The final piece of my countdown puzzle is as always, my annual mixtape. Coming up with a songs of the year list is just too overhwhelming (hell, I have a hard enough time with the albums), so I like to put out a mix of the songs that defined the year in music for me. This year I managed to fit 18 songs into my 80 minute CD-R, but these are not necessarily my favorite 18 songs of the year. As a matter of fact, this was an especially tough year to figure out my mixtape because some of my favorite songs were just way too long and took up too much space. That’s the reason you won’t see any Titus Andronicus, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan, or LCD Soundsystem songs. There’s also some great songs I left off because the band had previously been on a mixtape and I wanted to get some new blood on to the mix this year.
Anyway, to the stats: As I already said, there’s 18 songs on this year’s mix. Only 5 of the songs come from albums that made my top 10, and 6 from 11 thru 25 albums. That means only 11 of the 18 songs come from albums in my top 25. That certainly has something to do with all the great tracks this year, but is also because, as I stated, I wanted to mix it up a little this year. (Pun intended? Yes.) The lowest ranked album with a song on the mix is “July Flame” from Laura Veirs’s album of the same name, which chimed in at #59 in my final rankings. I don’t have any songs from EPs, which is a rarity for my mixes.
So there you go. Below you can find the songs that will be spinning around my car’s cd player for the next few weeks, whenever I forget to bring my ipod with me. As I always remind people, this is not a ranking. The songs are listed in order of how they appeared on their respective albums. If you want to see my entire top 25 albums list in one easy place, head on over to my Amazon.com list and check it out (as well as all my lists for the past 10 years). Last, but not least, for the 3rd year in a row Amy Boyd has created my Mixtape album art for me. I’m taking care of her cat, so, it’s the least she could do. If you know her or ever happen to randomly meet her, tell her what an awesome job she did, once again.
[“World Sick” – Broken Social Scene :: Forgiveness Rock Record]
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[“Floating Vibes” – Surfer Blood :: Astro Coast]
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[“Go do” – Jónsi :: Go]
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[“Excuses” – The Morning Benders :: Big Echo]
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[“July Flame” – Laura Veirs :: July Flame]
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[“Airplanes” – Local Natives :: Gorilla Manor]
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[“Crash Years” – The New Pornographers :: Together]
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[“Ambling Alp” – Yeasayer :: Odd Blood]
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[“Real Love” – Delorean :: Subiza]
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[“Daisy” – Fang Island :: Fang Island]
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[“Norway” – Beach House :: Teen Dream]
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[“The Ghost Inside” – Broken Bells :: Broken Bells]
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[“Round and Round” – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti :: Before Today]
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[“Lewis Takes Action” – Owen Pallett :: Heartland]
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[“Bloodbuzz Ohio” – The National :: High Violet]
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[“Rill Rill” – Sleigh Bells :: Treats]
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[“Helicopter” – Deerhunter :: Halcyon Digest]
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[“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” :: Arcade Fire :: The Suburbs]
Posted by Hawkins 
A Round of Sound 