summer MUSIC

I will post the contents of a 2010 mix (which will necessarily be several discs long) and try to send out CDs to any friends interested in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I'm struggling, but have only to pare down some artists' contribution to the mix.
For fun, I'll try to articulate the new (to me) stuff that has been important to me and is causing me mixtape stress. This is in order by what's on my ipod or computer most often now.

• 1. (super-hot right now)
  
  
  
  • Surfer Blood - Astrocoast. Obviously, Weezer is the first comparison, but this album has a LOT more to it than that. I have no idea where to start choosing.
  
  
  • The Rosebuds - Life Like. There's something dark about this band that makes the bubbliness of many of the tracks have an ironic tinge that makes it acceptable and amazing for me. Right now, I'm choosing Another Way In, which features the female vocalist, for the mix. I'd like to have one of the male vocalist tracks too, but this is an impossible decision thus far. I love Life LIke, Border Guards, Bow to the Middle (w/ both vocs), Nice Fox, In the Backyard... great album.
  
  
  • Yeasayer - Odd Blood. It took me some time to love the first track "The Children," but the rest of the album latched on like a hive of ticks on first listen. I have no idea how to choose a track from this album. I'm tempted to put track 1 on the mix because it's a bit more 'challenging,' but I'm not sure it's the best or my favorite track. ONE has a good chance, but the "stick up for yourself, son" track has an amazing bridge. This album is what I listen to the most. Several times a day.
  
  
  • The Rural Alberta Advantage - HometownsI don't believe they are from rural Alberta, but the drummer does sound like he's on meth or at least crack. Neutral Milk Hotel comes immediately to mind. Don't Haunt This Place was on a CMJ disc, and it is definitely one of the best tracks.
  
  
  
  



• 2. (awesome)
  
  
  
  • Stars - Nightsongs. The Smiths cover (This Charming Man) is an excellent take on one of the most coverable people out there. Now, I'm waiting for Merritt, Dylan, and Cohen covers. The band's sound is super-poppy, but I like it more each time, and it doesn't seem the band's per-repeated-listen value has peaked or plateued yet.
  
  
  • Notwist - Neon Golden. I love these guys. Some similarities with the Books (that's how I found them through Lala), but a very different style. No one song is particularly compelling. Compelling is the opposite of most of their tracks, which tend to be 'floaty' or 'perpetual' or something like that. However, some tracks, like Neon Golden, are a little more forceful. Tracks like Pick up the Phone are quietly desparate (cliché, but that's a good description) and brooding (brüding sounds good too).
  
  
  • TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain. And Desparate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes. These albums are impressive enough to be on the list above, it's just that I've had these albums forever in my collection and just didn't bother to give them the time. Heavy electronics are used very effectively in a rhythmic/industrial fashion. I swear the singer channels Busdriver when he says, "eye contact" on I Was A Lover. This is another super-difficult decision for the mix.
  
  
  
  



• 3. (of note)
  
  
  
  • Scissor Sisters have a new album coming out this week. If you haven't listened to the self-titled album and the Mary EP until you love them, you are doing yourself a disservice. I assume the new album will be supercool.