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 •

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.

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!

Anmiotic Amnesia

The cover for the upcoming Flaming Lips double album, Embryonic. It drops October 13th. This is exciting news.


Paste Magazine has an interview with Wayne over here, so go check that out. And I've heard rumors of a few tracks floating around the internets, so if you're all sneaky like that, there you go.

Riding To Work In the Year 2032

It's February1, and you know what that means: time for the BRR Monthly Mixx to drop. And here it is:


My birthday's in February. I'll be 32. So I decided to take the last 32 years and select a song from each year for my mix, which I then whittled down to 20 tracks. Hence the title, 20/32.

You can download it here. Let me know if you DL'd it and if you liked it.

Did anybody else make a mix this month?

Making Magnificent Mixxes the Macintosh Way

( or ) Making Magnificent Mixxes the Macintosh Way


So here's my tutorial on tagging, packaging and uploading a mixtape. Unfortunately for you PC people out there (I'm looking at you, John Hodgman), I'm a Mac zombie, so all my instructions are for that OS. I have submitted a request to IT (aka: my cousin, Ben, the engineering student) for a PC tutorial, and that should be up sometime soon. In the mean time, all you Mac people can follow along to make your very own awesome mixtape. It's as easy as pie which is apparently easy, though I've never made one. Are pies easy? I've heard that Earth girls are, but what about pies?

Anyway, here's how I make the magic happen. There's most assuredly a more elegant way of doing it, as I have a tendency to do things the hard way, but this is the method I've cooked up over the last year and it works for me, so, yeah.

You get what you pay for, people.

What you'll need:
* A kickin' playlist
* An iPod or some sort of iDevice
* iTunes
* A program to get your music from your iPod to your computer like iPodDisk (which I haven't used, but it's free) or Senuti (which is great but I guess is no longer free)
* Album artwork of some sort (optional, but come on, just do it)

What to do:
Take your beautiful, perfect playlist and pull it onto your iPod. You'll have to have it set to "Manually manage music and videos" to do this.

Okay, now that it's on there, you can edit the tags without worrying about totally jacking your music library. You essentially made a copy of those tracks when you moved it to your iPod.


Next, select all the songs in your playlist (Command + A). Get the info on them (Command + I). iTunes is gonna freak and ask you if you really want to change the info for different items, unless you've already disabled this feature. Just say "yes." Now, here's how I set up my mixxes:

Artist: Leave blank
Year: 2009
Album Artist: Mixtapery
Track Number: Just put in the last number (for me, the magic number is 20)
Album: Input title
Disc Number: 1 of 1
Grouping: Leave it blank AND click the box next to it. This will overwrite any other grouping tag the individual file may have and solve some possible formatting issues.
BPM: Leave blank
Composer: Leave blank
Artwork: Pull your artwork into here. Tip: You can just pull the file in from Finder.
Comments: Leave blank AND click the button.
Genre: Mixtapery (I do this so because I have a Smart Playlist of mixxes in my library, plus it makes finding mixxes easier)
Rating: Leave blank AND click button

This next part is important: Find "Part Of A Compilation" and click Yes (if you're using iTunes 8, go to the Options tab and pull down Yes). This makes it so all your artists on the mix are in one place rather than having 20 artists tagged for the album. Keeps yr iTunes nice & tidy.

Click OK.

Okay, so that's done. But there's one part that's left. See, the tracks still have their track numbers from all of the albums they came from instead of the order you so meticulously crafted. Let's fix that.

Select ONLY the first song in your playlist. Get its info (Command + I). Change the Track Number to 1. Press Next in the bottom right corner. Continue updating the track numbers in order until you hit the end. Click OK. Perfect. Give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it.


Okay, we're almost there. Now take that playlist and move it back into your library using whatever program you need to. Now, select the album from your library, not the playlist. It will be listed under Compilations if you're set up that way, or just search the album title. Go to View > Options (Command + J) and turn on "Kind." This will tell you which of your files are formatted as MPEG (MP3s) and which are AAC (Apple's encoding method). I like all my files to have the same file kind, which for me is AAC. It sounds fine and takes up less space.

Select the "Kind" column to separate the AAC from the MPEG. Select the MPEG files and control-click them. Select "Create AAC Version" from the menu (or "Convert to AAC" if you're using an older version). Let iTunes work its magic. WARNING! DO NOT re-rip your AAC files to AAC. They will sound crappy and your mix will be ruined. Ruined!


Once they're all converted, delete your MPEGs and move them to the trash. You don't need them.


Now we're ready to zip this up and upload it. Go to Finder > Wherever you have your iTunes library > Compilations and scroll for your album title. Once you find the folder, select it, control-click it and select "Create Archive of ...". Let your computer work it's magic.


Once I do this, I remove any spaces in the file name so as to eliminate any PC/Mac issues. Keeps your paths tidy, people.

Now you have a zipped file that you can upload to Mediafire or MegaUpload or wherever you choose.


Post the link on your blog and/or e-mail the link to me. I will include it in my Monthly Mixtape Brigade round-up post as well as including it in the Monthly Mixtape Brigade Master List, accessible by clicking on the icon in the sidebar.

Last step: Party.

And there it is. Hope this helps. Leave any ?s in the comments section.

Duh

Sorry. Had some technical difficulties with the links for the mixxes. Because I'm sort of a moron. But I'm much better now, thanks. How are you?

Anyway, here's the proper links. They're fixed in the post now, too:

BRR Favorites 2008 •
BRR Honorable Mentions 2008 •
(Pssssst! Click the little dot things!)

Enjoy.

My Year In Lists

So, here it is. My 2008 music post. It's not nearly as insane as last years monstrosity, so that's good. My Honorable Mentions list is still a little out of control (but trust me, that list was twice the size it is now), but I think it's a good smattering of a decent portion of the worthwhile music from last year. As usual, you can call "B.S." on any of it in the comment section.

I've heard a few complaints that this year "just wasn't that good" for music. This is complete horsecrap. There were a lot of really good albums released this year. Like, a ton of them. So shut up, you freaking babies. Shut up and just rock out.

Honorable Mentions (or) A Still Pretty Long Short List:
Beck / Modern Guilt
Brian Wilson / That Lucky Old Sun
Death Cab For Cutie / Narrow Stairs
Dr. Dog / Fate
Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes
Gnarls Barkley / The Odd Couple
Islands / Arm's Way
Jonathan Richman / Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild
Langhorne Slim / Langhorne Slim
Los Campesinos! / Hold On Now, Youngster... / We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
MGMT / Oracular Spectacular
The Mountain Goats / Heretic Pride
Plants and Animals / Parc Avenue
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals / Cardinology
Santogold / Santogold
The Sea and Cake / Car Alarm
Silver Jews / Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Times New Viking / Rip It Off
Tokyo Police Club / Elephant Shell
Travis Morrison Hellfighters / Hellfighters
Utah Rangers / Breaking Your Heart Takes Training
Vampire Weekend / Vampire Weekend
The Walkmen / You & Me
White Denim / Workout Holiday
Wolf Parade / At Mount Zoomer


Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2009 (or) The Shorter List:

Born Ruffians / Red Yellow & Blue
I read a review somewhere that summed these guys up as Vampire Weekend without the white guilt/cultural pilfering perpetrated by preppy Ive Leaguers, and yeah, that sort of fits. It's a joyous, bouncy album full of great hooks, layered vocals and shouts. It deserves to be on the list for "Hummingbird," if nothing else.

David Byrne and Brian Eno / Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
If you were expecting a sequel to My Life In the Bush Of Ghosts, this collection of laid-back, poppy tunes probably knocked you for a loop. As a rock record, it more than satisfies. It's hopeful, interesting and beautiful. And come on, it's David Byrne and Brian Eno; did you really think it wasn't going to be on my list?

Herman Dune / Next Year In Zion
If you can find me a happier record from this year, I will eat my hat. Listen to it if you're having a particularly rough day.

Hot Chip / Made In The Dark
I swear, everybody forgot about this just absolutely slamming record. Music to get your white @$$es shaking and fists pumping.

Mates Of State / Re-Arrange Us
A song cycle about making love and family work as rock and rollers, it's the most polished effort from this husband-wife duo. At their best, Mates Of State remind you just how much joyous, beautiful, noise two people can make. And this is them at their best.

No Kids / Come Into My House
If Sufjan Stevens and Hot Chip made a weekend party record, this would be it. Excellent debut.

R.E.M. / Accelerate
After the unforgivable (and unlistenable) abortion that was Around the Sun, the Southern boys just like you and me turn in an album that rocks like a band 25 years younger, putting all those pretty little posers (that's aimed at you, Killers) to shame. Just a solid album from a band that refuses to become irrelevant. Well played, boys. Well played.

Sam Amidon / All Is Well
A haunting collection of traditional folk songs reworked with all their weirdness and weariness intact. Just a stunning album, this.

Stephen Malkmus / Real Emotional Trash
A jammy, raucous set from a guy who just gets better with age.

TV on the Radio / Dear Science
TVOTR - like Radiohead - is one of those bands that, while I know they're great, I never really connected with their work the way I felt I should. Until now. So yeah, believe the hype; Dear Science is fantastic.

Click here for the BRR Honorable Mentions 2008 Mix.

And click here for the BRR Favorites 2008 Mix.

And leave me a comment to tell me if I've totally lost my mind of if I neglected something you loved or just to say "hello." Enjoy.

We Could Legalize Our Heads, Darlin'

Here's November's mix, titled I Was A Teenage Headcase. I have no idea what the through-line is for these songs, but they seemed to fit together once I decided on the title. If you're listening via iTunes, I would suggest opening the album art viewer and making sure it's set to "Now Playing." Just a tip.



Download it here and leave a comment when you've done so. Thanks.

Neon Tan

Bonus mix!



I know, I know, I'm too good to you. It's true, but what can I say? You deserve it.

This was initially the September mix (or the beginnings of it, anyway), but my iTunes ate it, so I set about pulling together Hot Dog, which worked out better anyway (anybody listened to it yet? Thoughts?).

Still, I couldn't leave this idea of a sort of dancey, neon-soaked mix alone, so I started working on this, perfecting it over the last week or so. I like to think of it as the mix from the hippest punk rock dance club on the moon. Featuring tracks from Justice, Franz Ferdinand, Gang Of Four, MGMT and Black Kids (among others), it's a pretty slamming mix. Download it here and let me know what you think.

That Time Of the Month - March - Your Monthly Mix From the Big Red Robot

As winter continues to melt outside my window, I need something to pick me up a little. Something big and sunny. Something with girls singing every now and then, Wall Of Sound epicness, maybe some strings or horns, harmonies, handclaps and a touch of heartache to make the sweet all that much sweeter. Something to melt the snow and shine some light into that cold gray heart of yours.

Something like a love affair.

As previously mentioned, here's the tracklist:

1. "Tonight I Have To Leave It" - Shout Out Louds
2. "If I Don't Live Today, Then I Might Be Here Tomorrow" -
Mando Diao
3. "The Midnight Choir" - The Thrills
4. "Song For The Songs" - The Concretes
5. "Mushaboom" - Feist
6. "She Heightened Everything" - The Pernice Brothers
7. "Forever Lost" - The Magic Numbers
8. "The Pledge" - Brendan Benson
9. "Shirin" - Jens Lekman
10. "My Revolution" - Papas Fritas
11. "Fraud In The '80s" - Mates Of State
12. "A New Name For Everything" - The Weakerthans
13. "If Looks Could Kill" - Camera Obscura
14. "The Vanishing Spies" - Frank Black
15. "We're From Barcelona" - I'm From Barcelona
16. "Chartiers" - The Essex Green
17. "Suddenly Upsidedown" - Oranger
18. "I Was Made For You" - She & Him
19. "Don't Be Shallow" - Sondre Lerche
20. "Let The Wolves Howl At The Moon" - Super Furry Animals

And here's the cover:

It all started with Jens Lekman's "Shirin", a pretty, sort of sad song about getting a haircut and sort of took off from there. It's pretty poppy, twee-ish stuff. Ben will probably not love it as much as It's All Fuss, but, well, I like it. It suits the season.

Download it here and tell me what you think.

You Can Call Me Al

HIPSTER TIP! You may want to go get the new Vampire Weekend self-titled album so that three albums from now you can say with a nonchalant, professorial air that you "liked their earlier stuff better," and actually mean it.

"But Dylan, what do they sound like? Can you concoct a pretentious name-checking music critic description to help me better understand?" Okay, I'll bite: Imagine Spoon and the Walkmen started a supergroup that covered African pop music. Does that help?

Here's the video for their first single "Mansard Roof":

And here's "A-Punk":

I look forward to rolling my eyes at kids in the mall six months from now when I overhear them talking about how they heard this awesome new band called "Vampire Something-or-Other". Ah, it's a hipster's life for me.

Music & Me: A Love Story

Over the weekend I downloaded two albums. My eMusic downloads also refreshed, giving me another 50 tracks to add to my library on top of my iTunes purchases. Because I don't have nearly enough music.

Obviously.

The first iTunes purchase was They Might Be Giants' John Henry. I blame this on their latest, the Else. It was the shock of hearing such a solid TMBG album that recalled memories of their last really solid album. I had this on cassette as that format was making its last gasps before total extinction. I have a lot of stuff on tape that I still haven't replaced, but would like to. PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love, Thurston Moore's Psychic Hearts, the B-52's eponymous debut. Psychic powers, you fail me again!

Anyway, this was the TMBG album after the one that hooked me, Apollo 18. It's a darker affair than Apollo, but it's chock full (20 tracks) of really good songs. Some throw aways, but they're at least interesting. It's an overlooked gem in the catalog of an often overlooked band.

I also got the Maccabees' Colour It In, which is kind of like the Veils met Bloc Party at a party hosted by the Futureheads. Yeah, that's about right. Very tight and upbeat. It's on sale at iTunes. $7.99 for 12 tracks. How can I say no?

So, yeah, I really need to get Psychic Hearts. They played a track from Moores' upcoming solo album on All Songs Considered and I remembered how awesome that album was.

Curse you, music. Why must you be awesome?

Electric Newspaper Boy!

So my brother Huston e-mailed me last night wondering about Guided By Voices. Basically, where to start. And as I think they are awesome and as our motto here is to scream about stuff that is awesome, I figured I'd reprint my response. This also helps me to recycle a needlessly lengthy e-mail as fresh content for the blog. Just doing my part for the earth. Because I'm all granola like that.

What follows is my response. With pictures. And music (to play the samples, click on the little play button thing. If you click on the title or artist, it will take to you the Last.fm page and you will not hear the music and you will be sad):

Hey Huston,

Essential Guided By Voices albums? Oh man, this is a really tough one. It's like asking for a list of essential friends or something.

See, the thing with GBV is that, while an album may not be all that good (take, I dunno, Do the Collapse, for example), there can be at least two, as many as five really good amazing songs on it. It's the sonic equivalent of flipping through records at a record store. It's kind of part of the fun. For example, Kid Marine, a Pollard solo album is... well, it's not very good as a whole, but it contains like, two good songs that I'm glad I own, so... yeah. It's tough. there's a lot out there, but I mean, if you thought Ryan Adams just put out whatever fell into his head... well, yeah. At least Pollard's more consistent.

Becoming a GBV fan is a disease, sort of. I'm sorry if you get infected.

But... if I had to compile a list of "Must Own" GBV albums I'd probably include the following:

Propeller - One of their better early albums. I have a disc where this and Vampire on Titus (the follow-up to Propeller) are doubled up, so I have a hard time distinguishing the two. "Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox," Propeller's opener is textbook Pollard: pure epic pop. Vampire also has "Red Gas Circle," "Non-Absorbing," "Jar Of Cardinals," and like, a bunch of other stuff that I can't really remember. They're both worth sifting through.

Guided by Voices – Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy

Bee Thousand - For sure. I have an iTunes review wherein I state that this is the best album of the 90's. I believe the title is "Move over, Nevermind..." It's the best of their earlier, more-lo-fi albums. I bought it (on red vinyl!!!) based on a recommendation from Spin magazine back in the day (when it was relevant) and it hit me like - all hyperbole aside - a freaking revelation. It was like... imagine you have this neighbor. He's a school teacher. He tells you he has a band. And he gives you their demo tape. And it freaking rocks. It sounds all grubby and stuff, but man! it's good. That's what it's like. It's like discovering fire or five bucks in an old jacket or something. Maybe their masterpiece. Okay, so it is their masterpiece.

Guided by Voices – I Am a Scientist

Under the Bushes, Under the Stars - Maybe my favorite of their albums? There's like... 30-something tracks on this one and - amazingly - they're all worth listening to, though some more that others. It was originally a concept album about the rise and fall of a band called "King S**t and the Golden Boys," but was later just retooled as just one huge, rocking record. It also contains my single favorite GBV track: "Acorns & Orioles," as well as standouts like "Atom Eyes," "Underwater Explosions," "Lord Of Overstock" and , good gravy this is a good one, "Ghosts Of A Different Dream."

Guided by Voices – Acorns & Orioles

***I forgot to add in Mag Earwig! in my e-mail. It's a solid, rocking album. The first step toward their two slicker studio LPs, Do the Collapse (which isn't very good, but has "Teenage FBI" on it) and Isolation Drills, which we'll discuss after the little Last.fm listeny thingy.

Guided by Voices – Not Behind the Fighter Jet

Isolation Drills - Their most transparently personal album, dealing with the dissolution of Pollard's long-time marriage. It's one of their "produced" albums, with Tom Rothrock at the board. It also features an appearance of Elliott Smith on piano on, I believe, "Fine To See You." It also contains "Glad Girls," which, in a fair world, would cement their induction into Rock&Roll Heaven, like, immediately.

Guided by Voices – Glad Girls

As far as solo Pollard, both of his new albums are good, Normal Happiness and From A Compound Eye, though I think they feel a little flat in places. I don't have too many (relatively speaking, of course) of his solo/Fading Captain Series work, though his album with Doug Gillard (who was also in GBV) Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, is pretty rocking. And it has "Pop Zeus" on it, which is awesome and I always think should be punctuated with an exclamation point.

Robert Pollard – Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft

The other GBV/Pollard albums are worth sifting through, some more than others, but it will take work. Obviously, I think it's worth the work, otherwise I wouldn't have so much hard drive-/shelf- space devoted to a band that really, nobody else I know (maybe Chris) cares all that much about.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Love ya, kid,
Dylan
aka POPZeus!

I Am Such A Total Blog Tease

I was going to try and commit to a record review a week, but... well, I'm gloriously bad at that kind of "regularly scheduled" type of stuff, so I will just say this: I would like to try and review an album a week. I don't know how regular of a feature this will actually be in real life. Jesse had mentioned he'd like to see something like this in a comment on a former post, and on paper (screen? Oh future, why must you confuse everything?), it sounds possible, so we'll give it a whirl. I promise nothing.

I tried something like this with another blog - the defunct Wall Of Sound (you can witness its birth andspeedy demise if you're so inclined) - and as great of an idea as it was, it was also insane. Seriously, I don't do drugs, but maybe I did and forgot about it when I decided that writing a review for every album in my massive music collection (currently residing in a hollowed-out mountain in western Colorado) was a doable thing.

Bat-crap insane.

Mel Gibson insane.

Whoever green-lit Rush Hour 3 insane.

Right now, I'm going through my music library. Alphabetically. Sort of. See, I listen to music all day long as I sit, shackled to my MacPro G5, designing things graphically. So, I decided to put all the albums that start with the letter "A," as well as any that start with numbers (this is before the newest iTunes update screwed all that up and put those ones at the end as well as fixed some alphabetical incongruence) on my iPod and am listening to those tracks in alphabetical order. Thus is the depth of my O.C.D.

I got through the "A"s last week and am elbow-deep in the "B"s right now.

I think I'll be taking a break from it after this. Give the ol' O.C.D. a little vacation. Buy it a cruise or something.

What am I talking about? Seriously, I've been going on and on about nothing for like, forever. What is my point?

Oh yeah. Music review.

Anyway, so this little O.C.D. jaunt has, in its circuitous way, brought me to the album I'm going to review: Sebadoh's 1994 release, Bakesale. I had planned on this post being the review for this album, but, well, I think I've gone on far too long, so... I guess I'll just post a picture of a kitten and save the review for another day. Maybe tomorrow. So... kittens! Three of 'em!

Awww.

The Blackest Of Blues

Check out Ben Gibbard's recent live show from the All Songs Considered podcast. An amazing mix of songs, all of them sad as a bag of drowned kittens. Truly he is the King of Sad Sack Pop.

Here's a link to the All Songs homepage. If you're not subscribed to the podcast through iTunes, first off, what is wrong with you? and secondly, you can download the episodes from there. Because it's awesome.

How Freaking Rad Is This?

Okay, so on one of Candace's raids across the crafting blogosphere, she came across a link to this awesomeness: the iConcert Cal. It's a third-party iTunes plug-in that looks at the artists in your iTunes library and finds concerts in your area by those artists. Here's a screencap:

Slick, innit? I've been scanning sites like Pollstar for concerts in Cleveland, but they show every. single. concert. in the area you're searching. iConcert searches whatever city and state you input as well as allows you to search for concerts within a specified radius from your city as well. And it only shows artists relevant to your tastes, although I will warn you, if you have anything embarrassing in there (for example, I have Huey Lewis & the News' greatest hits album in my iTunes library. There, I admit it. I like Huey Lewis & the News. I am a child of the '80's, okay. Happy now?), it will put them up as well. So you might want to not check it with friends around unless you want them to know that you downloaded that Kelly Clarkson "Since You Been Gone" song that you sing in the shower sometimes.

Okay, all of the time.

Anyway, so I'm obviously excited about this. The iConcert, not the Kelly Clarkson song. Whatever. Just download it, okay?

Playlist Feevah

Here's a smart playlist from iTunes. Not too bad.

20% Amnesia - Elvis Costello
Thursday - The Futureheads
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - The Ramones
Hanging Around The Day Part 2 - The Polyphonic Spree
No Way - Pearl Jam
San Diego Serenade - Tom Waits
I'll Be Your Mirror - The Velvet Underground
Garageland - The Clash
Summer Days - Bob Dylan
Why Can't I Be You - The Cure
Wake Up - The Walkmen
We May Be The Ones - Paul Westerberg
Laughing - R.E.M.
Glad & Sorry - Golden Smog
Saturday Night - The Thrills
Nothin' I Ever Seen - Centro-Matic
Devilock - The Misfits
Still In Love Song - The Stills
Lazy Flies - Beck
Frequency - Super Furry Animals
Clark Gable - The Postal Service
The Letter - PJ Harvey
The Falcon - Ulysses
When You Dance You Can Really Love - Neil Young
Walk Away - Franz Ferdinand

Putting the "Smart," In "Smart Playlist."

Okay, so I love iTunes' "Smart Playlist" feature. It's amazing that I can just type in a few parameters and, milliseconds later, - BAM! - a pretty rad pseudo-mixtape. I mean, look at this genius one it just spit out:

Title - Artist - Album
Tomorrow Tomorrow - Elliott Smith - XO
One Too Many Mornings - Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live 1966, The Royal Albert Hall Concert
Tommy Gun - The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope
Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin') - Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Clark Gable - The Postal Service - Give Up
Empty Baseball Park - Whiskeytown - Faithless Street
Divine Hammer - The Breeders - Last Splash
America - Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
Fertile Crescent - Bad Religion - Generator
The Great Intoxication - David Byrne - Look Into The Eyeball
Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Stewball - Woody Guthrie - This Land Is Your Land
Barnyard - Brian Wilson - Smile
Cut Out Witch - Guided By Voices - Under The Bushes Under The Stars
Let's Play Clowns - Minus The Bear - They Make Beer Commercials Like This
Acrobat - U2 - Achtung Baby
Two Thousand Places - The Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy
Elevate Me Later - Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Sweet Little Rock & Roller - Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight
Allison Krausse - The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
Transcendental Blues - Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues
Untitled - R.E.M. - Green
Ruby Sees All - Cake - Motorcade Of Generosity
Sad & Beautiful World - Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Starfield Road - Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star

Anyway, so there's that. It's not always foolproof. It'll sometimes repeat artists within a playlist, but with a little tweaking, it can spit out a pretty dang good mix. We're finally getting around to watching The New World tonight. Looks good.

Watched Million Dollar Baby the other night and man, was that movie depressing or what? Also, is it just me or is Clint Eastwood looking a lot like Skeletor these days? You Make the Call!

Or maybe Marv, from Frank Miller's Sin City? You Decide!

Yeah, Another One...

I always do this. I'll go like a week without posting and then infodump all of a sudden. So I was going to call it a night when "Cuddle Up" comes on my iPod and I'll be danged if I can't help myself from writing a post about just how gorgeous Dennis Wilson's songs are. I really need to track down a copy of his incredibly rare Pacific Ocean Blue LP. I bid on one on ebay, but got outbid @ $25 and that was my limit. Someday.