Friday, December 19, 2008

Holiday Mixtape #4

I'll admit it. I watch the Maury show when I get home from school in the afternoon. I don't watch it intently, however I do always have it on, sort of like a hilarious trailer trash soundtrack that accompanies whatever it is happen to be doing on any given day. The best episodes are the paternity test ones, which apparently, are all they ever have. They even sell cute little onesies that your baby can wear that read "I met my Daddy on Maury!" I really wish they sold adult size t-shirts. I'd totally buy one, or give them as gag gifts for the holidays and birthdays. Anyway, when I saw the above picture I couldn't help but laugh. With Hanukkah starting on the 22nd and Christmas a mere three days after that, the joyousness of the holidays are almost upon us. So, here is the last of this years holiday mixtapes, and I hope that this one, coupled with the previous three, have made your holiday season that much better.

1. Low - Just Like Christmas
2. Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Lets Boogie to the Elf Dance!
3. Yo La Tengo - It's Christmas Time
4. Pearl Jam - Let Me Sleep
5. The Knife - Christmas Reindeer
6. Pas/Cal - Last Christmas
7. eric Metronome - Hanukkah Girl
8. The Kinks - Father Christmas
9. The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
10. Sufjan Stevens - Sister Winter

Have a great holiday everyone, and if I forgot to include one of your favorites, I'm terribly sorry. It is very difficult to keep track of all of these tunes.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Holiday Mixtape #3: Kickass Covers

So we're all familiar with all of the holiday classics, and I think it's safe to assume that most of you share the same sentiments as I do, in the sense that they are all extremely dull and boring. The fact that we hear the same versions year after year doesn't help matters. While all the sixty-plus crowd is huddled around the fire, eyes closed, gently swaying back and forth to the sound of old Bing's voice like they were hippies at a Phish concert, the rest of us roll our eyes and wish the Holiday's didn't bring out such dullness. Well, fret not, this year will be jammed packed with classic tunes that your grandmother will recognize, but appease you as it will totally rock your socks off. Enjoy.

1. The Pretenders - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
2. Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas
3. The Dandy Warhols - Little Drummer Boy
4. Jack Johnson - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
5. REM - Merry Xmas Everybody
6. Asobi Seksu - Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)
7. Phantom Planet - Winter Wonderland
8. Stars - Fairytale of New York
9. Pearl Jam - Someday At Christmas
10. Death Cab For Cutie - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
11. The Fray - Happy X-mas (War Is Over)

The following songs are repeats of the ones above, but they are certianly different versions, so I didn't want to deprive you of expanding your Holiday music collection, call it an alternate collection.

Grandaddy - Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland
Snowden - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Montt Mardie, Le Sport & Mr. Suitcase - Last Christmas

Simply Having a Cringeworthy Christmas Time...

So, while some of you may not enjoy my musical taste and my choices of Holiday related tunes, I decided to dedicate the next installment of the Holiday Mega Mix to the songs that I personally can't stand to hear. It seems as though it is the following collection of songs that plague the airwaves starting the day after Thanksgiving. Whether it's Paul McCartney's incessant synthesizer drone, the incredibly creepy sounding Billy Corgan singing about the rather, ahem, ambiguous, things he does on Christmas to make children happy, the incredibly lounge cheese that is Coldplay's version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", or the "punk rock" stylings of Fall Out Boy, these songs are likely to be mood killers. I swear if I hear Bing and Bowie sing "Little Drummer Boy" for the umpteenth year in a row, I am going to stick freshly sharpened #2 pencils directly into my ear canals.

1. Paul McCartney - Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time
2. Smashing Pumpkins - Christmastime
3. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?
4. Coldplay - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. Fall Out Boy - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out
6. Cascada - Last Christmas
7. The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)
8. Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
9. David Bowie & Bing Crosby - Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy

UGHHH...all I want for Christmas is for someone to make it stop...

Monday, December 08, 2008

Have Yourself a Depressing Little Christmas

So it's that time fo the year again, and as early as a few weeks before Thaknsgiving, I have been compiling some of my favorite Christmas/holiday tunes of yesteryear and today, as my friends and family tend to look forward to my annual Holiday mixes. Last year the mix was only one disc long, as I overdid it in 2006 with a four-disc monstrosity that I just couldn't seem to reproduce fast enough. Anyway, I was commissioned to play a little Holiday themed acoustic set at a private party, and while I was learning some of my favorite holiday songs, I noticed that a large number of them were sad songs, depressing really. This revelation, in turn, made me remember an article I had read a few years back that talked about how while the holiday season brought feelings of joy and sentimentality for some, others felt an increased sense of isolation and despair for a number of different reasons that I'm sure we're all familiar with. On top of that, the increased frenetic activity, namely juggling shopping, work, social obligations, etc, all lead to a rise in physical and emotional stress. So I figured that this year, instead of just making random mixes, I would make themed Holiday mixes, so to coincide with the stress and sadness we're all bound to feel at some point, here's the first holiday mixtape installment, the sad songs. Now, just because thy're melancholy doesn't mean they're bad, in fact a lot of my favorites are classified as "sad songs" so don't discriminate.

1. Coldplay - 2000 Miles
2. Feist - Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming
3. Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas
4. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Cold White Christmas
5. Ben Folds Five - Brick
6. Tiger Baby - This Christmas
7. Snow Patrol - When I Get Home For Christmas
8. Ryan Adams - Hey Parker, It's Christmas
9. Mogwai - Christmas Song
10. The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
11. Sufjan Stevens - That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
12. Snowden - White Christmas
13. The Walkmen - The Christmas Party

So there it is folks, keep your eyes peeled for more Holiday mixtapes coming soon. And cheer up would you? Jeez.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Death Cab For Cutie @ The Oakdale 10/4/08

I've been meaning to post something about this show for months now, and I apologize that I haven't done so. I have to say that this show was absolutely incredible. Even though the venue (formerly known as the Oakdale) is called the Chevrolet Music Theatre (blah). Anyway, Ben Gibbard and company played an amzing set...definitely by all means an extremely early Christmas present. Each note played and and every word sung was bliss...you guys ever get the chance to check them out do so. Anyway I forgot my camera like an idiot, so check out some video from the show below. (Sorry for shitty quality)



Clips from The New Year, Title and Registration, We Looked like Giants, Expo 86


I Will Follow You Into the Dark (full)

I Will Possess Your Heart


Summer Skin, Where Soul Meets Body

Transatlanticism