Mux091: Apocalypse Soon

In the Box.

1. Archers of Loaf - Web In Front (Icky Mettle)
2. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Stick Figures In Love (Mirror Traffic)
3. Pete and the Pirates - Knots (Little Death)
4. Los Campesinos! - Songs About Your Girlfriend (Hello Sadness)
5. St. Vincent - Cruel (Strange Mercy)
6. Phantogram - Don't Move (Nightlife EP)
7. Real Estate - Green Aisles (Days)
8. Radiohead - Lotus Flower (The King of Limbs)
9. EMA - The Grey Ship (Past Life Martyred Saints)
10. Battles - Race: In (Mirrored)

Rookies:
Archers of Loaf
Pete and the Pirates (propers to JLA)

See you in 2012, which will see the triumphant release of the not-so-triumphant Mux100. There was a reason I used three-digit prefixes; guess I'll have to stop at Mux999.

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

Mux048: March 2010

New month, new mux.

Download or stream off drop.io.

1. Japandroids - Art Czars
2. Local Natives - Wide Eyes
3. Rogue Wave - Solitary Gun
4. The Radio Dept. - This Time Around
5. Broken Social Scene - Looks Just Like The Sun
6. Pavement - Stereo
7. Gorillaz - Stylo
8. Hot Chip - Take It In
9. Modest Mouse - Gravity Rides Everything
10. Los Campesinos! - This Is A Flag. There Is No Wind.
11. The Soft Pack - Answer To Yourself
12. The National - Abel

Mux045: February 2010

Download or stream at drop.io.

Oh, and the tracks? Total mystery. The usual mix of old favorites, new favorites, and stuff the shuffle dredged up.

1. The Thermals - Here's Your Future
2. The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend
3. Beach House - Norway
4. Broken Social Scene - Almost Crimes
5. Pavement - Date With Ikea
6. Los Campesinos! - Straight In At 101
7. Tapes 'n Tapes - Insistor
8. Surfer Blood - Floating Vibes
9. The National - All The Wine
10. Four Tet - She Just Likes To Fight
11. Spoon - Written In Reverse

Mux044: January 2010

Two new tracks and a lot of old favorites.

Download or stream off drop.io.

1. Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
2. Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (EP version)
3. The Joggers - Wicked Light Sleeper
4. Jay Reatard - I Know A Place
5. Radiohead - Bones
6. Vampire Weekend - Giving Up The Gun
7. Spoon - Out Go The Lights
8. The Kills - Black Balloon
9. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
10. Los Campesinos! - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
11. Cut Copy - Bright Neon Payphone
12. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country

Mux012: November 2008, the reissue

Still bitching about shot lists.

Stream or download.

1. TV on the Radio - Halfway Home
2. Jay Reatard - Always Wanting More
3. Deerhunter - Vox Celeste
4. The Fiery Furnaces - Tropical Ice-Land
5. School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep
6. Born Ruffians - Sole Brother (Daytrotter Session)
7. Johnny and the Moon - Green Rocky Road
8. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
9. The Arcade Fire - Antichrist Television Blues
10. Rogue Wave - Publish My Love
11. Los Campesinos! - Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)
12. Marnie Stern - The Devil Is In The Details

Mux015: December 2008, the reissue

Still working on a shot list, so here's another.

1. Caesars - Strawberry Weed
2. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
3. Tokyo Police Club - Tessellate
4. M83 - Graveyard Girl
5. David Holmes - Melanie
6. Rivers Cuomo - I Don't Want To Let You Go (Solo Version)
7. The National - Ada
8. My Bloody Valentine - Don't Ask Why
9. Jay Reatard - Let It All Go
10. Rogue Wave - 10:1
11. Marnie Stern - Roads? Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads
12. Deerhunter - Oh, It's Such A Shame (Jay Reatard Cover)

Mux038: H1N1'd

Cold symptoms plus fever and unusual aches. Might as well assume I have H1N1. I can trace a path, anyway: my mom through her hairdresser through her son. Though neither my mom nor hairdresser has been symptomatic. So with this garbage and my all-time-high of daily tea-with-honey consumption (combined with, unsuccessfully, trying to blast the symptoms with megadoses of Special K, bananas, and V8 Fusion), I don't exactly feel like listening to the most high-octane stuff around. Thus, after the starting lineup of some GH 5 tunes (invariably), it slows down a bit.

Download it at drop.io. 1. The White Stripes - Blue Orchid 2. Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss A Beat 3. The Sword - Maiden, Mother and Crone 4. M83 - Don't Save Us From The Flames 5. Dizzee Rascal - Holiday 6. No Age - Aim At The Airport 7. Panda Bear - I'm Not 8. Los Campesinos! - The Sea Is A Good Place To Think About The Future 9. The Mountain Goats - No Children 10. WHY? - Berkeley By Hearseback 11. Atlas Sound - Quick Canal

JDK's Favorite Music of 2008 Part III

Ranking any sort of art against another (here: music) is always arbitrary and trivial. But people love lists, and I've made up my mind. I cheated a bit and included a singles compilations that involves 2006 and 2007 cuts, as well as smushing two albums together simply because the band made both this year.

Thus:

1. Deerhunter - Microcastle (without Weird Era Cont.)
2. No Age - Nouns
3. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
4. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
5. Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07 / Matador Singles '08
6. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
7. Crystal Castles
8. Fleet Foxes
9. Marnie Stern - This Is It...
10. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster... / We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

I'm still playing catch-up with a huge quantity of 2008 music, mostly culled from lists arranged by friends and, well, Pitchfork. Last year I didn't even give Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga a second spin after my initial listen, and now I can't believe I didn't put that in last year's top three. If there's any such revelation with the music I overlooked this year, I'll write something about it.

Otherwise, there's a gigantic post floating around in my head that breaks down all the music I liked this year and why I liked it, but since said massive post gains massivitity each day, I'm starting to dread such a task. Maybe a simple list will suffice for the four people that read this blog.

Mux012: November 2008

Now some time since Dear Science came out, I finally figured out that the only way to properly include "Halfway Home" on any mix is to take the album's advice and stick that cut at the top. A little awkward transitioning into a Jay Reatard song, but when is that ever easy? "Always Wanting More" has such a triumphant riff that I can't deny it the eternal glory of finding its way onto JDK's Mux012. And while I'm still enjoying Deerhunter's Microcastle in its entirety, I'll save some of its better standalone tracks for later, and here I'll offer up the shoegaze jam "Vox Celeste," one of the few accessible songs off Weird Era Cont., Microcastle's ugly b-sides cousin that masquerades as an "album."

Here's my November mix/mux/muxtape/whatever and the tracks:

1. TV on the Radio - Halfway Home
   
2. Jay Reatard - Always Wanting More
   
3. Deerhunter - Vox Celeste
   
4. The Fiery Furnaces - Tropical Ice-Land
   
5. School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep
   
6. Born Ruffians - Sole Brother (Daytrotter Session)
   
7. Johnny and the Moon - Green Rocky Road
   
8. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
   
9. The Arcade Fire - Antichrist Television Blues
   
10. Rogue Wave - Publish My Love
    
11. Los Campesinos! - Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)
    
12. Marnie Stern - The Devil is in the Details