Your car's heater may not work - but your stereo still does.

This round-up of songs is directly inspired by my holiday experiences with my boyfriend's family's celebrations. It was a long day of driving down desolate stretches of dead Indiana landscape; it seemed as if we were driving perpetually into the bright, cold sun. From Muncie to Lapel - from Lapel to Alexandria - then to Anderson, the hub of us all. We ate ham and chili at Jim's brother's house. We stopped in and visited his sulking dad who is going through a divorce and staying at his mother's old house. It seemed extra lonely considering his mother doesn't live there anymore but did leave a subway-sized picture of cherubs above the couch to keep watch. He handed Jim a package of socks but declined coming over to eat with the family.
The holidays seem to exacerbate any turmoil: divorce, death, money problems. The glow of an xmas tree seems sick and foreboding to someone down on their luck.
I look over at Jim sometimes and feel nervously lucky that we love each other so much and that the best thing about the holidays is going home together. I want to hold him and tell him that he'll never have to sit alone on xmas - writing names and putting bows on packages of socks for kids he never sees.

There were highlights, though. Meeting Jim's sister's new boyfriend: a cussin, smokin, ponytail-sportin sonofabitch who relayed a story about a cat that pissed on his firewood. And there was stopping by Jim's Grandma's house across the street from the 4h fairgrounds. The whole house is covered in angels and doilies and was so warm and comfortable that I fell asleep.

And for a little holiday reflection - download this 8 track mix of wintery blended songs for those lonely drives home. Cause your heater doesn't work - but your stereo still does.







Get the mix here, dude.
Track List
1 Cat Power
2 Dyckman and James
3 Magik Markers
4 The Features
5 John Lennon - Mother
6 Modest Mouse
7. R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day
8 Thurston Moore

Merry or not, its Christmas.

Hey everybody. A few dozen months have passed since my last stellar mix, but I'm back with a holiday treat. As you drive from store to store, maxing your credit cards and sipping hot coffee, listen to this! Sure to get you in the mood, this eclectic Christmas card mixtape is full of jolly shock and holy awwwwe. Seriously, this stuff is grade A holiday raddness. Come and get it.

For those of you new to the whole "sharity-blog," deal - here is how it works: First thing, you need to get winrar.
Now, click here, and click on one of the download options. Rapidshare is the fastest but you have to wait for a few seconds "in line." Once you get the download window to pop up, just hit "save to disk." Once it downloads, it will look like a little stack of books
Then, drag that little stack of books onto the winrar program. Hit extract, ok, and it should appear on your desktop. It sounds harder than it is. Seriously, it is worth the couple of steps. Again, start here, .

Album Art to look at and enjoy





1. Ambassador - Christmas Rush
2. Mike Sammes Singers - Carol of the Bells Medley
3. Living Strings and Living Voices - My Favorite Things
4. Buzz of Delight - Christmas
5. Robert Way Orchestra - Sleighride
6. Tammy Faye Baker - O Come All Ye Faithful
7. Three Wisemen - Thanks for Christmas
8. Barbara Morgenstern - White Christmas
9. Mike Sames Singers - Do You Hear What I hear
10. Robert Way Orchestra - Jingle Bells
11. Loretta Lynn - Country Christmas
12. The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
13. 101 Strings - Hark the Herald Angel
14. Judy Garland - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Well, I hope you dig it. Hit me with a comment if you listen and love it (or hate it). Make copies and give them to friends or cats. Then check back - cause I'm comin atcha with mo'.

Warm tunes, alphabet style

So my buddies at Muncie's only Music Co-op have started to do their own mixes. These mixes come in an alphabetical series. Here is the description, from the horses mouth:
This is the first in a series of music mixes that will be released to all who care to download. Each mix will contain stand-out tracks from artists that come from a vast array of genres. As the series progresses you will hear music from Hip Hop, Avant Garde, Classical, Pop, Folk, Country, Noise, Hardcore, IDM, Psychedelic, Punk, Rock & Roll, Jazz, Foreign, etc.

Each Mix in the series will be released in alphabetical order using only artists with names that fit the mix's particular letter, and each mix will only contain 12 songs. Some of the music will be familiar, popular, or even completely unknown.

Hopefully it can get through A-Z and than start all-over-again. So keep Your eyes open for Co-Op Bulletins.

This is the first mix - Mix "A"

Here is the tracklist
1. Art Ensemble of Chicago - Theme de Yoyo
2. Aarktica - Aura Lee
3. Aceyalone - City of Shit
4. Autechre - rpeg.
5. Anoice - Asprin Music
6. Adem - Everything You Need
7. Antlerand - Brighter Rays
8. Alemayehy Eshete - Tey Gedyleshem
9. Au Pairs - Sex Without Stress
10. Angels of Light, The - Praise Your Name
11. Apparat - Not A Good Place
12. Arab Strap - Haunt Me

And here is where to grab it: http://www.sendspace.com/file/wpf5x7
Just go to the download button.

I enthusiasticaly endorse the co-op's mixes. What a great opportunity to boost your awesome music collection, letter by letter. I downloaded this mix, am listening to it, and loving it. Good stuff.

The Co-op, located at the scramble light on the Ball State campus (McKinley and...what street?), is a couple of newspaper machines turned recycling centers for books and music. You can venture from your computer and go out into this bright world to visit it. Just bring something to leave if you plan on taking something.


And check out the Co-op's myspace and add them if you want updates to their online shared content, which they do quite regularly. The Co-Op myspace.

The Optimistic Sun

Getting up at 6 a.m to pass out fliers for $5 bucks and hour really makes a fella reassess his decisions, and an optimistic mix is in need. Music shapes my day and can make or break a morning. Here is a sweet lineup of tunes to keep my interest this morning. There are a few requests stuck in there. So download, share, and enjoy. If you like the mix - leave me a comment! And don't forget to tell all your internet girlfriends....


An Optimistic Sun: The Mix
1. Tortoise -- On The Chin
2. Sun Ra -- A streetcar named hell
3. Peanuts -- Oshima
4. Madlib -- Eternal Broadcaster (Authentic)
5. Cornelius -- The Micro Disneycal World Tour
6. Battles -- Leyendecker
7. Love and Rockets -- Shelf Life
8. Focus -- House Of The King
9. Br. Danielson -- Perennial Wine
10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds -- City Of Refuge
11. Cornelius -- Scum
12. Squarepusher -- My Red Hot Car
13. The Sea and Cake -- Up on Crutches
14. Read Yellow -- Bigmouth Strikes Again (Smiths Cover)
15. White Rabbits -- While We Go Dancing
16. Radiohead -- Permanent Daylight
17. Mission of Burma -- That's When I Reach for My Revolver
18. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness -- Your Worst Is The Best
19. Spoon -- I Summon You

Grab the mix here - http://www.sendspace.com/file/t3r466

Some album art and info on a few notables

Battles

This is the first full-length album called Mirrors from the band Battles. Its mellow, mathy, and a nice stray from the norm as far as electronic-rock goes. I picked up this album and have since rocked it several times.
Check them out on myspace here.

Br. Danielson

Yes, I know, these guys are marketed on the Christian circuit. I'll tell you that straight up. But my God (no pun intended), thank you for this band. Inventive, haunting, sometimes funny and always artful Danielson is a band bringing back passion to music. I invite you to listen to this and try and to not hit repeat.

Read Yello

If the rest of this album is as great as this Smiths cover, then I ache even more for it. This version of Bigmouth Strikes Again makes me think about being crouched on the souls of my Chuck Taylors and smoking behind A1 records, hoping the boy I liked might walk by. Ah, youth.


Here is a sweet video by Cornellius

Warm Tunes: Starting Up.

First off I would like to tell you a little bit about why I decided to start this music blog: music sharity blogs have not only stretched my mp3 collection, they have enriched my knowledge, taste, and enthusiasm for music. I have discovered countless new artists and bands that I would have never heard otherwise. Most of the sharity blogs consist of generous music afficianados with lots of rare and out-of-print stuff, though some showcase certain genres and tastes. I plan on passing along some of those places while trying to put my own up. One thing I don't see very much of are mixtape blogs - which is what I'd like to do here. I downloaded a great mixtape torrent once (complete with album art for each artist) and it was just so...perfect. Granted, this method of electronic posting and downloading will never be as genuine experience as actually exchanging a mix, it will still be ordered and handpicked lists. These mixes will appeal to the music nerd who enjoys a few gems dug out and polished up - but the pure aesthetics of the mixes are what I care most about. I love music so much and love to share and discuss. And if you like the songs or artists - check out the label links provided to buy the albums. With that, here is my first mix. Please download, listen to it while you do some work, put it on your ipod, and leave some feedback or a mix of your own.

The Tracklist:

1. The Specials -- Ghost Town
2. Essential Logic -- Pista 01
3. Flamin´ Groovies -- You Tore Me Down (1974
4. 13th Floor Elevators -- Dr. Doom
5. Frank Zappa -- Jessie Lee
6. 20 Years of Dishord -- 20 faraquet-cut self not
7. 999 -- Feeling Alright With The Crew
8. mewithoutYou -- January 1979
9. Charles Manson -- So Today Has Been a Good Day
10. Paul Evans -- Happy Go Lucky Me
11. The Go! Team -- Bull In The Heather (Sonic Youth Cover)
12. Various Artists -- Patience and Prudence - Tonight You Belong To Me
13. The Hollywood Persuaders -- Drums A-Go-Go
14. Big Black -- Big Money
15. Sonic Youth -- Sunday
16. Faust -- Laüft...Heisst Das Es Laüft Oder Es Kommt Bald...Laüft
17. Jorge Ben -- Tim Dom Dom
18. DMZ -- You're Gonna Miss Me

Get the mix (zipped) here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/piqtsl
Edit: when you get to the sendspace page, look for the little flashing red arrow amidst the other crap and right-click to download.

Some album art and info

-(From Wikipedia) The 13th Floor Elevators was a rock music group founded in Austin, Texas in late 1965.They found only limited commercial success before dissolving amid legal troubles and drug use. However, the 13th Floor Elevators are one of the first psychedelic bands. They have been cited as an influential protopunk group. Their classic song "You're Gonna Miss Me" was featured on the first Nuggets release in 1972, marking a series of garage-rock singles that were a treasure trove for early punk rockers.

Personnel were singer/guitarist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, bass guitarist Benny Thurman, guitarist Stacy Sutherland, and drummer John Ike Walton. Erickson and Hall were the band's primary songwriters, but most band members wrote or co-wrote some material. The sound of Tommy's electric jug (which bore no resemblance to the sound of traditionally-played jugs) became the band's signature and trademark.

-Essential Logic was a UK post-punk band formed by saxophonist Lora Logic after leaving X-Ray Spex.

-Faust is a German krautrock band, originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunter Wüsthoff, working with producer Uwe Nettelbeck and engineer Kurt Graupner.

-Charles Manson recorded this creepy yet addictive album in 1983 from his prison cell.

-CUCAMONGA is a collection of Frank Zappa recordings from the pre-Mothers Of Invention days of the early '60s. This track features a band named Mr. Clean.

-Jorge Ben Jor is a Brazilian popular musician, born in Rio de Janeiro on March 22, 1942 (some sources say 1940). His characteristic style fuses samba, funk, and rock into samba-rock, with lyrics that blend humor and satire with often esoteric subject matter.