Holiday Mixes.... from 2012

Since I apparently never got around to posting them last year:

I made these mixes up about Thanksgiving, so I’m sure I’m about to find a whole bunch of wonderful things at the end of the year or rediscover ones that got lost in the shuffle (Meg Myers? Fiona’s Hot Knife? Sky Ferreira’s Everything is Embarrassing? WHO KNOWS.) Anyways - they’ll have to go on next years’.

Disc 1

1. Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra – Do It with a Rockstar. Aaaaahhhhh. Love. The whole album, Theatre is Evil, is wonderfully 80s/early 90s influenced and has a number of really great tracks. (I actually don’t love the video they came up with for that one, so try out The Killing Type or Want It Back (NSFW). Or listen to Melody Dean or Massachusetts Avenue.)
2. Garbage – Control. My favorite track off the new album. Which Rolling Stone listed in their top 50 albums of the year thusly; “We had no idea how much we'd missed Shirley Manson and her digital-grunge mates until they suddenly zoomed back into our lives. The first Garbage album since 2005 has everything that made us fall in love with them years ago: Manson vamps, sneers and tosses out sexily standoffish lyrics and big, gut-punch choruses, while the band works itself up to a frenzy of shimmering electronics and sleek, metronomic beats. But it wouldn't be a Garbage album without drummer-producer Butch Vig running all of it through waves of majestic distortion.” (And here is I Hate Love live. Shirley is 46. 46.)
3. Lana Del Rey – Off to the Races. I know I put Video Games on for last year, but I’ve actually listened to this one more. I love the way the rhythm is so off-kilter and I think this track is the epitome of her whole 60s-Lolita-gangster-Nancy-Sinatra shtick. (Also, Christopher Glazek’s piece on her in artforum, focusing on the National Anthem and Ride videos, is a great read.)  
4. Gotye – Easy Way Out.
5. Kaiser Chiefs – Kinda Girl You Are. They played this one when I saw them back in the spring and it stayed stuck in my head for days.
6. Emeli Sande - Next To Me. I’m still a little sad she didn’t sing this one at the Olympics.
7. The Raveonettes – She Owns the Streets.
8. Elbow – Grounds for Divorce (thanks, Chris!).
9. Muse – Madness. Ah. Muse does their own version of dubstep. Kinda. Sorta. Really, though, it reminds me mostly of Resistance or Bliss. Because big, sweepy love songs is what they do best.
10. Ladyhawke – Black White & Blue. The drums, guitar, and bass are all her on this one.
11. 2:54 – Scarlet.
12. Band of Skulls – Sweet Sour.
13. The Presets – Ghosts. Probably my new favorite band discovery. Thanks to my hairdresser.
14. Florence + the Machine – No Light, No Light. Okay, anyone who likes her probably already HAS this one, but… I really, really love it and none of the other tracks was going to cut it. Plus I love the choirboys in the vid.
15. Dum Dum Girls –There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (Smiths cover). I was working on my “Valerie” mix earlier this year, which is all cover songs, and I discovered a few new (to me) ones that I quite like. There are a couple more coming up on the next disc.
16. Bloc Party – Ion Square.
17. Norah Jones – Miriam. The best murder ballad since… Heavy In Your Arms? The Rake’s Song?
18. Bat for Lashes – Laura.
19. Garbage – You Look So Fine [Fun Lovin’ Criminals Remix].

Disc 2

1. Deadmau5 – Aural Psynapse. I have no idea if this is an older song (because I don’t follow him), but it popped up as a part of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo viral blog last winter and promptly got stuck in my head.
2. The Raveonettes – Beat City.
3. Tune-yards – My Country. Pretty sure I put Gangsta on last year’s mix, but this one is great, too, and the video stars kids from a couple SF charities. (They are so cute!)
4. Die Antwoord – I Fink U Freeky. Yeah, yeah - I know. I know. And yet…. I really like the Roger Ballen music video.
5. Jay-Z, Kanye West & Frank Ocean – No Church in the Wild. Again, I figure probably everyone already has this one. Yes? No?
6. Watsky – Show Goes On (Lupe Fiasco Mini-Mix). So Watsky is a rapper/poet from San Francisco. He’s probably best known for another short video he did called ‘pale kid raps fast’. His “Man of Constant Sorrow” is worth checking out.
7. Azealia Banks – 212. It’s from last year, but… I keep listening to it.
8. Icona Pop – I Love It. Easily my song of the summer. Coincidentally, written by Charli xcx, who is coming up.
9. The Magnetic Fields – Andrew in Drag. As Neil Gaiman said, “This is my favourite thing. I came really close to typing that in capital letters and adding a SQUEE at the end. Best song. Best video. Best everything. Just watch it. Unless you are scared of nipples. DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU ARE SCARED OF NIPPLES. (This is because there are nipples in it.)”
10. Divine Fits – Would That Not Be Nice.
11. Charli xcx – You’re the One. I’ve heard her sound called darkwave, indietronica, and goth pop. Whatever. This is a fab song.
12. Marina & the Diamonds – The State of Dreaming.
13. Austra – Lose It. Another one from last year. I really loved this part of a review; “Katie belts out “Ohs” in higher and higher octaves until several dogs start crying.”
14. The Aislers Set – Mission Bells. This is an older one that popped up on a “best songs about SF mix.”
15. Belle & Sebastian – Piazza, New York Catcher. Ditto.
16. Ryan Adams – Wonderwall (Oasis cover). The others from the “Valerie” mix.
17. Carrie Manolakos – Creep (Radiohead cover).
18. Amanda Palmer – In My Mind (ft. Brian Viglione).

The Outside Lands Disc

Of a fantastic concert-going year, Outside Lands was the highlight for me. It was wonderfabulous. So I thought I’d put together a disc of songs performed at the fest. Enjoy!

1. Ennio Morricone – The Ecstasy of Gold. This scene, from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, was the intro to Metallica’s set, which made me really happy.
2. Jack White – Freedom at 21. I love this song soooooooooooooo much. (I also love that Hype Williams did a Jack White video. Sixteen Saltines is also excellent.)
3. Beck – Black Tambourine.
4. Two Gallants – My Love Won’t Wait. (Las Cruces Jail and Nothing to You are also worth checking out)
5. Metallica – Fuel.
6. The Kills – Baby Says.
7. Franz Ferdinand – Dark of the Matinee. I thought I’d put on something a little less well known than Take Me Out or No You Girls.
8. Fitz and the Tantrums – L.O.V.
9. fun. – Carry On. I was waiting for Franz Ferdinand to come on and caught their set. Surprisingly good live. Although the tweens around me did not know the words to You Can’t Always Get What You Want, which is just wrong. (Figuring everyone has We Are Young and Some Nights?)
10. Foo Fighters – Walk. I adore this song. Really – I adore this whole album. It was produced by Butch Vig, they recorded in Dave Grohl’s garage, it is SO. GOOD. Anyways, it didn’t work to put this song last, but I really think it is one of the best rock songs ever and you should turn it up really, really loud and scream along. (Here is a live version)
11. White Denim – Street Joy. White Denim was one of the best sets I saw. Maybe it was because it was the first set I saw and I was amped up, or maybe they are just fantastic live. If they play near you, you should go and find out.
12. Animal Kingdom – Tin Man. This one was funny – I know this band from their song Mephistopheles, which seems to be an outlier in their catalogue. But it turns out they do have a few other songs I enjoy – just all a bit mellower.
13. Dispatch – The General. I love Dispatch so much. I shouldn’t. They are too hippy-crunchy-granola-jam-band. But they are just so great. (Other great songs to check out: Mission, Two Coins… Really, you should probably just go listen to all of their album Bang Bang.)
14. Alabama Shakes – Heartbreaker.
15. Regina Spektor – On The Radio.
16. Geographer – Kites.
17. Explosions in the Sky – The Birth and Death of the Day. I have not seen Friday Night Lights Yet, but apparently these guys scored the series?
18. Dirty Dozen Brass Band – When the Saints Go Marching In. Yay! New Orleans Brass Band! Goodnight everybody!