Sound Bites

2009, Ima let you finish -- Some Year-End Mixes

 
I did three year-end mixes in 2008 and I've now upped it to four for 2009 -- and as I was uploading them I realized I still left some stuff off. (Sorry, Super Furry Animals, Grizzly Bear, Knight School and Let's Wrestle. Dirty Projectors, however, was not an oversight.) Anyway, I think these turned out pretty good and, despite the accidental omissions, still do a good job of what this year sounded like. To me at least. For those of you keeping score, this may also give a clue to what might be on my Favorite Albums of 2009 list, which will be up at some point soon.

They'll also do in a fix if you're having a New Year's Eve party and need four hours or so of uninterrupted songs. It's 99% upbeat, and in one case I even sort of successfully match some beats. To everyone, I say this -- NO SHUFFLING. Enjoy, and see you in 2010.


BYE BYE 2009 MIX #1 - DOWNLOAD
1. Phoenix - Lisztomania
2. The Wave Machines - Keep the Lights On
3. Ty Segall - In Your Car
4. Acrylics - Molly's Vertigo
5. Hospitality - Betty Wang
6. The Clientele - I Wonder Who We Are
7. The Sound of Arrows - M.A.G.I.C.
8. Florence & the Machine - You've Got the Love (Xx remix)
9. The Juan Maclean - One Day
10. The French Horn Rebellion - Up All Night
11. Crystal Stilts - Love is a Wave
12. Beach Fossils - Vacation
13. Papercuts - Future Primitive
14. Au Revoir Simone - Another Likely Story
15. Miike Snow - Animal
16. The Big Pink - Dominos
17. Zoos of Berlin - Electrical Way
18. Nodzzz - True to Life
19. Grass Widow - To Where
20. Casiokids - Fot I Hose
21. Magic Kids - Hey Boy
 

BYE BYE 2009 MIX #2 - DOWNLOAD
1. Bat for Lashes - Daniel
2. Micachu & the Shapes - Golden Phone
3. Phoenix - 1901
4. Golden Silvers - True Romance (True No. 9 Blues)
5. Free Energy - Free Energy
6. Your Twenties - Billionaires
7. Sic Alps - L Mansion
8. BOAT - The Name Tossers
9. The Drums - I Felt Stupid
10. Atlas Sound - Walkabout (w/ Panda Bear)
11. Washed Out - New Theory
12. The Beets - What Did I Do?
13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction
14. Cats on Fire - Borders of This Land
15. The Mary Onettes - Dare
16. The Cribs - We Share the Same Skies
17. Junior Boys - Parallel Lines
18. Think About Life - Sweet 16
19. CFCF - Big Love
 

BYE BYE 2009 MIX #3 - DOWNLOAD
1. Crayon Fields - All the Pleasures of the World
2. Camera Obscura - French Navy
3. Real Estate - Beach Comber
4. Veronica Falls - Found Love in a Graveyard
5. Pete & the Pirates - Jennifer
6. My Teenage Stride - Creep Academy
7. The Legends - Always the Same
8. A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
9. Mew - Beach
10. The Depreciation Guild - Dream About Me
11. Wild Beasts -All the King's Men
12. Amazing Baby - Kankra
13. France Has the Bomb - Invisible Angle
14. Fergus & Geronimo - Harder Than It's Ever Been
15. The Mayfair Set - Desert Fun
16. The Raveonettes - Breaking Into Cars
17. La Roux - Bulletproof
18. Dizzie Rascal - Bonkers
19. Savoir Adore - Bodies
 

BYE BYE 2009 MIX #4 - DOWNLOAD
1. The Horrors - Scarlet Fields
2. Phantom Band - The Howling
3. Bear in Heaven - Lovesick Teenagers
4. Surfer Blood - Swim
5. Obits - Two Headed Coin
6. JEFF the Brotherhood - U Got the Look
7. The Fresh & Onlys - Peacock and Wing
8. Frankie Rose - Thee Only One
9. Mazes - Love to Lay
10. The Intelligence - Moody Little Tower
11. Woods - To Clean
12. Generationals - When They Fight, They Fight
13. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work
14. Fanfarlo - Luna
15. Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)
16. Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision
17. Animal Collective - My Girls
18. Sleigh Bells - Ring Ring

No Matter What You Call it, Goth is Goth

 
 I got in an discussion/argument with someone during last week's CMJ festival about recent Matador signees Cold Cave when I called them goth. "They're not goth," said a friend of mine to which I replied "Have you seen pictures of them? Have you heard them? They're goth." She replied, "Well, they're like 'indie goth.'" 

The distinction isn't missed on me. These days, to just be called "goth" is to damn your band to Cleopatra records, the label that for most of the '90s and early '00s was the only safe harbor for folks who cited Fields of the Nephilim and Sisters of Mercy as major influences. Not that there's anything wrong with Sisters of Mercy at all, but the bands that clung to goth after its heyday were just shadows. And all the subculture hoo ha that goes along with being goth these days.

But ever since Interpol made melodramatic singing and wearing a holster onstage commercially viable again, bands have sought out the darker sides of postpunk as an influence while courting the cool kids. A lot of it is pretty good too. The difference is, I think, if you're looking to Bauhaus and Siouxsie (or P.I.L.) for inspiration, you're going to end up a much better band than those who say "I want to sound like The Bolshoi and Mission UK."

I know there are other terms going around for all this. "Darkwave" to me is just as dumb-sounding as goth, so I still am just gonna use "goth." Or how about "kinda goth"? All these bands on this mix have some gothy elements to them: some are kinda goth (Violens, Crystal Stilts) and others are pretty much full-on goth (Cold Cave, Horrors and their little brother S.C.U.M.) but it's all pretty good. And it's nice to mix up the tunes on Halloween 'cause you can only listen to "This Corrosion" so many times.

DOWNLOAD VAMPIRE BITES II: THE NEW BLOOD 

1. Crystal Stilts - The Dazzled
2. S.C.U.M. - Visions Arise
3. Witch Hats - Hell Hole
4. Violens - Trance-Like Turn
5. TV Ghost - Cold Fish
6. Crocodiles - Soft Skull
7. Cold Cave - The Laurels of Erotomania
8. Fever Ray - Triangle Walks
9. Blank Dogs - Setting Fire to Your House
10. O.Children - Dead Disco Dancer
11. Zaza - Sooner or Later
12. The Horrors - Scarlet Fields
13. A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
14. Blacklist - Shock in the Hotel Falcon
15. The Mary Onettes - Void
16. Dum Dum Girls - Hey Sis
17. Duchess Says - A Century Old

Speaking of Sisters of Mercy, I thought I'd do another "classic goth" mix as well, as I do really love this stuff a lot. "This Corrosion" rivals "Bela Lagosi's Dead" for Ultimate Goth Song, and I am a bit conflicted about using the four-minute single edit here, but when your opening track is 10 minutes long, it means you have to cut other things. Where the first Vampire Bites mix from last year was All Hits, I delved a little deeper into the fringes (Virgin Prunes, Fad Gadget), included songs from bands who were never fully considered goth but definitely leaned that way at times (The Fall, Wire, The Wolfgang Press, P.I.L.), and even allowed myself to admit that maybe, just maybe, I liked one song each by Gene Loves Jezebel and Fields of the Nephilim.

DOWNLOAD VAMPIRE BITES III: CLASSIC GOTH BITES BACK 

1. Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
2. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Cities and Dust
3. Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
4. Xymox - Obsession
5. The Wolfgang Press - The Holey Man
6. Echo & the Bunnymen - Zimbo
7. Public Image Limited - Careering
8. Wire - Ambitious
9. Bauhaus - She's in Parties
10. Fad Gadget - Back to Nature
11. The Fall - Riddler!
12. Fields of the Nephilim - Preacher Man
13. The Bolshoi - Happy Boy
14. Gene Loves Jezebel - Bruises
15. Killing Joke - Eighties
16. Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue
17. Joy Division - Dead Souls
18. The Cure - A Forrest   

And after many requests for it, I re-upped the first Vampire Bites goth mix -- an essential for any good Halloween party if I do say so myself. Like always, the songs segue together... so no shuffling or face eternal damnation. 

Summer Fridays 2.12

So this is, I think, going to be the penultimate Summer Fridays mix for 2009. I know it's sad. Only one more. But on the bright side... still one more! A lot more new stuff this week, including such states as Florida, California, Indiana and Brooklyn. I'm pretty sure Brooklyn is a state, I live here. This week's cover is courtesy SB reader (and graphic designer/illustrator) Olivia Todd who delivered some swell mixed media. That's three excellent covers in a row. Here's where I would normally beg for submissions for art, but I've got the last one covered, thanks. Aren't you sad you didn't write in? Also, you know the drill: this is an actual mix, the songs segue together, so putting this on shuffle would be a bad thing.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.12

Tracklist:
 
1.   Billy Nicholls - Would You Believe?
2.   Car-Sick Cars - Zhong Man Hai
3.   Moose - Don't Bring Me Down
4.   Holiday Shores - Bradley Bear
5.   Love Tractor - Venice
6.   The Bats - Never Said Goodbye
7.   The Fresh & Onlys - Grey Eyed Girl
8.   Miracle Legion - All for the Best
9.   Robyn Hitchcock - I Watch the Cars
10. Surfer Blood - Floating Vibes
11. Sugarplastic - Talk Back
12. The Zombies - These Friends of Mine
13. Brown Recluse - Night Train
14. The Jazz Butcher - Rain
15. The Babies - Meet Me in the City
16. Sic Alps - L.Mansion
17. Fire - My Father's Name Was Dad
18. Blue Jungle - Here We Go Again
19. Marmoset - Strawbery Shortcakes
20. The Postmarks - No One Said This Would Be Easy

Have a great weekend! "Liner Notes" after the jump.

Summer Fridays 2.8

Hope you're not getting tired of these, I still enjoy making them. This is Number Nine in the Sound Bites Summer Fridays series, designed specifically to eliviate seasonal stress and alergies. This week's edition features fake reggae, real reggae, fake Thin Lizzy, French pop, goth pop, Swedish pop, an appearance from the Elephant Six roster, various aural ephemera and new tracks from BOAT, The Xx, Champagne Socialists and Cornershop. That's exciting, isn't it? Cover art this week was done by me, mainly because I forgot to get back to the people who've actually offered make one. (Will get back to you, I promise.) Have a swell weekend, and no shuffling!

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.8

Here's the tracklist:

1. 10CC - Dreadlock Holiday
2. Hot Chip - The Warning
3. Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets the Rockers Downtown
4. The Blue Nile - Tinseltown in the Rain
5. Broadcast - Come on Let's Go
6. Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo
7. BOAT - Lately
8. The Boo Radleys - Wish I Was Skinny
9. The Xx - Basic Space
10. The Chrysler - While the Tide is High
11. The Olivia Tremor Control - Courtyard
12. The Champagne Socialists - Blue Genes
13. Imperial Teen - Ivanka
14. Phoenix - Consolation Prizes
15. Modern English - Life in the Gladhouse
16. Cornershop - The Roll Off Characteristics (Of History In The Making)
17. Max Eider - Who Loves You Now?

If you're interested in making cover art for one of these, do get in touch.

Liner notes after the jump.

Summer Fridays 2.7

This week's mix is a little schizo: some goth shoegaze, some new 7" finds, and a lot of '90s indie rock nuggets. And then there's the '80s rockin' "Free Energy" which is total top down convertible fodder dumb fun. The Archers of Loaf track was chosen by this week's cover art contributor KOTS. That's his tag name. KOTS loves grafitti, but he also hates defacing other people's property so he does his work completely in MS Paint. If you'd like to do a cover, do get in touch. Have a swell weekend, folks. And no shuffling!

DOWNLOAND SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.7

Here's the tracklist. I'll try and get liner notes up over the weekend.

1.  The Horrors - Scarlet Fields
2.  Archers of Loaf - Wrong
3.  Free Energy - Free Energy
4.  Zaza - Sooner or Later
5.  Engineers - Sometimes I Realize
6.  Number One Cup - Waiting for the Lions
7.  Flaming Lips - Silver Trembling Hands
8.  Uninhabitable Mansions - Do You Have a Strategy?
9.  Fergus & Geronimo - Harder Than It's Ever Been
10. Jale - Not Happy
11. Pavement - Gold Soundz
12. Echo & the Bunnymen - Rescue
13. Blow Up - Good to Me
14. Sex Clark Five - Detention Girls
15. Nodzz - True to Life
16. Let's Active - In Little Ways
17. Official Secrets Act - The Girl from the BBC
18. Unrest - Makeout Club

Summer Fridays 2.6

After last week's unintentional vacation from these mixes, we're back, rested and ready. In NYC it finally got hot and humid and I think that stickiness permates Summer Fridays 2.6. At least until we get to The Duckworth Lewis Method, but by then it's almost over. I also raided my early-'90s CD collection for this one a bit, but tried to put a bunch of new stuff on here too. Cover photo is Coney Island at the end of last year's Siren Festival. I remind you: if you'd like to contribute cover art, I'd love to have you do it. Just drop a line via email. 

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.6 

Tracklist:

1.  Love and Rockets - It Could Be Sunshine
2.  Erik Blood - Saved You
3.  Spoon - Advance Cassette
4.  The Clientele - I Wonder Who We Are?
5.  MEW - Beach
6.  Kings of Convenience - Misread
7.  Wild Beasts - We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues
8.  The Flirtations - Nothing But a Heartbreak
9.  Novillero - The Hypothesist
10. The Smiths - What Difference Does it Make?
11. Suede- Metal Mickey
12. Lilys - Ginger
13. Lush - De-Luxe
14. Jay Reatard - Wounded
15. The Beatles - I'm Happy Just to Dance With You
16. Biblio - Ambivalence Avenue
17. Orange Juice - Hokoyo
18. The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Age of Revolution

DISCLAIMER: The songs segue together, so no shuffle please. I bet you're tired of me saying that. Liner notes after the jump.

Summer Fridays 2.5

It's a big holiday weekend, I'm already late enough so I'll spare you the liner notes you probably don't read anyway. Those are zeppoles, by the way, from the Giglio Festival in Williamsburg (which is where I live) which starts July 8. Zeppoles are the best fried bread, better than elephant ears or funnel cakes. And few things mean summer in Brooklyn more than them. Hopefully you'll find this week's mix almost as tasty. A shout-out to Toby at The Finest Kiss, whose new Basementcast is where I heard the Rose Elinor Dougall track. Enjoy the weekend.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.5

1.  Roxy Music - Pyjamarama
2.  McLusky - She Will Only Bring You Happiness
3.  The Mo-Dettes - Fandango
4.  The Monochrome Set - Martians Go Home
5.  Rose Elinor Dougall - Start/Stop/Synchro
6.  Ultramarine feat. Robert Wyatt - Kingdom
7.  Joe Crow - Compulsion
8.  Pete Shelley - Homosapien
9.  The Clean - Anything Could Happen
10.  Ganglians - Lost Words
11.  The Divine Comedy - The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count
12.  The Bird and the Bee - Diamond Dave
13.  Colin Blunstone - She Loves the Way They Love Her
14.  Don Gibson - Sea of Heartbreak
15.  Jacques Dutronc - Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi
16.  Pink Floyd - See Emily Play
17.  Pulp - Mile End
18.  Miracle Legion - The Backyard

Summer Fridays 2.4... Monday Edition (This Week Only)

Nobody likes Mondays, but one thing that might help make the work week (if you have a job) go by quicker is this week's Summer Fridays mix which is totally late and only arriving now. I scrapped a nearly-completed version cause it wasn't working and redid the whole thing. Which is what happened with Toy Story 2, and everybody likes the way that eventually turned out. While on this Pixar analogy, I should like to point out that there are no Randy Newman songs on this mix. Cover art this week comes courtesy five-year-old music fan Diaz, who likes hearts. I told her she could pick a song for the mix and she chose The Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now" which ended up serving as inspiration for the whole thing when I redid it.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.4

TRACKLIST 

1. Johnny Boy - You Are the Generation Who Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve
2. The Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now
3. Pacific - Sunset Blvd
4. The Wave Machines - Keep the Lights On
5. Savoir Adore - Bodies
6. The Radio Dept. - David (The Rice Twins Mix)
7. The Juan Maclean - One Day
8. Esser - Work it Out
9. La Roux - Bulletproof
10. The New Sins - Feeling Have Changed
11. Sally Shapiro - Miracle
12. Bachelorette - Her Rotating Head
13. The Sound of Arrows - M.A.G.I.C.
14. Datarock - Computer Camp Love
15. Chaz Jankel - Number One
16. Ladyhawke - Manipulating Woman
17. The Dream Academy - The Edge of Forever

If you'd like to contribute artwork to a forthcoming Summer Fridays mix, please get in touch, either in the comments or via email, which can be found on this blog's right sidebar. Hope you like this one, I think it might be worth the wait. No shuffling, dammit! Since most people get Friday off for the July 4th weekend, the next Summer Fridays mix will actually go up Thursday morning. If I can get my act together.

Liner notes after the jump:

Summer Fridays 2.3: Back in the Saddle

Yeehaw! There's nothing vaguely Country or Western about this mix!* But it's America, dammit, so it doesn't have to make sense. Frequent contributor Kate did another nice job with the art on this one. Summer Fridays 2.3 is a typical mix of mine, kind of all over the place with at least one sore thumb number. But it all kind of works in my mind at least. Ok, folks. Giddyup and download this sucker and enjoy.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.3

1.  Adorable - Sunshine Smile
2.  The Bicycles - Walk Away (from a Good thing)
3.  Ivy - No Guarantee
4.  Joy Zipper - Baby You Should Know
5.  DEASTRO - Toxic Crusaders
6.  Acrylics - Molly's Vertigo
7.  Summer Cats - Hey You
8.  Lotion - Rock Chick
9.  The Vitamen - The Best TV Watchers in the World
10. Metronomy - A Thing For Me (Breakbot's B-LIVE Miami Mix)
11. Box Elders - Atlantis
12. Big Star - O My Soul
13. Ty  Segall - In Your Car
14. Guided by Voices - Girls of Wild Strawberries
15. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - This is Why You Love Me
16. Cud - Not Exactly D.L.E.R.C.
17. The Pooh Sticks - Young People
18. Spacecamp - Puppy
19. The Verlaines - Death and the Maiden
20. Marty Robbins - The Story of My Life

Disclaimer: this is an actual mix, the songs segue together so don't go hitting shuffle blah blah blah.

If you'd like to contribute cover art to a future Summer Fridays, get in touch. Liner notes after the jump.

Summer Fridays 2.2

The second mix of the 2009 summer season. This one was an attempt at mostly gritty, psychedelic sounds, but I made room for the Jean-Paul Sartre Experience who I've been revisiting lately (I guess they're psychedelic), as well as some other things that don't quite fit in the garage. Cover art this week is by Jinners who you may know from Spicy Times or Door Girl Art. There's a hi-res version included if you want to burn a CD and print it out the cover. If you'd like to contribute art to an upcoming mix, do get in touch.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.2

As always, the songs segue together so no shuffling please. Here's the tracklist:

1.    The Fall - Cruiser's Creek
2.    The dB's - Cycles per Second
3.    Pas Chic Chic - Haydée Morcelée
4.    Tomorrow - My White Bicycle
5.    Amazing Baby - Kankra
6.    Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - The Loving Grapevine
7.    Thee Oh Sees - Tidal Wave
8.    The Kinks - Funny Face
9.    The Inbreds - You Will Know
10.    Hospitality - Betty Wang
11.    The Go-Betweens - People Say
12.    The Who - Armenia City in the Sky
13.    The Intelligence - Moody Tower
14.    Hell on Wheels - As We Play
15.    Oranger - Stony Curtis in Reverse
16.    Lyres - Help You Ann
17.    The Three O'Clock - Jetfighter
18.    The Weather Prophets - Almost Prayed
19.    The Beets - What Did I Do?
|20.    The Turtles - Outside Chance
21.    The Pastels - Something's Going On
22.    Redd Kross - Play My Song
23.    Sloan - G to D  

Liner notes after the jump...