Adventures in Solidtude, Mix #3

   When you're studying abroad or even when you're not, you'll have days when you just want time alone. Listen to your intuition. Take time to rest. Take naps. Go for solitary adventures. Don't be afraid to recharge your batteries. Your friends will still be there when you feel like socializing again, so in the meantime take it slow for a little while.

  Its all important, it all has to be. From the nights in to the raucous nights out on the town. Sweat exerted on a soccer field and sweat exerted over strenuous homework. Pinwheeling your arms on your dance floor to reading a book in your favourite chair at home. It all has a place, please don't despair.

                                        Adventures in Solitude

1)  Oh No! Oh My! - The Boy With the Anchor
2)  The Weakerthans - Aside
3)  Wilco - Born Alone
4)  OK GO - Hello My Treacherous Friends
5)  Okkervil River - Westfall
6)  Radiohead - Karma Police
7)  The New Pornographers - Adventures in Solitude
8)  Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining
9)  The Decemberists - Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect
10) Death Cab For Cutie - Bixby Canyon Bridge
11) Telekinesis! - Imaginary Friends
12) Lucky Boys Confusion - 18 Years
13) The Hold Steady - Killer Parties
14) The Dears - Ballad of Humankindness
15) Bruce Springsteen - My City of Ruins

Sort of Like a Dream, No Better, Mix # 2

They call the first phase of experiences in another country the "honey-moon" phase. Everything seems new, wonderful, different. "Look a tree! Have you ever seen a tree so full of branches? So rich in blooming flowers?" is a sample of something you might hear form someone on the honey-moon phase. Its a ridiculous and wonderful experience.  A few weeks ago I gathered a bunch of songs that I felt captured that feeling, the feeling of everything being just a little more exciting than it is, wonderful and new.

Sort of Like a Dream, No Better

1) Cut Copy - Nobody Lost, Nobody Found
2) Architecture in Helsinki - Desert Island
3) Death Cab For Cutie - You Are a Tourist
4) Givers - Meantime
5) Generationals - Nobody Could Change Your Mind
6) M83 - Midnight City
7) Jeremy Messersmith - Knots
8) Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Alabama Pines
9)Okkervil River - One Soul Less On Your Fiery List
10) Ben Kweller - Sundress
11) Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey
12) The Broken West - Gwen, Now and Then
13) The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy
14) Sufjan Stevens - Predatory Wasps.....
15) Air France - Collapsing at Your Doorstep
16) Passion Pit - Moth's Wings
17) Foster the People - Warrent
18) Givers - Saw You First

A New Mix

    Over the past week or so I've been crafting a mix. I feel a bit out of practice, but at the same time I feel like its a pretty good one. Its got some bones to it, some weight. There are messages that this mix is trying to convey, but I for one am not entirely sure what those messages are. You the listener are more than free to interpret and decide for yourself what those messages might be. The idea to make a mix came from both the fact that my brother made me an awesome one before I left, and also that I'm currently reading "Love is a Mixed Tape" by Rob Sheffield. Mr. Sheffield is a writer/music critic for Rolling Stone magazine as well as other publications. Before anyone gets up in arms about Rolling Stone not being as high quality as it used to be, a) I don't care b) the book is a well written story that explores love, life and experience through music. Each chapter starts with the playlist from one of Rob Sheffield's tapes and he is able to relate that particular mix to a time period. You get sucked in, wanting to listen to those bands, to those songs.

Anyway here's mine:

                    The Good and the Bad

1) The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice - Scorpio Rising
2) The Decemberists - This Is Why We Fight
3) Lisa Mitchell - Neapolitan Dreams
4) The Black Keyes - Everlasting Light
5) The Hold Steady - How a Resurrection Really Feels
6) The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Horseshoe and the Rabbit's Foot
7) Peter Bjorn and John - Up Against the Wall
8) Avett Brothers - Laundry Room
9) Tokyo Police Club - Wait Up (Boots of Danger)
10) Feist - The Bad in Each Other
11) Walk the Moon - Quesadilla
12) Van Morrison - Kingdom Hall
13) Barenaked Ladies - Some Fantastic
14) Nada Surf - Your Legs Grow
15) Cults - Oh My God
16) The Hold Steady - Our Whole Lives