Other Mixes By ganelo
Soundtrack for an Indie Movie
| Artist | Song | |
| Steel Train |
Alone On The Sea 
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| from Trampoline (2007) Found out about this band through Reddit. This song starts the mix of relatively uptempo, if not upbeat. | ||
| First Aid Kit |
Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
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| from Drunken Trees (2008) Cover of song by Fleet Foxes. Pretty sure I originally heard about First Aid Kit through Reddit. I love their harmonies on this song. | ||
| Grupo Fantasma |
El Sabio Soy Yo
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| from Sonidos Gold Heard about this band via an album review by my PSYC100 professor. He was such a ridiculously kick-ass prof. Inasmuch as the mixtape has an arc, this is a dance wherein the boy meets the girl. | ||
| Ramona Falls |
I Say Fever
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| from Intuit (2009) If I'm not mistaken, I heard about Ramona Falls from some MP3 blogger's top picks of 2009. That first "I Say Fever" just kicks my ass every time (in a good way). Also, the video is really trippy. Check it out. The boy wants to get close to the girl but everyone's advising him to play it slow. | ||
| Ra Ra Riot |
Can You Tell
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| from The Rhumb Line Ra Ra Riot is one of my favorite bands, and this song is a close second for my favorite song on The Rhumb Line (which honor goes to Dying Is Fine - that one just doesn't match the mix). The lyric "my bed is too big for just me" strikes me just the right way. The boy says to hell with it and starts actually courting the girl. | ||
| The Avett Brothers |
Kick Drum Heart
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| from I and Love and You (2009) The Avett Brothers are another of my favorite bands. I can't think of a single song of theirs I don't like. The central analogy of the song is funny and clever ("my heart like a kick drum, my love like a foot"), and the last line is just perfect: "it's not the chase that I love, it's me following you". The boy and the girl have started a serious relationship | ||
| Relient K |
Must Have Done Something Right
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| from Fivescore And Seven Years Ago I like most of Relient K's nonreligious songs, but lately I've found that my past delight in their sound has somewhat worn off. Still, this song is quintessential Relient K, and the first couple of lines are cute and clever ("we should get jerseys, 'cause we make a good team; but yours would look better than mine, 'cause you're out of my league"). The boy is completely enamored with the girl. | ||
| White Winter Hymnal |
Fleet Foxes
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| from Fleet Foxes (2008) I love Fleet Foxes' folksy sound, and the harmonies in this song are lazy languid lovely. Time passes, apparently pleasantly, but there's a hint of foreboding, as the lyrics don't match the sound at all ("you would fall and turn the white snow red like strawberries in the summertime" - implying metaphorical bleeding in the snow; plus the mention of "red scarves" "to keep their little heads from falling in the snow" sounds somewhat sinister) | ||
| Grizzly Bear |
Two Weeks
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| from Veckatimest (2009) Grizzly Bear has a very unique sound (at least in my library), and this is one of their better-known songs. The boy and the girl have been fighting, and life is no longer as pleasant ("a routine malaise" - "i told you i would stay" - "would you always, maybe sometimes...?") | ||
| Funkadelic |
Maggot Brain
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| from Maggot Brain (2005) Alternate Mix. I love the guitar on this track. The relationship is slowly falling apart; the guitar represents the emotional anguish the two feel. | ||
| Okkervil River |
Unless It's Kicks
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| from The Stage Names (2007) I love Okkervil River; I think they are a hugely underrated band, and this song is just one of many that shows how awesome they are. The couple is temporarily back together again, hence another uptempo song ("when I am fixed, I am convinced that I will not get so broke up again"). | ||
| Glasvegas |
It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry
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| from Glasvegas (2008) Glasvegas has a very wall-of-sound (shoegaze) approach to music, and they're one of the few bands that pulls off the style well enough to make me like it. The lyrics of this song perfectly capture a cheating paranoid boyfriend. The relationship is over with the end of the song ("the end was always coming and now it's here . . . it's my own cheating heart that makes me cry"). | ||
| Tilly and the Wall |
Pot Kettle Black
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| from O (2008) Tilly and the Wall are one of my favorite lighthearted bands, though you wouldn't know it from this song. Their percussion comes primarily from a tapdancer in their band, which is a really cute concept and works surprisingly well in a lot of their songs. This song isn't much like most of their earlier songs, but it's still quite catchy. The boy and the girl now pretty much hate each other ("pot kettle, pot kettle black; talk that, talk that smack!" - delivered with such disdain) | ||
| Mark Ronson |
Just
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| from Version (2007) Cover of a song by Radiohead. Featuring Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet. The boy still has feelings for the girl (he just can't sort himself out), and he's jealous of her current boyfriend, so he's making fun of her ("can't get the stink out, he's been hanging 'round for days"; "suckered you, but not your friends" - everyone knows you're an idiot for being with this guy; "you do it to yourself - you and no one else" - he just can't stand that she [in his mind] ruined what they had together). | ||
| Deer Tick |
Baltimore Blues No. 1
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| from War Elephant (2007) Heard about Deer Tick through Reddit originally, they were part of a pretty big blues kick I was on for a while, and I still like their sound. This one is mostly in the mix for the feel, more than relevant lyrics. The boy is just completely melancholy. | ||
| R. L. Burnside |
Hard Time Killing Floor
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| from Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down (2001) Same as with Deer Tick - Reddit introduced me to R. L. Burnside when I couldn't get enough blues, and I still love his voice and guitar. This is a cover of a really famous blues song originally by Skip James, but Burnside seems to be working from a completely different conception of the song's chords, and his voiceovers are a bonechilling addition. The boy has tried to move on, but he finds "hard times everywhere [he goes]". | ||
| Elbow |
The Bones of You
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| from The Seldom Seen Kid (2008) I'm not sure how I first heard about Elbow; it might have been through hypemachine. In any case, this is hands down my favorite track by them. The jangly guitar, the rollicking rhythm, the amazing lyrics, the soaring haunting melody; this whole song is just perfect. The boy is now somewhat older, but he still can't forget the girl: So I'm there Charging around with a juggernaut brow Overdraft, speeches and deadlines to make Cramming commitments like cats in a sack Telephone burn and a purposeful gait When out of a doorway the tentacles stretch Of a song that I know And the world moves in slow-mo Straight to my head like the first cigarette of the day And it's you, and it's May And we're sleeping through the day And I'm five years ago And three thousand miles away Do I have time? A man of my calibre Stood in the street like a sleepwalking teenager No. And I dealt with this years ago I took a hammer to every memento But image on image like beads on a rosary pulled through my head as the music takes hold and the sickener hits; I can work till I break but I love the bones of you That, I will never escape And it's you, and it's May And we're sleeping through the day And I'm five years ago And three thousand miles away And I can't move my arm Through the fear that you will wake And I'm five years ago And three thousand miles away | ||
| Guillemots |
Trains to Brazil
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| from Through The Windowpane (2006) The Guillemots are another strong contender for the position of my favorite band, and this track is a large part of the reason for that. The laughing, whistles, and talking in the first few seconds really help build up the song, they're practically another instrument. The brass interlude is pretty kick-ass, too. The boy is finally starting to accept that he won't be with the girl ever again, though he still reminisces ("I think of you on cold winter mornings, darling they remind me of when we were in school" "but i won't get me down, i'm just happy to be facing the day"). Though the real meaning of the song is a little bittersweet, for the purposes of this mix, this track is a purely upbeat one to bring the mix to a close. | ||