The National – Terrible Love and Bloodbuzz Ohio

Free download of Bloodbuzz Ohio here:

http://highviolet.com/#

A Hard Day’s Knight for Batman

DJ Doodles. He stands up at the kid entertainment center and changes CDs as he sees fit, gauging the mood of his father and brother, setting the tone for the playdates. His identity is not known to most of the kids at the ravedates as he tends to wear a ski-mask or other costume disguise. Rumor has it he is not even 4 years old until tomorrow. DJ Doodles’ fave song of late has been A Hard Day’s Night. I am guessing he thinks it’s about a knight who had a long day fighting dragons. Both Pablo y Doodles like a lot of Beatles tunes, so together we made a compilation representing their favorites. It might surprise you, but here are the 30 songs that fit on our Boys Best Beatles disc.

A Hard Day’s Night
She Loves You
Penny Lane
Help!
Can’t Buy Me Love
Revolution
Paperback Writer
I Saw Her Standing There
I Am The Walrus
Taxman
With A Little Help From My Friends
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Ticket To Ride
Here Comes The Sun
All You Need Is Love
Twist and Shout
We Can Work It Out
And Your Bird Can Sing
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Day Tripper
Drive My Car
Good Day Sunshine
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Yellow Submarine
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Her Majesty
Boys
The End

What about you and yours? What are your kids listening to these days?
You want to trade mixtapes or attend the next ravedate? The locations are usually only disclosed hours before they go down.

Mixtapes by requests only (in comments)

I see there were 30 downloads of the Mustache Robots Jan. Mystery Mixtape.
And… zero comments/feedback. Am I back to yelling into my dark cave?
To be fair, a few people did thank me and comment on my Facebook page.

Maybe I’ll try this. Might work better to get songs heard immediately and discussed.
That…
or really talking/writing about music is like dancing about architecture and what’s there to say?
You like or you don’t. You listen and you react. An individual’s experience with music and other art forms is so subjective.
This is why I felt the burnout on music reviewing. But I do still love to share what I love. Here I go again.
Heard Six Different Ways by The Cure used in the film Starter for Ten. Had not heard it for years and it sounded so good. It reminded me some of my first “alternative” music was The Cure, R.E.M., and The Replacements. Do you remember? Is it new to you? What do you think?

The Lost Art

Will album covers become a lost art? In some ways I think the album cover may actually get more attention now as the mp3s shuffle on your iPod. When you hear something you like and glance at the screen, maybe you’ll see a beautiful illustration by Adrian Tomine on this Luna compilation.

I felt I was losing the art of the album cover until I got an iPhone and started listening to much of my music through it, over the Remote program at home, in the car hooked up to the FM dial, and on headphones. I like the Luna album cover because it combines my love for comics like Optic Nerve with good music.

Going through my year end wrap up mix, I pulled a few of my fave album covers. (Only from what songs were in my final fifty.)

Wait, really stare at the Merriweather Post Pavilion cover in a bigger format. Whoa.

And then there’s what I think were the worst album covers of music I liked. Can you spot them? Yes, those last two. Don’t let them escape.

Maybe they were trying to be funny, and they are mildly amusing, but mostly just
ugly.
I think as a rule you don’t want to be pictured on your cover anymore,
let alone holding your instrument,
unless
you are a female pop country star.

How about yours?
Post your fave album covers of 2009 in the comments.
I’d love to see them pop up on my touch screen sometime.

If you need help finding some, check out this handy site: AlbumArt
http://www.albumart.org/

Dessa – free download/new track “Dixon’s Girl”

Darling, isn’t it?

Concert Cal, probably maybes

Whoa, Dessa CD release show on Fri Jan 22 at Fine Line.
That is a highly anticipated record for me.

Love-cars on Jan 30 at Triple Rock
yes, and that one is for sure

these is a good bet:
Sondre Lerche at Varsity Theater on Feb 17 @8:00 PM

this might be a better bet:
The xx at Varsity Theater on Apr 9 @8:00 PM

Music is usually slower to get going again in the New Year. What I mean is it usually takes a while for a few new releases to spark it off. 2009 had a huge leakage of tunes in Spring. Here’s a clip from my first fave of 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

Los Campesinos!

I am such a fan for kinetic motion/energy in videos and film. Music set to running, cars going fast, speed, propelling, flying. I often imagine scenery rushing by as I listen. This lends itself to one of my fave places to listen: the car.

Give the Gift of Music

I remember a marketing campaign from my youth:
Give the Gift of Music

My gift to you, faithful reader:

Mustache Robots 2009 Sampler
50 faves, over 3+ hours of tunes

A lot to download to be sure, so if you want to check whether you think it’s worth your time, here’s the list from A-Z.

Enjoy! Please share yours if you make mixtapes, too.
As always, comments are greatly appreciated.

Have a very Merry and Happy whatever you want.

XOXO,
El Jefe

October Mystery Mixtape

Boo. Happy Halloween.
Here it is: Mustache Robots October Mystery Mixtape. The top tunes representing what filled my ears, head and dare I say, heart, this autumnal month. I’ve included 4 spooky songs which creep me out as per my previous post. Thanks to all who submitted their scary songs on my Facebook status. Download and enjoy, but please give me feedback otherwise it’s a futile echo not bounced back from the cave wall. And if you’re prone to mix making, do share yours with me.

Songs that Scare You? Haunted Halloween Mixtape in progress

Off the top of my head, I can think of three songs I love which scare me and one which I don’t like because it scared me as a kid. I’m wondering what music chills you to the bone in a creepy way not because you hate it or it’s bad, but it really frightens you. Tell me. I hope to get at least a haunting hour together for a mixtape to share with you all before Halloween.

Sunset Drive by Husky Rescue
Stars by Warpaint
Firesuite by Doves

Carol of the Bells by Kenny Rogers, yes, the Christmas tune, scared me as a kid because it reminded me of the theme from Phantasm, a cult classic horror film well worth your time. Come to think of it, Lady by Kenny Rogers scared me too. It sounded like it had a giant moaning deep sea turtle at the depths of the ocean waiting to bite you. I can’t place it but sometimes my parents’ vinyl was quite misunderstood by me. Little did they know I felt like piddling my pants sometimes when they played Kenny Rogers.

9/9 Mystery Mixtape

It’s here: September’s musical offering, the 9/9 Mystery Mixtape. Download and enjoy (22 songs, 85 minute running time). Mix it up. It’s actually a song or two longer than 80 minute CD-R this round to further signify the death of the physical CD. I burned what may be my last CD-R for a friend’s birthday. I don’t plan on buying those again. I’ll probably still exchange the occasional mixed DVD-R since I’d buy those to burn home movies and short films. But really, we all listen on our phone, iPod and computers now anyway. So, I won’t even suggest an order for these tunes. Enjoy the ones you want, the way you want. But please do give me feedback either way. These represent what I listened to and liked in September, a busy month which saw less time for musical pursuits (and writing).

Thanks for listening, reading and commenting.