Every few months or so I make mixes, as many people do, and I usually like to find out other people’s thoughts on them. I sometimes name the mix after a phrase I’ve been using a lot lately, so this one has been named the “On Top of Things” mix. w00t. Here goes!
Jason Mraz - The Remedy
Phantom Planet - In Our Darkest Hour
Radiohead - There, There
Liz Phair - Jealousy
Badly Drawn Boy - Everybody’s Stalking
Pete Yorn - Closet
Beck - Tropicalia
QFreel - Dancing in Heaven (from the movie “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”)
Ben Kweller - Drink Me Away
Travis - Love Will Come Through
Ben Folds Five - Mess
Matthew Sweet - Walk Out
G Love and Special Sauce - My Baby’s Got Sauce
Fountains of Wayne - Peace and Love
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hell
Dandy Warhols - Get Off
Level 42 - Something About You
The Odds - It Falls Apart
Rooney - Blue Side
I’m not necessarily a fan of some of the bands listed; I either have a handful of songs by them I like or maybe just the one song.
So, share your thoughts, and if anyone else has made a mix recently that they’d like to share, please do so!
Well, I like some of those songs, and hate some of them (The Remedy?) but mixes are such personal things that so often they’ll mean most to those who make them (and if you can avoid that, you should get a career as a DJ). Still, yours has some pretty cool stuff - Ben Kweller, Radiohead, BF5, FoW, Beck’s “Tropicalia.” So I’ll give it a thumbs up.
Since you asked for mixes, here’s my latest, which is my greatest hits of December 2003 - what I had on high rotation during that period. Here it is:
01 Little Birdy - Baby Blue
02 Elliot Smith - Baby Britain
03 The Shins - Saint Simon
04 Moe Tucker - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
05 Whiskeytown - Sit and Listen To The Rain
06 Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River
07 Brand New - Transit Sic Gloria… Glory Fades
08 R Kelly - Thoia Thoing
09 David And The Citizens - Song Against Life
10 Placebo - Running Up That Hill
11 Guided By Voices - Beat Your Wings
12 The Decemberists - Billy Liar
13 Jay-Z - Change Clothes
14 The Flaming Lips - A Change At Christmas
[ol]
[li]Wire - 12XU[/li][li]Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK[/li][li]The Jam - Going Underground[/li][li]The Buzzcocks - I Don’t Mind[/li][li]Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Love Comes In Spurts[/li][li]The Clash - Complete Control[/li][li]Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device[/li][li]The Undertones - Male Model[/li][li]Bram Tchaikovsky - Girl of my Dreams[/li][li]Boomtown Rats - Lookin’ After Number One[/li][li]Yell County - Rich Man (teehee)[/li][/ol]
Nothing at all wrong with Jason Mraz, despite what people say. “Waiting For My Rocket to Come” was a fantastic CD, and he’s much more talented than people give him credit for.
He does a song called “Making Me High” that you can find on most major file-sharing services. (It’s live and acoustic, and I’m not aware it’s available for purchase anywhere, so downloading it shouldn’t put you into any trouble with the RIAA Gestapo.) Good, good stuff, pardner.
gex gex, I’ll see your questioning of Jason Mraz and raise you Justin Timberlake. As for your mix, I’ve heard of most of those bands but definitely none of the songs. Based on my mix, would you recommend to me any particular songs from your mix?
As always, this thread is a brutal reminder of how out of it I am when it comes to the current music scene. I’ve heard of a tiny fraction of the bands listed, and the only songs I recognize are “Anarchy in the UK” and <shudder> Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River.” However, I made myself a new mix recently that I’m rather proud of:
Joe Strummer - Forbidden City
Marcy Playground - Wave Motion Gun
The White Stripes - Hotel Yorba
Velvet Underground - I Found a Reason (demo version)
John Hartford - Indian War Whoop
The Pogue - Rake at the Gates of Hell
Flogging Molly - Another Bag of Bricks
Beastie Boys - Flute Loop
Kirsty McColl - A New England
Aimee Mann - Red Vines
Ben Harper - The Will to Live
The Clash - I’m Not Down
Operation Ivy - Bad Town
The Specials - Message to You Rudy
The Pixies - Dig for Fire
The Beta Band - I Know
Velvet Undergroun - Jesus
Moby - God Moving Over the Face of the Waters
Talking Heads - And She Was
Primus - American Life
Flogging Molly - The Son Never Shines (on Closed Doors)
Premium Mix
[ol]
[li]Here We Go- Unknown[/li][li]B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)- Outkast[/li][li]Kryptonite- Three Doors Down[/li][li]Falling for the First Time- Barenaked Ladies[/li][li]In The Middle- Jimmy Eat World[/li][li]Its All Been Done- Barenaked Ladies[/li][li]All Star- Smash Mouth[/li][li]Fly- Sugar Ray[/li][li]Clint Eastwood- Gorrilaz[/li][li]Drops of Jupiter- Train[/li][li]Absolutely (Story of a Girl)- Nine Days[/li][li]Semi-Charmed Life- Third Eye Blind[/li][li]Maria Maria- Santana[/li][li]One Week- Barenaked Ladies[/li][li]Walk With Me- Seven and the Sun[/li][li]Tank!- Cowboy Bebop Theme[/li][li]Hero- Nickleback[/li][li]Crazy for this Girl- Evan and Jaron[/li][li]Its My Life- Bon Jovi[/li][li]With Arms Wide Open- Creed[/li][/ol]
Platinum Mix
[ol]
[li]I Want You to Want Me- Letters to Ms. Cleo[/li][li]Harder to Breathe- Maroon 5[/li][li]Save Tonight- Eagle Eye Cherry[/li][li]Drift Away- Uncle Kracker[/li][li]Hey Ya- Outkast[/li][li]Bring Me to Life- Evanescence[/li][li]Santa Fe- RENT soundtrack[/li][li]Yesterday- The Beatles[/li][li]All the Small Things- Blink 182[/li][li]Sandstorm- Unknown[/li][li]Shake Ya Tailfeather- Nelly, P. Diddy[/li][li]Stacy’s Mom- Fountain of Wayne[/li][li]Fantasy- Ludacris[/li][li]Iris- Goo Goo Dolls[/li][li]So Far Away- Staind[/li][li]Ms. Jackson- Outkast[/li][li]No Such Thing- John Mayer[/li][li]La Vie Boheme- RENT soundtrack[/li][/ol]
Point taken. R Kelly may also have some people shuddering, and even Brand New may have some people questioning my cred, so I can’t be too hard on your inclusion of Jason Mraz. Though, in my defence, I’ll requote what I said about Justin Timberlake in this thread.
As for recommendations, I’ll give suggestions and include some description to help you make up your mind.
I’m seeing a fondness for well written indie-pop (Ben Kweller, Matthew Sweet, Ben Folds Five, Rooney, FoW, Badly Drawn Boy). If so, you’re in luck - my comp is full of that. Elliot Smith was a wonderful songwriter, with a real classic, Beatles-influenced sound. I think if you like Ben Folds and Fountains of Wayne, you should like Elliot Smith, though he is more singer-songwriter-y, and with more melancholic seriousness than either band. Tragically, he died at the end of last year
You might also like The Decemberists - also strongly written indie pop. They sound very English, although they’re from Oregon. And definitely check out The Shins - an extraordinarily clever band who write great songs that at first don’t seem like anything much, but over time will reveal themselves to be full of fantastic intricacies.
And finally (since I’m getting near to suggesting half the mix), you should check out the Flaming Lips. They’ve toured with Beck, and though their psychedelic-electronic-pop-weirdness doesn’t really have much in common with Beck’s sound, they definitely share his eccentric, try-anything spirit. I’m not sure that ‘A Change At Christmas’ is the best song to introduce them to you, though - I really like it, but it is a b-side taken from their latest EP (Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell). You may be better off trying a song from their latest album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, possibly ‘Fight Test,’ or ‘Do You Realize?’
I mean, ‘A Change at Christmas,’ is good, but it is a Christmas song and has a bit of a ‘We are the World’ quality to it. If anyone can pull off a cheesy Xmas song, it’s the Flaming Lips, but they’ve certainly done better work.
Miller - your mix doesn’t look too bad - White Stripes, Beastie Boys, Velvet Underground, The Pixies, Aimee Mann, The Beta Band. Actually, I’ll change that. Your mix looks damn good.
gex gex, it’s funny you should say Elliot Smith and Flaming Lips, I’ve been told before that I’d like both. I tried Elliot Smith about 5 years ago and didn’t really get into him. However it has happened before that I hear someone or a band and don’t like them until hearing them again a few years later. If you can recommend some particular songs of his I’ll gladly try them out. I’ve only heard one or two Flaming Lips songs, and they were on the newer album. I don’t really remember if I liked them or not, though.
As for Justin Timberlake, I have to admit that I like the song “Rock Your Body.” It’s so freakin catchy!
Miller, I love the Beta Band choice! I have High Fidelity to thank for getting into them.
Here’s a link if you want to check out any of my other mixes.
I’m not a huge Elliot Smith fan, yet - I was just getting in to him around the time he died. I’m most familiar with XO, so I’d recommend ‘XO (Waltz No.2)’ or ‘Baby Britain’ from that record. Both really catchy, well-written songs. I also like ‘Son of Sam,’ from Figure 8, and ‘A Distorted Reality is a Necessity to Being Free,’ which isn’t on any album, but can easily be found on file-sharing services. Try those, and if you like them, you’ll like him.
R Kelly may also have some people shuddering, and even Brand New may have some people questioning my cred, so I can’t be too hard on your inclusion of Jason Mraz. Though, in my defence, I’ll requote what I said about Justin Timberlake in 
