Apparently someone else in this town is as nostalgic for the mixtape as I am. San Francisco-based Mixwit has launched a Beta version of their site that allows you to create and share your own mixtape in three easy steps. Very fun! You can even customize the cassette tape design with your own photos and images and share it on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and more.
Now you have no excuses. Make me a mix!
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with cover songs. And nostalgic for the mixtape. I miss the mixtape, frankly, and wish it would come back. Mix CDs are great and all, but the ‘drag and drop’ medium doesn’t require the same amount of effort, thoughtfulness and dedication as making a mixtape did. It’s one thing to find the right songs and arrange them…but to actually time the songs so you didn’t run out of tape? That’s an art form.
And in that sense, they seemed more meaningful too. I just can’t recall anyone today being particularly impressed by a mix CD they were given. But remember when someone gave you a mixtape in the day? That was…WOW.
It’s been far too long since I’ve made or have been given a mixtape. But I’m changing that today with my first mixtape to you (albeit digital) – a collection of my favorite indie cover songs. There will be more to come. So if you like this and want more, you’ll have to subscribe to my Mixtape Podcast to receive them.
the OCMD – Best Covers Mixtape
1. Cryptacize – Peg (Steely Dan cover)
2. Johnathon Wilson – La Isla Bonita (Madonna cover)
3. Midnight Movies – Mes Reves de Satin (Moody Blues cover)
4. Japancakes – Only Shallow (MBV cover)
5. Sonic Youth – Superstar (Carpenters cover)
6. Grizzly Bear – Owner of a Lonely Hearts (Yes cover)
7. We are Scientists – Hoppipolla (Sigur Ros cover)
8. Jose Gonzalez – Teardrop (Massive Attack cover)
9. Marissa Nadler – No Surprises (Radiohead cover)
10. St. Vincent – These Days (Jackson Browne cover)
11. Cat Power – Ramblin’ (Wo)man (Hank Williams cover)
12. Vampire Weekend – Exit Music (for a Film) (Radiohead cover)
13. Sons and Daughters – Killer (Adamski cover)
14. The Cloud Room – Blue Monday (New Order cover)
15. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Another Satellite (XTC cover)
16. The Paper Scissors – I can’t Go for That (Hall & Oates cover)
Artist: Elbow
Album: The Seldom Seen Kid
File Under: Brit Rock
Recommended if You Like: Radiohead, Coldplay, Rob Dickinson, Peter Gabriel
Featured Track: Grounds for Divorce; The Bones of You
“I’ve been working on a cocktail called Grounds for Divorce…,” is the opening line from the rockin’ single, ‘Grounds for Divorce,’ off Elbow’s fourth and arguably best release to date, The Seldom Seen Kid. The song is immense, snarling with emotion and emblematic of the theme of the album – the joys and sorrows of everyday life.
I’ve been obsessing over this album since it’s release in April. Definitely one of my top albums for 2008. I’m in love with Guy Garvey’s voice, which reminds me of Peter Gabriel at times and Rob Dickinson at others. It’s beautiful and melodic, regardless. Especially the track, ‘The Fix’, in which Guy collaborates with another British crooner, Richard Hawley.
Elbow is one of those Radiohead-esque English bands that emerged from the wake of The Bends and OK Computer in the 90s. For whatever reason, Coldplay was the band the masses glommed onto while Elbow remained in relative obscurity, despite their abundance of critical accolades. Lucky for you, you now know better.
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Techcrunch reported that Pandora is currently the fourth most popular free app on iTunes (behind Apple’s Remote, AIM, and WeatherBug), and has reportedly been seeing a new listener every 2 seconds. Usage over the weekend hit an all-time high for the service, with 3.3 million tracks streamed to iPhone listeners alone. Perhaps more impressive is the retention rate of listeners, who are averaging over an hour of listening per day.
The Pandora music stream is great on the new iPhones with the 3G and Edge networks. Between the iPhone and Sonos Digital Music System, music lovers are no longer tied to their computer to enjoy the benefits of Pandora’s personalized music recommendation service. Rock on.
The final post in the Black Crystal Band series features Seattle Indie pop group, Crystal Skulls and Brooklyn-based indie rockers, Crystal Stilts.
In 2006, Crystal Skulls released their debut album ‘Outgoing Behavior‘. Featured is the track, Hard Party.
Crystal Stilts released their self-titled debut this year. They have a stripped-down, moody, garage rock sound that is heavily influenced by groups like Velvet Underground and Jesus and Mary Chain. And who isn’t these days?
Featured is the track, Crippled Croon.
So what did I learn from all this? in retrospect, I’d say my preconceived notion of ‘Black’ bands as a dark and moody rockers holds water. The Crystal set as all Indie pop rockers? Not so much. Whatever the case, it’s clear that – just like people – bands can fall into the trap of naming trends.
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I realized after obsessing this week over Beck’s new album, ‘Modern Guilt‘, that I was listening to yet another Danger Mouse production. What is this guy up to and what else is he working on? A lot, so it seems.
Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) is famously known for remixing Jay Z‘s ‘Black Album‘ over samples from The Beatles ‘White Album’ to create, ‘The Grey Album.’ From there he collaborated with Cee-Lo (as half of Gnarls Barkley) to release the hugely popular ‘St. Elsewhere’. He’s also produced the debut album from The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and the latest releases of Sparklehorse, The Rapture and Gorillaz.
This year he’s in top form with producer title for the following releases:
Martina Topley-Bird (from Tricky), ‘The Blue God’; Featured Track: Phoenix
The Black Keys, ‘Attack and Release’; Featured Track: Same Old Thing
The Shortwave Set, ‘Replica Sun Machine‘; Featured Track: Harmonia
Beck, ‘Modern Guilt’; Featured Track: Modern Guilt
With his influences firmly rooted in electronica/trip-hop, I’ll definitely be tracking his next move.
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First up in the ‘Crystal’ band category is the Long Beach, CA based group, Crystal Antlers, whose hard core psyche rock sound certainly puts my preconceived notion of all ‘Crystal’ bands as Indie Pop rockers to shame. The indie rock music world has been buzzing about their self-released, eponymous EP. The band has received many comparisons to Les Savy Fay. Check out the featured track, A Thousand Eyes.
Crystal Castles, however, falls squarely into my 80s synthpop stereotype. This Toronto-based group is all synthesizers and drum machines . Their self-titled debut album is a bits and bytes bump and grind fest. Featured track, Courtship Dating.
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It’s electronica day! I was excited to find this exclusive stream of the new Nightmares on Wax track, 195lbs, on RCRD LBL today. The track is from their yet to be released album, ‘Thought so…’, which is scheduled to drop August 25.
I pretty much own every NOW album and look forward to adding this one to my collection as well. They consistently produce the kind of electronica music I’m so fond of – the downtempo, trip-hop variety.
Check out the exclusive stream of 195lbs here.
Hey, look! More psychedelic sounds from the ‘Black’ band contingent. This one in the form of the otherworldly, electronica variety – á la Air and Octopus Project. My music friend Noah turned me on to their 2007 release, Dandelion Gum, last year. I like it a lot and find myself gravitating toward this kind of ambient, ethereal music in the wee hours.
BMSW will be releasing their new album, Drippers, in September. You can pre-order a limited edition scratch-n-sniff version of the CD or 10″ here. Check out the track Happy Melted City from their forthcoming release or download Bonus Drippers for free now – which is a bunch of old, unreleased songs.
Here’s their creepy video for the Dandelion Gum album track, Sun Lips.
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File this ‘black’ band under the psychedelic stoner rock category, for sure. Hailing from Vancouver, this group has received the high honor of being one of the top ten Canadian 2008 Polaris Music Prize finalists for their second album, In the Future.
Check out the Polaris website for more details on the final nominees contending for Canada’s coolest music prize – many of which were on heavy rotation for me throughout last year. If you’re not up on the Canadian indie music scene, the long list of nominees is a must read. It’s a veritable who’s who of Canadian indie rock….except for the noticeable absence of Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs. Guess the Canadians aren’t Wolf Parade fans.
Congratulations and best of luck to Black Mountain, but I’ll be rooting for Caribou. Featured is the Black Mountain video, Angels.
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the OCMD 