Keeping Time

First thing’s first:

http://cann3dheat.muxtape.com/

There’s is my muxtape, or for those of you who aren’t quite hip-to-it, an online version of a mixtape.

The mixtape is never something I got to appreciate. While I was around for the era of the cassette, at the time I was only aware that Def Leppard’s “Vault” existed, and that was essentially in my Walkman as a child, and that exclusively. However, I did eventually make my own mixtapes when I got older, only because at the time, making a “mix cd” was mind blowing and took hours to complete.

Now we can create custom playlists of whatever the hell we want and we can make them as long or as short as we please. To me, the whole playlist process feels a lot less ’special’, thus me not posting about the new playlist of ‘Great Workout Tunes’ I may or may not have made on iTunes the other day.

So for my ‘muxtape’, I decided to really get into it and choose songs that I felt represented my musical taste and the like. The whole process took much longer than I thought and was actually pretty hard. Of course, the fact that some of my song files were
1) too large or
2) weren’t ripped in .mp3 format (wtf?)

Either way, let me go about explaining the twelve songs I picked.

Blacking Out The Friction/Brand New Love - Death Cab for Cutie
I knew the following things going into this playlist: there would be a song by The Format included, as well as a Death Cab song. To be honest, I was pretty close to choosing “We Laugh Indoors” off of their The Photo Booth album, because that is one of, if not the most, favorite song of theirs. However, as of late I’ve really been listening to their entire discography rather than just their last three albums and The John Byrd sticks out, even though it doesn’t have any new tracks. But this mix of tracks is great. The original “Brand New Love” by Deadsy doesn’t really sound anything like Death Cab’s cover, and I think thats the brilliance of the whole idea. “Blacking Out The Friction”, along with anything pre-Transatlanticism for that matter, doesn’t get the credit it deserves, even though those songs are the sound that defined Death Cab. It’s a great song, and the mix of the two is fantastic.

Lovelife – Atmosphere
You know, you think after a softer song I’d choose something better to transition to Atmosphere. Hell, you might think it’s odd that I have Atmosphere on here at all. If you didn’t pick it up from my first song, I chose to choose songs that weren’t the most popular or notable by any means, yet were still good songs. I could have chosen “Modern Man’s Hustle” or “Sunshine”, which are both great tracks, but when I go over God Loves Ugly, I never skip this song. Slug doesn’t quite get the credit outside of his fanbase for his lyrics that he deserves. His songs pack a punch and it’s not just, to quote Hov, “ignorant shit”.

Street Spirit (Fade Out) – Radiohead
This was a difficult choice. There are tons of Radiohead songs that I love just as much as Street Spirit, some maybe even more. To be fair, I was going to pick “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”, but the file wouldn’t upload, so I went with a song that wasn’t off of OK Computer or In Rainbows. Thom and the boys seem to have a hard time making a bad song, and Street Spirit is a great example. Even down at the end of the record, it’s still one of the best songs on the album, and probably one of the best by the band themselves.

If Work Permits - The Format
Well this one was pretty much inevitable. I did, however, pick the live version from Live From the Living Room: Volume 1, which, sadly, will never have a volume 2. It’s a safe bet to say that The Format is my favorite band, and choosing one song, and only one song to represent them, was pretty hard. The actual version of “If Work Permits” really shines because of the breakdown and complete change of tempo in the middle. To me, both of their studio CD’s are amazing, and to this day, I have yet to get sick of a single song.

Kid A – John Mayer
Ok, so I cheated. Technically, this isn’t a John Mayer song; it’s a Radiohead song. But like I said, it was hard to put only one Radiohead song on this list, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I actually wanted to upload “Hummingbird” off of one of his As/Is albums, but iTunes and DRM can suck my big black dick. Plus, “Come Back To Bed” off of the same CD was too large, cause the song is 12 minutes of pure sex. To me, John Mayer is at his best in two situations; when he’s soloing on a live song, like “Come Back To Bed”, or when he’s playing acoustically, like he is on “Kid A”. Because of the latter, I chose Kid A.

Does He Love You? – Rilo Kiley
Don’t even get me started on this song. Good jesus. Let me get one thing straight: I love women that can sing, and I have great respect for those who have the confidence to do it. So I’d say I have a wee bit of a crush on Jenny Lewis, and from what I’ve heard, it looks like I’d have to fight Ben Gibbard for her. The first half of the song is alright. I mean, if the whole song went that way, I probably would have picked another song by them, or maybe just another artist altogether. But when the song starts to get heavy and it all starts to end is what makes it one of those songs you can just close your eyes to and just fucking move to. “And your husband will never leave you. He will never leave you for me.” God I love that song.

Pink Bullets - James Mercer
I chose this version of “Pink Bullets” rather than the album version for a couple of different reasons:
1) this version was actually .mp3 and
2) harmonica harmonica harmonica
While the quality isn’t quite as high on this version, when he (or whoever it is), starts to play the harmonica in the middle, it makes the whole song for me. The song itself is a great one, and probably my favorite off of Chutes Too Narrow.

Blame It On The Tetons – Modest Mouse
I believe Good News For People Who Love Bad News is single-handedly responsible for my transition away from the more pop-punk music and more into the indie genre. As a young, confused boy, I listened to this album hundreds of times, and each time was just as good as the last. In fact, that album is the only one in my collection that has physical damage from how much I listened to it. The CD used to skip and refuse to play a song or two, but I’m pretty sure I fixed it with my amazing toothpaste/cotton ball technique.

Red Right Ankle – The Decemberists
This is where I would like to say I was beginning to grasp for songs. At the same time, I wouldn’t like to say that, because I love this song just as much as the other tracks on this ‘muxtape’. I haven’t really given Her Majesty The Decemberists much of a chance in my CD player, but I have listened “Red Right Ankle” to death. Maybe I’m just a sap for obscure love songs,  or maybe it’s just the fact that I seem to enjoy listening to men with unusual voices (Nate Ruess, Colin Meloy, etc), but “Red Right Ankle” is one of those songs I can keep on repeat for a long while and really enjoy. To be honest, I actually found the song through a cheesy wedding playlist on iTunes. I’ve found a lot of good songs off of that list.

Land Locked Blues – Bright Eyes
I remember the first time I heard this song. I was in the passenger seat of my neighbors car being driven to school and he had I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning in his CD player, and to my knowledge, from “First Day of My Life”, it was a pretty good CD, but I had never listened to it in its entirety. But the first time I heard it I just sat there, listening. Maybe it’s just the fact that Connor is singing alongside Emmylou Harris, in the fact that it kind of evokes the same emotion I get when I hear “Nothing Better”, in the sense that it’s a man and a woman singing the song, although “Nothing Better” is more back and forth while “Land Locked Blues” is more a collaboration.

Run – Snow Patrol
I didn’t really want to put this song on. The title, along with everything surrounding that song, conjure strange memories and emotions. Then again, it’s always nice to have one of those songs. I actually uploaded the acoustic version that currently sits atop of my “Most Played” playlist, which is a result of a long time on repeat. The song is still a beautiful song and it’s lyrics are almost haunting in a way, and it’s always nice to come back to and give a listen to from time to time. The song just doesn’t seem to leave me; it enjoys coming back every couple months in one form or another.

Don’t Call Me ‘Peanut’ – Bayside
I was actually struggling to pick a final song for this mix. I scoured my music library (which, currently sits at 7,482 songs) and I had a hard time finding a single damn song that I could say with confidence that I really felt belonged. I found a few that could be fall backs or could be deemed ‘maybe’’s, but thats about it. But then I whipped back around to the B’s and I finally remembered “Don’t Call Me ‘Peanut’”. I don’t actually have the original version, but I do have a live one off of their acoustic album, which I was lucky enough to hear for the first time in concert. I really like songs that tell a story, and this one, while there is no actual plotline, does a great job of doing just that.

And there you have it. Twelve reasons, twelve songs. Maybe I’ll do this again soon. Then again, maybe I won’t.