2010 Swim, Soak and Sigh Part 2

Photo credit unknown but awesome.

Let's continue the mixtape with the middle five tracks starting off with a local band - The Grecian Urns...

6. "We Are Stories" - The Grecian Urns

This collection of young musicians from St. Pete comes together during the summers and breaks off into separate colleges during the fall. Catching them in concert becomes a little tricky due to this, but this year they decided to get together and release an album. They played a few shows over at Ella's Folk Art Cafe in my hood too so I've really got no excuse for not catching them live. This song captures a lot of the multi-instrumental joy of this band which is making music as good or better than a lot of "discovered" bands out there - just see Track 8 for similarities. Anyhow, enjoy the track. It's a lot of fun and right after the 3 minute mark it changes over from a simple pop song to a big chorus of whistle-along fun that makes me glad to announce that whistling is definitely back. Thanks Peter Bjorn and John.

7. "Thistled Spring" - Horse Feathers

Thanks Jordan, good call on this one. My buddy up in Cinci said I should check out this band Horse Feathers and at first listen I thought it was maybe a little too moody and depressing for this mix. That was until I realized that this whole mix is a little moody and depressing. After that, I was all in... and why not? This song is painfully gorgeous. The piano hammers away at your insides sharply and it begins the same way it ends with that sharp piano rapping loudly. It reminds me of taking piano lessons with Ryan Adams and David Gray. After a few listens I'm sure you'll be drawn in.

8. "Janglin" - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

This band I'd heard a little bit about when I discovered they were playing at the Ritz. My friend Nicole "Elawgrrl" was of course going in her official photographer capacity and was pretty skeptical of the "dirty hippies" we were about to find onstage. They fielded a huge band with two drummers, xylophone, trumpet, guitars, accordion, piano, and a male and female duo trading back and forth on many of the songs. This had to be the nicest group of fans I've ever been packed in with. It was crazy. I even was able to make my way to the front without the typical fistfights and stabbings that usually accompany that sort of thing. This song was featured in a commercial and hopefully that helps pay the gas in these guys monstrous bus because they definitely are worth catching in concert. If they come anywhere near you, definitely get out there and see the spectacle for yourself. When they sing the chorus "We want to heal your janglin souls" you might just find you've joined in and started wishing to be a Magnetic Zero yourself.

9. "St. Christopher is Coming Home" - Frank Turner

This song isn't the typical singalong rocker that Frank Turner is becoming known for in these parts. He toured pretty heavily around his show opening for Social Distortion and Lucero this year and could be seen at many places in Central Florida. This song got stuck in my head and quite honestly fits better with this group of songs than many of his others that I love. Check out "Photosynthesis" on this Irish blog if you're curious. This song is more about the sadness and longing that comes from a life on the road. Nicole heavily recommended Mr. Turner and this song was one of the tracks that stuck out in my mind because of great lines like "And that's how I miss out, on another night. The kind of night where nothing really happens, yeah, but everything goes down" when talking about the difficulty of getting phone calls from friends while being stuck working and out of town. This is great songwriting and even though this album wasn't released in 2010, I'm giving this one a pass because I hadn't heard of it until this year and it is fantastic.

10. "Goodbye Girl" (Squeeze Cover)- The Shins

Okay, I'm letting a cover on here. I couldn't get this version out of my head and WMNF played it a few too many times and now I'm stuck with it. I love it though and since Squeeze just celebrated a cool documentary on them recently I felt okay slipping it in here. The Shins are a family favorite anyway so it's nice to hear them making some music again.

The last three will hopefully be up tomorrow!

2010: Swim, Soak, and Sigh Part 1

[Charles] The End of the Year Mixtape is one of my favorite things to do each year. I look forward to putting together a group of songs that can play through together and make the year proud. I've never posted the links before, but I think I've finally got it figured out so please don't ruin it for me.
Disclaimer: The links are up for a limited time and then they'll come down. They are meant to get you hungry for more music and to send you off on your own search for music. This is a jumping off point for an adventure into bands and cd's you may have missed last year. If you want your music taken down, just let me know and I'll pull it.

This list is also personal and completely arbitrary. I don't try to do a "best of" - I like to think of this as a solid bunch of songs that work well as a group. That's why I call it a mixtape.

Let's start with tracks 11-15...

11. "We Used To Wait" - Arcade Fire

I came late to Arcade Fire as I know I naturally am resistant to bands that get too much hype and all this "yeah the next great indie band" baggage. That being said, I'm sorry, this band is really good and has been good the whole time. I missed out, and I'll do my best to make it up to them. If they'd like to drop by the house, I'd happily set up a grill out or whatever they like and we can patch it up over beers. Seriously though, they also do some really amazing work in Haiti and the money they funnel to other worthy causes. This song builds from something so small and makes me think of the frustration of growing up somewhere that waiting feels like all you can do. Also, I'd like to mention the creativity we've seen from them as this song has an interactive video and the Spike Jonze video of The Suburbs is pretty awesome as well.

12. "Terrible Love" - The National

The National also fall into that group of bands that get so much hype and play that it is hard to treat them fairly. To get a fair trial, I had to move them away from all of the craziness around their touring and fans. I listened to plenty of their tracks and I liked them okay but I never got that goosebumps sort of feeling that great music can give you. That was until I heard this version of "Terrible Love". All of a sudden, away from the heavy production and drama, there was just this band and this voice, and it was amazing. I listened to it over and over and it was the same song but it wasn't. This band definitely deserves the love they get and I hope they are around for a long long time.

13. "Ways of Looking" - The Mynabirds

When I first heard this song, I knew it would make this list. Sometimes a song just burrows under the skin and stays inside and that was definitely the effect of Laura Berhenn's voice on me. After many listens I've resigned to the fact that this reminds me of past favorites like Cowboy Junkies and Mazzy Star and all those rock-soul girls that ever drowned their sorrows in a slow slow electric guitar and forced me to buy their albums and put them on whenever I'm feeling particularly moody. The difference here for me is that there is a hopeful up-turn in this song when she "counts 1 to 10" at about the 1:20 mark and reminds us that "it can be easy, if you let it." I keep thinking about that. Like a little bit of hidden zen master advice, she reminds us all how important it is to just "let it."

14. "Soak it Up" - Houses

I don't know much of anything about the guy that made this. The story I heard was that he got laid off from Apple and headed to Hawaii with his girlfriend and made this. All I can say is, that if that is true, then sometimes getting laid off is the best thing ever because this music is amazing. It is transcendent, beautiful, electronic music that doesn't feel like it needs to pumped from speakers at a million decibels so much as it should be quietly poured over the heads of clubgoers like a baptism in light. I can't remember the last time I wanted to listen to an electronic song on repeat like this. This feels like a new type of lo-fi, ethereal electronic music that has made me look forward to new music again. This is music that needs no translation.

15. "Sigh No More" - Mumford and Sons

Because this is a mixtape, I feel that order and pacing is important and even more important is the correct ending song. This was one of my favorite albums of the year. I received it on Father's Day and it was the best gift I could hope for. This music reminds me of Amy and Ella and all that is great about being alive. It feels like the hymn book from my church - the church of music where everybody is welcome and all you have to do is sing and be good to each other and go out and try to be good and honest to people in the world. I think of this song as a hymn and a poem and truly something different than most of what is available in music today. This song was overlooked for catchier songs from their album on most lists, but for me, this is exactly what this band is about. It builds and builds and crescendos to a fantastic yell-along finish that feels exactly like the end of a mixtape should.

"Love it will not betray you

Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free

Be more like the man you were made to be

There is a design, an alignment, a cry

Of my heart to see,

The beauty of love as it was made to be."

-From Sigh No More - Mumford and Sons