Sunday, January 30, 2011


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

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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).

Sunday, January 23, 2011

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).

Friday, January 21, 2011

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).

Monday, January 17, 2011

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).

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

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).

Friday, January 7, 2011

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.

Monday, January 3, 2011

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.