2008 Year End Mix Tape – Frame of Reference

This was a strange year for music with me as I a lack of decent Punk and Hardcore forced me to explore other genres for a change. Math/Post Rock was big for me this year as well as the usual Indie Rock fair and even a little pop. As far as the mix itself goes, I’m pretty proud of it. The first disc certainly holds up better thematically than the second, but overall it’s a decent collection of songs that were never meant to be together that I’ve managed to shoehorn into a format that works.

Disc 1

1. Sure We Had Knives Around – Don Caballero

Let’s get one thing straight, this isn’t Don Caballero, it’s Damon Che’s new band with the same name as his old band. And while it may not be Don Cab, it’s still good, especially if you don’t expect it to be anything like Don Cab … because it’s not.

2. melody 2 – Tera Melos

I stumbled upon this band during my quest for math rock on Last.fm late last spring. There’s a combination of hardcore, math, and ambience here that just strikes all the right chords. This song especially covers a lot of ground from the incomprehensible drowned out vocals to the last section with the distant, tinny, background drumming behind the spacey foreground drone.

3. It’s All About Right Then – Ghosts and Vodka

This is apparently members of Cap’n Jazz and Joan of Arc (sans Tim Kinsella) in what sounds like a cross between a math rock band and instrumental 90’s emo. I believe this was a reissue of their only full length album, but it’s good stuff, like Mogwai meets Faraquet played by an emo band.

4. Parakeet – Faraquet

And speaking of Faraquet … I missed out seeing their DC reunion show because it fell on the launch day of Warhammer, but at least they had released an anthology of their harder to find tracks from splits and limited releases that I picked up around the same time. I don’t know what it is, but listening to Faraquet always makes me think of summer nights a few hours after it’s rained, when the air begins to clear and everything feels fresh and cool. This song, while short and simple, just lets me get lost in it.

5. Ten Uh Clock Heart Uh Tack – We Versus The Shark

This was one of my “go to” bands during my math/post rock phase this year. Overall they’ve got sort of a post-hardcore meets math rock in a garage kind of a sound, that despite some rough vocals manages to get quite catchy. This track is one of the rare instances on the album where the vocals don’t really grate and is the only song featuring the female singer as a lead. While not the poster track for this band, you can still get a good sense of what they’re about here while allowing me to slot a decent follow up to Faraquet.

6. I Will Possess Your Heart – Death Cab For Cutie

For whatever reason, I had given up on Death Cab after Transatlanticism and even though Plans had a couple decent tracks, I somehow grew to not expect much from them. I think Narrow Stairs won me back. This is one of those songs that will forever end up being misused on mix tapes. Yes, it’s a love song, but it’s about a stalker, then again maybe chicks dig that these days. Even though they made a radio-friendly half-length version of this song as well, I’ve gotta give them props for doing an 8 minute track for the album … it’s very prog of them.

7. Undercovers On – Rival Schools

Don’t ask me why I never listened to Rival Schools before this year, but so it goes. After seeing more than one comparison between them and Hundred Reasons I figured I better put them on my list and the rest is history. Leave it to me to feature the most emo song on the album in a mix though, but I seriously can’t get enough of it.

8. Cornflake Girl – Jawbox

I’ve been slowly working my way backwards through J. Robbins’ career for a few years now. When 2008 started I had 1 Jawbox album and their singles collection. Now my collection is complete and they’ve ended up being one of my top 3 most played bands this year. I wanted to feature something original by the band, but the Tori Amos cover is just too good to pass up here.

9. Hey – Pixies

Who would have thought that I’d end up experiencing a Pixies renaissance thanks to Keaven Smith. This song was featured in a pivotal scene of Zack and Mirri Make a Porno and it had to have been the best use of a Pixies song in a film since Fight Club. On my way home from the movie I was trying to find Hey on my iPod, only to discover that I never ripped all of Doolittle to mp3. When I got home I fixed that problem and for the next few weeks the Pixes got more play than I’ve given them in the last 8 years.

10. Would You Miss Me – Amy Kuney

Amy Kuney was only the tip of the iceberg for indie pop with me this year, but she’s the only one who had any staying power, not to mention that voice … that voice! And she’s easy on the eyes. All that aside … I stumbled upon this album completely by random on eMusic and gave it a shot. Much to my surprise it managed to hold my attention captive for a while. Even now that voice still gets me. I’ve decided that Amy Kuney will be my future wife.

11. The Road Leads Where It’s Led – Secret Machines

I’ve had the Secret Machines first album for several years now, ever since I saw them open for Blonde Redhead back in Boston, but I never bought anything else by them. This year I decided to change that and I can’t complain. These guys are at their best when their spacey and psychdelic and although the album this song comes from was a little more pop than I prefer to hear from them, a few songs like this one ultimately make up for it. It’s a space rock dance song … how can you not support that?

12. Go Mad and Mark (Live) – Envy

Go Mad and Mark is my favorite song in the world 4 years running. There has yet to be another song that can elicit such a visceral response in me every time I listen to it and while it used to surprise me, now I just accept it. Hearing a live version of this track on the compilation Envy released this year just solidified Go Mad and Mark as the most amazing song ever made in my book.

Disc 2

1. Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head) – Ben Folds

Ben Folds new album was a HUGE disappointment for me, sounding more like a collection of experimentations and sketches than a proper release. I’ve tried giving it every possible chance, but there are just too many parts of it that are either disappointing or just plan annoying. This track is one of 3 or 4 that are worth listening to though. I don’t want to be the fan that tries to tell and artist what they should play, but this song is the kind of stuff I think of when I think about Ben Folds, not the majority of what Way to Normal had to offer.

2. Break the Glass – Hundred Reasons

See what I did there? Piano song followed by a song with a piano intro? Yeah, I’m kind of a big deal. I believe markwood described Hundred Reasons to me as a British Foo Fighters, guilty pleasure pop music that paradoxically still rocks. Granted, I played them out kinda quick, but it’s still good windows-down driving music.

3. Dying is Fine – Ra Ra Riot

Not being a hipster, I probably liked this album more than I should have, but since it wasn’t being shoved down my throat the way that damn Vampire Weekend album was, I don’t feel so bad about being into it. Following the path laid down by groups like Modest Mouse and The Arcade Fire, Ra Ra Riot have what is essentially an album of dark, depressed songs that end up sounding really upbeat for the most part.

4. Something New – Dead to Me

Dead to Me didn’t make it into last year’s mix due to purely logistical concerns, but I managed to find them a place this year. Truth be told, they got a lot more play from me this year, especially considering they didn’t have to compete with being bought at the same time as the Armalite album this time around. These guys remind me what Punk music can and should sound like and this track especially really grew on me.

5. Not a Hit Song – Tim Fite

Tim Fite is the hero of 2008. After stumbling upon his music on the Sound Opinions podcast he quickly grew to dominate my daily listening for several months. Like a cross between Bob Dylan, Beck, Tom Waits, and Mos Def, Tim Fite crafts these off-beat tunes that call to mind everything from folk and rock to blues and hip-hop from the last 60 years.

6. Los Angeles – Counting Crows

There’s never going to be a Counting Crows album that I don’t like. They’re the first band I fell in love with and I’ve never managed to grow out of them. This year saw their first new album in 5 years and Los Angeles was and remains one of the real stand out tracks on the album.

7. Train Under Water – Bright Eyes

Even though I’ve had this album for a few years I never really gave this song in particular as much attention as I did this year and I really grew to love it. To me this is lonely highway driving music, when all you’ve got to keep you company are the lines on the road and your trusty six string.

8. The Next Messiah – Jenny Lewis

Jenny Lewis does country in that dirty, broken down, Johnny Cash kind of way, conjuring up images of suckers, scoundrels and sinners set against strong vocals and the sounds of guitars. The Next Messiah is probably the best example of the Cash style country on her new album. Oh, and if things don’t work out with me and Amy Kuney, Jenny and I are totally hooking up.

9. A Passing Feeling – Elliott Smith

Something about Elliott Smith just clicked with me this year and he got a lot more play than ever before. I always knew I was an Elliott Smith fan, but I never found that sweet spot. This year it all fell into place. While there are a myriad of songs that I could use here, A Passing Feeling just felt right.

10. In The Hidden Places – The Mountain Goats

John Darnielle always gets me with one lyric or another. “Autumn came around like a drifter to an on-ramp” … how can you not love that? The Mountain Goats are a pretty consistent band for me and like Lifetime and Kid Dynamite, every year has a Mountain Goats phase. This year I really grew to respect their more recent work, having never given it a chance before and moving backwards through their catalog instead. Now I’m looking forward to whatever’s next.

11. Setting Sail in April – By The End of Tonight

This was another of the math/post rock finds this year and reminds me of a slightly mathier From Monument to Masses, a little happier, and without the samples. The band as a whole has explored some interesting territory in their career, but their best works in my opinion are the album this song comes from and their split with Tera Melos. This is probably their most stand out track with me and similar to Tera Melos, covers a lot of ground sonically, even if the drums pop a bit too much for my tastes.

12. I Hope Yer There – Tim Fite

Tim Fite again … the man can do no wrong. Incidentally this was the track that first got me hooked. The way the distorted violin and drums just explode out of nowhere towards the end of the song still gets me to this day.

13. Wicked Wanda – Stephen Malkmus

Stephen Malkmus’ last album strayed too far into territory that’s better left to Beck, but with his latest release he’s back in more familiar territory and exploring his own boundaries instead of someone else’s. Moodier and more progressive, this is the sound of Pavement grown up and for the first time in his solo career Malkmus decided to end his album with a decent closer instead of the anti-climax I’ve come to expect.

14. Daylight – Failure

Maybe it’s because I’ve never used this track in a mix before. Maybe it’s because I listened to Failure’s Fatastic Planet album all the way through for the first time in several years a few months ago. Maybe it’s because I wanted something grander to end the year on, but after living with this mix as a whole for a few days I knew it needed something more and then Daylight (one of the best final album tracks ever) popped into my head. In the song, daylight is something to be afraid of, but in the real world I can only hope that 2009 brings a little daylight into a work that finds itself in the midst of some very dark times.

Mix Tape – What Goes Around Goes Around

Every year I attempt to make a mix of my favorite songs from the past 12 months. I don’t always succeed at this, in fact the last time I completed such a mix was back in 2005. This year I was adamant about getting a mix done however. Typically I start perusing the massive list of tracks on my computer and will pull random tracks into a blank playlist for later consideration. This years initial list ended up being about 3 and a half hours long, which wasn’t too much of a concern because it contained multiple tracks from single bands and I prefer to only represent a band once per year-end mix if at all possible. I sat on this playlist for about a month before I figured I needed to jump start the mix process somehow. So I exported the list to my MP3 player and started listening to it on random in the car on my way to and from work each day. With such a varied list of songs this is often the best way to get ideas for a mix as the random shuffling will juxtapose songs in a way that I might never have thought of before and slowly, possible sections of the mix begin to come together. Even using this process I was still getting nowhere on this mix and I didn’t want to let it fall by the wayside like previous years. I needed a good opening song and out of my 3.5 hour list there really wasn’t a single appropriate opener. It wasn’t until I got the urge to listen to My Chemical Romance one day that Welcome to The Black Parade jumped out as the perfect opener for this year’s mix. Anyway, below is this year’s mix listing. It’s designed to be listened to as one album, but I split it into two parts for burning onto CD and while I prefer them back to back, each part does hold it’s own.

What Goes Around Goes Around

Part 1
1. My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
A most ironic choice for a first track from me. My Chemical Romance represents everything I hate about mainstream punk music…mainly the fact that in order for punk to be mainstream it has to be watered down and made palatable to the masses and once that happens, it really can’t be considered punk anymore. The band went and made The Black Parade however, forsaking pop-punk for glam rock. If this album is a modern A Night at The Opera then Welcome to the Black Parade is a modern Bohemian Rhapsody. I find it strange how so many hardcore bands eventually turned to progressive rock as their chosen style and now if only the pop punk bands start playing glam rock, I’ll be set for life as far as new music goes.

2. Sufjan Stevens – Jacksonville
I find Sufjan Stevens to be alternately brilliant and annoying. His folksy, indie-pop style is catchy, although I can do without the chirpy choral stuff. For whatever though reason I can’t help but think of Wes Anderson when I hear Sufjan Stevens. They both evoke this sense of an alternate universe, a place both modern and antiquated, rooted firmly in the now and some pre-war, Norman Rockwell-esque, hokey, Americana fantasy. Oh and the fact that this song so perfectly follows Welcome to the Black Parade just makes me grin.

3. Smart Went Crazy – Spy vs. Spy
Part one of the DC trilogy or…I wish I had been living here several years ago. There’s not much I can say about this except it’s just good, DC-style, post-punk indie music. And it features former members of the current DC band Medications.

4. Burning Airlines – A Lexicon
J. Robbins is a DC institution. Not only was his band Jawbox (a contemporary of Fugazi) a leader in the DC post-hardcore scene, but Robbins’ has gone on to produce a number of excellent acts in the area and has been in some great post Jawbox bands himself, Burning Airlines being the earlier of these. I don’t know whether its the minor chords or what, but I hear Failure influence everywhere, this is very much true when it comes to Burning Airlines. I’m not sure whether J. Robbins had it in mind or not, but anything that comes close to Failure is great in my book.

5. Faraquet – Study Complacency
Another pre-Medications band and a lot closer to their sound as well. Faraquet is a jazzier, mathier, more upbeat version of Medications. They’re a post-punk Jam Band, equal parts The Slip and The Police, with a large helping of DC sound thrown in.

6. Wilco – Impossible Germany
This is the album that would not die. I bought it, liked it, and put it away. Then the Volkswagen commercials started and every time I turned on the TV I was hearing Wilco. The album started getting played again and again and again. And it kept growing on me more and more each time I listened to it. Ultimately it’s a discreet concept album about a break up and all that comes with that territory. Beyond that it’s one of the most solid albums of the year. It doesn’t ever jump out and grab you, but it’s so solid all the way through that you can’t help but give it your full attention.

7. Apostle of Hustle – National Anthem of Nowhere
My friend Scott recommended this and I’m glad he did. I don’t really care for Broken Social Scene, but this guy is damn good. I’m reminded of Stephen Malkmus and Beck when listening to this album, not just because of the musical mastery, but because of the playfulness, the willingness to explore different sounds within the confines of “rock”.

8. Aesop Rock – Catacomb Kids
Bazooka Tooth did nothing for me as an album so I was very interested to see was Aesop Rock could come up with next. While the reviews were luke warm, I was very satisfied with None Shall Pass as an album. While I can agree that it didn’t break any new ground in the way that Labor Days previously did, this album is strong and a great listen. There a moments in songs like Catacomb Kids that are catchy in ways you never knew hip hop could be catchy.

9. Radiohead – Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
For the record, I paid full price for this album…as in “I bought the extra special addition and got the deluxe 2 record set with the bonus CD”. Radiohead never fails to disappoint, it usually takes a month for me to acclimate to a new CD, but it never disappoints.

10. Ken Andrews – Secret Things
Ken’s second solo project since failure, but his first self-titled venture. Arguably this is the best work he’s done since Failure broke up over 10 years ago. What ended up on this album is the perfect mix of Ken’s pop sensibility and his rock roots and I hope he does more like this in the future.

11. Coheed & Cambria – Gravemakers & Gunslingers
Ever Coheed and Cambria album is a new experience, there’s always a lot that stays the same, but they always grow in new ways. This album is probably their most solid effort to date and a grand finale to the Amory Wars story. There are no weak points here, it’s well played, well produced, and brilliant from start to finish.

12. Protest the Hero – The Divine Suicide of K.
This was another recommendation by Scott and it can only be described as a blend of Dillinger Escape Plan and Coheed and Cambria; an extremely tight hardcore band with a prog rock sensibility. Brutal and dramatic, this album was in rotation for quite a while during the spring.

13. Unwound – Off This Century
This song almost shouldn’t be on here as it’s more of a 2006 song, but since 2006 didn’t get a mix and since I love this song so much I had to put it in. Unwound’s last album was simply magnificent in every possible way a culmination of everything they ever tried to do that delivered on all fronts. There’s just something about this song that evokes images of the end of the world. It’s just full of frantic, terrified, anticipation.

14. Cinemechanica – Orlandu
There are bands that sound like Drive Like Jehu and are completely forgettable, Cinemechanica is not one of those bands. With a sound that’s somewhere between At The Drive-In, Drive Like Jehu, Don Caballero and video game cover band The Advantage, Cinemechanica do a great job of defining themselves while still retaining raw technical power of the style they’ve adopted.

Part 2
15. Andrew Bird – Imitosis
I think I heard about Andrew Bird in the last issue of Punk Planet magazine. This album took a while to grow on me, but it was this song (having made it’s way onto a couple of mixes) that drove it home. The only halfway decent comparison I think I can make for Andrew Bird is that he’s a cross between Apostle of Hustle and Sufjan Stevens: subdued and dark, but pushing beyond the standards of rock into a place that truly is an indie sound.

16. Modest Mouse – Missed the Boat
This album was the deciding factor for Modest Mouse. Had they decided to sell out? Or were they going to do their own thing. It had been a long time and they had made a lot of money since their last album and I was anxious to see where they landed. Turns out they’re following the Radiohead play book, which is to say they’re doing their own thing while remaining on the edge of the mainstream. Not everyone can pull that off without pissing off both camps, but they did it and with a disco album to boot!

17. Channels – Little Empires
J. Robbins most recent band. Their EP sounded a lot like Burning Airlines, but with the full-length they started to differentiate themselves from Robbins’ previous efforts. I’m pretty sure this is the first album I bought when I moved to this area.

18. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – The Toro and the Toreador
Ted Leo never disappoints although in a year of solid albums, his latest venture was a bit disjointed. Not quite as together as Shake the Sheets, Ted’s new album is still great although I’m hoping he takes more time for his next releases. I think this one just needed more time to cook.

19. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Forever Heavy
This is a band with a decidedly electronic sound that doesn’t use the typical synths and sequencers of electronic music. Playing more typical live instruments they produce a very psychedelic type of music. This song is one of my favorites though. There’s a drum beat at the end of the chorus that is incredibly spacey…it booms and echoes like a supernova for only a brief couple of seconds, but it resonates and ties everything in together so well.

20. The Mountain Goats – Home Again Garden Grove
This is another 2006 song, but I had to put it on here. As if the line “Our dreams were like fugitive warlords” wasn’t enough, the end of this song has the most passionate, angry acoustic strumming I’ve heard in quite some time.

21. World/Inferno Friendship Society – Just the Best Party
These guys opened for Lifetime at the Black Cat last winter and they put on a great shop. I was a little less pleased when I heard their albums. It’s a little more produced than I would like, but there are excellent moments though, like this song. I’d probably see these guys live as a headliner just the same. Some bands are just better on stage.

22. Kid Dynamite – Shiner
If ever there were a punk rock anthem, it would have to be this song. It’s actually more of a music snob anthem really. The lyrics of this song almost perfectly describe why I loathe the mainstream. Oh…and it’s a great punk song in it’s own right as well.

23. Armalite – I am a Pancreas (Seek to Understand Me…)
Another Punk Planet pick, this album just blew me away. I think this was in rotation for a good 3 months, even now I can still pop this CD in and enjoy it. The only bad thing is that Armalite will likely never make another album, being a collective side project of three other artists.

24. Kid Kilowatt – 7th Inning Song Formation
This could be a 2006 song, but I don’t think I ever really listened to it as much as I did this past year. I got this one from my friend Mark on one of his yearly mixes and it wasn’t until I purchased the album that I realized the singer was Cave-In’s Stephen Brodsky. This song is just all kinds of unique wrapped with a solid, catchy, yet raw sound.

25. Lifetime – All Night Long
Lifetime’s first album in 10 years did not disappoint. It’s not better than their old stuff, but it’s not worse either. It’s Lifetime and that’s all that matters.

26. Lifetime – Records at Night
Arguably my favorite song on the new album and almost as anthemic as Ostrichsized.

27. Unwound – Who Cares
I needed something decent to end the mix because Records at Night always leaves me wanting more. This is just a great song to come down on. It starts off crackling with energy, explodes, and then fades away. What more could you want out of a last track?

In The Mix

This was a good week, mostly for reasons I’m not ready to really examine yet, but the point is that I had the “happy” playlist on as I was driving home friday and I got an idea for a mix tape. Generally I only make mixes as gifts, for girls I’ve started dating, or as a random snapshot of my current state of mind kind of thing. I’ve been toying with the idea of making a concept mix, same idea as a concept album except I’d be using other people’s songs to express the concept. The idea I had was a mix called “Songs for the Secretly Admired”. It would be about the people (like me) who fall in love with any attractive person who pays attention to them, but rarely follow through beyond their secret admiration from afar. Whether the concept ends with follow through or fizzle probably depends on my mood when I finally put it together. Right now I’m at the point where I’ve gathered a number of key tracks (more than I need) and will have to weed those out to just the ones that matter then try and come up with a structure, see what works, search for filler, rinse, repeat.