Mux204: October 2016

Download or stream.

Redid this one a billion times like 203, so another frankenmux. Had so much trouble that 205 is already fully sequenced, though that's a bit of a special case.

1. Car Seat Headrest - Fill In The Blank (Teens of Denial)
2. The Kills - Getting Down (Midnight Boom)
3. Bloc Party - Positive Tension (Silent Alarm)
4. Dirty Projectors - About To Die (Swing Lo Magellan)
5. Shearwater - Black Eyes (Golden Archipelago)
6. Purity Ring - Stranger Than Earth (Another Eternity)
7. Taylor Swift - How You Get The Girl (1989)
8. Phantogram - All Dried Up (Eyelid Movies)
9. Preoccupations - Degraded (Preoccupations)
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Warrior (Show Your Bones)
11. Liars - Annual Moon Words (WIXIW)
12. The Faces - Ooh La La (Ooh La La)

TRT 43:45

Rookies: The Faces, Preoccupations

2016 music: Car Seat Headrest, Preoccupations

Mux148: June 2014

Featuring The New Smash Single "Do It Again" By Royksopp & Robyn. Et cetera.

Boom.

1. Kevin Drew - Bullshit Ballad (Darlings)
2. EMA - So Blonde (The Future's Void)
3. Real Estate - Fake Blues (Real Estate)
4. The Men - Different Days (Tomorrow's Hits)
5. Michael Jackson - Workin' Day And Night (Off The Wall)
6. Chromeo - Old 45s (White Women)
7. Royksopp & Robyn - Do It Again (Do It Again EP) (For JCD)
8. !!! - Fine Fine Fine (THR!!!ER)
9. The War On Drugs - Red Eyes (Lost In The Dream)
10. Liars - Pro Anti Anti (Mess) (For BH)
11. Led Zeppelin - In The Light (Physical Graffiti)
12. The Roots - Tomorrow (And Then You Shoot Your Cousin)

TRT 54:55

2014 music: Chromeo, EMA, Kevin Drew, Liars, The Men, The Roots, Royksopp & Robyn, The War On Drugs

Mux146: May 2014

Boom.

1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Coming Down (feat. Matt Berninger) (Only Run)
2. Chvrches - Under The Tide (The Bones of What You Believe)
3. Phantogram - Black Out Days (Voices)
4. St. Vincent - Regret (St. Vincent)
5. Beck - Debra (Midnight Vultures)
6. The Range - The One (Nonfiction)
7. Todd Terje - Strandbar (It's Album Time)
8. EMA - Solace (The Future's Void)
9. The War On Drugs - Suffering (Lost In The Dream)
10. Led Zeppelin - No Quarter (Houses of the Holy)
11. Liars - Left Speaker Blown (Mess)
12. Real Estate - Had To Hear (Atlas)

TRT 57:24

Rookies: Todd Terje

2014 music: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, EMA, Liars, Phantogram, Real Estate, St. Vincent, Todd Terje, The War On Drugs

Mux144: April 2014

If this mux could talk, it'd say, "Boy, there sure were a lot of changes from when the opening track was 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' by The Darkness!" You just can't have anything after it. Or before it. It's a song that exists in a vacuum.

So here's the alternative. And yes, I'm allowed to have two tracks fronted by Kevin Drew. Don't like it? Fine. Make your own series of 144 painstakingly-sequenced, twice-monthly mixes. (Just be sure to drop me a download link.)

Boom.

1. Darkside - Heart (Psychic)
2. Kevin Drew - It's Cool (Darlings)
3. Angel Olsen - Heart (Burn Your Fire For No Witness)
4. Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Led Zeppelin)
5. Radiohead - Talk Show Host (The Bends B-Sides)
6. Broken Social Scene - Sweetest Kill (Forgiveness Rock Record)
7. The Men - Pearly Gates (Tomorrow's Hits)
8. Liars - Vox Turned D.E.D. (Mess)
9. Purity Ring - Obedear (Shrines)
10. The War On Drugs - The Haunting Idle (Lost In The Dream)
11. Phantogram - I Don't Blame You (Voices)
12. Washed Out - Paracosm (Paracosm) (For JET)

TRT 55:47

Rookies: Angel Olsen, Darkside

2014 music: Angel Olsen, Kevin Drew, Liars, The Men, Phantogram, The War On Drugs

JDK's Favorite Music of Q1 2014

I like to take stock of what I've been digging at the beginning of any year, only to look back on it at the year-end and just shake my head. Not like there are any slim pickings, but since I'd rank "staying power" as one the things I look for in an album, you really can't tell if time will be kind or not.

Also, I like procrastinating on Octoberan and posting little album art. (Even though, shit, Dark Soul 2 just showed up at my door.)

Alphabetical order to be fair, and only one sentence (one!) for each.



Black Lips - Underneath The Rainbow
Highlights: "Boys In The Woods," "Smiling"

Oh how I love Black Lips' brand of nuclear-sunshine punk.



Cheatahs - Cheatahs
Highlights: "Geographic," "The Swan"

If you don't mind some not-so-subtle MBV ripoffs and a lite tour of recent rock history (or, well, rock sounds), then this is my stealth favorite of the year so far.



The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams
Highlights: "I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You," "Oaks"

So what if I just finished my first listen two minutes ago?



Katy B - Little Red
Highlights: "5 AM," "I Like You"

I will not apologize for my love of British dance-pop whatever, especially when the deluxe version includes a seamless mix of the entire album resequenced.



Kevin Drew - Darlings
Highlights: "Good Sex," "It's Cool"

Now that this one isn't "Broken Social Scene presents..." we can all get on with the music of all those wonderful BSS players.



Liars - Mess
Highlights: "Vox Turned D.E.D.," "Mess On A Mission"

Very glad my hope that this album would be cut from the same cloth as WIXIW's electro-experiment "No. 1 Against The Rush" and the glow-in-the-dark raver "Brats." (Frontrunner for album art of the year, despite how it strangely reminds me of Gloss Drop or, specifically, Dross Glop.)



The Men - Tomorrow's Hits
Highlights: "Dark Waltz," "Pearly Gates"

And thus continues the trend of The Men to veer hard from their roots of scuzz-punk into some sort of big-band brassy country rockout.



Phantogram - Voices
Highlights: "Nothings But Trouble," "Fall In Love"

I have said this once and I'll say it a million times (and Minneapolis Bill has my back): To all the dudes out there, I guarantee your girlfriend will like this band as much or more than you do. (Edit: Whoa! Apparently this was up at #11 on Billboard. The regular Billboard, not any of its niche charts.)



Real Estate - Atlas
Highlights: "Had To Hear," "Talking Backwards"

These guys have some motherfucking chops as musicians, which they so cleverly hide amid all the idyll.



St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Highlights: "Birth In Reverse," "Regret"

While she might not be able to shred in the conventional sense, Annie Clark makes the craziest sounds out of her guitar since Tom Morello.



The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
Highlights: "Suffering," "The Haunting Idle"

Gotta throw in some dreamy, fractured, quasi-ambient rock.

Mux140: February 2014

[Released early into the wild since it was finished early and because Mux139 is terrible. Have already listened to it a dozen times in my car. I'm actually in that dangerous territory of basically having the final tracks and sequence for Mux141, but at the rate I'm ripping new songs, the end product could be wildly different.]

Tradition dictates that first-of-the-month muxes are dated, since otherwise this would be Mux140: Jack The Ripper given how much stuff I've yoinked from yet-to-drop albums via Soundcloud and YouTube videos. At least the quality of rips these days is pretty damn good.

Because of the ripping and running, I had an embarassment of riches to choose from versus scraping the bottom of the barrel for the last few. At one point I think I was debating just tossing out a two-hour mux, but that betrays my Rules and all. So I guess I've spared you a semi-hardcore breakdown with Rollins Band and Rage Against the Machine.

And any day I can toss on some Professor Murder is a good day. "Charttjunk" also has the best guitar solo of 2014 thus far.

So yeah.

Boom.

1. Kevin Drew - Good Sex (Darlings)
2. Real Estate - Talking Backwards (Atlas)
3. Thee Oh Sees - Toe Cutter Thumb Buster (Floating Coffin)
4. Japandroids - For The Love of Ivy (Gun Club cover) (Celebration Rock)
5. Professor Murder - Dutch Hex (Manhattan Version) (Professor Murder vs. The Magazine Culture)
6. Liars - Mess On A Mission (Mess)
7. Friendly Fires - Running Away (Pala)
8. Chvrches - Recover (The Bones of What You Believe)
9. Broken Bells - The Changing Lights (Live Acoustic) (Untitled 2014 Album)
10. Washed Out - Don't Give Up (Paracosm)
11. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Chartjunk (Wig Out At Jagbags)

TRT 40:50

2014 music: Broken Bells, Kevin Drew, Liars, Real Estate, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Mux118: February 2013

Slow, fast, slow. Sort of.

Boom.

Featuring the talents of Wiping out Thousands, whose name I defiantly spell with a capital O for my MP3 tags. They're from the Twin Cities and so am I, thus the special mention. HI GUYS.

1. Wild Nothing - Shadow (Nocturne)
2. Destroyer - Your Blood (Destroyer's Rubies)
3. Wolf Parade - What Did My Lover Say? (It Had To Go This Way) (Expo 86)
4. Japandroids - Adrenaline Nightshift (Celebration Rock)
5. Spoon - Metal Detektor (A Series of Sneaks)
6. Liars - Clear Island (Liars)
7. Metz - Get Off (Metz)
8. Wiping out Thousands - Below Tripping (This Came First)
9. Daniel Rossen - Golden Mile (Silent Hour / Golden Mile)
10. Ty Segall & White Fence - Time (Hair)
11. Spiritualized - Hey Jane (Sweet Heart Sweet Light)

Rookies: Daniel Rossen, Ty Segall & White Fence

TRT 49:46

JDK's Favorite Albums of 2012 (Extremely Short Edition)

Continuing my trend of pushing out a list before the other sites do so I can't be, like, accused of following P4K too closely. But, hell, this, like most other music lists (and muxes) might as well be curated by them.

And if something awesome comes out in December, I'm sure it'll be on my giant write-up, complete with those lovely little graphics of the album art (that take forever to insert, but whatever).

The ordered list

1. Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
   
2. Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes
   
3. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
   
4. Chromatics - Kill For Love
   
5. Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

The unordered list

• Bear In Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool
  
• Hot Chip - In Our Heads
  
• Liars - WIXIW
  
• Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At A Distance
  
• The Men - Open Your Heart
  
• Titus Andronicus - Local Business
  
• Ty Segall & White Fence - Hair
  
• Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse
  
• Wiping Out Thousands - This Came First

You can download Wiping Out Thousands' This Came First at their Bandcamp page as a pay-what-you-want download. (And yes, that includes $0.) Favorite songs of the year (limiting two songs per band)

• Chromatics - Into The Black
  
• Chromatics - Lady
  
• Cloud Nothings - Wasted Days
  
• Cloud Nothings - Cut You
  
• Divine Fits - Shivers
  
• Flying Lotus - Electric Candyman (feat. Thom Yorke)
  
• Four Tet - Pinnacles
  
• Hot Chip - Flutes
  
• Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built
  
• Liars - No. 1 Against The Rush
  
• Liars - Brats
  
• Lotus Plaza - Strangers
  
• The Men - Open Your Heart
  
• The Men - Ex-Dreams
  
• Sleigh Bells - End of the Line
  
• Wiping Out Thousands - Creation
  
• Wiping Out Thousands - Beach

Mux108: September 2012

Update (2017.03.26): The file has been reuploaded and the link restored.

A little more chill than recent. Or maybe I'm completely mentally inventing that idea.

Download or stream.

1. Cadence Weapon - Conditioning (Hope In Dirt City)
2. Hot Chip - These Chains (In Our Heads)
3. Bear In Heaven - Cool Light (I Love You, It's Cool)
4. Matthew Dear - I Can't Feel (Black City)
5. Liars - A Ring On Every Finger (WIXIW)
6. Radiohead - In Limbo (Kid A)
7. Flying Lotus - MmmHmm (Cosmogramma)
8. Thundercat - For Love I Come (The Golden Age of Apocalypse)
9. Frankie Rose - The Fall (Interstellar)
10. Kurt Vile - On Tour (Smoke Ring For My Halo)

And yes, "MmmHmm" samples lyrics from "For Love I Come." I think it's a nice cosmic pairing. No clue whether that pun was or was not intentional.

Rookies:
Cadence Weapon
Matthew Dear
Thundercat

TRT 37:56

Mux106: August 2012

After all this rock, I went a little electronic this time around.

Yep.

1. Hot Chip - Night and Day (In Our Heads)
2. Grimes - Oblivion (Visions)
3. Cut Copy - Alisa (Zonoscope)
4. Passion Pit - I'll Be Alright (Gossamer)
5. Prefuse 73 - The Only Hand To Hold (The Only She Chapters)
6. School of Seven Bells - White Wind (Ghostory)
7. Battles - White Electric (Gloss Drop)
8. Chromatics - Kill For Love (Kill For Love)
9. Liars - Brats (WIXIW)

TRT: 38:21

Rookies:
Grimes

Mux104: July 2012

Obligatory OCD comment about how the volume is a little variable in spots since, for whatever reason, Liars master their stuff really, really low. Had the same problems with Sisterworld.

Also: Semi-random first appearance of a song from a soundtrack (that isn't from Guitar Hero or Rock Band). I've been way into TRON Legacy lately (like, uh, watching it five times in four days), so we'll probably get some Daft Punk love on an upcoming mux from one of the more electro tracks on the fine soundtrack of that very-underrated film.

Boom.

1. Liars - The Exact Colour of Doubt (WIXIW)
2. Sonic Youth - Dirty Boots (Goo)
3. Why? - Crushed Bones (Elephant Eyelash)
4. Joy Division - She's Lost Control (Unknown Pleasures version)
5. Hot Chip - Flutes (In Our Heads)
6. Deerhunter - Heatherwood (Daytrotter Session)
7. Lotus Plaza - Monoliths (Spooky Action At A Distance)
8. Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built (Celebration Rock)
9. Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx - Nightcall (Drive soundtrack)

TRT 39:09

Rookies:
Kavinsky
Lovefoxxx

Mux103: The 2012 Sampler

All 2012 tracks. The "newer" stuff are from Japandroids, The Walkmen, Liars, and PS I Love You.

Download.

1. Japandroids - The Nights of Wine and Roses (Celebration Rock)
2. The Walkmen - Heaven (Heaven)
3. Liars - No. 1 Against The Rush (WIXIW)
4. Bear In Heaven - The Reflection of You (I Love You, It's Cool)
5. Chromatics - Lady (Kill For Love)
6. Cloud Nothings - Separation (Attack On Memory)
7. The Men - Ex-Dreams (Open Your Heart)
8. PS I Love You - First Contact (Death Dreams)
9. Wiping Out Thousands - Bounce (Reaction Machine EP)
10. Tanlines - Nonesuch (Mixed Emotions)

Rookies:
Tanlines

Mux078: June 2011

In the Dropbox.

1. Cut Copy - Need You Now
2. Broken Social Scene - Windsurfing Nation
3. The Kills - Baby Says
4. Times New Viking - It's A Culture
5. Liars - Mr. You're On Fire Mr.
6. Man Man - Life Fantastic
7. Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong
8. Tune-Yards - Bizness
9. Gang Gang Dance - MindKilla
10. Boris - Aileron (Attention Please version)
11. Feist - Limit To Your Love (not a James Blake cover; the other way around)

Rookies:
Gang Gang Dance
Feist
Man Man
Times New Viking
Tune-Yards

JDK's The Best Mix Ever (2010 Edition)

I compile one of these humbly-titled mixes yearly. Granted, not much has changed since last year, but I think I hit a good sequencing stride in the first third.

Download or stream TBME2010 at my public Dropbox.

Tracks:

1. Rogue Wave - Endless Shovel
2. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
3. Why? - Fatalist Palmistry
4. Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time
5. Radiohead - Kid A
6. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
7. A Place To Bury Strangers - To Fix The Gash In Your Head
8. Lightning Bolt - Dead Cowboy
9. Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything
10. Frightened Rabbit - I'll Believe In Anything
11. High Places - From Stardust To Sentience
12. Jay Reatard - Oh It's Such A Shame (Blood Visions cut)
13. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
14. Joy Division - Transmission
15. The National - Abel
16. Smog - Teenage Spaceship
17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
18. Liars - The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack

Also, I'm not sure if it's too heavy-handed or not, but ending with "Maps" followed by "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack" was oh-so deliberate. Because of, you know, the Karen O / Angus Andrew romance. The songs put back-to-back is some high concept, call-and-response shit.

It also seems that "Kid A" has dethroned "The Tourist" and "Fog" as my favorite Radiohead song. Well, as the obvious truth is, I can only fit X songs on an 80 minute CD-R, and I only go with one song per band. "Kid A" is sort of my flavor of the season, since I'm in the process of sort of covering it and, lyrically, it's fairly brilliant.

Hell, while I Postscript this to death, I might as well toss up a few excellent cuts or alternates that were very painfully excised from my original giant iTunes playlist:

• The Antlers - Bear
• The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
• Battles - Race Out
• Beach House - Gila
• Bibio - Fire Ant
• Boards of Canada - Roygbiv
• Born Ruffians - Kurt Vonnegut
• Brian Eno - By This River
• Crystal Castles - Vanished
• Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
• The Get Up Kids - I'm A Loner, Dottie, A Rebel...
• Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
• Health - In Violet
• Japandroids - Wet Hair
• Jay Reatard - Nightmares
• The Joggers - Every Other Word
• Junior Boys - Last Exit
• Joy Division - Shadowplay
• LCD Soundsystem - Yeah (Crass Version)
• Lightning Bolt - 2 Towers
• Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
• Modest Mouse - Gravity Rides Everything
• My Bloody Valentine - When You Sleep (or) Sometimes
• The National - All The Wine
• No Age - Teen Creeps
• Pavement - Gold Soundz (or) AT&T (or) Cut Your Hair
• Portishead - The Rip
• Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
• Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers (or) I Summon You
• The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt
• TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
• The Walkmen - The Rat
• Weezer - No One Else (or) Say It Ain't So
• Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater

Mux070: February 2011

Another month, another mux. Given how early into the year it is, I'm eschewing the probably-no-one-knows-but-me practice of new songs for the first-of-the-month mux and older stuff for the midmonth mux. There's only one 2011 song on here, but that's not to slag off the others.

• Download: Mux070: February 2011

Tracks:

1. Weekend - Age Class
2. Liars - Cycle Time
3. Lost Sounds - I Get Nervous
4. The Kills - Cheap And Cheerful
5. Phoenix - Lasso
6. Best Coast - Crazy For You
7. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Can't Hear My Eyes
8. Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy
9. Portishead - Strangers
10. Flying Lotus - Do The Astral Plane
11. No Age - Losing Feeling
12. James Blake - Limit To You Love

Mux debuts:
Lost Sounds (Jay Reatard's old band)
Weekend

Postscript: Apologies for last mux, which had just about the worst sequencing possible given the tracks.

Mux060: September 2010

Download or stream via drop.io. Dude, you're like twelve years too late.

1. The Chemical Brothers - Snow
2. Liars - Proud Evolution
3. No Age - Glitter
4. Wolf Parade - Ghost Pressure
5. The Roots - How I Got Over
6. Broken Social Scene - Meet Me In The Basement
7. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Ativan Eyes
8. The National - Lemonworld
9. The Drums - I'll Never Drop My Sword
10. The Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
11. Magic Kids - Phone

Mux054: Noisy 2

Download or stream via drop.io.

1. Sleater-Kinney - The Fox
2. Marnie Stern - Vibrational Match
3. Crystal Castles - Doe Deer
4. Wavves - No Hope Kids
5. Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
6. A Place To Bury Strangers - Everything Always Goes Wrong
7. Lightning Bolt - Dracula Mountain
8. Liars - Scarecrows on a Killer Slant
9. Health - Triceratops
10. Justice - Waters of Nazareth
11. Tobacco - Nuclear Waste Aerobics
12. Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart (Fuck Buttons Remix)

The Year in Music: March 2010

Favorites of the year, thus far:


Beach House - Teen Dream


Four Tet - There Is Love In You


Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing


Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks


Hot Chip - One Life Stand


Liars - Sisterworld


Local Natives - Gorilla Manor


Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring


The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme


Rogue Wave - Permalight


Spoon - Transference


Surfer Blood - Astro Coast


Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks


Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Mux010: Semi-Noisy, the reissue

Just five to go.

Reissued.

1. A Place To Bury Strangers - Missing You
2. Jay Reatard - My Shadow
3. No Age - Sleeper Hold
4. Vivian Girls - Tell the World
5. Nirvana - Lithium
6. Stephen Malkmus - Baltimore
7. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Details of the War
8. Brendan Canning - Antique Bull
9. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
10. Les Savy Fav - Scotchgard the Credit Card
11. David Holmes - Holy Pictures
12. Liars - The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack

Another semi-noisy mux

How this turned into a mixtape blog, I'll never be certain. But lo! Another mix/mux/whatever that warrants my standard preface: it starts out a bit noisy, but it smooths out into less in-the-red rock by the time "Lithium" hits. Thus, the tracklist:

1. A Place to Bury Strangers - Missing You
   
2. Jay Reatard - My Shadow
   
3. No Age - Sleeper Hold
   
4. Vivian Girls - Tell the World
   
5. Nirvana - Lithium
   
6. Stephen Malkmus - Baltimore
   
7. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Details of the War
   
8. Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene) - Antique Bull
   
9. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
   
10. Les Savy Fav - Scotchgard the Credit Card
    
11. David Holmes - Holy Pictures
    
12. Liars - The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack

Speaking of Deerhunter, I'm really into their LP Microcastle. Considering, of course, that I was really lukewarm on Cryptograms and their Fluorescent Grey EP, and that I think Bradford Cox should get his blogging rights revoked. Also, Atlas Sound was a bit too out there for me, or maybe I didn't want to hear a bedroom-rock record about Cox just talking about Oh So Horrible his teenage years were. But Microcastle digs in with some solid rock hooks, as evidenced on the jammy "Nothing Ever Happened," and outside of the fits-well-with-the-album-but-slow-on-its-own mellow middle, Microcastle has many solid tracks worthy of getting it on MPC's prestigious year-end best-of list. Dare I even hint that it might be tied with No Age for my favorite rock record of the year?

Oh, right, film update: Finishing up my master schedule today, then rehearsing, shooting inserts and cutaways, and creating some props before I shoot from Saturday through Thursday. I hope my camera holds out, and I hope my arriving-tomorrow deck works in the way I expect it to work.