A Year In The Life


I recently made two cds filled with tracks that will remind me of the past year. Some of the songs are new, most of them are old, but all of them ended up with some of the highest playcounts on my iPod. And iTunes playlists just make it so absurdly easy to burn mix cds...

Here is the first:

  1. Mission Of Burma, Trem Two, Vs.
  2. American Analog Set, The Hatist, Promise Of Love
  3. Her Space Holiday, Key Stroke, Manic Expressive
  4. Cornelius, Star Fruits Surf Rider, Fantasma
  5. Pizzicato Five, Twiggy Twiggy / Twiggy vs. James Bond, Made In USA
  6. Novel 23, Lucarne, Architectural Effects
  7. Latyrx, Lady Don't Tek No, Solesides Greatest Bumps
  8. Public Enemy, Can A Woman Make A Man Lose His Mind?, Revolverlution
  9. Les Savy Fav, Disco Drive, Go Forth
  10. The Von Bondies, Not That Social, Pawn Shoppe Heart
  11. The New Pornographers, All For Swinging You Around, Electric Version
  12. Mates Of State, What I Could Stand For, My Solo Project
  13. Radio 4, How the Stars Got Crossed, New Song and Dance
  14. The Walkmen, We've Been Had, Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
  15. Snow Patrol, Nyc, Songs for Polar Bears
  16. Radiohead, Palo Alto, Airbag How Am I Driving
  17. Constantines, Insectivora, Shine A Light
  18. Manitoba, Every Time She Turns Round It's Her Birthday, Up In Flames

And here is the second:

  1. The Rapture, Infatuation, Echoes
  2. The Postal Service, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight, Give Up
  3. Modest Mouse, Gravity Rides Everything, The Moon & Antartica
  4. The Shins, Girl On The Wing, Oh, Inverted World
  5. The Kinks, Do You Remember Walter?, Village Green Preservation Society
  6. Ted Leo, The Ballad Of The Sin Eater, Hearts Of Oak
  7. Broken Social Scene, Shampoo Suicide, You Forgot it in People
  8. Holopaw, Hoover, Holopaw
  9. Califone, Slower Twin, Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
  10. Ryan Adams, Answering Bell, Gold
  11. The Rolling Stones, Torn and Frayed, Exile on Main Street
  12. Bob Dylan, Isis, Desire
  13. Van Morrison, T.B. Sheets, The Complete Bang Sessions
  14. LEVY, You Be Sweet, The Rotten Love EP
  15. The Decemberists, July, July!, Castaways And Cutouts
  16. The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again, Who's Next

Some of these tracks are a bit cheesy (Ryan Adams?), some are unexpected (Van Morrison), some are unknowns (LEVY), and some are mind-numbingly good (The Constantines). And I left a few bands out that probably should have made the CDs (based on number of plays last year), such as Low, AYWKUBTTOD, Dresden Dolls, Death Cab For Cutie, etc. And a few genres are just hard to fit into a mix like this, in spite of ending up at the top of the playcount -- jazz (M.O.B Trio, Milt Jackson), hip-hop (Slum Village, Atmosphere), classical (Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff), and blues (Robert Johnson, Skip James). I suppose another mix is due.