Well, because of a late night of Rock Band 3 at Eric's house this mix is a day late, but at least it's for thematically appropriate reasons, right!? Anyways, I felt like doing another theme mix this month would kind of make the blog seem to consist only of theme mixes and that's not what I'm going for so here are a bunch of songs I like that I hope you like too!
Track 1 - "I Turn My Camera On" by Spoon
This one goes out to my good friend Steven who introduced me to Spoon and loves them dearly. Spoon is a really fun band and Britt Daniel (the singer/songwriter at the helm of this band) is extremely talented.
Track 2 - "Bang Pop" by Free Energy
Free Energy remind me of Weezer if Weezer was still good. Catchy, dancy music you just want to stomp your feet to.
Track 3 - "Fresh Feeling" by Eels
My love for Eels began in high school when I picked up a free Dreamworks Records sampler that had "Sucker Punch" by Eels and "Son of Sam" by Elliott Smith among other less noteworthy tracks. Eels can be pretty hit or miss but I really enjoy their hits.
Track 4 - "Cameras" by Matt & Kim
Matt & Kim's new album "Sidewalks" dropped today and everyone should go pick it up! This is a track from it. They just keep getting better and better. Even when they were extremely garage-y sounding you could tell that Matt & Kim had great pop sensibilities and with more support from their record label they have gotten to do more exciting things with it(like recording the rattle of a loose license plate on their song "Wires").
Track 5 - "Swim Until You Can't See Land" by Frightened Rabbits
My sister played this band for me at our cousin Sara's wedding and they've really grown on me. Scottish indie rock at its finest.
Track 6 - "That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings
This song just makes me wanna dance.
Track 7 - "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People
"All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run better run faster than my bullet." Hilarious lo-fi indie rock ballad. Just try keeping this one out of your head. It's not possible.
Track 8 - "Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck" by the Blood Brothers
The Blood Brothers were a post-hardcore band from Seattle with an incredible sound. They have two vocalists that play off each other's harmonies perfectly. When they broke up a couple years ago it hit me pretty hard because their existing five albums were not nearly enough Blood Brothers to last me the rest of my life.
Track 9 - "Undisclosed Desires" by Muse
Muse are so consistently awesome. Their sound is always evolving and every album they come out with is welcome surprise.
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Track 10 - "Black Sheep" by Metric
This song has been getting hopelessly stuck in my head ever since Scott Pilgrim came out (which is a fantastic movie by the way. I think it comes out on DVD soon and you should go check it out. Very faithful to the comic). This is the song Metric did for The Clash at Demonhead. Metric is always awesome (with Emily Haines from Broken Social Scene at the helm how could they not be awesome?) but this song is particularly amazing.
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Track 11 - "Get Better" by Mates of State
Mates of State are a husband and wife duo who are just incredibly lovely.
Track 12 - "7/4 (Shoreline)" by Broken Social Scene
Indie-Pop supergroup Broken Social Scene are a rotating group of Canadian musicians with Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning as the primary members of the band. Their illustrious contributors have included Leslie Feist, Jason Collett, Emily Haines, and Amy Millan. They have an amazing sound that is an organized chaos of horns, strings, percussion and vocals.
Track 13 - "Still Fighting It" by Ben Folds
Despite his poor track record with ex-wives, from what i hear he has a pretty good relationship with his kids. This song about his son always gets me. He's a great musician and songwriter.
Track 14 - "Half-Light II(No Celebration)" by Arcade Fire
Their new album "The Suburbs" is a triumph for Arcade Fire. Not that I expected any different since their last two albums were also amazing.
Track 15 - "Notion" by Kings of Leon
For a while I was getting Kings of Leon mixed up with Kaiser Chiefs(not musically, just their names when they are displayed on XM radio or Pandora) which resulted in me changing the station every time they came on. My coworker, Louis, likes them a great deal and was playing an album of theirs on his iPod at work and I asked him who was playing. Needless to say, I was surprised by his reply and after giving them a chance I found that I really like them. Caleb Followill has such a unique voice.
Track 16 - "Lover I Don't Have to Love" by Bright Eyes
Speaking of unique voices, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes has an extremely polarizing voice. Many of my friends hate Bright Eyes because they can't get past his voice. I have been listening to Bright Eyes since high school and love his lyrics as well as his voice.
Track 17 - "Thirteen Times the Strength" by A Silent Film
This band is from Oxford and their debut is really staggering. They have a lot of talent and if they continue down this path they should be quite successful.
Track 18 - "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses
Despite their misleading name, Band of Horses is actually made up mostly of humans.
Track 19 - "Long Shadows" by Josh Ritter
This song was in the credits of a recent episode of Bored to Death (you should watch Bored to Death! It's got Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifinakis, and Ted Dansen. What more do you want? It's also written by Jonathan Ames!)
I hope you enjoy this mix and if you would like a copy of it, let me know.
