Top Albums of 2010

I had to think about this for a long time...

Honorable Mention: School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire

15. Twin Shadow - Forget

14. No Age - Everything In Between

13. Women - Public Strain

12. Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern

11. Happy Birthday - Happy Birthday

10. Tobacco - Maniac Meat

9. Toro Y Moi - Causers Of This

8. Sleigh Bells - Treats

7. The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme

6. CocoRosie - Grey Oceans

5. No Joy - Ghost Blonde

4. Beach House - Teen Dream

3. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of The Ankh)

2. Ty Segall - Melted

1. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

Less Than Zero Playlist

Note: I had this post ready a couple days before Christmas, but my parents live in the stone-age and didn't have wireless or a fast enough connection for me to upload this when I originally intended.

Many forget that Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero is actually a Christmas story (I mean, how could you forget?).  During a time of the year when everyone is supposed to be coming together, showing kindness, and celebrating life and new beginnings, Ellis's novel focuses on how its characters, privileged Los Angeles teens, can no longer connect to one another on any sort of emotional level.  The city of Los Angeles is its own character in the story, and in L.A. neo-noir fashion, it consumes the innocence and humanity of everyone in it, and as their real identities disappear, selfish, almost sociopathic, facades emerge in place.  These characters realize what is happening to them, but instead of fighting it, most of them decide to ride it out, even if it does end up a dead end.    

Music plays a huge role in Less Than Zero and so I decided to base my Christmas playlist on Clay's Christmas break playlist, chronicling every song he remembers, listens to, or is played in the background during his break.  As I was taking down each song, I noticed that even the more briefly mentioned songs said more than just the place or time period of the book, they had something to say about the individual characters, and how they were truly feeling at that specific point in the story.  I could write a post and explanation for each song as well as the plethora of other artists just mentioned in the book (Kim seems to like Prince, Bob Seger is embarrassing, and something interesting I found is that most of the artists/songs that Clay and his friends like are surprisingly poppy, but many have dark undertones, etc. etc. etc.), but I won't bore you with that right now.  I'll leave you with just the tracklisting, which almost tells the story on its own.

Here is a mixtape consisting of every track that is mentioned in the book as well as what page you can find them on.  A couple are played or hummed by the characters, and some have various artists and no specific artist mentioned in the book, for those I chose a version myself.  Enjoy! and Merry Christmas, or not.

1. New Kid In Town - The Eagles (12)

2. Crimson & Clover - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (20)

3. Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage - Killer Pussy (25)

4. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? - Culture Club (30)

5. Artificial Insemination - Elton Motello (40)

6. The Earthquake Song - The Little Girls (45)

7. Straight Into Darkness - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (48)

8. September Song - Sara Vaughan (67)

9. In The Sun - Blondie (74)

10. Hungry Like A Wolf - Duran Duran (120)

11. L.A. Woman - The Doors (147)

12. On The Sunny Side of the Street - Judy Garland (164)

13. Tainted Love - Soft Cell (178)

14. Somebody Got Murdered - The Clash (181)

15. I Love L.A. - Randy Newman (193)

16. Worlds Away - The Go-Go's (198)

17. Vacation - The Go-Go's (198)

18. Los Angeles - X (207)

November Mixtape

It still counts as technically November, right?  Anyhow, here is the November mixtape. I actually had most of it done before the middle of the month, but had to find a couple more gems before I could call it complete.  October was originally not supposed to just be a holiday theme mix, but, some reason, I wasn't feeling any of the new songs I listened to, and was frustrated with all of the old stuff too.  Not music's fault, well maybe a little, but mostly mine.  Annoyed and bored with my own playlists, I decided to listen to some of my friends' radio shows, and there I found some fresh, new (to my ears) music that inspired me to make the November playlist.  A few of the songs are pulled directly from their sets, and the rest just sort of fell into place.  So thanks to Ada and her show, Music When The Lights Go Out, and Kat and her show, Asa Nisi Masa, both are fantastic and have a lot of ticket giveaways if you ever want to tune in!

Sorry for the wordy post, here's the tracklisting:

Download here

1. Lightening Fossil - Prince Rama

2. Real Estate - FLIGHT

3. Take Me Over - Cut Copy

4. Slow - Twin Shadow

5. Cat Alert - Waskerley Way

6. Fass - Thieves Like Us

7. Heart In Your Heartbreak - The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart

8. Can I Touch You - My Bloody Valentine

9. Academy Fight Song - Mission Of Burma

10. I Don't Mind It - Screaming Females

11. Mind Ride - Jeff The Brotherhood

12. I Don't Want U - Blonde Redhead

13. Shark Ridden Waters - Gruff Rhys

14. Deep Blue Day - Brian Eno

15. I wrote this song for the girl Paris Hilton - Vincent Gallo

Halloween (October) Mixtape

This month I decided to do a Halloween themed mixtape (big surprise).  I decided to make it up of songs that I think are actually spooky!  Some of the artists you've seen before on this blog, some on other blogs, and hopefully a couple of the tracks are new for you (I know "Lovely Bloodflow" has been all over the blogs for a while, but I couldn't resist a title like that...also, I kinda like it).

It's a little shorter than the previous mixes, but it's just as special! Enjoy!

Download here

1. Wander Birds - Lucky Dragons

2. Make My Sleep His Song - Broadcast & The Focus Group

3. Running Out Of You - Keep Shelly in Athens

4. In Violet (SALEM Remix) - HEALTH

5. Lake Eerie - Dream Boat

6. ASIA - SALEM

7. Voices - Nosaj Thing

8. Lovely Bloodflow - Baths

9. Slight Night Shiver - M83

10. Small - Portishead

11. Lawns Of Dawn - Nico

September Mixtape

I know it's technically October, but...I have finally finished the September Mixtape!

It's a little more dance-y than the previous mixes, along with hints of shoegaze (or is it nu gaze?) and a few earnest confessions of unrequited love . Enjoy!

Download here

1. Search Party - Small Black

2. Stay Out Tonight - Lay Bac

3. Gonna Beg You - The Bird Day

4. VHS Dream - Deerhunter

5. Heedless - No Joy

6. Suffragette City - A Place to Bury Strangers

7. Transparency Is the New Mystery - Marnie Stern

8. Never Yours - Low Sea

9. I L U - School of Seven Bells

10. Ixchel, The Lady Rainbow - Sister Crayon

11. Boy In The Yard - Roadside Graves

12. Flying - The Beatles

13. Girlfriend Is Better - Talking Heads

14. Interzone - Joy Division

15. Shy Billy - White Denim

Free Music?

Every Monday, Beko, a digital singles label, releases new music free for download.  They're pretty awesome, and a lot of their singles have quickly become favorites of mine.  If you are into anything with synths or 80's-lo-fi vibes check them out here!

August Mixtape

Here is the (late) August mixtape. I tried to make it as beachy sounding as possible, while still mixing up genres.

I also made some actual mixtapes for those of you who still have cassette decks at home or in your car.
Keep an eye out for them, they could turn up anywhere!

I really enjoyed making this mix, and I hope you enjoy listening to it!

Download here

1. The Fall - Beat Happening

2. Animal Farm - The Kinks

3. Big Wave - Jenny & Johnny

4. Your Rabbit Feet - Wild Nothing

5. Not the Answer - Lorelei

6. Pancake - Swirlies

7. Serpentine Pad - Pavement

8. Girl Attorney - HEALTH

9. Red Alert - Teenage Jesus And The Jerks

10. Chin Up (feat. Nika Roza Danilova) - Former Ghosts

11. Ready For The World - How To Dress Well

12. Prologue - Kraftwerk

13. Order Of The Golden Dawn - Daedelus

14. Holograms (Primary 1 Rework) - Fol Chen

15. Am I Real? - Nite Jewel

16. La Femme Ressort - La Femme

17. On the Beach - Neil Young

18. Beechwood Park - The Zombies