This is new music for 2008.

The January Man

1) Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
2) Barton Carroll - Brooklyn Girl, You're Going To Be My Bride
3) Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele - Pierce Avenue
4) Bon Iver - Skinny Love
5) Sia - Playground
6) Dr. Dog - I'm Standing in the Light
7) Patrick Watson - The Great Escape
8) The Hot Toddies - HTML
9) Nada Surf - I Like What You Say
10) Bell XI - Flame (Chicken Lips Mix)
11) Eric Lindell - Lay Back Down
12) Cat Power - Metal Heart
13) Drive-By Truckers - 3 Dimes Down
14) Anna Kramer & The Lost Cause - All Those Pretty Things
15) Liam Finn - Second Chance
16) Low - Breaker
17) Sia - Buttons
18) MGMT - Electric Feel
19) Ruby Suns - Tane Mahuta
20) Arizona - Fairly Light Mix 1
21) Rachel Unthank & The Winterset - January Man
22) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - World's Greatest

Ok, jerks. Here's the latest. I think this mix has reached its potency. Its potential. I am jiving on a couple glasses of wine, and I've just finished reading Diablo Cody's s.p. for Juno. It puts the silent "n" in "damn good."

Let me know, there again, if I can hook you up with any of these songs.

Something for a New Year

1) Randy Newman - Political Science
2) Coconut Records - It's Not You It's Me
3) Rivers Cuomo - Lover in the Snow
4) Ryan Adams - Starlite Diner
5) Coldplay - 2000 Miles (The Pretenders cover)
6) Tom Waits - There's a Place for Us
7) Bob Dylan - The Man in Me
8) George Harrison - If Not for You
9) The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You
10) Barry Louis Polisar - All I Want is You
11) Ryan Adams - Perfect and True
12) Warren Zevon - Searching for a Heart
13) Matt Costa - Never Looking Back
14) Elvis Costello - Imagination (Is a Powerful Deceiver)
15) Joy Division - Atmosphere
16) The Moldy Peaches - Lazy Confessions
17) Cat Power - Sea of Love
18) Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo - Can't Leave Her Behind
19) Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam
20) Van Dyke Parks - Keep Me in Your Heart (Strings Only)
21) Randy Newman - A Few Words in Defense of Our Country

1), 20) - Randy Newman is one of my favorite songwriters, and he's by far my favorite satirist. These two figurative gems, crafted from the man's mind's ore, are truly just gorgeous takes from two different eras of political conflict in our young country's existence. Freakin' amazing how pertinent track one (1972) is today, and just gut-wrenching how true track twenty-one (2007) rings today.

2) Jason Schwartzman just might be the most talented guy my age. Go, go, Schwartz! Go! Hey, ask your cousin Nic to make another Leaving Las Vegas. I miss him, but I like money.

9), 16) Adam, my old friend, who was always much cooler than me, probably still is, introduced this band to me - along with the Gadjits - when we were juniors in college. He brought this CD back from Christmas break... and then our dorm burned down. Coincidence? I don't think so. Kimya... you are incendiary.

12), 20) Another songwriter hero of mine. I've been listening to "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" a lot lately.

15) Control. The only other movie this year I've seen twice.

17) I loved Robert Plant's cover of this when he was with that supergroup, The Honeydrippers in the eighties [Page, Plant, (Jeff) Beck, Setzer, Schafer (... yes, Paul Schafer)]. I used to listen to it incessantly at swim meets. What do you think that says about me?

19) Most beautiful song of the year. Mr. Probst, you're right. Paste Mag has a great vid of JR talking about the crafting of this one.

I'm just going with it... There are several mixes I've not posted just from being busy.

This is sort of the longest running one. Based on the title, I think I made it somewhere around the first of November. I don't think anyone downloads these mixes anymore. If you want it, just leave me a comment.

Souls for Saints

1) Ryan Adams - If I Am a Stranger
2) Eels - Manchild
3) Eels - Bad News
4) Jackson Browne - These Days
5) Bob Dylan & The Band - Forever Young
6) Levon Helm - The Mountain
7) Jeff Tweedy - Simple Twist of Fate
8) The Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky
9) The Rolling Stones - Salt of the Earth
10) Ollabelle - Soul of a Man
11) Norah Jones - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
12) Dr. John - Wade in the Water
13) Jack Johnson with ALO - I Shall Be Released
14) Antony & The Johnsons - Knockin' on Heaven's Door
15) John Doe - Pressing on
16) Jeff Buckley - Satisfied Mind
17) Aphex Twin - Avril 14
18) Nicole Reynolds - In the Morning
19) Devendra Banhart - At the Hop
20) Bob Dylan - Sign On the Window

She's heavy on Dylan and his covers, but she's pretty good. I'm going to fall asleep to her right now.

Watch Donovan sing "To Sing for You," the plain, somewhat plaintive song with its obvious message, as Dylan chidingly chimes in with "Hey, that's a good song, man." Ripping the axe from Don's hand, Dylan snarls his way through a searing, sneering version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." One can't help wondering if Dylan was sending his contemporary sing/songwriter some sort of message. Then again, Dylan steadfastly denies writing songs with a message.

Last night, at The Beacon Theatre, I attended a concert promoting the release of Todd Haynes' new film, I'm Not There. The Roots were last to perform; they received a standing ovation - and rightly so - after their stirring, sousaphone-infused rendition of "Masters of War." I haven't been to a show this good in a long, long time.

The video is from a DC show earlier this year. The sound quality is right on.

1) Satyajit Ray – Charu’s Theme
2) Talking Heads – This Must Be the Place (Live)
3) Stevie Ray Vaughan – Little Wing
4) Tom Petty – Square One
5) Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
6) Eric Clapton – Motherless Child
7) Neil Young – Homegrown
8) Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, & The Foggy Mountain Boys – Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms
9) Ryan Adams – My Love for You Is Real (Live)
10) Ray LaMontagne & Damien Rice – To Love Somebody (Live)
11) Ray LaMontagne – So Long Away
12) Taj Mahal – Corrina
13) Dr. John – Such a Night
14) Ceu – Lenda
15) Rufus Wainwright – Instant Pleasure
16) The Be Good Tanyas – Midnight Moonlight
17) The Shivers – Beauty
18) The Allman Brothers Band – One Way Out
19) Dr. John – New Island Midnight
20) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Jungleland

Bonus:
Helen Highfield – Easy to Be Hard
Laura Sessoms – Frank Mills

.zip the whole thing!

I'm in today's New York Times.

Augustus Gloop

1) The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix)
2) Golden Smog - Radio King ::: Jeff Tweedy, Live in a living room
3) Iron and Wine - The Trapeze Swinger
4) Josh Ritter - Wait for Love
5) Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane ::: (Live 5/13/07)
6) Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness (Live at Monterey, 1967)
7) Donny Hathaway - You've Got a Friend (Live)
8) Marvin Gaye - Piece of Clay
9) Citizen Cope - Holdin' On
10) Damien Rice - Rootless Tree
11) Grateful Dead - Brokedown Palace
12) Josh Ritter - Wait for Love (You Know You Will)
13) Taj Mahal - Queen Bee
14) Freedy Johnston - Bad Reputation
15) Cat Power - Lived in Bars::: (Live 11/11/05)
16) Fionn Regan - Be Good or Be Gone
17) George Fenton & Ravi Shankar - Partition / End of the Fast
18) Bruce Hornsby - Wondering Where the Lions Are
19) Bob Dylan - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
20) Mike & The Mechanics - Looking Back Over My Shoulder
21) Elvis Costello - Alison
22) The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
23) Jose Gonzalez - Teardrop::: (Live)
24) Billie Holiday - Let's Do It
25) Judy Garland - What'll I Do (Live on The Judy Garland Show)
26) Brenda Lee - Break It To Me Gently
27) Joan Armatrading - Down to Zero
28) Van Morrison - Virgo Clowns
29) Ray Charles - I Can See Clearly Now
30) The Beach Boys - I Was Made to Love Her
31) Patty Griffin - Heavenly Day
32) Lucinda Williams - Are You Alright?
.zip AUGUSTUS GLOOP HERE.

"This is a pretty good mix," I caught myself saying just minutes ago. I make these mixes just about every week, fully intending to post them sooner than ever I do, and then a month passes and you fine folks get sort of a month's worth of greatest hits from those weekly trial mixes.

And so I give you Augustus Gloop, named thusly because I found myself scarfing hoards of chocolate whilst watching the husky little Augustus fall in a river of the stuff late one night in the first week of this month, August. I may be failing at this whole giving up chocolate thing, but at least I am trying.

1) I think this was on the Motown 1s remixed CD. I love the control room, I love little Michael's "Yeah, yeah!" in the beginning, and I love how smooth it sounds.
6) The "got-ta, got-ta, got-ta" part hits my heart like the bullets of a machine gun's ray. This summer marks the fortieth anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival. God save us.
7) A recording will occasionally come along and make me say, "Damn, I wish I was there for this!" This is one of those recordings. Play it in the morning on your way to work, or to work out, you'll sing along. You may even attempt to sing in harmony.
8) One of my favorite poems is William Blake's "The Clod and The Pebble" from The Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Add "Piece of Clay" to that list.
9)I've been watching Prime incessantly. The scene in which this plays is one of the more beautifully shot. This film speaks to me in so many ways. It tells of a lot which I've been dealing with lately, and it does so around some of the very (apparently picturesque) streets where I deal with those things - namely mother/son relationships, art vs. work, New York, breaking up, and ... breaking up... in and around SoHo and the West Village.
10) Speaking of, "Suddenly I'm down in [Union] Square. Look around. Your face is everywhere." I was prompted to pull this oldy but goody out when a tiny tot with a Freedy t-shirt sold me cookies at the Greenmarket by my house. Check out Noah Baumbach's brilliant Kicking and Screaming.
17) Can't stop watching this movie! This photo has haunted me.
20) We all know I'm a humongous fan of Paul Carrack. He's the definition of "male pop vocals" - at least in my dictionary. Well, I'd forgotten about this one until loading up on my favorite cheesy pop for the dance parties in my hotel room during my recent trip to Allentown, PA. Another song for the morning. Let it replace your coffee, if only for a day.
22) The first of TV commercial head-turners. Amstel Light:

25) The second: Diet Coke.
29, 30) Along with the earlier Hathaway track, it was a month for covers. I love both of these very much. Ray can do no wrong, and The Beach Boys do alright by this one. I think I love the roughness of it, the under-polished quality, however deliberately so it may have been done.
32) Caught this on Allentown's NPR station and was reminded of how much I loved this album. When she's on... she's on! This song couldn't have hit me at a better moment either. By the end of it, I found myself lying on my bed, face down, having a cry while my Shakespeare in the Park roommate was in the shower. Thanks Lucinda. Catharsis never felt so good.

I know I already posted this video earlier this summer, but seriously, dude's the coolest! That Kanye has a great sense of humor. Will Oldham's giggling at the antics of my hero ZG cracks me up.

Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothing

Tell me you saw this:

Ok, ok, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t break this one down any more. I try to keep my mixes to 80 minutes for those poor souls who still listen to CDs. Granted, this mix finds me questioning the virtues of the little plastic disc; it finds me cross-pollinating the record store, stealing from jazz, blues, contemporary classical, rap, rock, even some country. I don’t know why I love the music I do. Nor do I understand why it’s all over the map, but I hope you enjoy this selection of songs as much as I do. Please let me know if you’re unable to download, and I will be certain to somehow, some way physically present you with a copy.

1) Feist – My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)
2) Kanye West – Young Folks
3) Kanye West – Interviews
4) M.I.A. – Hit That
5) Girl Talk – Summer Smoke
6) Dan Deacon – Okie Dokie
7) Bishop Allen – Rain
8) Ben Harper – Into the Colors
9) Iron & Wine – Boy With a Coin
10) Do Make Say Think – A Tender History in Rust
11) Dntel – The Distance (Featuring Arthur & Yu)
12) Spoon – You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb (alternate version)
13) Marla Hansen – Wedding Day
14) Great Lake Swimmers – Where in the World Are You
15) Suzanne Vega – New York is a Woman
16) LCD Soundsystem – New York I Love You
17) Duane Allman with Boz Scaggs – Loan Me a Dime
18) Band of Horses – Our Swords
19) Ron Wood – Act Together
20) The Rolling Stones – Sweet Black Angel
21) Ian Thomas – A Young Man’s Blues
22) Ben Nichols – Dog Day Night
23) Mose Allison – Young Man’s Blues
24) KT Tunstall – I Want You Back (J5)
25) Leonard Cohen – Lover Lover Lover (Live ’79)
26) The Kinks – Strangers
27) The Kinks – This Time Tomorrow
28) The Rolling Stones – Sweet Black Angel (instrumental)
29) Yann Tiersen – La Valse D’amelie (Version Piano)
.zip

2), 3) – FAM! I find myself constantly laughing out loud to this song.
5) Anyone who can mash James Taylor with Biggee Smalls is alright in my book.
6) This is Dan Deacon.












This is why I love Dan Deacon (notice the iPod Shuffle taped to a banana as it rests on a purple shag).












7) Hands Down, my new favorite band. If you have the chance, listen to all 12 of their EPs from last year. Yes, twelve - one for each month.
10) When I first heard this excellent song from Canadians Do Make Say Think, I thought it was Iron & Wine, an American, and I thought it was Awesome! Then, I found out they are Canadian, and I found a foot in my mouth. Ok? Ok, Canada, you can stay. You’re alright in my book. Usually.
15), 16) Personification, I Love You
17) Not that it could’ve been possible, but I wish I was there for this, man.
18) On their demo, this song was simply entitled “Two Basses.” I wonder why?
19) Band Of Horses closed McCarren Pool with this. I freakin’ love it. I especially love the backing vocals and the organ.
22) A girl I know made out with this dude. Lucero rocks my black t-shirt off!
24) If it were possible to craft one, this is a guilty pleasure ganache covered in guilty pleasure dark chocolate (71%), and wrapped in guilty pleasure turkey bacon (no nitrites). Mmm sprinkles!
26), 27) To fully appreciate these songs, one must listen with headphones. The usage of stereo recording is unparalleled here. I love The Kinks! So does Wes Anderson, apparently.

... pretty much.

Zach Galifianakis is the man. I saw this at the New York Magazine Bad Art Auction he hosted a little over a week ago. Watch Bonnie "Prince" Billy try to keep a straight face.

Mine's in the mail.

If you have 12 minutes, watch this video. It's been inspiring me lately.