Mixtape #5.1: "Christmas Blues (side B)"

Hello there.  It's me again.  Another mixed bag of blues power and hoodoo mojo straight from Santa's sleigh for you.  The same mix of traditional and contemporary ballads of loss, regret, and selling one's soul to the devil.

I don't know about you lot, but christmas day for me has been an endless buffet of home cooking and action films.  Salt is good.  Really good.  Angelina Jolie is kicks positively ludicrous amounts of ass in a movie that feels equal parts Bourne Identity and Tom Clancy.  The Expendables is pretty much just a two hour orgy of violence and steroids.  So needless to say, it's been an interesting experience.  No white christmas this year.  Just rain.  And blood.  And turkey.

So what did you get this year??  Aside from an awesome collection of questionably legal free blues songs you found on some dude's blog, that is...  Me??  I got a new xbox controller that looks like it belongs to Darth Vader, some truly awesome books, and a pony.  Okay, granted, the pony is plush.  And  I got it for opening a new savings account at the bank the other day.  Still though, it's the thought that counts.  I've been asking for a pony for years, but mostly as a joke.  I never really thought anyone would take me seriously.  Also, I ordered some new glasses so I won't look like a god damn fool when I don't wear my contacts.

Evidently his name is Lightning.  Yeah, he's got a saddle, but I don't think I can ride it...

I've got some great advice posts I'm planning the coming days... weeks...  what the fuck ever.  I'll give you a hint:  it's not at all practical, but I hope it'll be good for a laugh, and it will most definitely make you cooler.  Not quite as cool as a polar bear's toenails, but cool enough to catch that not-so-subtle Outkast reference and give a knowing nod.

Polar bears:  cuddly, majestic, and unfuckwithable.  wait... holy shit, is he eating a whale??

Well, I'm running out of interesting words to type and I want to make sure this actually gets posted before midn-  Wait.  Hold the phone.  It is snowing.  And I have just been informed that this is the first time since records were first established that snow has been recorded and seen in Macon, Georgia on christmas day.  It really is a christmas miracle.  And on that note, it is time for me to take my leave so I may fatten myself up for the winter with plenty of Reese's pieces and cigarettes.

You stay classy, Denmark.


1) "Since I've Been Loving You" - Led Zeppelin
2) "Tombstone Blues" - Bob Dylan
3) "All Hands Against His Own" - the Black Keys
4) "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - the Rolling Stones
5) "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out" - Derek and the Dominoes
6) "Cocaine Blues (live at Folsom Prison)" - Johnny Cash
7) "Mistreating Queen" - Radio Moscow
8) "Death Letter Blues" - Son House
9) "Me and Bobby McGee" - Janis Joplin
10) "Catch Hell Blues" - the White Stripes
11) "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" - Huddy "Leadbelly" Ledbetter
12) "Cross Road Blues (take 2)" - Robert Johnson
13) "Hear My Train A Coming (live at the BBC)" - the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Mixtape #5: "Christmas Blues (side A)"

Hello, loyal readers!!  No, I have not forgotten you.  The past... span of time has been rather hectic and the world is ripe and full of upheaval.  I moved, I've been working, and I literally had to wrestle a bear in order to get internet properly connected and established at my new place of residence.  I promise that I have been (not so) hard at work trying to make it up to you for seemingly disappearing and leaving you dangling on a precipice of anxiety.  Man... that's a good phrase.  I better trademark that shit before anyone steals it from me.  Violence will befall you if you steal my phrases from me.  That's not a threat, just sayin' is all.

Anyway, I'll tell you some cool stories about what's been going on (if I feel like it) later.  Right now, I have a super surprise for you.

As you may or may not have realized, the holiday season is upon us.  Personally, it snuck right the fuck up on me.  Which is okay, because I kind of hate loathe christmas music and most christmas movies (Grinch & Christmas Story aside, that is).  It's really the commercialization and all that nonsense more than anything. I mean, I like getting presents and all that, don't get me wrong.  Hell, I even like giving them.  But since I'm not any good at being a secret computer hacker and I can't individually track every single person who's read, visited, or said nice things about my blog, I'm going to just give you all one really awesome blanket present.  Today, loyal reader, I give you the gift of the blues.  Special limited edition double mixtape featuring 26 of my favorite blues traditionals, improvisations, and modernizations from an assortment of artists, thieves, murderers, and other various undesirables.

Now, I wanted to use a pretty loose interpretation of what the blues actually was here, so we've got a seriously awesome mixed bag of goodies.  Every decade from the 20's to the 00's is represented between side A and side B (which you'll have to wait for until tomorrow.  come on now, I can't spoil christmas for you completely...).  80+ years of traditional spirituals, blues folk, slide guitar, and electric church, every ounce of it extra dirty, a little mean, and double-plus good.  And if you don't agree that every one of these songs is 100% blues, feel free to engage me in a fruitless argument in the comments section.

So if you get done singing christmas carols and you've got a snarl on your face, or you wake up tomorrow morning and find a lump of coal in your stocking, then download some of this goodness on your new computer, listen to it on your new ipod, and then go write a song on your new guitar about how much your new christmas sweater blows.  If this shit doesn't wipe away your christmas blues, then I'll give you a 100% money back guarantee.  Just pay the postage and handling.

Run with it.  And you better enjoy it, because there's plenty more where this came from.


1) I Can't Quit You, Baby (live at the BBC) - Led Zeppelin
2) Baby, It's You - Smith
3) In My Time Of Dyin' - Bob Dylan
4) Sweet Home Chicago - Robert Johnson
5) Dying Crapshooter's Blues - Blind Willie McTell
6) Nobody But You - the Black Keys
7) The Weight - the Band
8) Dust My Broom - Elmore James
9) John the Revelator - Son House
10) I Fought Piranhas - the White Stripes
11) Red House - the Jimi Hendrix Experience
12) Staggolee - Mississippi John Hurt
13) The Ballad of Curtis Loew - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Mix #4 - "I Ain't No Bunny Rabbit"

Last night, I got the great idea that maybe one of these mixes coming up soon should be some serious blues.  I can't escape it.  Maybe it's the Mississippi in me coming out, but every now and then, I just absolutely have to hear and play some blues.  The dirtier, the better.  I think you fine folks could stand to be educated about the blues.  Maybe I'll get to working on that...

Also, I totally ripped the title of this one from a sample an artist I've recently been turned on to used.  I am, of course, talking about dub-step.  Lesson learned.  Dub-step is not what I thought it was.  It is soooooo much better.  I am officially converted.  This shit is my jam.  75 minutes of non-stop insanity that just goes and goes and goes.  More samples than you can shake a stick at and more funk than you know what to do with.  Lacerated Wax.  "Exit Wounds".  Look it up and learn something about yourself.

Sorry this didn't get uploaded yesterday.  For some reason my site I use to host these wouldn't load yesterday and I couldn't get the music to the middle man in order to get it to you.  Technology failed me.  Without further interruption, here you go.

01 - "When I'm With You" - Best Coast
02 - "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" - Spoon
03 - "Wolf Like Me" - TV on the Radio
04 - "Off the Record" - My Morning Jacket
05 - "Dead Disco" - Metric
06 - "Kiss Kiss" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
07 - "California" - Mates of State
08 - "White Knuckles" - Ok Go
09 - "Swimmers" - Broken Social Scene
10 - "Fake Palindromes" - Andrew Bird
11 - "Mistaken for Strangers" - The National
12 - "The General Specific" - Band of Horses
13 - "Ready to Start" - Arcade Fire
14 - "Slow Hands" - Interpol
15 - "There There" - Radiohead

Mixtape #3 - "Rainy Day Woman"

No one ever accused me of getting everything done on time or staying free from distractions, but the past several days have really dragged me away from here.  So sorry for that.  I'm sure I'm leaving dozens of you hanging on in anticipation, waiting, wondering what's coming next.  Can you detect the note of sarcasm??  Family for the holiday and I just got a new job!!  Say hello the the newest member of the Advance Auto Parts team (in other car-related news, Forza 3 Ultimate pretty much rules).  Aside from that, I'll go on and use the piss poor excuse that I had a post typed up yesterday and then the power went out.  True story.

Anyway, Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are now into the ever-lengthening, ever more commercial holiday season of Christmas.  Truth be told, it makes me sick.  But that's entirely besides the point.  I may just be feeling that because it's been raining all day today.  And yesterday.  And the day before that.  I know the mixtape is a little late, but shit, how about I just agree to try and post one per week rather than every monday??  I don't do well with deadlines.  Fuck it.  You'll probably get one monday.  Let me just say that.  Fresh mixtapes every monday... usually.  Maybe even most of the time.

So I actually ended up making 3 different mixes.  One for me, one for you, and one for someone else.  Of those three, I ended up combining bits and pieces from each to make something different entirely.  I'm sure you'll notice a bit of a theme in most of the songs.  Can you tell what kind of mood I've been in??  If you guessed vaguely sad, nostalgic, and contemplative, you guessed right.  I don't know what it is about a good storm that makes me want to ignore my health, stand in the rain, and slowly enjoy a cigarette as I get lost in thought.  And as we've previously discussed, our music is the soundtrack to our lives, and I found myself thinking about that soundtrack these past few days.  I wanted the songs to say something about the mood I've been in, but be relatively relatable.  Man, those two words have a lot of the same letters...  I promise I'll post again soon.  Probably tomorrow.  I have a few funny stories and observations for you to enjoy, so you've got something to look forward to.


What follows is a collection of songs that are perfect for a rainy fall day.  I hope you like them.

01 - Act of the Apostle - God Help the Girl
02 - For the Price of a Cup of Tea - Belle & Sebastian
03 - Sweet Child o' Mine - Taken By Trees
04 - Tonight - Stars
05 - Capturing Moods - Rilo Kiley
06 - Nineteen - Tegan & Sara
07 - Everything With You - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
08 - Jen is Bringin' the Drugs - Margot & the Nuclear So-and-So's
09 - One Two Three Four - Feist
10 - Such Great Heights - Iron and Wine
11 - Norway - Beach House
12 - Moths - This Is The Kit
13 - Street Spirit (Fade Out) - Radiohead
14 - I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab For Cutie

An open (love) letter to Jenny Lewis.

When I was in the 11th grade, I was introduced to the love of my life.  I didn't know it at the time, but nothing would ever be the same again.  A lot of my friends were really into this band called Rilo Kiley, whom I had only vaguely heard of.  Some of them were planning to go see them in concert, and one way or another I got invited to come.  So a girl named Kristie burned me a mix of some of their songs and let me borrow a couple of their cds so I could hear what they were all about.  I listened to one of the albums and skipped over half the songs, thinking a lot of it sounded kind of weird, but for some reason I kept listening to it.  I quit skipping the songs I had been skipping over.  Before I knew it, I was listening to the stuff every day.  We ended up missing the concert, but I moved on and kept listening to this band.  When I finally got my hands on the album they were touring to promote, I fell in love with this voice.  Her name was Jenny, and she was flaming red-haired goddess.

Amongst my friends, it is no secret that I have an enormous crush on Ms. Jenny Lewis.  In fact, some consider it one of my more endearing qualities.  I am a heavily tattooed, bearded, grown ass man, but when I hear Rilo Kiley playing, I turn into a 14 year old girl.  I giggle profusely and scream along to the lyrics as the song blasts through the speakers of the car with the windows down and the stereo turned up uncomfortably high.  Let me tell you, I have gotten quite a lot of interesting looks for this.  But something about it makes me simply lot care.  I feel like with a favorite band, it has to be that way, and I'm truly sorry that not everyone has a band that they feel so strongly about.  With Rilo Kiley, it wasn't an instant connection.  It was not love at first listen.  But I love them unashamedly and whole heartedly.  I listen to this band when I'm happy, when I'm down, or when I'm driving.  Nine times out of ten, this is what I'm singing in the shower.  I've learned to play the bulk of their catalog on guitar and bass.  I can recite every lyric from every song.  So here it is, my gift to you, from my itunes library to your internets, my favorite Rilo Kiley bootleg.  Please enjoy.

Rilo Kiley - Live on Austin City Limits 5/5/05

1. Intro

2. Pull Me In Tighter

3. More Adventurous

4. Ripchord

5. The Absence of God

6. Does He Love You

7. I Love LA

Mixtape #1 - "The Lost Art"

I wanted to tell a funny story, but I don't want to use up all of my good material in one post, and I realized I don't want to ruin my first mixtape monday by posting it late...

If music is the soundtrack to our lives, then a good mix should be about crafting the soundtrack to a moment, capturing a mood, or maybe just throwing together some bitchin' driving music for a road trip.  Back in the day, the best quality cassettes only had about 25 minutes of play time per side, so for that reason, I'm gonna try and keep the length of these under an hour.  I've always felt like there's something about restricting yourself in art that makes you rise above and overcome your limitations.  But then again, it all boils down to effectively using someone else's words to make your point... so...... yeah.

This is a tiny sampling of what I'm into right now.  I try to never use the same artist more than once on a single mix and I'll try not to recycle songs too much, but the I can't guarantee that the really good ones that are in heavy rotation won't make return appearances.

So, without further ado, mix numero uno lands here for your listening pleasure.  Click the song titles to download.  If you have issues, try again after midnight.  I don't get unlimited bandwidth.  But that'll be a good problem to have if we ever get to that point.


1 - There's No Secrets This Year - Silversun Pickups
2 - Loud Pipes - Ratatat
3 - Dull Life - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4 - The Way We Get By - Spoon
5 - Matchbook Seeks Maniac - Deerhoof
6 - Postcards From Italy - Beirut
7 - St. Augustine - Band of Horses
8 - Rise Up With Fists!!! - Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins
9 - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service
10 - Sun Was High (So Was I) - Best Coast
11 - Next Girl - The Black Keys
12 - Love Is A Deserter - The Kills
13 - Take Me To The Riot - Stars

Download.  Listen.  Enjoy.  Share.  :D