End of Summer Mix

This one is a mix of material I’ve been listening to a lot recently, highlighted by some recent discoveries (thank you Santa Cruz radio for the education on 30 Seconds to Mars and Against Me!), some all but forgotten favorites (I maintain that “Welcome to the Black Parade” is one of the great openers to any mix, “Samson” is still arguably the prettiest song I’ve ever heard, and I don’t care what anyone says, “Lose Yourself” is a timeless jam) and some end of summer songs to fully justify the mix’s title (“Miami,” “Just Until Sundown.”)

01 “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance
02 “I Was a Teenage Anarchist” by Against Me!
03 “Power” by Kanye West
04 “Sessions” by Counting Crows
05 “Such Great Heights” cover by Ben Folds
06 “Sequestered in Memphis” by The hold Steady
07 “Pinata Novia” by Kane
08 “The Chain” by Ingrid Michaelson
09 “Here Comes Your Man” by The Pixies
10 “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon
11 “This Is War” by 30 Seconds to Mars
12 “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
13 “Samson” by Regina Spektor
14 “Miami” by Counting Crows
15 “Just Until Sundown” by Further Seems Forever

Summer Mix

The following CD represents a mix of nostalgia and breezy summer song selections. The mix starts soft and acoustic before hitting a late 80s-to-early-00s block of mostly upbeat driving music, highlighted by two tracks I had nearly forgotten until recently from Irish band A House, a little Guster, a little Goo Goo Dolls. There’s some more acoustic stuff, a couple emo favorites, then it all wraps up with the good times of Hootie, Mayer, and a grade-A mashup.

Alongside A House, the forgotten talent to highlight this mix is Heather Nova—a singer-songwriter I’ve always felt was oddly underappreciated. A part of why I enjoy her catalog so much is the way in which she transcends and fluctuates between alternative, acoustic chick rock, and girly pop—perhaps its this range that has cost her a mainstream niche. In any event, this mix features three of our songs—an acoustic take on an old favorite, a bootleg track and a relatively recent song about moving on.

01 “Hurricane J” (Acoustic) by The Hold Steady
02 “London Rain” (Acoustic) by Heather Nova
03 “Call Me Blue” by A House
04 “The Break” by Soul Asylum
05 “I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today” by Guster
06 “Big Machine” by Goo Goo Dolls
07 “So Beautiful” by Dashboard Confessional
08 “I Want To Kill Something” by A House
09 “Two Points for Honesty” by Guster
10 “On Almost Any Sunday Morning” by Counting Crows
11 “Doubled Up” (Live) by Heather Nova
12 “Typical” by MuteMath
13 “Soco Amaretto Lime” by Brand New
14 “The Taste of Ink” by The Used
15 “All I Want” by Toad the Wet Sprocket
16 “River of Life” by Heather Nova
17 “Love Song for No One” by John Mayer
18 “I Will Wait” by Hootie and the Blowfish
19 “Sweet Child of Mine”-“Times Like These” mashup by Guns N Roses and Foo Fighters

Recent Influences

A season of a cappella shows, the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack and recommendations from friends come together for this hodge-podge mix of recent favorites.

01 “We’re All In This Together” by Ben Lee
02 “After Party” by Ozimatli
03 “Us” by Regina Spektor
04 “Murder In The City” by The Avett Brothers
05 “The Lucky Ones Find Each Other” by April Shroud
06 “She’s Got You High” by Mumm-ra
07 “Careful” by Guster
08 “Warning Sign” by Coldplay
09 “Coming Home” by John Legend
10 “Here comes Your Man” by The Pixies
11 “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths
12 “When You Wake Up Feeling Old” by Wilco
13 “Wandering” by Ben Folds
14 “You Are The Best Thing” by Ray LaMontagne
15 “Oh My Sweet Carolina” by Ryan Adams
16 “Vagabond” by Wolfmother
17 “Good Love Is On The Way” by John Mayer

Ben Folds-Heavy Eclecticism

This is a fairly upbeat, Ben Folds-heavy mix, which also features repeat performances by Eels and Weezer.

01. “Heist” by Ben Folds
02. “The Good Life” by Weezer
03. “Little Bird” by Eels
04. “Don’t Take Me for Granted” by Social Distortion
05. “Such Great Heights” cover by Ben Folds
06. “Here’s Looking at You Kid” by Gaslight Anthem
07. “Here It Goes Again” by OK Go
08. “Songs of Love” by Ben Folds
09. “She Don’t Want Nobody Near” by Counting Crows
10. “Coney Island” by Good Old War
11. “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
12. “Picture Window” by Ben Folds
13. “Beginner’s Luck” by Eels
14. “Radio Song (Unplugged)” by REM
15. “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead
16. “El Scorcho” by Weezer
17. “2 Girls, 1 Cup Song” by Jon Lajoie
18. “The Way I Am (Rap Remix)” by Ingrid Michaelson

Rock Block Mix

The block mixes in my catalog are to be identified by having stretches of three to four consecutive songs by an artist or band before switching to the next. While still a bit eclectic, this one is rock-centric.

01. “Story of My Life” by Social Distortion
02. “Ring of Fire” cover by Social Distortion
03. “Ball and Chain” by Social Distortion
04. “I Was Wrong” by Social Distortion
05. “Stuck Between Stations” by The Hold Steady
06. “Lord, I’m Discouraged” by The Hold Steady
07. “Atlantic City” cover by The Hold Steady
08. “About A Girl” by Nirvana
09. “The Man Who Sold the World” cover by Nirvana
10. “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam” cover by Nirvana
11. “Best of You” by Foo Fighters
12. “Next Year” by Foo Fighters
13. “Learn to Fly” by Foo Fighters
14. “I’ve Been Waiting” by Matthew Sweet
15. “Farther Down” by Matthew Sweet
16. “Girlfriend” by Matthew Sweet
17. “Pregaming is Bad Luck” by The February
18. “A Short Walk to 4” by The February
19. “Facebook Manifesto” by The February

Musical Mix

To clarify, this isn’t just a mix that is musical, but rather a mix made up of songs from musicals. This is, in large part, a result of my recent obsession with Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which led to a revisiting of Joss Whedon’s other musical masterpiece, Once More, With Feeling, which, in turn, led to a look back to the musicals I grew up with, the musicals my high school did, and the musicals I was exposed to in college and the years that followed.

The definition of musicals a bit liberal here (see the inclusion of the three song competition set from Glee). In addition, I openly acknowledge that I’m exposing myself a bit here—both in terms of my somewhat limited scope of knowledge on musicals (21 tracks, with only 13 shows represented) and my guilty pleasures (again, see Glee). Lastly, I opted not to include Muppet or Disney musicals here—each could probably justify their own mixes, and perhaps will one day.

OK, enough admissions and apologies, on to the track list.

01. “I Got Rhythm” from Crazy for You
02. “Laundry Day (My Freeze Ray)” from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
03. “Moving Too Fast” from The Last Five Years
04. “The River Won’t Flow” from Songs for a New World
05. “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera
06. “Almost Like Being in Love” from Brigadoon
07. “There Once Was a Man” from The Pajama Game
08. “A Little Fall of Rain” from Les Miserables
09. “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miserables
10. “My Eyes (On the Rise)” from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
11. “Walk Through the Fire” from Once More, With Feeling
12. “I’ll Cover You (Reprise)” from RENT
13. “One Day More!” from Les Miserables
14. “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Glee
15. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” from Glee
16. “Somebody to Love” from Glee
17. “Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You” from The Last Five Years
18. “Where Do We Go From Here?” from Once More, With Feeling
19. “For Good” from Wicked
20. “Finale B” from RENT
21. “The River of Dreams/Keeping the Faith/Only the Good Die Young” from Movin’ Out

Good Morning

Morning Mix

Morning is a unique time of day. It’s, at once, a new beginning and a time for reflection on what’s come before. It’s a time distinguished by the realization that, for better or worse, dreams were just dreams, and that the night before did, in fact, just happen. Out of this blend of optimism and melancholy, hope and despair comes a mix to capture it all.

01. “Good Day Sunshine” by The Beatles
02. “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” by Wham!
03. “Every Morning” by Sugar Ray
04. “Shine” by The Morning Of
05. “Banana Pancakes” by Jack Johnson
06. “In the Morning” by Razorlight
07. “Good Morning” by Kanye West
08. “Walk Away” by Ben Harper
09. “A Plain Morning” by Dashboard Confessional
10. “On Almost Any Sunday Morning” by Counting Crows
11. “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5
12. “Good Morning Good Morning” by The Beatles
13. “Wake Up” by Rage Against the Machine
14. “Still Fighting It” by Ben Folds
15. “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles
16. “Morning Song” by Jewel

En Fuego

Fire Mix

I’ve been a little bit in love with Augustana’s “Fire,” as of late, and all the more with the alternative, upbeat live version. That got me thinking about all the songs that ‘play with fire’ so to speak. Through the magic of iTunes, I was able to sort through and get a full list of song titles that included “fire” or “burn,” and quickly surmise that I had more than 80 minutes worth of material to play with. This mix varies from the more literal meaning of the word (“A Church Is Burning,” “When Sal’s Burned Down”) to a range of metaphorical stuff, with varying degrees of subtlety and nuance (“World on Fire” to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” to “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room”) to some real stretches (“Fire Escape” doesn’t really have anything to do with fire at all…). Anyway, after paring down the list and playing with flow and both thematic and stylistic connections, here’s the eclectic little resulting mix.

01. “Fire” by Augustana
02. “Ring of Fire” cover by Social Distortion
03. “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon
04. “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor
05. “A Church is Burning” by Paul Simon
06. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel
07. “Fire Water Burn” by Bloodhound Gang
08. “When Sal’s Burned Down” by Dar Williams
09. “I’m On Fire” cover by Heather Nova
10. “Strange Fire” by Indigo Girls
11. “Light My Fire” by The Doors
12. “Fire Escape” by Fastball
13. “Your Fire, Your Soul” by Dar Williams
14. “World on Fire” by Sarah McLachlan
15. “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” by John Mayer
16. “Walk Through the Fire” by The Cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
17. “Crash and Burn” by Savage Garden
18. “Fire (Live Version)” by Augustana

Even more eclecticism

Eclectic Mix #3

Not a ton of rhyme or reason to this one--mostly recent downloads, featuring favorites of the moment like The Hold Steady and Kanye West.

01. “Stronger” by Kanye West
02. “Superhero” by Jane’s Addiction
03. “Typical” by MuteMath
04. “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon
05. “Bigger Than My Body” by John Mayer
06. “Touch the Sky” by Kanye West
07. “Chill Out Tent” by The Hold Steady
08. “Passenger Side” by Wilco
09. “Did You See the Words” by Animal Collective
10. “Girls Like Status” by The Hold Steady
11. “Start A War” by The Natinoal
12. “Divorce Song” by Liz Phair
13. “Happy Ending” by Mika
14. “Lord, I’m Discouraged” by The Hold Steady
15. “The Call” by Regina Spektor
16. “Down” by Jay Sean
17. “Atlantic City” covered by The hold Steady
18. “More Than a Feeling” by Boston
19. “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5