September Muxtape

Even though it looks like Muxtape will probably get shut down (or, at least, suspended in that "we'll be unavailable for a brief period" purgatory for the rest of our lives), that hasn't stopped me from making twelve-tracks mixes of the random stuff I've been listening to over the past month. Some old, some new, the usual, etc.

And what better way than to commemorate Mux's probable death than to post a link to a zip of my September muxtape?

Disclaimers, of course: It's not too jarring in terms of track-to-track transitions, but if you're afraid of loud, abrasive noises, skip the Jay Reatard track, and definitely, definitely skip the A Place To Bury Strangers track. I'm really into the latter right now (and late to the party, at that; thanks Hood Internet for letting me know about it), but like No Age, I think I won't be able to win over any fans.

So before you take the 57.74 MB dive, here's the tracklist if you're interested:

1. Interpol - Untitled
   
2. Oxford Collapse - Electric Arc
   
3. Jay Reatard - See/Saw
   
4. A Place To Bury Strangers - To Fix The Gash In Your Head
   
5. Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
   
6. The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Believe You
   
7. The Ting Tings - Great DJ
   
8. Cut Copy - The Twilight (special JDK edit)
   
9. The National - Available
   
10. Chin Up Chin Up - Collide the Tide
    
11. Born Ruffians - Kurt Vonnegut (shout out to Jon L. Adams)
    
12. The Walkmen - New Country (shout out to Dan K.)

Edit: I just realized that, almost immediately after I posted my August muxtape, the site took a nosedive and never fully recovered. So, for those select few who want to give it a spin (you know, while taking the bus, going to the grocery store, or washing some dishes, etc.), I tossed up a 61.35 MB zip up at ye olde Mediafire. Same disclaimers as last time: Some possible aural abrasion during the No Age and Jay Reatard tracks that close it out, but otherwise it's fairly tame.

The tracks:

1. Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass
   
2. Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood
   
3. Born Ruffians - I Need A Life
   
4. Weezer - El Scorcho
   
5. Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly
   
6. Destroyer - Painter in Your Pocket
   
7. Grizzly Bear - Knife
   
8. Joy Division - Transmission
   
9. The National - The Perfect Song
   
10. Do Make Say Think - A Tender History in Rust (JDK edit)
    
11. No Age - Every Artist Needs A Tragedy
    
12. Jay Reatard - Nightmares (Demo)

MBV (again)

Now I remember why I bought My Bloody Valentine tickets:

2008 Music, Non-2008 Films, My Film, Etc.

It seems the year has been passing pretty quick, and now we're at the two-thirds mark of 2008. I felt like making some Lists, but then I realized I've yet to see a single film released this current year. There have been a few aborted attempts to see The Dark Knight at the IMAX, but frequent sell-out shows have thwarted said attempts.

That said, here are the best movies I've seen this year for the first time:

• Two-Lane Blacktop
  
• O Lucky Man!
  
• Control (the film about Ian Curtis/Joy Division)
  
• Juno

I have, however, kept up my casual music semi-hipsterness (e.g. listening to what Pitchfork tells me to listen to). So, my favorite albums of the year, listed in order of preference:

• No Age - Nouns
  
• Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
  
• Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
  
• The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
  
• Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Also, The Hood Internet's vs. Chicago thing has been getting a ton of play lately, but since I'm a rock nerd I don't think I can count that as a full-on separate entity. Different rules apply to Girl Talk, I think.

Today is the second day of test shoots for my latest film project. I've been intentionally vague about it in case I get sick of the whole thing and give up in a fit of, most likely, laziness. That, and if I described the bare-bones plot, I'd probably generate a negative amount of hype and set into motion the inevitable backlash (and, by extension, the backlash's own backlash). However, here's the rough, perfect-world plan for it, so all of you can get ready for its piecemeal release or something:

• Shooting parts in September, October, and November.
  
• Editing sometime in that timeframe, depending largely on when I can scrape together the skrilla to buy a Mac and Final Cut. (Did I just say skrilla?)
  
• Releasing nine little chunks over the course of nine weeks in late 2008/early 2009; sort of like a TV show, if a TV show only came in ten-minute installments and was filmed on a five-year-old Canon GL2 30i mini DV camera and mixed on a pirate copy of Cool Edit Pro.