post #100: megaposting muxtapes and other goodies!

Dear Friends,
Thank you for being here. To the four of you who read this blog from time to time, I'd like to give you a treat. It was meant to be my Christmas present to everyone, but it's super late. Hopefully, you can still find the time to enjoy it a little bit.

I can't believe I've kept this blog going for as long as I have without getting too bored. It's been over a year of spotty posting and hopefully some of the content has been meaningful.

Anyways, I just did a major muxtape update and here are the tracklistings (with a few comments, of course):


MUXTAPE #6: noise pop (04.17.08)
this one was based around all those cool laser snare hits in the gbv song.

1. darker my love - "opening" (darker my love)
2. mark lanegan band - "head" (bubblegum)
3. dinosaur jr. - "sludgefeast" (you're living all over me)
4. skywave - "here she comes" (synthstatic)
5. guided by voices - "i'll replace you with machines" (earthquake glue)
6. no age - "sleeper hold" (nouns)
7. the raveonettes - "attack of the ghost riders" (whip it on)
8. sonic youth - "youth against fascism" (dirty)
9. medicine - "defective" (shot forth self living)

MUXTAPE #11: ryan adams is a golden god (05.16.08)
ryan adams plays the hits. 48 hours would have been his best album, but it never came out. now we'll never know how good he really could be (since he's quitting). i'm looking forward to his book though.

1. ryan adams - "damn, sam (i love a woman that rains)" (heartbreaker)
2. whiskeytown - "yesterday's news" (stranger's almanac)
3. ryan adams - "hallelujah" (48 hours, but this version is from demolition)
4. whiskeytown - "crazy about you" (pneumonia)
5. ryan adams - "my winding wheel" (heartbreaker)
6. ryan adams - "la cienega just smiled" (suicide handbook)
7. whiskeytown - "don't wanna know why (demo)" (forever valentine)
8. ryan adams - "chin up, cheer up" (48 hours, but this version is from demolition)
9. ryan adams - "dear chicago" (demolition)

MUXTAPE #27: carl newman's greatest hits (sort of) (12.07.08)
this one was made in anticipation of ac newman's new solo album, which isn't all that good. some great new pornographers stuff here, including a neko case song that has the newman charm all over it, as well as burt bacharach and a zombies covers.

1. ac newman - "miracle drug" (the slow wonder)
2. zumpano - "i dig you" (look what the rookie did)
3. the new pornographers - "the electric version" (electric version)
4. ac newman - "drink to me" (the slow wonder)
5. zumpano - "what the world needs now (live)" (live on cbc, 1999)
6. the new pornographers - "letter from an occupant" (mass romantic)
7. ac newman - "on the table" (the slow wonder)
8. zumpano - "changes" (b-side)
9. the new pornographers - "the bleeding heart show" (twin cinema)

MUXTAPE #29: christmas 1997 (12.30.08)
i was listening to a bunch of emo from 1997 and realized a bunch of it was sort of seasonally appropriate. contained: one of my favorite jimmy eat world songs, one of my favorite get up kids songs (REUNION) and a song by boysnightout, a canadian band that could have been as big as my chemical romance, had they played their cards right.

1. the promise ring - "b is for bethlehem" (nothing feels good)
2. paris, texas - "cadillac of high hair" (so, you think it's hot here?)
3. texas is the reason - "johnny on the spot" (do you know who you are?)
4. jimmy eat world - "christmas card" (singles)
5. algernon cadwallader - "katie's conscience" (some kind of cadwallader)
6. spitalfield - "you can't stop" (remember right now)
7. hey mercedes - "quality revenge at last" (loses control)
8. the get up kids - "one year later" (red letter day ep)
9. boysnightout - "punched in the nose (demo)" (demo)

MUXTAPE #30: post-everything (01.07.09)
i got really stoked on post-hardcore one day and just went for it. contained: rose for bohdan, whose album was given away for free by deathbombarc as well as an at the drive-in b-side and a new abe vigoda song that sounds like the 80s.

1. abe vigoda - "house" (reviver ep)
2. frodus - "there will be no more sun" (and we washed our weapons in the sea)
3. at the drive-in - "incetardis" (this station is non-operational)
4. fugazi - "facet squared" (in on the kill taker)
5. the nation of ulysses - "s.s. exploder" (plays pretty for baby)
6. the plot to blow up the eiffel tower - "attached to the hip" (dissertation, honey)
7. milemarker - "frigid forms sell you warmth" (frigid forms sell)
8. rose for bohdan - "go to your grave" (there it is, the creeping moral decay of the past thousand years)
9. refused - "the deadly rhythm" (the shape of punk to come)

MUXTAPE #31: it's all downtempo from here (01.15.09)
i really used to like "IDM" but always thought it had such a stupid name. i love stuff that's glitchy and dark. i thought jimmy tamborello was the only one doing it, but then i realized that locust guy had been doing it for like 15 years or something before dntel.

1. ratatat - "one" (9 beats)
2. YACHT - "the magic beat (instrumental)" (instrumentals 2007)
3. four tet - "ribbons" (ringer)
4. slowdive - "shine (splendiferous locust mix)" (souvlaki demos)
5. the books - "it never changes to stop" (lost and safe)
6. new order - "ceremony" (substance)
7. m83 - "run into flowers" (dead cities, red seas & lost ghosts)
8. dntel - "(this is) the dream of evan and chan" (life is full of possibilities)
9. statistics - "mr. nathan" (leave your name)

MUXTAPE #32: achievement (01.15.09)
this one started out as three different tape ideas: one was supposed to be a power pop muxtape, one was going to be a talking heads inspired muxtape and the other one was going to be a lo-fi muxtape, but then the songs all came together so well, especially the talking heads section with the new david byrne/dirty projectors song, which is as brilliant as the new prince song.

1. clap your hands say yeah - "underwater (you and me) (demo)" (demo)
2. lilys - "a diana's diana" (everything wrong is imaginary)
3. dirty projectors - "knotty pine (with david byrne)" (dark was the night)
4. handsome furs - "all we want, baby, is everything" (face control)
5. guided by voices - "i am a scientist" (bee thousand)
6. teenage fanclub - "i don't know" (bandwagonesque)
7. prince - "crimson and clover/wild thing" (demo)
8. the three o'clock - "with a cantaloupe girlfriend" (baroque hoedown)
9. gentleman jesse and his men - "you don't have to (if you don't want to)" (gentleman jesse and his men)

MUXTAPE #26: blackout

MUXTAPE

This muxtape is basically just a bunch of songs that punch you in the face sonically. Get stoked.

1. Titus Andronicus - "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ (The Airing of Grievances)"
This song is a perfect example of why Titus Andronicus have made one of the best albums of the year. This is the first song on the album, which is basically all that needs to be said. Any album that starts with that amount of bombast is bound to be a winner. The text reading at the end of the song is the point in the album when you realize that these dudes were actually trying to make the most epic rock album ever.

2. Sleater-Kinney - "The Fox (The Woods)"
I have a deep appreciation for Sleater-Kinney, though I wouldn't categorize myself as much more than a casual fan. With a band like Sleater-Kinney, I think there's more than a few different types of "casual fan," and I am the sort that appreciates every part of S-K's discography. I listened to enough riot grrl to appreciate the first two albums, I love the pop sensibility of the middle of their career and really love The Woods. The guitars on "The Fox" absolutely snarl and the drum fill in the bridge is brilliant.

3. Nirvana - "Scentless Apprentice (In Utero Albini Mixes)"
Apparently, this version of the song was supposed to be used in an episode of Lost, but the album version aired instead. This is another instance where a guitar can sound like an absolute beast, though this was mostly because of the hard work of Steve Albini, who has finely crafted his guitar sounds over the years at Electrical Audio. I would imagine Albini in his workshop, building amps and pedals with the sole purpose of making hate in sound form. It seems like he wants all of his music to sound like he is a true misanthrope, not just one of those Madison Avenue, novel writer types who "don't like people" because "they're stupid."

4. Hüsker Dü - "Broken Home, Broken Heart (Zen Arcade)"
Bob Mould has written some of the best hardcore songs of the 1980s, and this is one of them. Songs like this one and "New Day Rising" or "Something I Learned Today" just make you want to circle pit into infinity.

5. The Wedding Present - "High (Friday, I'm In Love: A Tribute to The Cure)"
The Wedding Present's recent output has been really weird. It makes me think that they're living in Los Angeles now, which they very well could be, and it also makes me think they still want to be young. I'm guessing at least half the band is actually young, but Gedge is well into his 40s, as he was supposed to be "the next Morrissey" or whatever ridiculous garbage NME put on his head. Either way, they've still got something going for them, and this Cure cover is really great. They still love the distorted octaves and playing fast, so you've gotta give them some credit.

6. April March - "Alec Eiffel (Pixies Fuckin' Die!)"
Speaking of weird tribute contributions, here's one from April March. Yeah, the one from Grindhouse. Though she got way into chanson somewhere around 2000, she put out this cover in the late 90s and it sounds way 90s; the best part is that she took a song that is one of the most covered Pixies songs and made it her own. What this version lacks in Frank Black charm (weird guitar parts, atonal noise), it more than makes up with its melodiousness. It really focuses on the beautiful pop song hidden under the surface of the original.

7. Heatmiser - "Blackout (Dead Air)"
If you didn't know, this song is basically the reason Elliott Smith ended up in Los Angeles. Heatmiser's shows got more and more violent in the Dead Air period and of course, Eliott didn't like this, so he wrote a bunch of songs that ended up being Mic City Sons and then eventually ending the band to write more songs that sounded like Mic City Sons, except quieter and way more sad. Great song though.

8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - "Heart in the Hand of the Matter (Source Tags and Codes)"
Sometimes I forget just how much I like this album. It never really finds its way onto my "essential" or "favorite" albums list, but each of the tracks on the album is brilliant and always find their way onto my mixtapes. Though their more recent output has been spotty, I know they will continue to put out interesting music.

9. Darker My Love - "Northern Soul (2)"
This is just good music. I never really liked the band, but the more and more I saw them open up for other bands I was going to see, the more they grew on me. They do a psychedelic-Pavement-gazing thing better than any other band in Los Angeles. The funny thing about that genre is that it seems like that was totally the genre of 2008 here. Let's all start 90s college bands!

MUXTAPE #24: up late working

MUXTAPE

So here we are again, in the office way too late, working away. Not able to sleep and not even wanting to yet. The night isn't over, but I need something to get me past what my day had been: soul crushing nothingness. Really? No. But come on. It's almost 2AM, what do you expect. I haven't really had a night's sleep in a few months. Thank god I had a nap today so I was coherent enough to write this entry.

This tape is for everyone up late for no apparent reason or the insomniac, working away. This is for all of you, even if it isn't the middle of the night. If you need something to get you going, here it is.

1. Ryan Adams - "Chin Up, Cheer Up (48 Hours)"
If 48 Hours had been released as an album, it would have easily been Ryan Adams' most successful solo album. It was optimistic, succinct and had this gem holding down the middle section. The album was recorded in two days (thus the name) and is one of the most stunning statements Adams ever made. Don't get discouraged! Ryan Adams is singing you a song about being happy! When does that ever happen?

2. Limbeck - "To Hell With Having Fun (Let Me Go Home)"
If you ever feel like you're being left out, you're not. You should do whatever you want to! Have fun doing your business, not what someone else tells you to do. I don't get as much sleep as I should, but let's get wild anyways! The Limbeck boys have always been one of the most important bands when it came to "live life, have fun, get wild" music and this song proves it.

3. The Format - "Inches and Falling (Dog Problems)"
This was such a perfect note to go out on. The Format knew they'd never make an album this perfect, even if Van Dyke Parks wrote all their songs from there on. This is one of the most perfect pop songs of the year 2007.

4. Old 97s - "Timebomb (Too Far to Care)"
Seeing Rhett Miller sing this song completely made my night this past weekend. I knew that I liked the song, but hearing just how rebellious and youthful it was up close made it that much more real. Jennifer can attest to the fact that I was impressed just by seeing how big my grin was while Rhett was playing this.

5. Camera Obscura - "Let's Get Out of This Country (Let's Get Out of This Country)"
Strange change of pace? Not quite. This muxtape is all about fun loving pop in any form that speaks to our sense of adventure, wonder and excitement. Just think about these lines when you listen to it: "We'll pick berries and recline/let's hit the road, dear friend of mine/wave goodbye to our thankless jobs/we'll drive for miles, maybe never turn off/we'll find a cathedral city/you can be handsome, I'll be pretty."

6. Wilco - "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Summerteeth)"
Over the past few years, I've come to the conclusion that Summerteeth was Wilco's real masterpiece. No, it wasn't as experimental as YHF or any later output, but it was headed in that direction with a perfect sunny pop disposition. The keyboard sounds on the album were perfection and songs like this prove just how much of a genius Tweedy is. Yeah, he can write poetry to music, but damn if he didn't just write a great pop song too.

7. Jason Anderson - "We Will Bend, We Will Break, Etc. (On The Street)"
This song is probably my favorite Jason Anderson song right now, if only for the lines "Every different town I'm in/I wanna get an apartment/start six bands/fly awesome kites/ride awesome bikes/I just feel so at home." The song is really about wanting to be everywhere at once; loving the road, but missing everything important at home. Sometimes, we make choices, but every single time, we get better and we will grow.

8. Oasis - "Rock 'n' Roll Star (Definitely Maybe)"
This could possibly be the most perfect song of all time. This was the world's introduction to Oasis, in that it was the first song on their first album. How perfect a statement is that? Proclaiming their genius right off the bat, taking hold of everything that's theirs without asking. Sometimes, we need that feeling too, so here it is. Once you air guitar the solo, you'll feel like a fucking champ too.

9. Third Eye Blind - "Graduate (s/t)"
Yeah, you can!

MUXTAPE #19: fuck the fest, here's the rest

MUXTAPE

Since this is the year of pop-punk, I decided to make myself a "The Fest!" themed tape (tape #16, to be posted about later). I loved it so much that it almost made me jealous of the kids who live in Gainesville and get to go to The Fest! every year, but then I remembered that they live in Gainesville. In response to this, I created another tape with a theme in mind: kids that get to go to The Fest! suck. Basically, it was supposed to be a compilation of bands I would want to play my version of The Fest! Here we go! By the way, this is going to seem like a lazy muxtape post, but there are just so many great videos for these bands these days.

1. The Ergs! - "Books About Miles Davis (Hindsight is 20/20, My Friends)"
Too bad they're breaking up. How could you not like this?

2. Good Luck - "How To Live Here (Into Lake Griffy)"
Another case of "how could you not like this (courtesy of ifyoumakeit.com again).

3. Algernon Cadwallader - "Some Kind of Cadwallader (Some Kind of Cadwallader)"
One of my favorite new bands this year. They sound like Chicago in 1997 in the best way. This just looks like fun. There actually was a video for this song on ifyoumakeit, but I just thought that the quality of this video was far superior.

4. Lemuria - "Dog (Get Better)"
Yet another wonderful ifyoumakeit video here.

5. Vivian Girls - "Wild Eyes (s/t)"
Something about this video creeps me out a lot, but they are one of the best new bands.

6. Teenage Cool Kids - "Queer Salutations (Queer Salutations)"
Something about this band just makes me want to be friends with them. They're from Denton, TX. I feel like there's another band from Denton that I really like, but I can't remember who it was. Anyways, here's a very professional looking video.

7. Underground Railroad to Candyland - "Over and O'er (Bird Roughs)"
Torres said it best. Todd C. is basically what will happen to Mike Saks in 20 or 25 years. This album was a 2007 album and it is the reason I am going to have a separate list for 2007 albums I discovered in 2008. URTC is one of the most fun bands out there. Come see them tomorrow at the Smell!

8. Off With Their Heads - "I Am You (From the Bottom)"
Punk rock Dicky Barrett?

9. Fucked Up - "Vivian Girls (Hidden World)"
They got banned from playing MTV once, but they kept coming back. Pretty great.

Really Quickly...

The links for previous muxtapes have been updated, so if you want to find an old mux, just click the muxtapes tag at the bottom of the post and it will take you to all the muxtape entries thus far.

MUXTAPE #1 UPDATED

MUXTAPE #2 UPDATED

MUXTAPE #3 UPDATED

muxtape updates: #4

MUXTAPE

So, if you haven't gotten the news yet, all current muxtapes are currently available on chrisyamashiro.com, so check it out.

I previously posted that this was muxtape #4, however in reality, it was #3 and this is muxtape #9, but let's not get into that just yet. Eventually, I'd like to have a section on my website devoted to muxtape naming conventions, but I don't think anyone would read that (even you, Jennifer).

Anyhow, this muxtape is a longstanding favorite around these parts and it is called "College Town, 1997." This is not because it is filled with hits from 1997's CMJ top singles list or anything, but it is how I imagine college dorms sounded in 1997, somewhere on the east coast.

1. Jets to Brazil - "Sea Anemone (Orange Rhyming Dictionary)"
I'm totally excited for Schwarzenbach's new band and his master's degree in English, as well as the Jawbreaker doc that's coming out. Apparently, it's crazy professional because it's being made by the guys that did the Minutemen documentary. I was expecting something super punk, but I also forget that Jawbreaker was supposed to be the East Bay's next superstars or something back in 1995. Like much of Blake's music, this song seemed so sad, but it seemed to also be a little bit about Jawbreaker not making it big.

2. Heatmiser - "Plainclothes Man (Mic City Sons)"
Is that some Elliott Smith b-side? Well, apparently he did play this song live quite a bit, but it was from Heatmiser's final album, which many regard as their best. I think people like it just because Elliott's songs sound like his solo stuff, rather than the "alternative rock" of the first few albums, but that's just a stab in the dark.

3. Pavement - "Shady Lane (Brighten the Corners)"
For a long time, I never thought of Pavement as a band outside of Crooked Rain or Slanted and Enchanted, but once I heard this song, I fell in love with the rest of their discog and became a Malkmus believer. The bit about Geddy Lee and the false endings are plain genius. The only thing better than Pavement singles were their videos, for example, the Spike Jonze video for this song.

4. Grandaddy - "El Caminos in the West (Sumday)"
Yeah, this came out way after 1997 and doesn't even sound that much like 1997, Jeff, but I still dig it and sort of wish it had been out around then. I think that if Jason Lytle hadn't been a pro skateboarder in 1997 and was writing these songs, Grandaddy would have been as big as The Flaming Lips were at this point. Yeah. I said it. Seriously.

5. Yo La Tengo - "Sugarcube (I Can Feel The Heart Beating As One)"
What a wonderful song. Also has a wonderful 90s video. Also, this video is great because it really doesn't focus on the song at all, cutting in and out of the audio, finding that the narrative structure was more important. This was supposed to be their "big, coming out" single that broke them into some sort of mainstream consciousness, but I think the video was their attempt to be a non-MTV MTV band. They had the amusing parody video, but the song was chopped and fit for the video, which changed everything. Too bad this came about as 120 Minutes was either dying or dead (and before MTV2).

6. Steve Burns - "Mighty Little Man (Songs for Dustmites)"
Yeah, it's Steve from Blue's Clues and the talented heroin addict from The Flaming Lips! This song also takes liberty with the time period, but I felt like The Flaming Lips in 1997 didn't quite fit this tape. It was after Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and before The Soft Bulletin, so it really doesn't matter to me.

7. Weezer - "You Gave Your Love To Me Softly (Angus OST)"
Yeah, I included the non-demo version, Jeff. I prefer audio files that aren't decayed to hell by Limewire and Karl's hard drive bursting into flames. This b-side from Pinkerton was on the Angus soundtrack. What a wonderful little song to put into a movie. I just wish that I would have seen them play this song as Goat Punishment or something.

8. The Rentals - "Barcelona (Seven More Minutes)"
I never bothered to listen to Seven More Minutes, thinking that Matt Sharp couldn't have written more than a few good songs without Rivers as his foil, but once I learned of Maya Rudolph's involvement in this album, I knew I had to listen. I can't even tell which songs she sings on, and it doesn't matter. The demos for this song are called "California" and are totally different. Some Weezer scholars argue that "California" is the better version, because it reflects more of Rivers' songwriting that Matt lifted once he left Weezer, but I love this version because it really sounds like what the Rentals should sound like (and provided a blueprint for Korg/Moog-emo bands in the future).

9. The Dismemberment Plan - "Gyroscope (Emergency & I)"
I remember downloading this song when I was 14 or 15, reading about The D Plan on the Weezer message board or something. I just knew that they were one of those bands that most Weezer fans respected, so I wanted to get to know something about them. I was just getting into Sunny Day Real Estate and Mineral and thought the Dismemberment Plan must sound something like one of those bands, just because of all the Weezer fans being way into it. What I didn't know is that The Dismemberment Plan was way more influenced by that which surrounded them (Washington DC and Dischord Records) than any other "emo" band at the time. They were somewhat cut off from the Midwest, being from DC, so they sounded a little different (like SDRE, who sounded sort of like Seattle). After I downloaded this, I downloaded all the Dismemberment Plan I could find. Travis Morrisson has a wonderful sense of humor that you don't find every day in "indie rock."

MAD WEBSITE UPDATES

there is a SECRET that is not so secret. it contains the following:



i will update with tracklistings and such soon.

MUXTAPE #3: je suis nasty

MUXTAPE

There are so many things in life I've missed out on. Music is an endless journey of discovery and very recently, I've discovered that I've been missing out on real post-punk and post-hardcore.

1. The Wedding Present - "Dalliance (Seamonsters)"
Steve Albini guiding one of England's most beloved bands through what would become their first major album. 1991 was an important year for music in the same way that 1979 and 1984 were for their respective decades. David Gedge wrote one of the best "side one track ones" I've heard recently.

2. Mission of Burma - "That's When I Reach for my Revolver (Signals, Calls and Marches reissue)"
Whenever people would talk about Mission of Burma, I thought they were making fun of me with their (more) elitist references.
Little did I know that people that listen to Mission of Burma weren't messing around. I'd always heard that Mission of Burma was "difficult" and that their music wasn't just for anyone; in actuality, it isn't that difficult and is one of the cornerstones for much of the music I listen to today.

3. Sunny Day Real Estate - "Seven (Diary)"
This is one of the first really angular songs I ever encountered at the tender young age of 14. I heard it and had no idea who it was. Soon after, I learned of the magic of Jeremy Enigk through the Emogame and found out just how amazing Diary was. It is now one of my favorite Seattle albums. Sunny Day Real Estate is totally the Seattle Fugazi.

4. Fugazi - "Brendan #1 (Repeater +3)"
Fugazi just fits so well, right after talking about a fake Fugazi. Before Repeater, I'd never heard drums so intense and yet so restrained. This song is the perfect example of this.

5. The Nation of Ulysses - "The Sound of Young America (13-Point Program to Destroy America)"
Svenonius is a genius. Without him, there would be no Refused and I would have no manifesto. I love the idea of rebellion through obedience.

6. Geno - "Act 1 (Free DVDS)"
Brzezicki is a genius. Free DVDS was wonderful and it's only a matter of time before he blows my mind again. The way this is recorded is pretty great; the guitar sounds so sparse and is perfect.

7. Boris - "となりのサターン (SMILE)"
This little gem is directly in the middle of the new Boris album and it took me a long time to get to it. Usually, with a Boris album, I'll get so stoked on the first two songs that I won't get past them. SMILE is a great example of this. "メッセージ" and "BUZZ-IN" are two brain rattling opening tracks. The drums in the verses, set behind the guitar playing the keyboard parts, are beautiful, but then Boris makes you remember why you liked them in the first place.

8. Pink & Brown - "Je Suis Nasty (Final Foods)"
I always thought of Pink & Brown as some sort of ripoff Lightning Bolt and it's not hard to draw comparisons, but they are genius in their own way.

9. Hella - "Welcome to the Jungle Baby, Your gonna live! (The Devil Isn't Red)"
Old Hella is pretty mind-melting. Get stoked on it.

What the world needs now... MUXTAPE #3

edit: this one isn't up yet.



MUXTAPE

The last few weeks, I've gone AWOL from nearly everything in my life. Life really caught up to me and kicked my ass. School is finally over for the year and I don't have much to reflect on this year, as I usually do. I guess it's only Monday of the first week, so I'm not much in the mood for reflection yet.

In my absence, I've been moody. I haven't had much human interaction and that may have been to my detriment, and I've also come out of my "unlimited positivity" mindset, but I've at least tried to make it interesting. Last week, I came across a very interesting download on Sordo. It was marked as "Nirvana - In Utero (Albini version vinyl rip)". I had known that much of In Utero was recorded by Albini, but the vast majority of the better known songs were deemed "radio unfriendly" by Geffen, meaning that someone else had to come in to remix/remaster the songs so that they would be more "people friendly."

When I listened to the full Albini version of In Utero, I realized something that I really hadn't thought about before. The Albini Charm has a lot to do with alienation and alienating people. When you think back to Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac, you think of an abrasive, ironic sense of humor with an "up yours" sound that matched. The more and more I thought about the wider Albini production catalogue, I realized all of the things he's had his hand in (minus Ys and Lift Your Skinny Fists...) have basically had the same spirit or idea driving them. Steve effing Albini doesn't have to be people friendly.

To me, Steve Albini's guitar tone and drum sound are two of the things that set him apart from all the rest of the producers in the world. I don't quite understand how he gets the sounds he does out of those instruments, but he does a wonderful job putting out some of the angriest music of the 90s and the 00s.

Without making you wait any longer, here's Muxtape #3, Albini's Angry Teenage Soundtrack:

1. Nirvana - "All Apologies (demo) (In Utero Albini Version)"
This version is so wonderful. The drums and the bass are so huge, the guitars are beautifully chaotic and the outro is so much better than the album version. Angry 13 year olds everywhere rejoice!

2. Scout Niblett - "Lullaby for Scout in Ten Years (Kidnapped by Neptune)"
For a long time, I didn't quite get it. "Scout Niblett? Who's that? Oh, the girl." That was about as much as I cared. This was the first Scout Niblett song I ever heard and when the distorted guitars came in, I thought that I had never heard something so intense. The transition from the very intimate, small sound to the huge, distorted punch in the face is signature Albini.

3. The Wedding Present - "Suck (Seamonsters remaster)"
David Gedge. Steve Albini. Same room. They just recorded another Wedding Present album together, but this was the original one. Gedge's affinity for melody, coupled with his faux-Ian Curtis vocals and Albini's drums and guitars make for some of the most interesting britpop of the early 90s.

4. Pixies - "Tame (Doolittle)"
Sure, Doolittle had its really beautiful melodic moments, like "Wave of Mutilation" or "Here Comes Your Man," but the really big moments come when Frank Black starts screaming, guitars pounding.

5. Big Black - "Colombian Necktie (Songs About Fucking)"
There's really not much to say here, other than I love the fact that the drummer's name is always credited as "Roland."

6. Shellac - "My Black Ass (At Action Park)"
Same deal here. This is the first Shellac song I heard and all I could think was, "Why does that guitar sound so angry?"

7. Melt-Banana - "Sick Zip Everywhere (Scratch or Stitch)"
I thought that this was one of the most wonderful pairings in all of music production history. Take a Japanese noise band and add one of the noisiest producers in rock and roll? Awesome.

8. PJ Harvey - "50ft Queenie (Rid of Me)"
I never knew much about PJ Harvey beyond the fact that she did amazing work with Nick Cave. This particular album, Rid of Me, was a great example of why Albini draws the best out of his artists. PJ wasn't the angriest grrl on the block until she met him.

9. Jawbreaker - "The Boat Dreams From the Hill (24 Hour Revenge Therapy)"
Here's one of those signature Albini "uncredited" moments. Superchunk also did this. The bands felt like if they credited Albini, his reputation would be damaged because they were too pop for him to produce. Albini did a wonderful thing with this Jawbreaker album in the same vein as his work with The Wedding Present. The raw power and weight of his production coupled with the melodic leanings of Blake Schwarzenbach lead to a beautiful album.

It's 3AM. Do you know where your children are? (MUXTAPE #2)

MUXTAPE

MUXTAPE #2: Summer Shimmer Pop
Summer is upon us! Let's run in the streets and stay out late! The street lights don't go on until 8! We can swim in the ocean, ride seafoam green tandem bikes and get wild!

There's something so great about the stereotypical "American" guitar tone. The only way I've ever been able to describe it is as "shimmery." Fender amps with single coil pickups, high on the mids; all of those things sound like summer to me. I haven't been sleeping all that well lately; the heat, along with the typical "end of the school year everything crisis" mentality has kept me up far too late the last week. All I can say is that I'm going to listen to this muxtape a ton until summer is here.

1. Jeff Enzor - "Filtered Disfunctions (Our Broken Floors)"
Doesn't particularly fit in with the theme in terms of sound, but in philosophy, this works perfectly. This song should be on modern rock radio. No exaggeration there. And, for the record Jennifer, this is not your Jeff song. It should be for everyone. The world will know of this song soon enough.

2. Julie Ocean - "Ten Lonely Words (Long Gone and Nearly There)"
Dischord and DC indie pop vets team up to write one of 2008's best boldfaced power pop albums. There is nothing more summer than power pop.

3. Bruce Springsteen - "For You (Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ)"
I've been so stoked on this album over the last month or so. Subconsciously I can feel summer coming and this album has stood for everything I want my summers to be; it is also the blueprint for all great summer albums in one way or another.

4. Rhett Miller - "Hover (The Instigator)"
Rhett Miller is not only one of the most handsome men in rock and roll, but he's also one of the better songwriters. The Instigator was written mostly by Miller, but was produced (and obviously handled) by Jon Brion. There's so much of the witty Brion charm on this album, it's nearly irresistible.

5. Limbeck - "Yeah, Totally (Hi, Everything's Great vinyl first pressing)"
One of the things that's always been most disappointing to me about Limbeck is the fact that they've decided to relegate some of their best songs to b-sides, tour EPs and compilations. This is a good example of that. It bridges the gap between their power pop incarnation and their current alt.country identity perfectly. I've always loved Limbeck's perspective on music and life, which basically boils down to "life is awesome, let's have fun!"

6. Jason Anderson - "Watch Your Step (The Hopeful and the Unafraid)"
The "life is awesome" school of thought carries over here. I know this song is on Justin Conway's muxtape, but I couldn't leave this one off, because it's just too perfect. It's a beautifully worded love song that has a priceless sense of humor, without losing its seriousness: "Every other day or so/I google image search your name/but there's only one picture/and it's always the same/I had to memorize the lyrics/I downloaded this mp3/I printed out the bass tab/spent my way around the key/I'm working on a version now/to jog your memory/maybe a jog seems ambitious/maybe we should try".

7. The Hold Steady - "You Can Make Him Like You (Boys and Girls in America)"
Though this album came out too late in the year to be a summer album, I think it should be added to the summer album canon because of its unabashed stadium spirit. The thought of hearing Craig Finn screaming out "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at a Mets (or Twins) game is just too good.

8. Stone Temple Pilots - "Plush (Core)"
Originally, this was a perfect 8 song playlist, but I have the obsessive need to be consistent with stupid things like muxtape, so I added this piece of flair. All of STP's singles were pretty good. The idea here is great and the hook is good, but the song is way too long.

9. Paul Westerberg - "Stain Yer Blood (Friends OST)"
What's with those Westerberg songs on the Friends Sountrack? I don't know, but I love them to death. It sounds like the late 90s to me, and God knows I love that. This song actually sticks out to me because it just sounds like the Midwest in the mid-to-late 90s. It actually sounds a lot like a Get Up Kids song, which is weird considering the fact that there would be no Get Up Kids without the Replacements, but whatever.

And now Jeff Enzor goes on the list.

MUXTAPE

This will be updated periodically; I will post the tracklistings here when I change it. Each muxtape will have nine songs and will be around 30 minutes long, just like one side of a real mixtape.

EDIT: the tracks are now backwards.

MUXTAPE #1
1. Paul Westerberg - "Sunshine (Friends OST)"
WHO WROTE THIS SONG? +10 if you get it.
Anyways, a great version nonetheless; the best part is the bit of canned laughter at the very beginning, probably from a bit of dialogue from the show.

2. Guided by Voices - "Glad Girls (Isolation Drills)"
Possibly the best quote of the year: "wtf 'hey black girls i want ot get you high'"

3. Jason Anderson - "July 4, 2004 (The Hopeful and the Unafraid)"
I think that this should be the second song on every album Jason Anderson ever writes. This version is a very succinct version of the one that ended up on Tonight; I like that both versions exist.

4. Elvis Costello - "Alison (My Aim is True)"
Did you know that Huey Lewis was in Elvis Costello's band during the recording of My Aim is True? He didn't record on this song, but a lot of the 80s make more sense because of this.

5. Paul Simon - "Graceland (Graceland)"
Jeff Enzor goes on the list, not only for introducing me to muxtape, but also for introducing me to Paul Simon.

6. Bruce Springsteen - "Blinded by the Light (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)"
Anthony Bourdain was in New Jersey for an episode of No Reservations a few years back and when he went to Asbury Park, he started to talk about this album. This is absolutely the best way to start off a first album.

7. Wilco - "Magazine Called Sunset (demo)"
This is from the leaked engineer's demos. There isn't much more to this version and I actually like the Bridge EP version better, just because the intro is a little different, but I could only find this version to upload.

8. Ryan Adams - "My Winding Wheel (Heartbreaker)"
Something about the way the organ enters the song mimics every other organ moment I love in Americana, but it gets me every time.

9. Whiskeytown - "Indian Gown (Stranger's Almanac reissue)"
One of the hundreds of previously unreleased Whiskeytown demos. Ryan Adams just has too many damn albums, demos, etc. but I love him anyways.