age to pass.

Only in this hoarded span will love persevere.

Whether you are pretty or not, I outlive you,

bend down my strange face to yours and forgive you.

- Anne Sexton

Margaret [Early 2007]

My friend Margaret isn't really that into pop music. She's a composer, so she's more into compositions and string quartets and atonality and other weird things like that. You know, highbrow stuff. I seem to recall her thinking that James' Best Songs of 2007 was a good workout mix but, generally speaking, we're both into fairly different music. She can write a mean string arrangement, though, which might come in handy (for me) somewhere down the line. And, even though she's friendly and nice, she writes some scary-sounding stuff, which also works out well for me, given my recent fondness for minor-keys and drone notes.

This is mix I made for her a few years ago---I'm guessing around early 2007, but I can't really remember. Margaret makes me mixes sometimes too. Mostly experimental compositions, sound collages, bird noises, treated instruments. Stuff like that. I actually hope to post one or two of them in the future (with her as-of-yet unreceived permission, of course). I think it's a good idea for artists to step away from what they know and explore other, less-familiar styles and ideas. I imagine Margaret feels the same way, at least to some extent. I doubt either of us will be switching teams anytime soon, though.

Rock and roll forever.

Here's the tracklist:

01. TV on the Radio - "Tonight"
02. Modest Mouse - "Lives"
03. Bright Eyes - "Hot Knives"
04. Liars - "Drum Gets a Glimpse"
05. Bloc Party - "Compliments"
06. Deerhoof - "Matchbook Seeks Maniac"
07. Spoon - "Chicago at Night"
08. Bjork - "Alarm Call"
09. Herman Dune - "My Friends Kill My Folks"
10. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - "Roberta C"
11. David Bowie - "Everyone Says 'Hi'"
12. Thom Yorke - "Harrowdown Hill"
13. Broken Social Scene - "I'm Still Your Fag"
14. Xiu Xiu - "Ceremony"
15. Pink Floyd - "Brain Damage"
16. Frog Eyes - "Bushels"
17. Rock Plaza Central - "We've Got a Lot to Be Glad For"

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P35LSHR2

Enjoy (and share).

Stray Marvels: Operation Ivy - "Missionary"

Back in September, I went to a wedding in Timmins (hometown of country-pop superstar Shania Twain) with my girlfriend and her parents. I hadn't met any of this side of the family before (including the soon-to-be married couple) but all were very pleasant and welcoming. To make a long story short: the service went well, the food was good, and before I knew it we were back in the car for our 9-hour return trip to Toronto.

Fast forward to a week or two ago when we received a letter informing us that the recently married couple was intending to sell off all their possessions, leave their comforts and dedicate their lives to spreading the word of God in Mali (an African country where the population is already 90% Muslim). The letter ends by asking for donations to help support the trek.

When I heard the news this song immediately popped into my head. It sort of sums up my problems with missionary work more eloquently than I ever could.

Operation Ivy - "Missionary"

Enjoy.

Video Void: Portishead - "Only You" [Dir. Chris Cunningham]

If I were to make a list of the music video directors I would most like to work with, Chris Cunningham would definitely rank highly. Granted, his style probably wouldn't mesh too well with my more upbeat, lyric-heavy alt-country-folk-rock band, but I know for certain he would be a good match for my other, darker pursuits.

Ah, the dreams we dream...

Cunningham has made some great videos over the years. In fact, this probably isn't even my favourite clip of his. Which isn't to say that I don't think it's stunning, I do, only that he has several videos of equal or greater genius. Still, the underwater effect employed here is such an incredible idea, and really compliments the haunted nature of Portishead's sound. Apparently he had Beth Gibbons sing the song in a water tank, slowed the whole thing down, and then digitally inserted the shots into a darkened alley, adding a surreal and sinister overtone to an already suffocating clip.

Plus: creepy dancing boy.

Enjoy.

People Fall Off Buildings Presents: An Introduction to... Smog

"Anyone who's ever had a hole in the heart / Knows how hard it is to start a new day."

"Well, you're a wild horse / On a collision course / With the sun."

"I'll never be a Bowie / I'll never be an Eno / I'll only ever be a Gary Numan / I'll never be a rock and roll saint."

"When I was seven / My father said to me / 'But you can't swim' / And I've never dreamed of the sea again."

"Prince alone in the studio / It's three a.m. / Prince hasn't eaten in eighteen hours / Dinner's burned on the stove / But Prince / He doesn't even know."

"Well I rode out to the ocean / And the water looked like tarnished gold / I rode out on a broken horse / Who told me she'd never felt so old."

"All your bridges and bras / Your cotton / And gauze / All your buckles and straps / Releases and traps / All your screws / And false nails / Oriental winks / And Egyptian veils."

"What cries home / Where cries from / A blood red bird lies in the woods / Weeping into dead leaves / With wing torn and jutting bone."

"Jean jacket and tie / Feel like such a lie / When I go to your house / I feel like I'm / Casing the joint / In the grocery store / In line behind a mother and a child / I'm going to take take that child."

"I lay back in the tall grass / And let the ants cover me / I let the jets fly / Not wishing for their destruction / Born to black in a perfect blue sky."

"And I swore I'd never lay like a log / Bark like a dog / I was a teenage smog / Sewn to the sky."

"I was raised in a pit of snakes / Blink your eyes / I was raised on cake / I couldn't memorize a century of slang / Or learn to tell the same story again and again and again."

"I route for the underdog / No matter who they are / Like the bank-robber / In the getaway car."

"And when winter comes / We'll borrow some / From the nearest washing line / And when summer comes / It's almost impossible / Not to have a good time."

"Oh god, can you feel the sun on your back? / Oh god, can you see your shadow, inky black / On the sand? / Oh god, can you hear the saltwater drying on your skin? / Oh god, can you feel my heart beating in my tongue?"

"We are far from flowers / Cut and dried / So let us thrive, let us thrive / Let us thrive, let us thrive / Just like the weeds / We curse sometimes."

"I saw a gold ring / At the bottom of the river / Glinting at my foolish heart / So my foolish heart / Had to go diving / Diving, diving, diving / Into the murk."

Here's the track-list:

01. Hole in the Heart
02. Chosen One
03. A Hit
04. Bathysphere
05. Prince Alone in the Studio
06. I Break Horses
07. All Your Women Things
08. Blood Red Bird
09. Ex-Con
10. Held
11. Teenage Spaceship
12. Hit the Ground Running
13. Justice Aversion
14. The Hard Road
15. Permanent Smile
16. Our Anniversary
17. Rock Bottom Riser

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VJQKZ1CJ

Enjoy (and share).

To the Harbormaster

I wanted to be sure to reach you;

though my ship was on the way it got caught

in some moorings. I am always tying up

and then deciding to depart. In storms and

at sunset, with the metallic coils of the tide

around my fathomless arms, I am unable

to understand the forms of my vanity

or I am hard alee with my Polish rudder

in my hand and the sun sinking. To

you I offer my hull and the tattered cordage

of my will. The terrible channels where

the wind drives me against the brown lips

of the reeds are not all behind me. Yet

I trust the sanity of my vessel; and

if it sinks, it may well be in answer

to the reasoning of the eternal voices,

the waves which have kept me from reaching you.

- Frank O'Hara

Zoe 2 [December 2006]

This is by far the oldest mix I've posted so far. It's also one of my favourites. Like my friend Jesse (whose Jesse 5 mix I posted a while back), Zoe is the other person I make birthday mix CDs for instead of giving actual gifts. Not that I think either of them mind. In fact, mix CDs aside, I can be a pretty mediocre gift-giver, so it's really a win-win for everyone involved.

That being said, if you want to be added to the birthday-mix-in-lieu-of-real-present list, just let me know. I'm more than happy to accommodate.

What I actually remember most about this mix is that, not long after I gave it to her, she requested another copy. Why? Because she lent it to a friend who, the story goes, loved it so much that she refused to return it. Which, despite being kind of a shitty thing to do friend-wise, was a pretty nice compliment for me.

Listening to it now, I'm mostly happy with it, though I'm not certain why I thought putting a "Love Will Tear Us Apart" cover on there was good idea (even one performed by a decent band like Calexico). Note to aspiring mix-masters: covers are cool (the weirder/rarer the better), covers of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (and, while we're on it, "Hallelujah") are, well... considerably less cool.

Also: remember Peter, Bjorn and John? Me neither. But they were pretty popular for about a minute there. I actually saw them open for Depeche Mode a few years ago (how I ended up there is a story for another blog-post).

One final note: I have never heard any other songs by Bound Stems but I think "Western Biographic" is pretty damn sweet.

Here's the track-list:

01. Swan Lake - "The Freedom"
02. TV on the Radio - "Snakes and Martyrs"
03. Band of Horses - "The Funeral"
04. Spoon - "Don't Let It Get You Down"
05. Joanna Newsom - "Peach, Plum, Pear"
06. Califone - "Our Kitten Sees Ghosts"
07. Bound Stems - "Western Biographic"
08. Modest Mouse - "Black Cadillacs"
09. Calexico - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
10. Herman Dune- "When the Water Gets Cold & Freezes on the Lake"
11. The Hold Steady - "You Can Make Him Like You"
12. Sleater-Kinney - "Entertain"
13. The Thermals - "I Hold the Sound"
14. Sunset Rubdown - "The Empty Threats of Little Lord"
15. Peter, Bjorn and John - "Objects of My Affection"

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U26PIO47

Enjoy (and share).

People Fall Off Buildings Presents: An Introduction to... Silver Jews

"On the last day of your life / Don't forget to die."

"There is a house in New Orleans / Not the one you've heard about / I'm talking about another house."

"O Dallas you shine with an evil light / Don't you know that God stays up all night?"

"Boy wants a car from his Dad / Dad says, first you gotta cut that hair / Boy says, hey Dad Jesus had long hair / And Dad says / That's right son but Jesus walked everywhere."

"All houses dream in blueprints / Our houses dream so hard / Outside you can see my shoeprints / I've been dreaming in your yard."

"So if you don't want me / I promise not to linger / But before I go I gotta ask you dear about the tan line on your ring finger."

"I've got two tickets to a midnight execution / We'll hitchhike our way from Odessa to Houston / And when they turn on the chair / Something's added to the air / When they turn on the chair / Something's added to the air / Forever."

"Sometimes I feel like I'm watching the world / And the world isn't watching me back / But when I see you, I know I'm in it too / The waves come in and the waves go back / The kids in the corner all covered in dirt / Caught trespassing under the moon / My father came in from wherever he'd been / And kicked my shit all over the room."

"Grass grows in the icebox / The year ends in the next room / It is autumn and my camouflage is dying / Instead of time there will be lateness / And let forever be delayed."

"And if we're like plug-in reindeer / Whose cords can't stretch far enough to fly."

"He bought a little land with the money from the settlement / And he even bought the truck that had hit him that day / He touched the part where the metal was bent / And if you were there you would hear him say."

"You know Louisville is death / We've got to up and move / Because the dead do not improve."

"When I was summoned to the phone / I knew in my bones that you had died alone."

"I'm gonna change the pattern of the stars / I'd like to horsewhip all these VCRs / Screw the soft rock and the salad bars / Let's turn our backs on all the movie stars."

"So you wanna build an altar on a summer night / You wanna smoke the gel off a fentanyl patch / Aincha heard the news / Adam and Eve were Jews / And I always loved you to the max."

"I've been working at the airport bar / It's like Christmas in a submarine."

"I saw God's shadow on this world"

"You got Tennessee tendencies / And chemical dependencies / You make the same old jokes and malaprops on cue."

Here's the track-list:

01. Advice to the Graduate
02. New Orleans
03. Dallas
04. The Frontier Index
05. Pretty Eyes
06. Random Rules
07. Smith & Jones Forever
08. Blue Arrangements
09. The Wild Kindness
10. Room Games & Diamond Rain
11. I Remember Me
12. Tennessee
13. Death of an Heir of Sorrows
14. Long Long Gone
15. Punks in the Beerlight
16. I'm Getting Back into Getting Back into You
17. There Is a Place
18. Suffering Jukebox

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TMLQKWAU

Enjoy (and share).

Theology

"No, the serpent did not
Seduce Eve to the apple.
All that's simply
Corruption of the facts.

Adam ate the apple.
Eve ate Adam.
The serpent ate Eve.
This is the dark intestine.

The serpent, meanwhile,
Sleeps his meal off in Paradise -
Smiling to hear
God's querulous calling."

- Ted Hughes

James' Best Songs Of 2007

Since my recent blog revival (and subsequent return to music-blog stardom), I've spent a lot of time trolling through bulky CD binders (remember those?), scouring hard drives (both internal and external) and raiding my friend's personal collections, all in search of old (and, in some cases, long forgotten) James-mixes. I've found some interesting stuff---much of which I will be posting in the near-future---but the real treat has been going back and re-listening to mix CDs I made years ago, even if some of them have aged better than others.

Another plus: I get to create brand new iPod-ready artwork for all my pre-2008 mixes. Because, really, who wants to stare at those damned beamed quarter notes?

Today I'm posting what is probably my personal favourite of the James' Best Songs of year-end mixes, James Best Songs of 2007. Why's it so great? Well, even though I'm not a believer in "bad" years when it comes to music (name me any year post-1964 and I'll name you ten great record from it), I do think that, for whatever reason, some years wind up being better than others (subjectively speaking, of course). Perhaps it's luck, or maybe some kind of karmic convergence, or possibly a large-scale record industry conspiracy... who knows?

Either way, it's hard to deny that 2007 ruled hard.

Hell, I can still remember the child-like euphoria I felt waking up at 4am on a Wednesday morning to download and listen to In Rainbows (which also meant having to skip my 9:30am class). I can't recall ever being so excited for a record (or as blown away by how said record was distributed, with only ten days notice, no less) and, as groggy and sleep-deprived as I was, I was not disappointed. The quality of the album also made me feel a lot better about dropping £40 on the deluxe discbox edition (which, of course, I chose to pre-order before listening to the record).

Kudos, Radiohead, kudos.

If that wasn't enough, "All My Friends" and "Paper Planes" were released, easily two of the greatest songs of the decade. Add to that great records from The National (whom I first heard in 2007 and who have since become mega-famous), Spoon, Arcade Fire, Iron & Wine and Liars, and you've got a year in music which is tough to beat.

That doesn't mean, of course, that 2008, 2009, and 2010 weren't also, musically-speaking, great years (not to mention great year-end mixes); they absolutely were.

But 2007? Forget about it.

Here's the track-list:

01. LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends" [from Sound of Silver]
02. Arcade Fire - "Keep the Car Running" [from Neon Bible]
03. Joanna Newsom - "Colleen" [from Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band]
04. Battles - "Atlas" [from Mirrored]
05. Spoon - "The Ghost of You Lingers" [from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga]
06. Kanye West - "Can't Tell Me Nothing" [from Graduation]
07. Feist - "I Feel It All" [from The Reminder]
08. Sunset Rubdown - "The Taming of the Hands That Came back to Life" [from Random Spirit Lover]
09. Justice - "D.A.N.C.E." [from †]
10. Black Lips - "Veni Vidi Vicious" [from Good Bad Not Evil]
11. Burial - "Archangel" [from Burial]
12. The National - "Mistaken for Strangers" [from Boxer]
13. Animal Collective - "Peacebone" [from Strawberry Jam]
14. M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" [from Kala]
15. Liars - "Sailing to Byzantium" [from Liars]
16. Iron & Wine - "Boy with a Coin" [from The Shepherd's Dog]
17. Radiohead - "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" [from In Rainbows]

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F4K1ZMTY

Enjoy (and share).

MDMA Mix [March 2010]

I admit it, this mix probably doesn't work all that well as a soundtrack to an MDMA-trip. It's not that I'm against chemicals or anything---I know lots of people who use drugs for recreation without ruining their lives, becoming addicts or committing heinous crimes; I just feel that I'm much better suited to making mixes for drugs I'm actually partial to (like my previously posted Stoner Night Mix, for example).

Which isn't to say that the songs on here are bad, either. They are, quite obviously, wicked. Again, they're just maybe not that well-suited to an MDMA-trip, which is more of an uptempo, optimistic (and, usually, just plain sappy) affair. So, for those of you who dig the MDMA-vibe, I'm sorry if I got your hopes up (but don't worry, my club-ready New Order introductory mix is coming soon). I did honestly set out without the intent of making an MDMA-friendly mix (after being asked to do so by some friends) but, looking back on it now, I think it got away from me.

Oh well.

For the rest of my loyal readers (all seven of you!), here's another James-approved (and, it must therefore be reasoned, totally great) collections of songs.

Here's the track-list:

01. Slint - "Breadcrumb Trail"
02. Spoon - "The Beast and Dragon, Adored"
03. Neil Young - "Danger Bird"
04. Portishead - "The Rip"
05. TV on the Radio - "King Eternal"
06. Bob Dylan - "Jim Jones"
07. Frog Eyes - "One in Six Children Will Flee in Boats"
08. Charlotte Gainsbourg - "Heaven Can Wait (ft. Beck)"
09. Smog - "The Hard Road"
10. Sonic Youth - "Pipeline/Kill Time"
11. Destroyer - "The Bad Arts"
12. New Order - "The Him"
13. The Walkmen - "Wake Up"
14. The Futureheads - "Hounds of Love"
15. Woods - "Born to Lose"
16. Bob Dylan - "Talkin' World War III Blues"
17. Built To Spill - "Distopian Dream Girl"
18. Gil Scott-Heron - "New York is Killing Me"
19. The National - "Theory of the Crows"
20. Joy Division - "Atmosphere"
21. Rock Plaza Central - "Dear Don, There are Two Eight O'clocks in the Course of a Day"
22. Radiohead - "Talk Show Host"
23. Love - "You Set The Scene"
24. The Mountain Goats - "Pale Green Things"
25. Anne Sexton - "All My Pretty Ones"
26. Dead Man's Bones - "Pa Pa Power"
27. Guided by Voices - "Always Crush Me"
28. Liars - "Goodnight Everything"
29. Dinosaur Jr. - "Tarpit"
30. Johnny Cash - "Let the Train Blow the Whistle"
31. Lifter Puller - "La Quereria"
32. Modest Mouse - "Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Positive/Negative)"

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L18UHWRC

Enjoy (and share).

Stray Marvels: Built To Spill - "Cortez The Killer"

Ah... the weekend at last.

Let's start this one right:

Built to Spill - Cortez the Killer

Also: if you happen to be looking for some good beer to drink, why not check out my friends Bob's blog, appropriately titled Bob's Beer Blog.

Enjoy (and keep warm).

The Hold Steady - Desperate Pageant: B-sides & Rarities

Update: after the fall of Megaupload, all my blog links went dead. Since there's been demand, though, I re-uploaded this one. I do remain adamant, however, that the band should be issuing this collection officially because these songs deserve a proper release.

***

A song without an album is a funny thing. Many listeners assume---sometimes correctly, sometimes not---that the non-album track must have been discarded (or, at least, hidden away) for a reason. After all, why would any band sentence a song to a life of scarcity and fan-only obscurity if it were truly great? Or even very good? Bad songs have to go somewhere, right?

Right?

Well, maybe... sometimes.

Though I've certainly heard my fair share of lackluster tunes released as B-sides or as bonus tracks tacked onto the album proper, I've also come across quite a few hidden gems that more than justified sifting through all that sonic refuse. On rare occasions, I've even come across what can only be described as a treasure trove of album-free brilliance. Maybe it has something to do with talent (or a lack thereof), or else maybe some bands are simply less concerned with quality-control that others. Regardless, is there anything better (for a music fan, anyway) than finding out your favorite band has over an hour's worth of non-album material that is as good, if not better, than much of their LP-based output? It's a rare thing, sure, and often requires quite a bit of online crate-digging on behalf of the fan, but some bands truly do reward the effort.

Which brings us the The Hold Steady.

People who know me personally know how near and dear this band is to my heart. As a fan of lyric-heavy music, Craig Finn is something of an idol; a completely original and staggeringly inventive voice in a world that favours sing-song platitudes and overly-sentimentalized cliches. His densely woven, acutely detailed tales of degradation and redemption in the American Midwest sound like nothing before them. And yet, with the Hold Steady backing him, Finn's speak-sing-yelp mutates into something strangely familiar, traditional but somehow totally unique. Like classic rock from the future. For many, especially those who didn't grow up in the same sort of drug-addled chaos and druken confusion that Finn so loves to chronicle, The Hold Steady never really clicks. But, for me (and, I suspect, the many people I've introduced the band to who have grown to love them just as dearly) The Hold Steady is that band. The one where the singer isn't just singing, he's singing to you.

I guess it's like Finn says, "certain songs just get scratched into our souls."

The collection I'm positing here took me around four months to finish and contains every non-album studio track released prior to their latest and, sadly, weakest (though still pretty good) album Heaven Is Whenever. I've tried to arrange the songs as chronologically as possible, in order to preserve context (though some thematic adjustments were made). Though I plan to do a Hold Steady introductory mix at some point in the future, this compilation serves as a excellent summary of their style and progression over the course of their first four albums. In fact, I would easily rank this collection, which I have taken the liberty of dubbing Desperate Pageant: B-sides and Rarities, above at least two (and perhaps more) of their actual LPs, such is the quality on display here.

I would also like to thank the online Hold Steady community for helping me, both directly and indirectly, to complete this compilation. Some of these songs were actually e-mailed to me by other fans and are, generally speaking, impossible to find online, legally or otherwise.

Please, if you like the band, go out and buy their records or, at the very least, go and see them live. I assure you that very few bands are as compelling a live act as The Hold Steady.

Here's the tracklist.

01. Milkcrate Mosh
02. Hot Fries
03. Curves & Nerves
04. Modesto Is Not That Sweet
05. You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came To Dance With)
06. 212 Margarita
07. For Boston
08. Girls Like Status
09. Arms And Hearts
10. American Music [Violent Femmes Cover]
11. Teenage Liberation
12. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? [Bob Dylan Cover]
13. Ask Her For Adderall
14. Cheyenne Sunrise
15. Two-Handed Handshake
16. Atlantic City [Bruce Springsteen Cover]
17. 40 Bucks
18. Spectres
19. Take Me Out To The Ballgame

And here's the download link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/3v5ho4nallem8my/THS_DP_BSIDES.zip

Enjoy (and share).

Jesse 5 [April 2010]

Every year for his birthday---in lieu of an actual gift---I give my roommate Jesse a mix CD. I don't remember when I started this tradition, though I imagine my finances were not in the best shape, but I do think there is something to be said for the lost art of making gifts. Too often, come birthday or holiday time, I am forced to select a present for this person or that person and, without much inspiration, I end up purchasing some item or another that, though enough to fulfill the great invisible gift-giving social contract, still feels, to me, somewhat... hollow.

In my eyes, mix CDs are a great alternative to all the charade and skulduggery that is modern gift-giving. Hell, they are as fun to make as they are to receive, especially if the recipient is that just-right kind of person who loves good music but, for whatever reason, can't seem to discover it on his/her own.

Like Jesse, for example.

The one I'm posting here, Jesse 5, is the latest (and definitely largest) of the Jesse mixes, crafted for the occasion of his 26th birthday. It's also the last one I intend to make him, at least for the foreseeable future. Why? Well, the kinda-downside to living with someone is that the awesome new music you're listening to doesn't sound quite so fresh to them after they hear you blaring it non-stop in the living room for weeks. So, I decided that---at least until we no longer share occupancy---this mix would be the last. Of course, this called for something special. But what? Then it hit me.

I had to attempt the oft-fabled double mix.

And so it began.

I don't prescribe to that many rules while making mixes, but I do follow one or two that I think help insure quality and originality. Here are a few of them:

1) Never start a mix with the first song from an album and never close a mix with the last song from an album (too obvious, too easy).

2) Never put two songs by the same artist on the same mix.

3) Never put the same song on mixes for two different people.

4) Always try and include at least two songs by female artists.

Though I admit to having broken all of these self-made rules at least once, this is, generally speaking, the code I live by.

Amateurs, take note.

To make things more complicated (for me), I've also established certain recurring rules for mixes made for specific people. Though it wasn't planned, the first two mixes I made for Jesse both contained 22 tracks. So, from the third one onward, all Jesse mixes contain 22 tracks. That's a lot of music, which usually means that CD-R is packed to the brim. It also means I have to get creative, finding cool shorter songs to fill gaps, and making sure longer songs earn their place.

All Jesse mixes also contain at least one Bob Dylan song, because Jesse (and everyone else, for that matter) needs to listen to more fucking Bob Dylan. I also occasionally find ways to sneak in even more Dylan via covers.

This mix in particular is also interesting because, similar to my Stoner Night Mix, it is separated into darker and lighter halves. Again, the first part (disc one) is filled with songs of a darker nature, more despairing and desperate both lyrically and musically than those found on the second part (disc two), which is considerably more hopeful and optimistic in tone. While this was challenging (and not totally rational, given the already lengthy list of criteria), it was definitely a refreshing experiment, and one that I think, in the long run, made for a more satisfying mix.

When I first began making mixes it was mostly a game of drag-and-drop from my mp3 library. As I got older, however, I began taking my time and paying more attention to detail; digging deeper for better and stranger songs while also discovering more and more amazing music in the process. That's another beautiful thing about mixes, they are for and about more than just the specific person you are making them for. They're also about the mixer himself (or herself).

For me, mix CDs are like musical time-capsules. They remind me of the things I've loved and the things I've lost, and how much (or little) I still have left.

And that's why I'm so very glad that I can begin sharing them with you. I sincerely hope that some of you enjoy listening to them as much as I enjoyed making them.

I sincerely doubt that's possible, though.

Here's the track-list:

Disc One:

01. Earth - "Tethered to the Polestar"
02. The Feelies - "Original Love"
03. Joy Division - "Passover"
04. Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney - "Death in the Sea"
05. Sonic Youth - "Catholic Block"
06. Brian Eno - "Everything Merges with the Night"
07. The Mountain Goats - "Lovecraft In Brooklyn"
08. The Cars - "All Mixed Up"
09. Deerhunter - "Cassette Cathedral"
10. Black Flag - "My War"
11. Smog - "Bathysphere"
12. Mekons - "Club Mekon"
13. Antony & the Johnsons - "Hope There's Someone"
14. Wire - "Used To"
15. Art Brut - "Stand Down"
16. Radiohead - "Up on the Ladder"
17. Bob Dylan - "Cold Irons Bound"
18. Big Black - "Fish Fry"
19. Jana Hunter - "Recess"
20. Sebadoh - "Drama Mine"
21. Lifter Puller - "Star Wars Hips"
22. Sean Moriarty - "The Brown Thorn"

Disc Two:

01. The Futureheads - "Decent Days and Nights"
02. Neko Case - "Vengeance Is Sleeping"
03. New Order - "All Day Long"
04. Loudon Wainwright III - "The Swimming Song"
05. Dinosaur Jr. - "Freak Scene"
06. Taken by Trees - "My Boys"
07. Radiohead - "Lull"
08. Drive-By Truckers - "Self Destructive Zones"
09. John Cale - "Buffalo Ballet"
10. The Magnetic Fields - "Take Ecstasy with Me"
11. Lou Reed - "Nobody's Business"
12. Steve Reich - Nagoya Marimbas"
13. Big Star - "Thirteen"
14. Silkworm - "Dead Air"
15. Wilco - "Via Chicago"
16. St. Vincent - "Apocalypse Song"
17. Pixies - "I've Been Tired"
18. Fennesz - "Got to Move On"
19. Andrew Bird - "Fake Palindromes"
20. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - "Nothing Without You (Tery Bina)"
21. Yo La Tengo - "From a Motel 6"
22. Destroyer - "Don't Become the Thing You Hated"

And here's the (mammoth) download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=40JRMDSO

Enjoy (and share).

People Fall Off Buildings Presents: An Introduction to... Modest Mouse

To put it simply: there's a lot of bands I like.

And then there's Modest Mouse.

Who better then to inaugurate my new (and hopefully ongoing) mix series, People Fall Off Buildings Presents: An Introduction to..., which aims to present a brief career retrospective of some of my favorite bands in hopes that it helps introduce them to a wider audience or, in some cases, reintroduce them to people who may have written them off prematurely.

Now, I know that Modest Mouse isn't exactly an obscure band (especially their post-"Float On" stuff), but I think much of their earlier (and, to me, far more impressive) work has gone largely unnoticed in the wake of their surprising success (Kidz Bop 7, anyone?). As such, this compilation leans heavily on lesser-known material from the first half of their career, beginning with their first single, "Broke", from 1996. Still, songs from every era (including the ubiquitous "Float On") are included here, though I opted not to include any songs from their shelved 1994 debut (later released as Sad Sappy Sucker in 2001). I've also tried to arrange the songs as chronologically as possible, in order to present a clear picture of the band and their progression.

So, please, have a listen. There are few bands as singular as Modest Mouse and even fewer that I love quite so dearly.

Here's the track-list:

01. Broke
02. Dramamine
03. Custom Concern
04. Tundra/Desert
05. A Life Of Arctic Sounds
06. The Fruit That Are Itself
07. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine
08. Trailer Trash
09. Bankrupt On Selling
10. Never Ending Math Equation
11. 3rd Planet
12. Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes
13. Alone Down There
14. Life Like Weeds
15. Float On
16. Bury Me With It
17. Parting Of The Sensory
18. The Whale Song

And here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PP8T6JWK

Enjoy.

James' Best Songs Of 2008

From what I recall, 2008 was a pretty good year.

I finished school, which was nice. I still don't have a decent job (or any job, for that matter) or make a decent living, but I remain glad to be rid of academia and the cloying, isolationist environment it fosters. Which isn't to say that I hated school, quite the opposite, just that after five years of it I was happy to have it over and done with.

And I still am.

This was also the year that I moved out of my kinda-first apartment (after a fairly acrimonious split with my longtime roommate) and back in with my parents for two long, agonizing months. The plus side of this was that Pamela and I found a much better new place, which I reside in to this day.

I'm sure some other stuff happened too. I think I got my wisdom teeth out that year.

Oh, and, of course, The Dark Knight came out and delivered on a prayer that most Batman fans thought would never be answered. I think some other people might have went to see it too . . .

Musically there were some real high notes. Portishead returned and, even though I didn't really care about them before, I did (and continue to) love their Third album. We also got some really good records from Destroyer, The Hold Steady, Deerhunter and The Walkmen, among others.

So, yeah, a pretty good year all around, and one you should definitely re-visit. Like right now.

Here's the track-list:

01. Portishead - "Magic Doors" [from Third]
02. Destroyer - "Foam Hands" [from Trouble In Dreams]
03. No Age - "Teen Creeps" [from Nouns]
04. Hercules and Love Affair - "Blind" [from Hercules and Love Affair]
05. The Hold Steady - "Constructive Summer" [from Stay Positive]
06. Spiritualized - "Death Take Your Fiddle" [from Songs in A&E]
07. Cut Copy - "So Haunted" [from In Ghost Colours]
08. Fleet Foxes - "White Winter Hymnal" [from Fleet Foxes]
09. TV on the Radio - "Stork and Owl" [from Dear Science]
10. Vampire Weekend - "Oxford Comma" [from Vampire Weekend]
11. Department of Eagles - "Around the Bay" [from In Ear Park]
12. Wolf Parade - "An Animal in Your Care" [from At Mount Zoomer]
13. Beach House - "You Came to Me" [from Devotion]
14. Fucked Up - "No Epiphany" [from The Chemistry Of Common Life]
15. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "Lie Down in the Light" [from Lie Down in the Light]
16. Deerhunter - "Nothing Ever Happens" [from Microcastle]
17. Bob Dylan - "Red River Shore" [from The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 – Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006]
18. The Walkmen - "In the New Year" [from You & Me]

Here's the download link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QJ7PX5SC

Enjoy.