periodically, i'm in my element

hey friends.

i actually made a second mix.  i know, i'm surprised too.

i hope no one was expecting any sort of indie christmas mix.  because i didn't make one, for two reasons:

1) not everyone celebrates christmas.
1b) indie hannukah music is hard to find.  believe me.

2) indie christmas music really sucks.  i mean, i love christmas.  and i like indie music.  but they're like brownies and burritos - two things i love, but don't want together.

...actually, a brownie burrito sounds like it has potential.  more potential than indie christmas music, at least.


anyway, i decided to make something i actually like.  just burritos.  or just brownies.  or burritos with brownies for dessert.  whatever.

so here we go, with the bitches and tigers december 2009 mix - songs that were new to me in 2009; songs that float, bounce, jiggle, and make me wish i could rap:

cover art stolen from here

1. modest mouse and ratatat - beat #6 vs. the world at large
2. washed out - get up
3. passion pit - sleepy head
4. chiddy bang - truth (feat. passion pit)
5. the hood internet - two weeks of hip-hop (dead prez vs. grizzly bear)
6. bearbot - stuntin like my only swervin (lil wayne vs. el ten eleven)
7. nasa - gifted (feat. kanye west, santogold, lykke li)
8. major lazer - pon de floor
9. discovery - so insane
10. neon indian - deadbeat summer
11. phoenix - rome
12. kid cudi - the prayer (feat. band of horses)
13. dan deacon - woof woof
14. mos def - quiet dog bite hard
15. mf doom - potholderz (feat. count bass d)
16. jay-z - thank you
17. kid cudi - make her say (feat. kanye west and common)
18. toro y moi - take this
19. animal collective - daily routine (phaseone remix)

(if you have trouble getting it to group right, just make sure you're sorting by "album" in itunes)


i hope you guys like it, i really do.

and look, i know that standard mixing protocol dictates no more than one track by a given artist...but "make her say" is more of a group effort than a cudi song.  so it's okay.  believe me.

if you're tired of your old jamz and this mix ain't your fix, i seriously suggest you download karim's best of 2009 mix.
and steve's summer and fall mixes.  and his blog (don't download the blog...just go there).
and if you're still tired, my november mix is here.

...happy december, urrrbody.

all of my friends are still cool...

i miss playing music.  if you've been reading this for a while, you know that i made a plan to write a 6-song ep this year...so far i have four chords and a few unfinished fragments of lyrics about pirates.

i've been thinking lately about the bands i've been lucky enough to play in, especially two:

the gilded age was some of the most fun i've ever had, when taylor and adam weren't arguing about silly things like chords:

"Don't Look Past Me" (or something like that)

"crystal" (#1 hit single)

but i quit for college.

adam moved to florida to play in woodale, and stuck around for pemberley.

taylor is doing legit recording, and gets to play with marvelous people like steven fiore.

and neal wrote this amazing song, whether he remembers it or not:


oh, and i saw danny at a mewithoutyou show a year or so ago.  he had a beard.

erich skelton used to let me play bass for him, and now he's more awesome than ever:

"Murder" (is a great song)

and mike mewborne (the drummer from my days with erich) is not only a great guy, but a great musician (and - oh look - there's taylor again):

(pretty)

almost everyone i've ever been musically affiliated with has kept doing great things.  and danny has a beard.

all i've got is a half-song written over a year ago, four chords, and pirates.

what i mean is, i'm happy for everyone.  and does anyone want to start a band?

straight killa

before we begin...

visual aid #1:

(straight killa)

visual aid #2:

(straight killed)

Henry is the best dog in the world.  Right now I am sitting on my couch in peace for the first time in months.  For the first time in months, I'm not afraid that dangling my toes off the end will leave me with bloody nibbled nubs.  I'm not afraid that letting the kitchen go unattended will leave me with chocolate sprinkle poop chocolate sprinkled all over my food.  I'm not afraid of...anything.  I'M NOT AFRAID ANYMORE!!!

Wanna hear the story?  O(ld) K(inderhook), great:

Last night, Brendan and I heard the mouse scurrying around in the kitchen.  Not "a" mouse - "THE" mouse.  We had a mouse problem earlier in the year, and successfully captured four of this little fucker's brethren and sistren and released them outside.  But this guy was totally the smartest mouse who ever lived - and he's been evading us for MONTHS.

But the time had come.  Brendan and I looked at each other and said, in unison (as if preordained by jesus or krishna), "Fuck this."  "We're not gonna take it anymore."

We rushed into the kitchen.  "I'm gonna kill it I'm gonna kill it I'm just gonna KILL it," said Brendan, grabbing a swiffer.  I reached for a broom.  "...me too."  Henry sharpened his teeth.

We have a recycling pile in the corner of our kitchen.  It's NOT a trash pile.  We're good people, not dirty ones.  And that's where the mouse was - in our good-people-recycling-pile.  This was the final straw.  Had he no respect for the earth???  Somerville has a strict policy against chocolate sprinkle poop'd recycling.  They won't take it, under any circumstances.  The little jerk might as well drive a Hummer - and I mean a full-sized one, not a cute little mousey replica.

 

I started picking up boxes, hesitantly searching through each one.  I didn't want to end up with bloody nibbled nubs, remember?

Finally, we found the right one.  And our story could end here, but this was no ordinary mouse.  He leapt from the box, scurrying for his safe haven of assholery and destruction under the oven.  Brendan attacked, bringing down the swiffer with force enough to break it.  And that's what happened.  But that didn't stop him - he kept attacking, stabbing at our nemesis with the deheaded tool of cleaning and death.  The frenzied look in his eyes convinced me that he should never have children.  And that from now on, I would be locking my doors at night.

 

Finally, I corralled the mouse away from the oven - but the sneaky little bastard scurried under the refrigerator before we could catch him.

I crept around the side, trying to pinpoint the mouse's location so we could strategically plan our next move.  But the mouse had no intentions of waiting.  He bolted from under the refrigerator...like a fool.

 

A damn fool.

Henry pounced.  With speed making lightning look like that fat kid in gym class that you always felt bad for making fun of.  With the strength of a thousand men, if men were gods.  Pat pat pat SNAP and it was over.  Our nemesis hung lifeless in Henry's jaws, blood dripping to the floor.

And there was much celebration.  There was screaming and dancing and high-fiving.  And for Henry, there was string cheese.  Glorious glorious string cheese.