I decided to make this month’s mix a themed mix so I gathered all of my favorite electronic music.
Track 1 – “Flux” by Bloc Party
Bloc Party wrote this amazing song just after completing their tour for “A Weekend in the City”(my favorite album of theirs) so it just ended up on an EP and then was grandfathered onto their next full-length album, “Intimacy”. I love the energy of this song.
Track 2 – “My Skateboard Will Go On” by Anamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi is a phenomenal chiptune rock band (for those of you not familiar with chiptune, it means that a lot of the sounds in the band’s songs are created using an old videogame system. In Anamanaguchi’s case it is a hacked Super Nintendo.) Every other week this summer Anamanaguchi has been releasing a single free on their website and this is one of my favorite tracks from those singles. This band also did the whole soundtrack for the Scott Pilgrim video game (which, if you like video games and own an xbox 360 or a playstation 3, you should totally download.)
Track 3 – “Orange Shirt” by Discovery
I’ve mentioned Discovery before but this song is much more indicative of their sound than “Carby” and I definitely couldn’t leave them off of the electronic mix.
Track 4 – “Little Secrets” by Passion Pit
If you have been following the mixes thus far then you have also heard Passion Pit before. I do have a great story about this song though. My friend, Steven, was going for a jog and, while crossing an intersection with the right of way, nearly got run over by a convertible. While trying to be pissed at the car that nearly hit him he found himself unable because they were blasting this song.
Track 5 – “Desperate Guys” by The Faint
The Faint can be crude sometimes (see their song, “Erection”), but overall they are very clever and catchy electro-dance-indie. They also incorporate strings and electronic music which is a weakness of mine.
Track 6 – “Internet Killed the Video Star” by The Limousines
This song is from “Get Sharp”, the first full-length album by The Limousines. It definitely demonstrates their witty songwriting and catchy hooks.
Track 7 – “Fireflies” by Owl City
I have accused Owl City in the past of being derivative and unoriginal and, while that remains true, he definitely has some good songs, if a bit sugary. This is the first song I heard from him and I liked it only to be more or less disappointed by his album overall.
Track 8 – “Alice Practice” by Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles is another good chiptune band. Instead of backing the chiptune with instruments, however, they layer other electronic beats and vocal distortion over the sounds of their Jaguar soundboard. This song is in an amazing episode of Skins (this BBC show about high school aged teens dealing with sex, drugs, and becoming adults. Really good first two seasons then it turned to crap when the original cast left.)
Track 9 – “Fences” by Phoenix
Phoenix rules. Nothing much more I can say about this.
Track 10 – “A Horse is Not a Home” by Miike Snow
Miike Snow have such an eclectic sound it’s quite astounding. No two songs on their self-titled album sound like the same band made them. It’s all great music though, so this schizophrenia is a plus.
Track 11 – “Hannah” by Freelance Whales
This song is the evolutionary cornerstone between Indie and Electronic music. I really like the lyrics in it too. “Do me this solid if you would pretty lady, please grab your martini and meet me on the balcony”
Track 12 – “Touch Too Much” by Hot Chip
I sometimes throw my iPhone on shuffle at work hooked up to speakers and whenever Hot Chip pops up I feel like I have to explain myself, but everyone just ends up liking it. Analyzing it through someone else’s eyes it always seems goofy but I like them a lot.
Track 13 – “The Reason Why” by Ladytron
Ladytron are definitely one of a handful of pioneers of this genre, somewhere between techno and indie rock. They used to play at a club in SF called Popscene all the time. Very fun to dance to.
Track 14 – “Tristan” by Failotron
I heard this song on an episode of Penny Arcade: the Show (a reality show about the writers and staff that work at Penny Arcade [a webcomic about gaming culture] where they film their writing process and other things that are important to them.)
Track 15 – “Eat That Up, It’s Good For You” by Two Door Cinema Club
Everyone should really go buy “Tourist History” by Two Door Cinema Club. It’s a really great album.
Track 16 – “About Fun” by Psapp
Psapp is a couple from England who decided to make electronic music using recordings of their cats. So all those weird sounds in this song are kitties!
Track 17 – “Heartbeats” by The Knife
Everyone has probably heard the cover of this song by Jose Gonzalez (it was in that commercial with the superballs all bouncing down some San Francisco street.) This is the original, way more 80’s sounding song.
Track 18 – “Something to do With My Hands” by Her Space Holiday
Her Space Holiday is Marc Bianchi, a bay area local, who got tired of the hardcore scene and started making melodic electropop. The lyrics really make this song. “Suck on my fingertips until you kill all my prints so your boyfriend has no clue of how much I’ve been touching you.” Very creepy but in an alluringly honest way.
Track 19 – “This Place is a Prison” by The Postal Service
This is a significantly darker song than the last Postal Service song I shared with you. It is sad and depressing in a really beautiful way though.
That concludes this month’s mix. Next month on a very special episode of “I could make better use of my time on land”: Guilty Pleasures!
