Wednesday, March 10, 2010

spring


what the fuck

it is warm out?

no. that just can't be right. can it? apparently the sun can exist in a michigan sky during march. i've been wearing sunglasses and spring jackets these past couple days and holy shit it feels great. i love winter, the snow is beautiful, and i love being inside as much as the next guy... but you can't beat this 65 degree weather.

anyways. onto music. because i know whoever is reading this (if they/you even read the ramblings before actually just clicking the download link) cares most prominently about the music.

originally my plan was to call this post "double fisting" and i was trying to have it up by last week but i got sick and got busy with blowout and blah blah. and then new songs kept coming out. one after another, after another. but no longer, i've waited long enough. it's officially in the double digits of the current month so i feel it's the appropriate time to post a mix.

the reason for the "double fisting" title was in relation to blowout, and st paddys day, and the fact that i spent part of last weekend being ridiculous in canada. so far march has been good to me and i hope it continues to do so. (if you live under a rock, blowout is basically this type of "fest" in detroit [technically in hamtramck] which consists of a bunch of shitty bands playing sloppier than usual and people getting drunk beyond reason in public and everyone acting like it's all normal, which, let's face it, it kind of is, because this is detroit)

also the "double fisting" title was going to apply to the mix, not because all these songs are great to chug beer to (which they probably are) but because this particular march mix is chocked just full of songs, more so than usual, and some bands i even double dose on. aka using more than one song by the same band on the same mix. i have no specific rule about double dosing a band on a mix, so this doesn't bother me.

but at any rate there are two songs by my new favorite canadian band: still life still. who play overly emotional overly sexual art rock that is obviously from toronto and basically comes off sounding like a younger, punkier broken social scene, in a good way. i saw still life still open for wild beasts about a month ago and that was one killer show, hence the wild beasts track also.

there is also a double dose off the new shout out louds record which i think is good because i'm a sucker for swede pop and i've been listening to sols since before they had a proper LP. there is also two tracks from my new favorite band the morning benders who have an excellent new record out that i have been playing non stop. seriously, "excuses" is a fucking great song. there are also two songs from the forthcoming new young pony club album, just because i think they are smart and they play their type of music just how they should. plus there are two songs from the almost released record by the best new band in michigan --> the juliets. the bottom line is that jeremy freer can fucking write pop songs like it was just meant to be and scott masson (of office) can produce and record like nobody's business.

now i'm going to say upfront, this is a long mix. so if you are going to download this, which you very well fucking should, you gotta be in for the long haul. mainly because it's so damn big it actually took two download links to fit it all. hence the part 1 part 2. but it is worth it people. the reason i went with the title of "spring" as opposed to to overly discussed "double fisting" title is simply because new things are blossoming and even this slightly jaded slightly ridiculous/delirious blogger is feeling reborn.

it might be in part that things for my band aren't really going fucking incredible or anything but i've at least seen and heard the tiniest bit of nice shit about my music for roughly the first time and damn, i'll admit, it feels nice. i don't think my set at blowout was anywhere near perfect (really i thought we were awful) but people seem to enjoy "sloppy indie rock" so if you are interested in reading some shit about my band you can go here and here (<-- at that one just scroll down until you see something about a dog woman and a claw hammer or something)

but a friend (or friends) just wisely said to me, "take everything with a grain of salt" and that goes for good press and bad and so even though this isn't much press at all i'm just going to smile and appreciate this all nicely and thank whoever saw my band. so thank you, to everyone who has ever given a fuck about kodaks for that matter. i'm giving away my newest demo away for free on this mix as my thanks to every kodaks supporter. or every supporter of this blog i suppose. (really i'm just pimping out my own music on my own mixes i know) but i will also follow han solo's command of "don't get cocky, kid" and just leave it at that. i hope you see more of kodaks soon.

but enough about that. back to the mix. these blog posts are so damn a.d.d. i'm sorry to whoever is scrolling through this. some other note worthy tracks on here are new songs by broken social scene, neon indian, radio dept, drake, japandroids, dr. dog, mgmt(<-- which gets too busy at the end of the song) and my favorite song off the new gorillaz album. plus an elliott smith cover by cymbals eat guitars because i just fucking love elliott smith. i do.

other than that i'm not sure what to talk about. the first four tracks, or the first five, or six, are probably my favorite on the mix, but that being said you really do need to hear the gorillaz song at the end. i mean these are all pretty good songs though, or i wouldn't post them, duh.

plus there is a gem of a turbo fruits song stuck in the middle that was recorded for the movie "whip it" with the coffee shop crooner landon pigg as the frontman. i thought he was hot in the movie and i actually don't mind his music half the time, and pairing him with turbo fruits was a way interesting move that delivered great results.

which reminds me, i saw turbo fruits last night, and fuck everyone, i like turbo fruits. people talk shit about them all the time and i don't get it. why can't people just take them for what they are? great fucking punk music with a good pop sensibility, and most importantly, jonas stein can fucking play guitar with his teeth and make it seem cool still. as one of the surfer blood dudes said to me while turbo fruits were playing, "it sounds like guitar hero out there". and it's true. turbo fruits are good. so fuck you.

but this also reminds me, i saw surfer blood last night too. and again, fuck you if you don't like them, because i do. i just do. they are good music and you gotta take it for what it is-- really young indie rock. and i like it that way dammit. i ended up getting to meet the surfer blood dudes (through turbo fruits because their mixer and engineer, the lovely jeremy ferguson, recorded my most recent ep) and i got to hang out with them(<--SB) a lot through their night in detroit and i like those guys. surfer blood is a bunch of good dudes, no joke. they like what they are doing and other people seem to like it too which is just a sweet bonus. they were all really kind to me, they gave me a shirt and some of their beers and i tip my hats to them for that. they played a great set too, and they proved that their fifth member, the crazy haired percussionist/keyboardist player named marcos, is definitely necessary. and that guy is cool as shit too so that doesn't hurt. their song that i put on this mix is called "take it easy" and it displays the extra percussion nicely and it is a lot of fun, which is what i had last night all thanks to surfer blood.

so now that i've met my homosexual comment quota for the day (whip it didn't bother me, and that is gay enough in itself i suppose) and my blog mix quota for the month so i guess i'm off until the next time i decide to grace these webpages with my text again. enjoy this warm weather, hopefully it doesn't snow too much from now on. enjoy this march mix, hopefully you make it all the way trough all the tracks... all 36.



march 1

00 song - artist

01 october fires - wolf people
02 heaven's on fire - the radio dept.
03 fall hard - shout out louds
04 excuses - the morning benders
05 kid - still life still
06 the letter - the juliets
07 rather be with you - yukon blonde
08 lost a girl - new young pony club
09 art czars - japandroids
10 world sick - broken social scene
11 caterpillar playground - nurses
12 get out (ft. ariel punk & gar war) - velvet davenport
13 take it easy - surfer blood
14 high times - landon pigg & turbo fruits
15 ballad of big nothing - cymbals eat guitars
16 what becomes of a brokenhearted - jimmy ruffin
17 rough sleeper (demo) - the kodaks
18 and i was a boy from school - hot chip
19 at a glance (toro y moi remix) - body language
20 sweetheart - the juliets
21 shadow people - dr. dog
22 lovefool (cardigans cover) - the morning benders
23 a heat rash in the shape of the show me state or, letters from me to charlotte - los campesinos!
24 lately (deuxiéme) - memoryhouse
25 track 07 - washed out
26 1999 - shout out louds
27 pastel - still life still
28 this is our lot - wild beasts
29 chaos (rory phillips mix) - new young pony club
30 despicable dogs (washed out remix) - small black
31 beyond fantasy - pictureplane
32 over (dirty) - drake
33 sleep paralysist - neon indian
34 flash delirium - mgmt
35 little sister - crystal antlers
36 empire ants (ft. little dragon) - gorillaz

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