Click HERE for this mix
There isn’t really a theme to this…some things I surprisingly haven’t put on earlier mixes, other things I recently found. Some specific notes and preemptive defense of tracks:
Tracks 1 and 22: I was steered in the direction of the Notwist by Jonrex, whose tastes never let me down, and they didn’t this time. I was wrestling to select 1 of 2 songs to include on here, and I just decided to put them both up.
Track 2: Complete teenage-lust puberty-voice badassery.
Track 3: This song has been trapped in my skull for months now—these folks are an intensely odd German band, sort of channeling both Trans Am and Blondie into a compellingly catchy and weird stew of Roland synth and thumpy bass. And I think somewhere in the song she says “Arrow of Light.” Biographical aside, as a Boy Scout, I earned my “Arrow of light Award” in 1995.
Track 6: Some people might groan whenever I start dropping Silkworm on them. I understand. This track is a lo-fi acoustic keeper though. Give it a chance.
Track 10: Grifters again, yes, sorry. Their catalogue just has too many hot spots. I can’t get over the transitions in this track, and David Shouse’s lyrics/vocals are always top-drawer.
Track 11: Que canção maravilhosa.
Track 13: Remember At the Drive In → Sparta? Same vocalist…this song starts slowly, but starts stomping…kills me when it picks up and “For a while I tried” drops in…
Track 20: This one also starts slowly, and sometimes Sheik’s lyrics get on my nerves, but the guitar work on the bridge and outro is grand.
Many of the other songs are from derivative bands or friends of the Kinsella brothers (American Football). Noyes, The One Up Downstairs, Very Secretary—there is a thread running through these tracks and it isn’t just killer guitar chops.
So…enjoy.
Track list...
1. One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand--The Notwist
2. I Want Some More--Chan Romero
3. Satan Highway--Eagle Boston
4. Restless--Langhorne Slim
5. Fear Of Trains--The Magnetic Fields
6. Leading The Evening--Silkworm
7. Throw Your Arms Around Me--Hunters & Collectors
8. The Ballad of Paladin--Johnny Western
9. This Is the Bad 1--Noyes
10. Slow Day for the Cleaner--The Grifters
11. Alone Again Or--Love
12. Waiting On the Stairs--Pela
13. Wednesday Nights--Sleepercar
14. Demon Host--Timber Timbre
15. Rememories--The One Up Downstairs
16. Paper Bag--Very Secretary
17. I Got a Line On You--Spirit
18. First Words--Favorite Saints
19. Thirteen--Big Star
20. Hidden Track--duncan sheik
21. Friends--Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
22. Gone Gone Gone--The Notwist
