Sound Bites

The Return of Summer Fridays

Do people who actually still have jobs still get Summer Fridays in 2009? No matter, it's just a hook to hang an excuse for making weekly mixes again. How did it get to be June already? As usual, there's no theme here, just a bunch of song (mostly new this time) that I like a lot. You may remember, I actually segue the songs together because I'm a control freak who wants you listening to the songs in the order I put them in. Cover art for this first Summer Friday is by my friend Kate, who did a couple covers last year. If you have interest in doing art for an upcoming mix, do get in touch.  Anyway, without further ado:

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS VOL 2.1

Here's the tracklist:

1. The Sneetches - Over Round Each Other
2. Miike Snow - Song for No One
3. The Legends - Always the Same
4. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work
5. Super Furry Animals - Where Do You Want to Go?
6. Let's Wrestle - We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon
7. The Fresh & Onlys - I Saw You Seeing Me
8. Surf City - Kudos
9. New Order - Dream Attack
10. Jack Peñate - Today's Tonight
11. Mazes - Love to Lay
12. Close Lobsters - Let's Make Some Plans
13. Say Hi - Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
14. Cats on Fire - Borders of This Land
15. Aztec Camera - Oblivious
16. I Was a King - California
17. My Teenage Stride - Creep Academy
18. Casiokids - Fot I Hose
19. Micachu - Calculator
20. The Drums - Don't Be a Jerk, Jonny
21. Clor - Love + Pain

"Liner notes" after the jump:

Hey...A New Mix!

It's been kinda quiet around Sound Bites but I've still been listening to lots of music. Here's an hour's worth of mostly new songs that I've been digging lately. 

DOWNLOAD 'SOUNDBITES OF SPRING'

Here's the tracklist:

01. France Has the Bomb - Invisible Angle  

02. The Rakes - That's the Reason

03. Pete and the Pirates - Jennifer

04. The Fresh & Onlys - Fog Machine

05. Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill

06. Asteroid #4 - Flowers of Ours

07. Phoenix - Lisztomania

08. Au Revoir Simone - Shadows

09. Papercuts - Future Primitive

10. Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision

11. The Wooden Birds - Sugar

12. The Vibrarians - Red Light

13. Crystal Stilts - Love is a Wave

14. So Cow - Casablanca

15. A Classic Education - Best Regards

16. Superchunk - Learned to Surf

17. The Love Language - Sparxxx

18. Let's Wrestle - I'm in Love With Destruction

19. Woods - To Clean

20. Thee Oh Sees - Peanut Butter Oven

As always, the songs segue together, so shuffle at your peril. 

Say Goodbye: 2008 Year-End Mixes

Well, this cruddy year is almost finally over. It wasn't all bad, just mostly. There was good music at least. This is just about covers it, according to me, on three mixes. (Though I managed to leave Let's Wrestle off somehow... sorry guys!) As usual, the songs segue into one another, so no shuffle please. See you in 2009.

DISC ONE (DOWNLOAD)

1.Metronomy - Heartbreaker

2. Ida Maria - Queen of the World

3. Sky Larkin - Fossil, I

4. Esser - Headlock

5. TV on the Radio - Golden Age

6. Mystery Jets feat. Laura Marling - Young Love

7. Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat

8. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind

9. Foals - The French Open

10. Women - Black Rice

11. Minisnap - New Broom

12. This Is the Ivy League - The Richest Kids

13. Casiokids - Togens Hule

14. Summer Cats - Lonely Planet

15. Crystal Stilts - Departure

16. Adele - Cold Shoulder

17. Amazing Baby - Head Dress

18. Late of the Pier - Heartbeat

19. Stereolab - Self Portrait with "electric brain"

20. Hilotrons - Lovesuit

21. Wye Oak - Warning

DISC TWO (DOWNLOAD)

1. Florence & the Machine - Kiss with a Fist

2. Vivian Girls - Where Do You Run To?

3. Sloan - Witches Wand

4. BOAT - TOPPS

5. The Shortwave Set - Glitches n' Bugs (Marshmallow Mike Remix)

6. Lykke Li - Little Bit

7. Sam Sparro - Black and Gold

8. Cocoanut Groove - End of Summer at Bookbinder Road

9. Animal Collective - Water Curses

10. Thee Oh Sees - Maria Stacks

11. Sic Alps - Sing-Song Waitress  

12. Violens - Violent Sensation Descends

13. M83 - Kim and Jessie

14. Elbow - The Bones of You

15. The Week That Was - The Airport Line

16. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything with You

17. Bricolage - Turn U Over

18. The Muslims - On My Time

19. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

20. Girls - Morning Light

21. Arkells - John Lennon


DISC THREE (DOWNLOAD)

1. Deerhunter - Saved by Old Times

2. High Dials - My Heart Is Pinned to Your Sleeve

3. The Duke Spirit - The Step and the Walk

4. David Byrne and Brian Eno - Strange Overtones

5. Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris - Dance Wiv Me

6. Hot Chip - Wrestlers

7. Errors - Salut! France

8. School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep

9. Sexy Kids - Sisters Are Forever

10. Santogold - Lights Out

11. Little Joy - Next Time Around

12. The Wave Pictures - Avocado Baby

13. The Dø - On My Shoulders

14. Envelopes - Boat

15. Pacific - Sunset Blvd.

16. Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns 

17. Wild Beasts - The Devil's Crayon

18. Lightspeed Champion - Tell Me What It's Worth

19. Pete & the Pirates - Moving

20. The Last Shadow Puppets - Standing Next to Me

Goth Tuesdays, or; Boys Becoming Men, Men Becoming Wolves

I have a confession. I was fairly into goth music in the late-'80s. I mean a lot of it (Siouxsie, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, the various Bauhaus offshoots) was genuinely popular, but I also own records by Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry, Xymox, the Bolshoi and others. And I still like them!

As we're experiencing a bit of a goth resurgence these days (Gang Gang Dance, Crystal Stilts, Shearwater) and 'tis the season to be spooky, I thought I'd post this Classic Goth mix that I made for my local hang, Snacky, back in 2003. This is a not an obscurity-filled mix; we're talking Nothing But the Hits. You might question the inclusion of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen (maybe not Goth goth, but definitely within that world); and the abscence of, say, Fields of the Nephilim and the Mission (I don't like them); as well as wondering where Ministry's "(Every Day is) Halloween" (good question), but i think this will probably go over pretty well at any Halloween party. Like all my mixes, the songs segue together so no shuffle!

Download VAMPIRE BITES: ESSENTIAL GOTH

Here's the tracklist:

1. Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead
2. Clan of Xymox - Muscovite Mosquito
3. Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia My Reflection
4. The Birthday Party - Release the Bats
5. Death Cult - God's Zoo
6. The Damned - Wait for the Blackout
7. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Spellbound
8. The March Violets - Snake Dance
9. The Bolshoi - Away
10. Echo & the Bunnymen - Pictures on My Wall
11. The Cramps - Human Fly
12. The Cure - The Hanging Garden
13. Xmal Deutschland - Incubus Succubus
14. Lords of the New Church - Dance With Me
15. Southern Death Cult - Fat Man
16. Joy Division - Heart and Soul
17. Tones on Tails - Christian Says
18. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Temptation
19. Sex Gang Children - Beasts

And though this song didn't exist when this mix was originally made, I've got to include this new Halloween classic:

MP3: Tracy Jordan - Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

And for more Halloween fun, dont' miss Heart on a Stick's annual collection of terrifiying tunes.

Hey, Look a New Mix

I make a lot mixes for my friends' video store and the most recent was turning out really good, so I thought I'd reinstate the seasonal mixes with a slightly adapted version. Expect more of these, but not on a weekly basis -- they're too time consuming -- but there will probably be another before October is over. (I'm thinking a Classic Goth Halloween.) Hope you like it, this one turned out pretty well. And like my Summer Fridays series, the songs actually segue together, so no shuffling please. Spooky cover art, once again, adapted from a photo on my friend Don's Flickr page.

DOWNLOAD: Fall Mix October 1

Tracklist:
1. Crystal Stilts - The Dazzled
2. DJ Shadow - Dark Days
3. Drumbago & The Dynamites - Dulcemania
4. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Testimony
5. Gang Gang Dance - First Comunion
6. Kraftwerk - The Man Machine
7. Ruby Suns with Esau Mwamwaya - Birthday
8. Sic Alps -Sing Song Waitress
9. The Dovers - What am I Going to Do?
10. The Radio Dept. - Why Won't You Talk About It?
11. Thee Oh Sees - Adult Acid
12. The Monochrome Set - Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
13. The Muslims - Parasites
14. caUSE co-MOTION - Say What You Feel
15. Unrest - I Do Believe You're Blushing
16. Love - A Message to Pretty
17. Deerhunter - Little Kids
18. Suede - He's Dead