Side A
Artist	Song
The White Stripes	You Don't Know What Love is (You Just Do as You're Told)
The Pogues	Turkish Song of the Damned
The Cat Empire	The Night That Never Ends
The Shins	Girl Sailor
Mutya Buena	Real Girl
Immaculate Machine	Dear Confessor
Portastatic	I'm in Love (with Arthur Dove)
Spoon	The Underdog
The Well Wishers	In Search of Alter Egos
Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer	Moment
Semisonic	Across the Great Divide
Sean Na Na	We've Been Here Before
Jesse Malin	Prisoners of Paradise
The Rentals	Getting by
Sahara Hotnights	Visit to Vienna
The Mayfield USA	The Apple
Parts & Labor	Brighter Days
The Pixies	Stormy Weather
Elvis Costello	Miracle Man
Queen	Sail Away Sweet Sister
All My Friends	Rain Song
Tegan and Sara	Dark Come Soon
The Sheds	Reflection of the Sun
The Sails	Best Day
Arthur & Yu	Come to View (Song for Neil Young)
Side B
Artist	Song	Buy
Fruit Bats	Silent Life
The Western States Motel	Rows of Homes
Baby Calendar	Traffic in the Tropics
The Crayon Fields	Living So Well
The Carrots	Beverly
The Archibalds	Sinking Ships
The Wrong Trousers	Video Killed the Radio Star (live)
The Ark	Death to the Martyrs
The Boggs	Melanie in the White Coat
Eux Autres	The Sundance Kid
Old 97's	Mama Tried
Convoy	Alice
The Spectacular Fantastic	Summer Toes
They Might Be Giants	Feign Amnesia
General Public	As a Matter of Fact
The Actual Tigers	Standing by
The Ramones	Everytime I Eat Vegetables it Makes Me Think of You
Heart	(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song
Lavender Diamond	Here Comes One
Jens Lekman	The Wrong Hands
Antony and the Johnsons	The Lake
Loudon Wainwright III	X or Y
Pink Martini	Que Sera Sera
The Eels	Things the Grandchildren Should Know (live at Town Hall)
BONUS TRACK: Erasure	Sunday Girl

Comment:

Anybody listening to new Loudon Wainwright? I heard some jerk (Stylus Magazine review, I think) call it "Randy Newman leftovers", but even if that were true, Newman can be a damn good songwriter, despite his occasional movie slumming. Maybe I'm responding more intensely to Wainwright's "Strange Weirdos" album because this is my first time truly delving into his work, but I think it's fantastic, through and through. I'll probably end up using every track on it in future mixes, multiple times.

I acknowledge the presence of many bands I've used recently in other mixes I've posted, which makes this seem like "more of the same", a fair criticism, I suppose, but I don't mean to be so cliched. I'm actually becoming more of an album person lately, due to my finally burning my CDs onto the old iPod. It's not a practice I wholly endorse, because I believe in stocking my iPod with only the good stuff that I want, not a lot of filler and unfamiliar junk, but I'm weeding through the albums as I do this, so as to avoid clutter. The point is, that's why I'm sticking with many of the same artists here. This mix, while vaguely themed and organized as best as possible, is one of my "all the best of what's in my ears at the moment" compilations, and since I'm still exploring many of the albums by the bands I've used on earlier mixes, it stands to reason.

In regards to Erasure, I couldn't find a workable place for it alongside any of the other tracks, so I thought I'd have some fun by just tacking it on at the end and acting like it's a DVD extra or hidden track or something, although I'm worried that may hurt the finality and emotional resonance of the Eels track. Ah well...

It's hard to convey where my mind's at when I put these mixes together and what I get out of listening to them, even though the feelings are no doubt common and mundane. I feel like I'm aboard this locomotive on a great road trip to my destiny (summer, and more specifically great music, always stirs the profound wistfulness in me) and this incredible music is describing every nuance and broad stroke alike of my breathless, unforgettable, amazing journey. My life may technically be a series of insignificant routines and stagnant, even wasteful habits, but no matter how horribly I keep pissing away all my opportunities to do something that matters, something lasting or valuable or just plain interesting, I never lose my appreciation for the things I do have, big and small. This music, for example, it exhilarates me to no end; it's summer 2007 and for all the shortcomings and disappointments in my life up to this point, who could honestly ask for anything better than this? Mediocrity be damned - I love this life :)

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