Artist	Song
Pink Martini	Sympathique
The Allman Brothers Band	Jessica
Brewer & Shipley	One Toke Over the Line
Jens Lekman	Friday Night at the Drive-in Bingo
The Barracudas	Summer Fun
Tim Armstrong	Lady Demeter
Reel Big Fish	Slow Down
The Shake Ups	You've Got the Number
Plushgun	Just Impolite
Matt and Kim	Silver Tiles
The New Pornographers	Myriad Harbour
The Shaky Hands	Summer's Life
Hanson	Madeline
The Thrills	Midnight Choir
Amber Pacific	Summer (in B)
The Peppermint Creeps	Creepshow
The Hollies	Carrie-Anne
Great Lakes Myth Society	Debutante
Leslies	Take a Look
Apples in Stereo	Allright/Not Quite
The Holloways	Nothing for the Kids

Comment:

A long time ago I should've just started giving these types of mixes a heading, like "The Official Soundtrack: August 2007" or something and then used subtitles to distinguish them, because here I am yet again, collecting all the music I've been listening to recently into as cohesive and flowing a mix as I could possibly make considering the songs have very little thematic connection. I do this quite often - it's the main kind of mix I listen to, and then occasionally I make the semi-artsy/semi-novelty ones that are based on actual ideas or gimmicks. But it seems redundant to have to explain for the 500th time that this is just a bunch of scattered music I'm really enjoying.

I guess I did make an effort to put in a seasonal context - I've been into some of these for a long time now, but added them specifically for this mix. The first 2 tracks don't blend all that well - one's loungy French pop, the other a classic rock instrumental - but in their own ways they describe the point here: breezy, carefree, pretty, catchy, lovable songs. That idea is stretched a bit for the final track by the Holloways, which contains a lot of socio-political musings, but it's such a fine song I had to throw it on here, and now it seems like a natural fit with my summer collection.

There are two more on the way, each divided into their own tones as I often do it when I have a giant list of songs to sort out. There's an aggressive rock one and a more mellow, pensive mix that I'll post soon. This one, the centerpiece, is clearly of the fun, pop-flavored variety. I should've used a different New Pornos song for variety (everyone seems to prefer "Myriad" from the new album), but it fit my desired mood the best, sorry. Hanson I make no apologies for - they are exuberant pop at its absolute best, if you ask me, and yes, once upon a 10 years ago I myself was scornful of their "Mmm Bop" silliness. But I pray that they can forgive me for that someday.

As for The Shake Ups, no one knows 'em yet, I suppose, but my best friend actually just joined their band on lead guitar, so not only have I gotten into their music (pop/rock mostly) but I have an obligation to support them now. Luckily they're pretty damn cool. My friend doesn't appear on this song, since it's from their debut CD released last year, but eventually he will be part of their studio recordings...man, that's weird to contemplate. We've been music lovers for so long and now he's in an actual band with actual gigs and all that real stuff. It's not even happening to me but I still get a weird thrill out of it. Anyway, cheers to them and all their efforts. "You've Got the Number" is their would-be single, the most melodic song off their record, and it's really burrowed down into me after several listens. I don't really know how to upload music for the links, but here's their myspace page, at least, if you're curious to give them a try: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=22533974&MyToken=fb8f7f40-e8dc-4fcd-9f24-68a22afb2dad

Feedback: