Challengers of the Unknown

It's March. Here's the new mix, Challengers of the Unknown.

"Another boxer on the cover?" Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are.

Download it here. More on the Master List.

***Cover art is a detail from "Richard Humphreys, the Boxer", by John Hoppner, 1788.

BRR Christmas Mixes

BRR CHRISTMAS MIXES:

All remastered and ready to go! Enjoy!

A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 1: I Would Never Steal From Santa •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 2: Sleigh Bells In the Air •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 3: It's the Perfect Gift Idea •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 4: You'd Better Watch Out •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 5: K-Mart Is Closed •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 6: My True Love Gave To Me •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 7: To Heck With Ol’ Santa Claus •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 8: We Dress Up Like Snowmen •
A Big Red Christmas, Vol. 9: Got Something For You •

Flying High Again

It all started with Nixon. Blame him. It's September's mix, A Beginner's Guide To Levitation. Featuring tracks from 13th Floor Elevators, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, R.E.M., The Monkees, Male Bonding, The Promise Ring, Modernettes, Best Coast, Lou Reed, The Killers, Serendipity, Band Of Horses, Radar Brothers, The Feelies, Andrew Bird, Nick Drake, The Bee Gees, The Cure, Ben Folds, and Club 8. Here's the cover:


Download it here. And you can get even more mixtapery goodness by checking out the Master List.

As usual, feel free to tweet this, share it on Facebook or just send the link to a friend. Sharing is caring. Oh, and if you do, let me know and you just might get some special surprise.

These Are the Breaks

So like a million years ago, when the world was young and Triceratops was still a dinosaur, Chris Haley and I pinged together one of our legendary collaborative mixes.

Over the course of a few days we pulled together our tracks and Chris came up with a pretty baller title (Ping, vol. 6 – Dance Fighter 2: Electric Punch-A-Yoo! Just sorta rolls off the tongue, right?) and we were like, "Yay! This is great! Now let's do the cover art!" So Chris whipped up this great illustration of a guy with a fist for a head and I was like "Yeah! This mix is gonna be huuuuuuge!" and then I started to finish it off but then I lost my job last year and my world turned upside-down and I totally forgot about this poor mix as it sat in my iTunes, coverless, unshared and unloved.

Poor fella.

Well, no more! My life is now right-side-up and Chris has reminded me enough and I got it done and now you can download and enjoy the latest in Ping Mixtapery Saga by clicking this link right here. It's also available in the Master List, along with a bunch of other mixes from the BRR Mixtape Brigade.

Oh, and why don't you just go ahead and download my monthly mix, Baby C'Mon while you're at it?

These Darned, Dirty Apes

Here's August's mix. Featuring tracks from: The Breeders, The Oranges Band, The Modern Lovers, Stephen Malkmus, Rogue Wave, Bob Dylan, T.Rex, Dr. Dog, Harry Nilsson, Phoenix, Guidance Counselor, Dirty Projectors, Built Like Alaska, The Smiths, The Mountain Goats, The Count Five, The Sunshine Fix, The Raincoats, Let's Active!, and Sparks. Lots of "The…" bands this month. Weird.

Download it here.

As always, there are more mixes over on the Master List. Feel free to share it with anyone and everyone. Sharing is caring.

And hey, have you made a mix that I should know about? Lemme know in the comments section.

Take Me Back To Wondaland

Hey hey hey. July is here and so is the newest mix. Also, it is hot as the center of Hell in Vegas right now. But this mix, this mix is cool. You can download it here. Featuring songs from The Shins, Vampire Weekend (yeah, again), Wilco, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (yay!), The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band, Paul Simon, Jan & Dean (I've been waiting to work this track in for a while now), Elliott Smith, Graham Nash, Frank Black, Esquivel, Janelle Monáe (you should really check out her new album The ArchAndroid, it's really pretty great), Jens Lekman (of course), The Beatles, Bruce & Terry, The Ventures, Hanoi Janes, The Tammys, Gnarls Barkley and The Drums. It's Hammock Rock, basically.

There are more mixes over on the Master List. Feel free to share it with anyone and everyone. In fact, if you do share it (on Facebook, Twitter or on your blog), drop a link or comment and I will send you a very special Independence Day mix. For realsies.

Let me repeat: If you share this mix, I will send you a special mix.

That is all. Enjoy.

A Suntan On Their Buns

June's mix is live. You can download it here. Featuring songs from Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Chuck Berry, The Cyrke, Adam Green, The Clash, Herman Düne, Ed's Redeeming Qualities, Canary, Elf Power, Yo La Tengo, The Specials, Darwin Deez, Bodies Of Water, No Kids, The Art Museums, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Gilberto Gil, Sly & the Family Stone, The Beach Boys and The Apples In Stereo. It's like a suntan for your ears.

There are more mixes over on the Master List. Feel free to share it with anyone and everyone.

"Now this is surgery, so don't eat anything before you come in. Because I'll have a big breakfast waiting for you."

I'm gonna go ahead and drop this a day early, cuz I'm generous like that. Here's May's mix, Dr. Spaceman. Featuring songs from Love Is All, MGMT, Talking Heads, Brian Eno, LCD Soundsystem, New Order, Beck, Caetano Veloso, The Cellos, Javelin, Toots & The Maytals, Pylon, Chromeo, Gorillaz, Super Furry Animals, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and, possibly, some medical advice from Ho Chi Minh city medical school graduate Doctor Leo Spaceman peppered in there. It's a doozy.

Get it here.

As usual, there's more mixtapery madness to be found on the Master List. And please feel free to share and promote the mixes or leave a comment if you're liking what you're hearing. Thanks, and remember, science is whatever we want it to be.

Lots of Fun

This is no prank. This ish is for reals. April's mix; check it:


It's spring. It's getting warmer, the days are getting longer. Roll down the windows while you drive around. Turn the volume up in your hoopty. Bob your head and pump your fists. Show that Easter Bunny who's boss.

This month's mix features springy, sprongy tracks from (deep breath) Frightened Rabbit, Surfer Blood, Oranger, Fungi Girls, Grandaddy, Sparklehorse, Big Star, The Thrills, Clem Snide, Sufjan Stevens, Freelance Whales, Badly Drawn Boy, Real Estate, Loudon Wainwright III, The Dodos, Earlimart, Josef K, Throw Me the Statue, The Moping Swans and Pretty Girls Make Graves. So yeah, you're gonna enjoy it.

Tracklist:

01. "She was not the cure for cancer."
02. "Lucid afternoon dream, cosmopolitan scene."
03. "It's a shiver, a sigh, it's a wooden goodbye."
04. "It's a gorgeous day."
05. "We'll sit for days talk about things important to us like whatever. We'll defuse bombs, walk marathons and take on whatever together."
06. "Dogs will wag their tails and birds will sing. Hell, it's hard world for little things."
07. "Music so loud I can't tell a thing."
08. "I came to the city to build a mountain of envy and to marry a Kennedy."
09. "Punched in the brain, in the gut, in the tear ducts, too."
10. "Don't give up. Let's go. Forget about yourself."
11. "I've arranged for your phobias to be performed by a string quartet."
12. "Our love is alive, you know it's never spent."
13. "Your worries ain't so different from my own, though I'm far more accident prone."
14. "Salt my wounds, chlorine my eyes, I'm a self-destructive fool."
15. "A coward's way to be inviolate."
16. "Our heads are sad, our bones are tired as hell."
17. "Otherwise, he'd beat his chest."
18. "Each tug just pulls me through."
19. "Fumigated hags with privilege in their bags."
20. "Keep on doing your thing you do now."

Download it here and, as always, check out the Master List for even more mixtapery goodness.

Fangs and Growling

It's March, baby! So, there's a new mix for you. This one's a total garage rocker. Tooth-kickin' music. Here's the cover:



Sadie named this one. Pretty catchy, right? This one's got songs from The Soft Pack, White Denim, Love, Sloan, Iggy Pop, King Khan & The Shrines, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Folds Five, Dungen, Nirvana, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Jay Reatard, Lyres, The Dirtbombs and Reigning Sound. You'll shake yr hips for sure.

You can download it here and find many more mixes on the Master List. Enjoy!

Better Late Than Never, Right?

February's mixtape! Did you think I was lying when I said I'd get it done? Well, here it is, because I don't lie, man:


This mix pretty much rocks. Harlem, TMBG, a Jens Lekman cover, the VU, Cake, Vampire Weekend, the Outsiders, Spoon and lots more.

01. "What's broken can always be fixed, and what's fixed can always be broken."
02. "I'm just as see-through as Casper the Ghost."
03. "And those golden faces are under 25."
04. "Hear me baby sayin' I'm comin' home."
05. "I'm not a real doctor but I am a real worm. I am an actual worm. I live like a worm."
06. "A doctor said 'Your wounds!' and stitched up his broken ego."
07. "Love ain't far."
08. "Well, a lot of good cars are Japanese, but when we're driving far I need my baby here with me."
09. "Those victory laps and Sgt. Pepper tones."
10. "Yes, a penguin taught me French back in Antarctica."
11. "You were born with ten fingers and you're gonna use em all."
12. "This couldn't be more ghetto."
13. "And on the final day of our Eastern journey, we went and talked to a psychic attorney."
14. "Do the Twist & Stomp, the Mashed Potato, too. Any old dance that you wanna do."
15. "Read everything you can read and learn everything you can learn."
16. "I have my brown sound jacket, Queen of Call Collect on my arm."
17. "It is a shame, it is a pity when you can't raise the energy to get from A to B."
18. "No more cops left to mess you around, no more dreams of mystery chords."
19. "Two TV sets and two Cadillac cars? That ain't gonna help me at all. Not one tiny bit."
20. "So who's the people with the peepholes in their smiles?"

***

Download it here. The Master List is here and it's been updated for all recent Brigade member mixes, which, by the way, anybody else want to join?

Quick Update

Hey, I wasn't totally in love with the previous cover, so I updated the cover art for The Year We Make Contact. Please replace the old cover with this sexier version:


That is all.

So This Is the New Year

Out with the old, in with the new. This mix was a little tough to pin down. I scrapped probably four mixes before finally just deciding to start the artwork to try and figure out what kind of mix I wanted to make. So this hot mess is the responsible party if you don't end up loving this mix as much as I do:


I wanted a mix that sounded like putting the past to sleep while gettin' all Blade Runner up in this joint. Future soundz. Bleeding chrome bangin' robots and light trails across a neon skyline.

There are some jams on here, a few longer tracks, a couple weird things. It's a little spacey and silver. I had initially hoped to not reuse artists I'd used a lot on previous mixes, but the tracks from Hot Chip, the Zombies, Ganglians and the B-52's fit like astronaut gloves, so here they are. We've also got some Yeasayer, M83, Caribou, Washed Out, Stereolab, Tom Zé, Suburban Lawns, Os Mutantes, Cornelius, Akron/Family, Microphones, Beach House, Hum, Maps & Atlases, Gomez and Walkmen.

So sit back, put some headphones on and let's bury the decaying corpse of 2009. Bring on 2010. Let's make some 3/2/1 contact. Let's make this year our year.

Tracklist:

01. "Last year was a hard year, for such a long time."
02. "It’s a New Year, I’m glad to be here."
03. "Blue Christmas lights tell us stories about ourselves."
04. "Concentrate, don't make a sound. We'll psychokinetically pull one down."
05. "And when I pray it's all begun."
06. "Sold my soul to pay the rent."
07. "The music's loud in your room; turn it down."
08. "You will not catch your unknown."
09. "…"
10. "Who's gonna take it like this? No way."
11. "One chance to leave it all and swim down."
12. "I hear voices from the outside."
13. "I love computers and hot tamales."
14. "Via this paradox that space can be attained."
15. "All in the name of what we're not sure."
16. "…"
17. "And I walked aimlessly around with a flaming pumpkin head."
18. "I'd like your face gone and in its place the sun."
19. "Twenty-ten."
20. "All your worried days are gone. This will be our year."

*******

Download it here. I'm using a new service this time around. Let me know if you have problems with it. And as usual, feel free to share this with your friends, enemies, pets and house plants.

Cheers.

The Ghost of Christmas Presents, Part 3

Last, but not least, Volume 3:


So, what do you think? Are you ready for the holidays yet? Should there be a Volume 4 next year? Which track was the biggest surprise for you?

*******

Download all three:

Volume 1: I Would Never Steal From Santa Here
Volume 2: Sleigh Bells In the Air Here
Volume 3: It's the Perfect Gift Idea Here

The Ghost of Christmas Presents, Part 2

Here's Round 2.


It's more subdued than Volume 1, more for cold, snowy nights when it's all quiet in the house. You can download it here. Hope you're enjoying the holiday season. Check back later this week for Volume 3.

The Ghost of Christmas Presents, Part 1

So here's the first of three Christmas/holiday/winter mixes from yours truly.



Download it here and feel free to leave a comment on how great it is. Or don't. Happy holidays, y'all!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The 2009 Favorites mix. Download it here.

As with las year, I'm not sure if these are "The Best" (say it like Nacho Libre would) albums I've heard this year, but they're the ones I've listened to the most. It was a tough process to get it down to 20 albums and some sad cuts had to me made (sorry A.C. Newman's Get Guilty, Throw Me the Statue's Creaturesque and Franz Ferdinand's Tonight), but I think it's a great mix of music for you to enjoy.

Think of it like one of those meat and cheese samplers you get at the holidays; eat a little bit of everything and come back for more if you like anything you try.

*******

TRACK TITLE / BAND / ALBUM

01 / "Cannibal Resource" / Dirty Projectors / Bitte Orca
Probably my favorite album of 2010. It's a dizzying mix of indie rock, world beats and, strangely enough, R&B; sometimes all at once. It may take a listen or two to click, but once it does, it really takes over.

02 / "I Start To Run" / White Denim / Fits
Wow, here's a slammin' psychedelic album. Like Jimi Hendrix fronting Led Zeppelin, played at double speed.

03 / "Heart Sweats" / Japandroids / Post-Nothing
Hooky, hopeful and noisy, Japandroids have the post-emo, Death From Above 1979 thing locked down. It's Fist-Shaking Rock of the finest vintage.

04 / "Slap Dash For No Cash" / Art Brut / Art Brut vs. Satan
Frank Black produced it, but it's by no means a slick sell-out album. "Cool your warm jets, Brian Eno," indeed. Songs about love, rock, loving rock and an inability to grow up. In other words, an Art Brut album.

05 / "Aquarius Sabotage" / The Flaming Lips / Embryonic
Not to slight their last two albums, but this is the album I've been waiting for from these guys. Loose, weird and meandering, it feels less deliberate and polished than Yoshimi or At War With the Mystics and more in the vein of experimental work like Zaireeka or the Okie Noodling soundtrack.

06 / "Lasso" / Phoenix / Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Man, just when you think these guys have made the album of their career, they go ahead and top it. Every bit as solid as It's Never Been Like That. There isn't a bad track on here.

07 / "Little Girl (feat. Julian Casablancas)" / Sparklehorse + Danger Mouse / Dark Night of the Soul
The best album that didn't actually come out. Manages to play to the strengths of each guest vocalist (for example, the Jason Lytle tracks sound more like Grandaddy than anything off of his limp solo album, Yours Truly, the Commuter) while still sounding like a collaboration between two guys who really excel at what they do. It's an eerie, groovy record and definitely worth breaking Federal copyright law for.

08 / "Love Comes And Goes" / Lee Fields & The Expressions / My World
Daaang, this album is slick. Soulful, smooth and timeless, it's a great record for any occasion. Folding laundry? Check. Spending time with your special someone? Check. Bare-knuckle fighting a crazed mountain lion while wearing a fine Italian suit? Check and mate.

09 / "Helium Hearts" / Super Furry Animals / Dark Days, Light Years
More focused than their last couple of albums, SFA offer up another album of mutant Welsh space rock. If you're not already a fan, this one probably won't convert you, but if you like what they do, this is one to pick up.

10 / "One Machine, One Long Fight" / Lou Barlow / Goodnight Unknown
It's been four years since Barlow's last album under any name besides Dinosaur Jr. (and we all know that's pretty much J. Mascis' band), and that's a shame. Barlow's work - whether solo or with Sebadoh or the Folk Implosion - has always been really excellent and Goodnight Unknown is no exception. Lou Barlow, FTW.

11 / "Criminals" / Atlas Sound / Logos
A haunting, hypnotic waltz from Bradford Cox. It's the kind of music Ziggy Stardust would listen to if he got homesick for the cold vacuum of space.

12 / "My Girls" / Animal Collective / Merriweather Post Pavilion
I'm sure indie snobs will "like their earlier stuff before they sold out," better, but I firmly believe this is their best yet. Rich, textured and weird (while still listenable), it's an excellent little head trip and completely legal.

13 / "Courage" / The Whitest Boy Alive / Rules
Disco disco! Erlend Øye's other band (Kings of Convenience) may get all the girls a-sighin', but it's this band that gets me all lathered up. Dancey and laid-back, I dare you not to listen to this thing without catching yourself shaking something, anything whilst doing so.

Also, tell me the guy doesn't look like a slightly more hip version of Napoleon Dynamite.

14 / "Psalms 40:2" / The Mountain Goats / Life of the World to Come
More songs about desperate people facing down the inevitable. John Darnille has put together another set of moving, wry tales, this time with the Bible at the center of the stories. By no means a religious tract, it packs an emotional punch that can appeal to believers and heathens alike.

15 / "Cryin' Smoke" / Ganglians / Monster Head Room
Second favorite album of 2009. It's like some guys re-recording the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile in their shed. Druggy, smiling and goofy; real dumb angel stuff.

16 / "Lady Luck" / Richard Swift / Atlantic Ocean
A great collection of Harry Nilsson-esque singer-songwriter ditties, Richard Swift's sense of humor and solid songwriting earned him a place on the list. This track is especially good; it sounds like some lost 70's soul single.

17 / "Tender Torture" / Islands / Vapours
Last year's Arm's Way was a little too weird and inconsistent to land on my faves mix, but Vapours strips away the unnecessary in favor of hummable tunes, solid grooves and the expectedly obtuse lyrics.

18 / "If It's True" / Yo La Tengo / Popular Songs
Another set of classics from Hoboken's own Yo La Tengo. Seriously, these guys are the most consistently good band out there. I keep waiting for a dud of an album but it hasn't happened yet. If I have one complaint, it's that the requisite longer, droney songs are all sequenced at the back of the album, making it a little tiresome toward the end, but still, it's a dang good album.

19 / "More Of This" / Vetiver / Tight Knit
It was a tough call, choosing between this album and the Fruit Bats' The Ruminant Band, but in the end, this one won out. Really great mellow-ish folk from a really good band.

20 / "The Wizzzard" / Think About Life / Family
This one surprised me. It's like if TV On the Radio decided to start a Kool & the Gang cover band, which yeah, would be pretty radical. I've already used them twice this year on mixes (Warm Soundz and SMRJMZ), but here's another track because I think this album's super-dope.

*******

And that's my 2009 Favorites mix. What knocked yr socks off this year? Let me know in the comments section and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Quick Question

Okay, so I started work on a Holiday mix last night and ended up with a short list.

Of about 60 songs.

And this is before I broke out my Christmas CDs to put a few tracks from those on the list, and I know I have a few tracks from those that will make the list. (I mean, I have John Denver and the Muppets' A Christmas Together in there, man!) So, unless I make a lot of cuts of a lot of really good tracks, we're looking at the possibility of up to four mixes.

Is this dumb? Would you guys want a weekly Christmas music mix for the next month? Let me know in the comments section. Please help me out here. I don't want to make these if nobody wants them.

Stars Are Neon Lights

Cover for Time & Space's album, We Can Do Whatever We Want, which can be previewed here. Is it Las Vegas, or some strange alien spaceport? Are those lights or stars? When is it? Where is it?




*******

Oh, and I guest-posted on the subject of Mixtapery last week over on Smile & Wave. Go check it out and then download the printable mix sleeve I made:


See you tomorrow.

Red + Blue

November's mix. Purple Fates. I'm not sure what the central premise is here, but it's a pretty … purple mix.

Here's the tracklist:

1. "Anytime's a good time to get gone."
2. "A goodbye and a neon tan."
3. "How did you know that the river don't flow?"
4. "The parallel pavements are peaceful."
5. "I'm not a human, I'm a dove."
6. "You know you set me free."
7. "…"
8. "It's generally known, you got everything at home."
9. "And the truth is, I'm not feeling so good."
10. "We’re dreaming as we move."
11. "Get down, baby, to the funky, funky groove."
12. "Now and again, you can see misfortune, but it won't get you down in the end."
13. "We're living proof of what we can do."
14. "But what they don't realize is there's a plan."
15. "You and me, we break it down like noone else."

Download it here and there are plenty more mixes from across time and blogspace on the Master List.