mixtape songs /

After Zach Condon’s tour for Gulag Orkestar hospitalized him (instant fame + 20 year old + touring with a 12 person band = bad news), Zach has narrowed his team down to 8 and released a new EP, Lon Gisland. This album brings to us more of the great indie rock / Balkan brass with Zach’s surprisingly aged voice dancing between horn hits and ukulele plucks. If you haven’t heard this New York based 20 year old I suggest you take a listen below and keep your eye out for the upcoming EP.

Beirut - Elephant Gun

Curtis being a man of themes, and the creator of this podcast, chose to create a set where each song’s title starts with the word “this”. How he managed to get the songs flowing together like a river into the ocean is beyond the scope of “this” writeup. Enjoy.

Direct link to the Mixtape Songs Podcast Feed

Podcast #2 - This tapes for you

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Stones Throw, the label which Madvillian and MF Doom call home, has released another limited-time free album, Chrome Children Vol. 2. The second installment under the Chrome Children title features artists such as Madlib, Four Tet, Percee P, Oh No, J.Rocc and many more. A strong follow up to last months free album, Liberation by Talib Kweli & Madlib this album is something you can’t pass up.

M.E.D. (Produced by Dabrye) - Rhymes With An L
Guilty Simpson (Produced by Four Tet) - Money Motivated Movements

Download the whole album at Stones Throw.

Want to get a sweet handmade mixtape? We are taking part in the first mixtape swap on February 23, at 2:00pm at the public library downtown Kelowna. International? No problem, just mail us your mixtape and we will mail you a random one back. Drop us a email for our address info. No restrictions just make a CD or tape of whatever you want, music you listen to, music you don’t listen to. Themed or not themed. Put some heart and time into, you know nice cases and the like, and leave it anonymous. We’ll get together and everyone will trade!

Join our Mixtape swap on Upcoming.org

Covers can come across as clichéd but I think it’s really interesting to see what happens when one artist doesn’t try to live up to the original but pay tribute or in some cases change the original recording.

Probably the most drastic changes from cover to original come from Iron & Wine and Bonne ‘Prince” Billy. I think standout performances come from Jack black’s and Elliot Smith’s covers.

I thought of the idea for the title of this tape from the Arcade Fire song called Rebellion (Lies)

Side A Come On Hide Your Lovers

01. Magnet with Gemma Hayes – “Lay, Lady, Lay” from On Your Side – 4:37
[ultimate dilemma -2003]
“why wait any longer for the one you love/when he’s standing in front of you”

Gemma Hayes inclusion on Lay,Lady, Lay creates a playful dialog that wasn’t seen with Bob Dylan’s original.

02. Gold Spot – “Float On” from - 2:39
“if it gets too heavy we’ll all float on”

03. Iron & wine - It’s the Same Old Song - 3:02
[unreleased]
“Sentimental fool—am I”

04. Jon Rae & the River – “Just What I Needed” – 3:45
[unreleased]
“I don’t mind you hanging out and wastin’ all my time/cause when your near well I kinda lose my mind”

The highlight for me on this track is the approach Jon-Rae & the River bring to Just What I Needed. However, I did stop recording the end of their version because it doesn’t sit well on the tape.

05. Ted Leo – “Since U Been gone” - 3:38
[unreleased]
“wait they don’t love you like I you/wait they don’t love you like I love you”

By including Ted Leo I have to unfortunately include Kelly Clarkson. Ted’s performance is so intriguing (referring to the inclusion of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s lyrics) that it by far makes up for Kelly Clarkson.

06. The Mountain Goats - The Sign from Bitter Melon Farm – 2:28
[2002]
“under the pale moon for so many years I wondered who you are/how could a person like you bring me joy/under the pale moon where I see a lot of stars”

In 1996 The Mountain Goats performed The Sign live in London, England. John Darnielle’s banter and stage presence as well as incorporating the audience is worth hearing.

07. Badly Drawn Boy with Jools Holland – “Come on Eileen” from NME & Warchild presents 1 Love - 3:59
[warner music UK Ltd - 2002]
“You in that dress/My thoughts I confess/verge on dirty”

08. Jack Black – “Lets Get It On” from High Fidelity (OST) - 4:27
[hollywood records - 2000]
“And there’s/nothing wrong with me lovin’ you/”

09. Bright Eyes – “Out On the Weekend” from There is No Beginning to the Story EP- 4:10
[saddle creek - 2002]
“think I’ll pack it in/and buy a pick-up”

10. Belle & Sebastian – “Here Comes the Sun” – 3:16
[live]
“little darling I can feel the ice is slowly melting/little darling it feels like years since its been here”

11. M. Ward, Conor Oberst, Jim James – “Girl From the North Country” from Mojo:Dylan Covered
[Mojo Magazine]
“if you’re travellin’ to the North Country fair/where the winds hit heavy on the border lines/please remember me to one who lives there/ she once was a true love of mine”

It’s interesting that M. Ward et al chose to cover the Girl From the North Country from Nashville Skyline and not the original release from The Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan— Maybe because its easier to perform with multiple singers than the original…

12. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – “I Am a Cinematographer” from Sings Greatest Palace Music – 2:44
[Drag City- 2004]
“I was a big ol’ bear once/yes I was a big ol’ bear once”

Will Oldham covering himself and changing the music and overall sound of the his own song reminds me of Bob Dylan and how he introduced a drastically different approach to Girl From the North Country with Johhny Cash on Nashville Skyline—Which is why I included the Girl From the North Country cover.

13. Elliot Smith – “Trouble” from From A Basement on a Hill II – 2:49
“and I haven’t got a lot of time”

I think that lines from Trouble take on a whole new meaning because Smith recorded it so close to his suicide.

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Mixtape Songs is now podcasting! This is the first release of our new weekly podcast. You can subscribe to our podcast by following this link: Mixtape Songs Podcast. Don’t know what a podcast is? Check out Yahoo’s podcasting FAQ. If you just want to listen to the podcast click here:

Podcast #1 - Don’t make a sound

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Conversions in Metric’s gentle analog chirps and chimes make me think of watching 8mm nature films while riding a bicycle. Without overpowering instruments or producing, French Paddleboat’s warm songs build upon themselves naturally. Using only analog samples it carries a lively, moving feeling with spontaneous, yet well placed accents. Acoustic drums intelligently threaded through calm harmonies is what gives French Paddleboat it’s active, catchy melody.

Recorded and mixed at Triple Crown Studios in 1997, Scott August’s Conversions in Metric was later released in 1999 by Vancouver’s Scratch Records. If you have interest in bright, minimalistic music or respect for anything analog, this is a album you can’t miss.

French Paddleboat - My Robots love to dance
French Paddleboat - Goods sett & type

Serkus by Sam Skarstad, a 20 year old New York native, arrived in our mailbox earlier this week. Sam’s layered vocals and hidden harmonies complement the varied instruments and sounds presented on the album.

From lively acoustic finger plucks to hand claps and mangled flutes, the album changes itself from a friend on a summer road trip to a umbrella on a rainy day. The strength of this album lies in Sam’s ability to paint imagery through textures. The songs don’t present themselves entirely on first listen, however Sam has created a sound that speaks directly to you with no distraction. Serkus takes you on a trip with a scenic soundtrack; I suggest you take a listen.

“The only lights that I can see are stars, and the shapes that slide beneath my feet are sharks.”

Sam Skarstad - Boats
Sam Skarstad - Ice Cave

1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
Eleven minute eight second long songs (that’s the avg, I did the math)! Now, I’m the first attention-span lacking, slack-jawed turboite to gasp at this number and head to the fridge for a fresh bottle of Sunny D, but just hold tight for one second (or Three Thousand, three hundred and forty-one seconds for that matter). The songs may be long but they are NOT boring. Before a single stroke of the harp we hear Joanna Newsom’s affecting voice and lyrics. From then on we are on an incredible adventure. We lay staring up wondrously at a wide-open sky. We probe at the dynamics of science. We gape at the unbearable burden of life. We consider animals and insects. We reflect on family members and lack thereof. And finally, we rejoice at the dumb sweetness and mystery and pain within all of it. And that’s just in the first song. Newsom gives us fifty more seconds to think about it (because her biggest instrumental gap thus far has been six seconds) and then starts again without aid from instruments for the first ten seconds of the second song. Joanna Newsom has too much to say to let her instruments do the talking. Instead they dance beautifully in the background, like paintings complimenting the room of a party filled with people and stories and celebrations. You owe it to yourself as a human being to listen to this album consciously and actively.

View Joanna Newsom Videos

2. Ladyhawk – Ladyhawk
I don’t have enough good things to say about this band. Once I heard someone refer to these songs as crushingly tender, to which I disagreed slightly, arguing for tenderly crushing. I think that’s as good as a description as any. But then you could also go with rockingly sing-a-long-able. I know that one from experience. Another friend called the album a “downer”, meaning it in the best way possible. At first glance, all of these descriptions seem to be describing quite opposite sounds. That is the genius of Ladyhawk. They are funny, they are punishing, they are loud, they are abrasive, they are soothing, they are smearing, they are sad, they are sullen, they are powerful, they are golden, they are brave. And as I said, I don’t have anywhere near enough good things to say about them.

Ladyhawk - Dugout
Ladyhawk - My Old Jacknife (video)

3. Phoenix – It’s Never been Like That
Pure pop catchy genius. This is the Pet Sounds of the indie pop car commercial culture.

4. Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America
Hyper Literate yet at the same time Hyper drunk. To attempt lyrics like this takes huge balls. When I listened to this album I often had to stop and consider what Craig Finn just said, “do I laugh at how ridiculous that sounded and the words he decided to use?” It only took seconds to find my response. “I can’t. I just like it way way too much.” I think ‘rollicking’ is a good word.

Hold Steady - Killer Parties Remix
Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy! (video)

5. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
Although it seems like I might, I don’t like Bjork. I think she’s weird and too obsessed with quirk. Quirk always seems fake and insincere to me. I shouldn’t like Regina Spektor. Begin to Hope is syrupy with quirk. Little cat growls and high-pitched spikes are tossed like dice after a family dinner. But inside the sometimes fake-accent sounding twirls in Regina Spektor’s voice is something incredibly endearing to me. I could try to describe it but I think that would be a betrayal. All I’ll say is that when she fake laughs through lines about voices, words, and music breaking her heart, I want to rush to her side and catch her as she falls, whether she’s faking pretending to fall or not.

Regina Spektor - Radio Player

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Check out the mixtape that features all of these bands.

1. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Zack Condon is the brains behind Beirut and from New Mexico. Allmusic.com called him a “one man cross of Jeff Magnum, Conor Oberst and Sufjan Stevens.” It is remarkable and justified for a kid (he is younger than me and I just turned 21) from to debut with this album and to be put in the same sentence as those names. The European sounding music with ukuleles and rhythm and accordions and trumpets and tambourines is so thick on this album and so is Condon’s crooner voice. I’ve used “de-beauty” in print before but, this is a de-beauty!

Beirut -Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) Live Video

2. Ladyhawk - Ladyhawk
Ladyhawk has a reputation of their live show. I saw them at the Cake Shop in New York City back in the summer at an engagement party. It was the best live music performance I have ever seen. Try to forget that this band lives in Vancouver and are on Jagjaguwar with Black Mountain. Don’t get high and listen to this album. Don’t get drunk and listen to this album. This album has music, as jammy and stoner as it is, that is tight and precise with every sound feeling purposefully placed coupled with heart breaking lyricism. I was in a car accident in Ohio in the summer and I had to replace this album which wasn’t a problem, I re-bought it on CD and then I bought it on vinyl. I’m looking forward to getting the EP in 2007.

Someone once told me to walk, if I had to, to see Andrew Bird
Run, if you have to, to see Ladyhawk.

Ladyhawk - Dugout
Ladyhawk - My Old Jacknife Video

3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
This is the first major label release for The Decemberists. The album art really sticks out. It’s a farmer who finds an injured crane and marries it. I think it based on a Japanese folk tale. I like it when the percussion kicks in for the Crane Wife 1 chorus.

4. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
I watched Grizzly Bear sing Knife A cappella while walking down a street in Paris thanks to youtube.This albums grows on you. I think in a video they sing in a shower.

Grizzly Bear - On a Neck, on a Spit
Grizzly Bear sings Knife A cappella

5. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I am Dreaming
I am not a fan of Wolf Parade or Swan Lake. I saw Frog eyes play with Pink Mountaintops two years ago and didnt really dig them either. This album will have you reading along with the lyrics. I wish all side projects sounded this good.I think Spencer Krug’s aunt lives in Peachland, she always buys his music from work. I wish Stadiums & Shrines II could have been track one on Rough/Gem. Thats where it belongs—its a side A track 1 song

Sunset Rubdown - Stadiums and Shrines II
Sunset Rubdown - Us Ones In Between Live Video

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