A Round of Sound: 2019 Mixtape

January 30, 2020

Today I offer up my annual playlist that caps off my look back at the year in music. I find it way too difficult to do a ranking of songs, so this is my way to capture the tracks that defined the year. As always, I try to make a playlist that fits on a standard CD-R, as a way to limit myself. Keep in mind these aren’t necessarily my favorite songs of the year, or even my favorite song on its respective album (that happens A LOT this year) but rather the best mix I could come up with that I think gives a good look at what 2019 had to offer.

This year’s mix consists of a robust 21 songs. Eight of the songs come from albums in my top 10, with the remaining 13 songs coming from albums within my top 50.

Below, you’ll see the tracklist as well as the Spotify playlist (and you can use that to find links to my previous yearly mixtapes). And finally, this is the 12th straight year Amy Runner has provided the album art, which is maybe the greatest tradition of all time. Enjoy!

———-

1) “I Need a Teacher” – Hiss Golden Messenger :: Terms of Surrender

———-
2) “I Don’t Get Invited to Parties Anymore” – Alex Lahey :: The Best of Luck Club

———-
3) “Room Temperature” – Faye Webster :: Atlanta Millionaires Club

———-
4) “Dark Green Water” – Great Grandpa :: Four of Arrows

———-
5) “Harmony Hall” – Vampire Weekend :: Father of the Bride

———-
6) “Bad Guy” – Billie Eilish :: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

———-
7) “All Mirrors” – Angel Olsen :: All Mirrors

———-
8) “Anna” – The Menzingers :: Hello Exile

———-
9) “Head Alone” – Julia Jacklin :: Crushing

———-
10) “Capacity” – Charly Bliss :: Young Enough

———-
11) “Sha Sha Sha” – Fontaines D.C. :: Dogrel

———-
12) “Drunk II” – Mannequin Pussy :: Patience

———-
13) “Darkness and Cold” – Purple Mountains :: Purple Mountains

———-
14) “Southern Sky” – (Sandy) Alex G :: House of Sugar

———-
15) “Dylan Thomas” – Better Oblivion Community Center :: Better Oblivion Community Center

———-
16) “Comeback Kid” – Sharon Van Etten :: Remind Me Tomorrow

———-
17) “Hey, Ma” – Bon Iver :: i,i

———-
18) “Nighttime Drive” – Jay Som :: Anak Ko

———-
19) “Not” – Big Thief :: Two Hands

———-
20) “Rylan” – The National :: I Am Easy to Find

———-
21) “Mercury in Retrograde” – Sturgill Simpson :: Sound & Fury

———-


A Round of Sound: 2018 Mixtape

January 25, 2019

Today I offer up my annual playlist that caps off my look back at the year in music. I find it way too difficult to do a ranking of songs, so this is my way to capture the tracks that defined the year. As always, I try to make a playlist that fits on a standard CD-R, as a way to limit myself. Keep in mind these aren’t necessarily my favorite songs of the year but rather the best mix I could come up with that I think gives a good look at what 2018 had to offer.

This year’s mix consists of 18 songs. Eight of the songs come from albums in my top 10, with another eight of the songs coming from albums outside my top 10 but within my top 50. The remaining two songs are pulled from EPs (it was a great year for EPs).

Below, you’ll see the tracklist as well as the Spotify playlist (and you can use that to find links to my previous yearly mixtapes). And finally, this is the 11th straight year Amy Runner has provided the album art for the mix, but her first year as a mother! As if you couldn’t tell by the artwork. Precious.

———-

1) “Good As Gold” – Sarah Shook & The Disarmers :: Years

———-
2) “Sure” – Hatchie :: Sugar & Spice EP

———-
3) “Hangout at the Gallows” – Father John Misty :: God’s Favorite Customer

———-
4) “Night Shift” – Lucy Dacus :: Historian

———-
5) “Talking Straight” – Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever :: Hope Downs

———-
6) “Pristine” – Snail Mail :: Lush

———-
7) “U.S.A.” – Jeff Rosenstock :: POST-

———-
8) “In My View” – Young Fathers :: Cocoa Sugar

———-
9) “Me & My Dog” – boygenius :: boygenius EP

———-
10) “Tints (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” – Anderson .Paak :: Oxnard

———-
11) “Sober to Death” – Car Seat Headrest :: Twin Fantasy

———-
12) “Falling Into Me” – Let’s Eat Grandma :: I’m All Ears

———-
13) “Love It If We Made It” -The 1975 ::A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

———-
14) “Pynk (feat. Grimes)” – Janelle Monae :: Dirty Computer

———-
15) “Nobody” – Mitski :: Be The Cowboy

———-
16) “Poem” – U.S. Girls :: In A Poem Unlimited

———-
17) “High Horse” – Kacey Musgraves :: Golden Hour

———-
18) “Whatever” – The Beths :: Future Me Hates Me

———-

 

 


A Round of Sound: 2017 Mixtape

January 25, 2018

Today I offer up my annual playlist that caps off my look back at the year in music. I find it way too difficult to do a ranking of songs, so this is my way to capture the tracks that defined the year. As always, I try to make a playlist that fits on a standard CD-R, as a way to limit myself. Keep in mind these aren’t necessarily my favorite songs of the year but rather the best mix I could come up with that I think gives a good look at what 2017 had to offer.

This year’s mix consists of 20 songs. Six of the songs come from albums in my top 10, with the remainder coming from albums outside my top 10 but within my top 50. I usually have one or two that come from albums outside by rankings, but not this year.

Below, you’ll see the tracklist as well as the Spotify playlist. And finally, this is the 10th straight year Amy Runner has provided the album art for the mix. A full decade! And this year she knocked it out with child AND while dealing with strep throat. Commitment!

———-

1) “The Embers” – Vagabon :: Infinite Worlds

———-
2) “No Halo” – Sorority Noise :: You’re Not As _____ As You Think

———-
3) “Told You I’d Be With The Guys” – Cherry Glazerr :: Apocalipstick

———-
4) “Star Roving” – Slowdive :: Slowdive

———-
5) “Wave To Anchor” – Hundred Waters :: Communicating

———-
6) “Need To Feel Your Love” – Sheer Mag :: Need To Feel Your Love

———-
7) “Slip Away” – Perfume Genius :: No Shape

———-
8) “Motion Sickness” – Phoebe Bridgers :: Stranger in the Alps

———-
9) “Blood On Me” – Sampha :: Process

———-
10) “The Bus Song” – Jay Som :: Everybody Works

———-
11) “Die Young” – Sylvan Esso :: What Now

———-
12) “The Underside of Power” – Algiers :: The Underside of Power

———-
13) “Turn Out The Lights” – Julien Baker :: Turn Out The Lights

———-
14) “I Haven’t Been Taking Care of Myself” -Alex Lahey :: I Love You Like a Brother

———-
15) “Prom” – SZA :: Ctrl

———-
16) “Mythological Beauty” – Big Thief :: Capacity

———-
17) “City Music” – Kevin Morby :: City Music

———-
18) “New York” – St. Vincent :: Masseduction

———-
19) “Nail My Feet Down to the Southside of Town” – Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires :: Youth Detention

———-

20) “Perfect Places” – Lorde :: Melodrama

———-

 


A Round of Sound: 2016 Mixtape

January 19, 2017

option-2

Today I offer up my annual playlist that caps off my look back at the year in music. I find it way too difficult to do a ranking of songs, so this is my way to capture the tracks that defined the year. As always, I try to make a playlist that fits on a standard CD-R, to kind of limit myself. (I went 30 seconds over this year, so if you’re a weirdo who still likes to burn to discs, you’ll have to pick a song to cut.) Keep in mind these aren’t necessarily my favorite songs of the year, but rather a mix that I think is a good look at what 2016 had to offer. Also, the order is based on how the songs show up on their respective albums, and is in no way a ranking.

This year’s mix consists of 21 songs, I believe the most I’ve ever squeezed onto my mix. Nine of the songs come from albums in my top 10, with all but one of the remaining coming from albums within my top 40. That lone song from outside my top 40 being “Ch-Ching” off of Moth, the disappointing (and final) album from Chairlift. And yes, you perhaps will notice that that song, as well as “Weight In Gold” from the criminally underrated Gallant, were actually released as singles in 2015. But alas, I count songs for the year their respective album was released, so I’m off the hook.

Below, you’ll see the tracklist as well as the Spotify playlist. And finally, this is the 9th straight year Amy Runner has provided the album art for the mix. My lack of motivation to put much effort into this year’s list gave her very little to go on, but she still nailed it, so hooray for artistic freedom!

1) “Fill In The Blank” – Car Seat Headrest :: Teens Of Denial

———-
2) “Drone Bomb Me” – ANOHNI :: HOPLESSNESS

———-
3) “Nikes” – Frank Ocean :: Blonde

———-
4) “No Woman” – Whitney :: Light Upon the Lake

———-
5) “1000 Times” – Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam :: I Had A Dream That You Were Mine

———-
6) “Old Friends” – Pinegrove :: Cardinal

———-
7) “Burn the Witch” – Radiohead :: A Moon Shaped Pool

———-
8) “Masterpiece” – Big Thief :: Masterpiece

———-
9) “I Have Been to the Mountain” – Kevin Morby :: Singing Saw

———-
10) “Wedding Singer” – Modern Baseball :: Holy Ghost

———-
11) “Be Apart” – Porches :: Pool

———-
12) “Shut Up Kiss Me” – Angel Olsen :: My Woman

———-
13) “Adore” – Savages :: Adore Life

———-
14) “Best to You” – Blood Orange :: Freetown Sound

———-
15) “Ch-Ching” – Chairlift :: Moth

———-
16) “Your Best American Girl” – Mitski :: Puberty 2

———-
17) “Weight In Gold” – Gallant :: Ology

———-
18) “Berlin Got Blury” – Parquet Courts :: Human Performance

———-
19) “Brace For Impact (Live A Little)” – Sturgill Simpson :: A Sailor’s Guide To Earth

———-

20) “Come Down” – Anderson .Paak :: Malibu

———-

21) “Skyscraper” – Touché Amoré :: Stage Four

———-


A Round of Sound: 2009 Mixtape

January 17, 2010

Now that the countdown is complete, all that is left is to present my 2009 Mixtape, an annual mix of the songs that helped shape the past year in music.  This is maybe becoming my favorite part of my yearly top albums tradition because it’s fun to see what tunes I can pack into an 80 minute disc.  I started doing this on my own just to make a mix cd of some of my favorite songs of the year to keep for listening in my car, but it has evolved into a way for me to kind of summarize the best music of the year in just a “mixtape” form, especially since I find it pretty impossible to do a ranking of the best songs of the year.  And people seem to enjoy it, so here we are again.  By the way if you want to see my complete top 25 Albums of 2009 on one nice, put together page, head on over to my Amazon.com list to give it a look.

So, here’s some stats about the mix.  This year I packed 19 songs on the disc (down one from last year’s 20), but as usual this does not necessarily mean these are my 19 favorite songs of the year.  There a plenty of songs that I had to leave off because they were too long, or maybe they just didn’t fit with the mix.  Also, as usual the order here is how they appear on my mix, but it is not a ranking.  The songs are placed based on how they appear on their respective albums.  For this year, 9 of the songs are off albums in my top 10 (Antony & the Johnsons is the only top 10 album not represented).  Five of the songs are from albums in my #11-#25 range and two songs come from albums outside my top 25.  The lowest ranking album with a song in the mix is Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free by Akron/Family (ranked #44) with “River”.  And finally, three songs (“Blood Bank”, “My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille”, and “It Gets Your Body Movin'”) are songs off of EPs, and thus came from albums not eligible to be in my rankings.  Most of these songs have been featured somewhere on this blog in the past, or in the top albums countdown, but now here they are all in one place!

The picture above is thanks to Amy Boyd, who for the second year in a row has provided me with the album art for the Mixtape.  Another fine job indeed. Today is her birthday (as well as Zooey Deschanel’s) so she also has that going for her.  Enjoy!

———-

[“French Navy” – Camera Obscura :: My Maudlin Career]

———-

[“Blood Bank” – Bon Iver :: Blood Bank]

———-

[“1901” – Phoenix :: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix]

———-

[“Two Weeks” – Grizzly Bear :: Veckatimest]

———-

[“River” – Akron/Family :: Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free]

———-

[“My Girls” – Animal Collective :: Merriweather Post Pavilion]

———-

[“Young Adult Friction” – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart]

———-

[“Crystalised” – The xx :: xx]

———-

[“Funeral Singers” – Califone :: All My Friends Are Funeral Singers]

———-

[“Now We Can See” – The Thermals :: Now We Can See]

———-

[“Stillness is the Move” – Dirty Projectors :: Bitte Orca]

———-

[“Don’t Haunt This Place” – Rural Alberta Advantage :: Hometowns]

———-

[“Never Seen” – Lightning Dust :: Infinite Light]

———-

[“Home” – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros :: Up From Below]

———-

[“Two” – The Antlers :: Hospice]

———-

[“My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille” – Beirut :: March of the Zapotec & Realpeople: Holland]

———-

[“Marrow” – St Vincent :: Actor]

———-

[“Sleepyhead” – Passion Pit :: Manners]

———-

[“It Gets Your Body Movin'” – Suckers :: Suckers EP]


A Round of Sound: Holiday Edition!

December 23, 2009

I’m not planning on having another post until I unveil my Albums of the Year list in early January, so for my last post of 2009, I figured I’d close the year out by a little Holiday playlist consisting of a few songs from my collection that (sorta) have something to do with Christmas* and New Year’s. Happy Holidays!

[“The New Year” – Death Cab For Cutie :: Transatlanticism]

———-

[“Christmas Song” – The Felice Brothers :: Tonight at the Arizona]

———-

[“It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop” – Frightened Rabbit]

———-

[“New Year’s Project” – Further Seems Forever :: The Moon is Down]

———-

[“New Year’s Prayer” – Jeff Buckley :: Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk]

———-

[“Why Can’t It Be Christmastime All Year?” – Rosie Thomas :: A Very Rosie Christmas]

———-

[“Sister Winter” – Sufjan Stevens :: Songs for Christmas]

———-

[“New Year’s Day” – U2 :: The Best of 1980-1990]

———-

[“In the New Year” – The Walkmen :: You & Me]

———-

*OK, so one of these songs has “Christmas” in the title only because its the name of one of the brothers, but whatever…try to guess which song!


A Round of Sound: Emo Style (pt 2)

July 26, 2009

20071111054913_gifs-animados-orkut-emo-02With the recent Sunny Day Real Estate news, I figured it’s about time I posted my second part to my “Emo Style” Round of Sound I posted way back when.  All the same holds true that I said back in that post concerning these songs.  There is still A LOT I have left off this playlist, and this isn’t meant as a definitive guide to what is “emo”, it’s just songs that at one time or another have been considered emo…like it or not.

A few notes about these tracks:  Some of these are just extensions of songs I posted on Part 1 meaning that a few of these bands have a counterpart from that list in that they may be side projects or a whole new band all together spawned from previous projects (ie. Further Seems Forever -> Dashboard Confessional, The Get Up Kids -> The New Amsterdams, Mineral -> The Gloria Record).  Also, some of these bands are still going strong (Cursive, Dashboard, New Amsterdams) and some of these bands are no longer but have spawned notable new acts (ie. American Football -> Owen, Promise Ring -> Maritime).  Anyway, I felt like all that was worth mentioning.

———-

[“Never Meant” – American Football :: American Football]

———-

[“The Shell” – Audio Learning Center :: Friendships Often Fade Away]

———-

[“Suspended” – Breaking Pangaea :: Cannon to a Whisper]

———-

[“Art Is Hard” – Cursive :: The Ugly Organ]

———-

[“The Brilliant Dance” – Dashboard Confessional :: The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most]

———-

[“Grace the Snow is Here” – The Gloria Record :: The Gloria Record – EP]

———-

[“The Cruelest Month” – Lewis :: Even So]

———-

[“I Won’t Run Away” – The New Amsterdams :: Never You Mind]

———-

[“Stop Playing Guitar” – The Promise Ring :: Wood/Water]

———-

[“In Circles” – Sunny Day Real Estate :: Diary]


A Round of Sound: Last Songs

May 17, 2009

DSC00164

The last song is often one of the most important tracks on an album.  It’s the last thing the listener hears and should serve as closure to the album while leaving the listener wanting more, but not to the point where it feels like the album is ending to soon.  It’s a tricky mix to get right.  There are plenty of closing tracks that are good songs but do not have that vibe of being a perfect closer.  Some of my favorite songs are last songs because they just have that special something.  Here are a few of those.

[“Falling” – Ben Kweller :: Sha Sha]

[“The Weather – Built to Spill :: Ancient Melodies of the Future]

[“I’ll Catch You” – The Get Up Kids :: Something to Write Home About]

[“Slapped Actress” – The Hold Steady :: Stay Positive]

[“Makers” – Rocky Votolato :: Makers]

[“1000 Seconds” – Secret Machines :: Ten Silver Drops]

[“The Past and Pending” – The Shins :: Oh, Inverted World]

[“Funny Thing” – Travis :: Good Feeling]

[“Only in Dreams” – Weezer :: Weezer (Blue)]

[“Shoot a 45” – 764-Hero :: Nobody Knows This is Everywhere]


A Round of Sound: Mother’s Day Mix

May 10, 2009

Funny Ads - Mothers 1I know I’m getting this up a little late, but it’s still Mother’s Day so it still counts.  In honor of Mother’s Day, after a quick little search of “Mother”, “Mom”, or “Mama” these are a few of the tunes that show up in my itunes library.  I didn’t go back and listen to any of them to see if they are actually appropriate songs for Mother’s Day, but whatever…enjoy!

[“You Get That From Your Mother” – Audio Learning Center :: Cope Park]

[“Mama, Won’t You Keep Them Castles In the Air Burning?” – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah :: Some Loud Thunder]

[“My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeze Artist” – The Decemberists :: 5 Songs EP]

[“Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!” – Sufjan Stevens :: Illinois]

[“Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives” – Voxtrot :: Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives]


A Round of Sound: Emo Style

May 3, 2009

This is the first of what I plan to be a regular occurrence here on the blog.  Every now and then, I’ll post a little playlist, or “A Round of Sound” (hey, that’s the name of the blog!) as I like to call it.  Sometimes it’ll have a theme, other times it’ll just be random tunes.  What all the songs will have in common though is that they’re all in my music library.  So without further ado:

20071111054913_gifs-animados-orkut-emo-02

My post about Jimmy Eat World and their amazing album Clarity got me kind of on a late 90’s into the early 2000’s emo nostalgia kick.  So here’s an emo playlist for your pleasure.  Note that I left A LOT off of this list (I’m trying to limit these to about 10 songs).  I’ll have to do a part 2 sometime in the future.  Argue all you want about whether or not these are truly “emo”, but all of these were indeed at one time or another considered emo.

[“Forever Longing the Holden Sunsets” – The Appleseed Cast :: Mare Vitalis]

[“Calm Americans” – Elliott :: False Cathedrals]

[“New Years Project” – Further Seems Forever :: The Moon is Down]

[“Valentine” – The Get Up Kids :: Something to Write Home About]

[“The Frowning of a Lifetime” – Hey Mercedes :: Everynight Fire Works]

[“Into the Dark” – The Juliana Theory :: Emotion is Dead]

[“Unfinished” – Mineral :: EndSerenading]

[“Moons of Mars” – Noise Ratchet :: Why We Cry EP]

[“Bad Diary Days” – Pedro the Lion :: It’s Hard to Find a Friend]

[“At Your Funeral” – Saves the Day :: Stay What You Are]