creating the perfect mixtape using a six pack and lots of apathy
so it's a thursday night. i'm poor and a mere 23ish days away from graduation. what am i doing? swilling beer after beer and pouring over my jukebox in search of something. to say i have lost focus over the past couple of months would be an understatement. but to go into the droves of a male psyche would be troubling and pointless beyond meaning. but here is the question i always mull over in my small hole ridden brain that has long forgotten math. what is the perfect mixtape? i constantly use the shuffle button on iTunes and i really wonder could i ever produce the perfect tape. no i can't. because some dumbass hipster like myself will always one up me with pointless schtick about using to many commerical and/or emo bands to display worthless jaded lyrics and would rather stick tones of Go-Betweens B-rides and unreleased XTC fodder to trump me. but oh well fuck em. here is me going through a mixtape selection process.
Jake's Mixtape to Make All the Girls Swoon
and/or
Question his musical taste because of the lack of Rascall Flatts and Carrie Underwood Songs
1. Tom Waits- Tom Traubert's Blues
The Clash- London Calling
Bright Eyes- At the Bottom of Everything
the first song is so important and these are three important first songs for a tape. the reason i chose these songs is for a couple of reasons. the first being these artists have impacted me. the first two are some of the most essential songs in my life and also they are life changing tracks of both musical significance and total awesomeness. enough said but they aren't good for a love mix so if you are searching for that but you want to say something use the Bright Eyes side one track one.
2. Marvin Gaye- Stubborn Kind of Fellow
i have a not so secret crush on Marvin Gaye and on R&B and soul. this is a song that will take things up to next notch no matter what mix you are putting together. and it makes me dance silly dances intoxicated and not. that's powerful. remember don't get shot by your father.
3. Joshua Radin- Closer
this is a new addition. i wouldn't have normally put this song on here but you need to bring things down a notch and this song is sad but sweet and smoothes things out for exploration into experimental territory.
4. The Incredible Moses Leroy- Fuzzy
i bought this cd before i even began to absorb under the radar music but this is the song that has always stuck. it is sweet like sugar and gives you an instant cavity on the brain that will never never never leave.
5. Dashboard Confessional- Ender Will Save Us All
yes i'm emo. shoot me why don't you. some people won't leave hairmetal or the Steve Miller Band behind. Gen Xers still have their fannel. i still wear my heart on my sleever fuck off. it was how i grew up and therefore i was meant to listen to this music. great song off of Swiss Army Romance and it has to be solo acoustic because it sets you for the rest of his music after that.
6. Alkaline Trio- Take Lots With Alcohol
you don't want to lull your audience into submission. this is my favorite Alk3 song because it talks about therapy, fear, and addiction. depressing but poignant and that is something you don't find in a mad punk song.
7. Stephen Malkmus- The Hook
ok this is an odd transition but it is doable. former singer of Pavement tries his first hand at solo work and comes out with an impeccable indie pop confection about being a pirate. amazing and i have to thank my brother Eric for showing me this loving tidbit of songwriting.
8. The New Pornographers- Sing Me Spanish Techno
again a newer addition but something i can't get out of my head. the pornos are a supergroup from Canadia and throw together infectously twee indie pop. this song will only stay with you for the one line over and over again. "listening to long to one song" i live my life like that everyday
9. Ryan Adams- Come Pick Me Up
i love Ryan Adams. that makes me a pussy in the hipster music world because that is cliche and kind of cop out. it's cool to not like Ryan Adams but to secretly like him but when you actually despise the bastard. i don't give a fuck he is important in my cultural upbringing. this song is about getting fucked and getting screwed over by a woman. big surprise.
10. The Rocket Summer- Show Me Everything You Got
pure pop at it's finest. Bryce Avary plays the kind of pop music i wish i could make every day of my life. this is an insatiable mix of tenor vocals and simple sensibilities. i had a lot to pick from but this is one of my favorites and has an ambigous look at the world because it can be about love and life at the same time.
11. Rilo Kiley- I Never
Jenny Lewis is one of the hottest women in the world. and the opening to this song proves it. former child actor and now a pop princess in the indie world. it's a heartbreaking and touching song about giving your everything to someone and not caring because we all suck and do bad things but what are you gonna do.
12. Jimmy Eat World- 12.23.95
this album got me through one of the worst times of my life. there are so many interesting and amazing songs on "Clarity" but this is a great one for a mixtape because it deals with Christmas and love and is sonically just sweet but melancholy because at the same time it is about love it is about loss. as is every song ever.
13. Elvis Costello- Indoor Fireworks
time to go back to the classics and this is one of my favorite songs about making love. simple acoutics talking about fighting and the sparks that fly within the bedroom.
14. Fall Out Boy- Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner (acoustic)
before FOB hit it huge they were my favorite band that only people that were friends of mine knew about and i thought was a perfect pop band. this is aruguably their second best song next to Grand Theft Autumn. "i'll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake" that is how i have lived my life these past years. acoustic is much better because you get the bridge better and hear the torment and the sick love that always burns under a hard break-up.
15. Further Seems Forever- The Sound
this song isn't amazing but it hit at the right time in my musical searching. it also provides a transition for the end of the album which should be loud and proud. it's a basic emo song with the words "naked in the rain of my own tears" in a song. like it because it's overdramatic and a little fast and sounds amazing when you have drank way too liquor at 3 in the morning.
16. Northstar- American Living
RIP northstar. a long forgotten band from alabama which released an amazing album called "Pollyanna" of lazy emo-pop with great lyrics. this is one of my favorite selections about true american living and not caring about what you are feeling when you are feeling it.
17. Straylight Run- Another Word for Desparate
since we are on a path of true emo tracks i thought i would stay with another louder song that talks about not fulfilling any promises that you try to keep. it long, drawn out, and looking for the search for the meaning of despartion.
18. Thursday- Between Rupture and Rapture
you need a true loud and insane song for someone to listen to. i feel the need for softness in the middle hoping to bring someone to a final ending that no one expected.
19. My Chemical Romance- It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish
one of the coolest bands to also break it big. this is by far my favorite song on the album. it's about love, heartbreak, murder, and wanting to purge yourself of every enemy and evil you have. i literally spent months absorbing the one lyric over and over again. "i've lost my fear of falling" it is still powerful to me because i feel that everyday and i lost that fear a while ago.
20. Showoff- Unspoken Words
crappy song. it got me through my first break up and therefore it has a place on this album. put it at the end and see what happens because if this is a love album or a breakup/forgive me album this song is simple and ambigous. enjoy.
...that's it folks. there is my first all-star mixtape of widely known stalwarts and my useless banter. use it. abuse it. tell me i'm wrong.....i dare you.
posted by critically acclaimed @ 10:25 PM
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